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[quote]
discursive analyses of one's goals, accomplishments and personal qualities
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imho, the short story "genre" approach is a swing of the pendulum away from a boring discursive analysis of one's goals, accomplishments and personal qualities. The latter are reputed to be putting too many adcoms to sleep. I do not think the swing of the pendulum is a swing in the wrong direction, either. </p>
<p>The key, again imho, is to write something that excites the reader's interests to keep on reading. The short story "genre" really works for that purpose. S wrote in such a style, without knowing that it was the "recommended" approach (we didn't discover cc until way late). That is his style as, altho more of a math geek, he has always been a good creative writer and finds it easier to describe who he is in a narrator voice than what, to him, is a "brag book" voice.</p>
<p>Ergo, choose your genre but make your essay a good read, not a chore.</p>