<p>Hey all,
So I am working on my essay and I was wondering if somebody could look at it and tell me what they think when I am finished. Also, I was wondering if perhaps any student who was accepted could possibly send me theirs so I could get a feel in what Columbia is really looking for. Thank You.</p>
<p>I’d love to see what an accepted essay looks like too. I’m still working on mine, but I keep freezing up. Columbia is so important to me that I’m panicking a little.</p>
<p>FWIW a lot of folks find their essays were so personal they won’t share. I certainly wouldn’t with strangers online. I’ll give you the advice the admissions reps gave me at the time…</p>
<p>1) Answer any questions they might have. Poor grade on you transcript? 3 year gap where nothing seems to happen? Address them. They’ll accept many things (prison time, drug abuse, pornography, dropping out, etc, etc, etc), as long as you’re honest about them and address them. Talk about what happened, and why you’ve overcome it.</p>
<p>2) Why Columbia GS in particular? And not just some BS about how NYC is awesome, or you want a lot of money. GS is expensive and inconvenient, and will completely dominate your life for at least 2 years. Convince them that’s what you want.</p>
<p>Good luck though!</p>
<p>Thanks, campaigner! The part I’m uncomfortable about is my educational and work history. It’s like there isn’t a good way to write about it without feeling like I’m just listing events chronologically in a droning fashion. You know, kinda like “And then I did this and then I did that and then this happened . . .” I’ve got like 30 years to cover, so it’s hard to make it flow. Going into deep, emotional detail would put me thousands of words over the limit.</p>
<p>Fuzzydunlop: I wrote a chronological essay that addressed a lot of hurdles I had faced. What I can suggest is to focus on the important, life-altering experiences you’ve had in your 30 years, while disregarding or making brief mention of the inconsequential aspects [think: when I was 19 I worked part time at 711]. Obviously, you’re not the Dos Equis guy–not every waking moment of your life is expected to be a meaningful adventure. As campaigner said, address your motivations towards earning your degree at COLUMBIA, what makes Columbia different FOR YOU(i.e. why columbia), and what drew your interests back to education. Try not to be cliche (think: the school is great for its resources) and be brutally honest about your past shortcomings. If you’re a qualified applicant, meaning someone who has overcome adversity, your recent advances will speak more volumes about you than your past failures. It is for this reason that GS is considered “self-selective,” in that many applicants have gone through a variety of pitfalls and have richly diverse histories, but all have somehow coped and ultimately arrive at the same threshold: education. If you BS your story or don’t display any kind of significant life change or genuinely changed, mature perspective, the adcoms will see right through it and it will probably result in a denial.</p>
<p>P.S. Campaigner, were you at yesterday’s orientation? If yes, which one were you :)</p>
<p>I was the one in the blue shirt 
I’ll send you a PM.</p>
<p>EDIT: Regarding the essay, you also submit a resume. Let that speak to some of the other work history you don’t feel the need to comment on.</p>
<p>Ok, so when I’m talking about WHY I want to go to Columbia specifically, would it be cliche to talk about the strength of the premed program and the focus on cell and molecular biology? Would it be bad to mention that my mentor suggested Columbia to me and I didn’t think it was possible until I found out about GS? Is it possible to go overboard talking about the different research projects that interest me? </p>
<p>Also, the formatting? I’ve got in 12 pt. Times New Roman with double spacing right now, but do I need to put a title on it or maybe restate the prompt at the top or something?</p>
<p>Everything you said seems fine, including the format. It’s not cliche to be interested in molecular biology and/or discipline specific research (at least I hope not, that would be quite scary lol). You can give the essay a title as well; I just restated the prompt.</p>