<p>Would anyone be willing to take a look at mine? It took me a little time to post this as it is very personal, but I believe it is worth the extra sets of eyes. </p>
<p>Plus I don't think my story is too boring, lol!</p>
<p>This’ll probably get a lot of responses since it seems like just about everyone wants to get a sense of their “competition”/see an effective essay so they can construct their own down the line, but if for whatever reason you choose me to look it over, I’d be very interested in helping. </p>
<p>I have a writing background, so I think I should be able to give you some solid feedback (as well as effusive praise where appropriate, of course…)</p>
<p>I’ll PM you my e-mail address.</p>
<p>I am willing to look at anyone else that would like thoughts on their essays as well :)</p>
<p>Ditto what FM93 said. Just PM me your essay, and I’ll give you some feedback.</p>
<p>Sent! I look forward to your response as well fisherman93</p>
<p>Can someone repost the prompt here? I think it’d serve us well to take a look at it together.</p>
<p>Autobiographical Essay (1,500 – 2,000 words):
Tell us about your educational history, work experience, present situation, and plans for the future. Please make sure to address why you consider
yourself a nontraditional student and have chosen to pursue your education at the School of General Studies of Columbia University. Successful
essays should not only identify and describe specific elements of the program, academic or otherwise, that meet your needs as a nontraditional
student, but should also explain why GS is the place for you.</p>
<p>II. Optional Essay: You may attach one additional page to tell us anything else you would like us to know about you.</p>
<p>Cool. Thanks, Johnny. Now, let’s unpack some of this.</p>
<p>“Tell us about your educational history, work experience, present situation, and plans for the future.”</p>
<p>Boom. That’s a lot. So, where should you start? Well, remember that these people have your transcripts. They know where you went to school, your grades, what your profs think of you, etc. What they want to know about your education are the things that grades/recs don’t tell. </p>
<p>As far as your work, well, kind of the same thing. I remember submitting a resume - and I don’t know if they still expect it - and it tells a very black and white story. It says where you worked, from when to when, your responsibilities, etc. So, tell the story that your resume doesn’t. </p>
<p>This essay probably wants to give you an opportunity to give dimension and give life to all of your numbers and dates. So, PLEASE, do your best not to rehash. If you submit a great SAT score, there’s no reason to point to it in the essay. If you studied for the SAT while working third shift in an industrial laundry and raising your little brother, put that in. </p>
<p>“…address why you consider yourself a nontraditional student and have chosen to pursue your education at the School of General Studies of Columbia University.”</p>
<p>Be careful here.</p>
<p>This is probably the most tempting place to get yourself off the page, so to speak. Obviously, everyone’s explanation of themselves is going to be deeply personal. But be careful of the wording here. They’re not looking to admit interesting people as much as they’re looking for potential students - who, in most cases, are really interesting people. If that seems like too fine a distinction, read the prompt again.</p>
<p>This is primarily about academics, right? </p>
<p>“II. Optional Essay: You may attach one additional page to tell us anything else you would like us to know about you.”</p>
<p>For a lot of people, many of the things that they put in their first draft should probably go here. I hesitate to say that because there’s a huge variety of issues that people may want to address that are inexorably linked to their academic or work performances. But, I’ll leave it with a warning to think slowly and carefully about how you use, if you decide to do so, both essays.</p>
<p>Interesting post, hellojan…</p>
<p>like you speculated, i view my struggles as inextricable with my basis for wanting to attend CGS and had just planned on writing a continuous narrative which addressed my history and explained my plans for the future in light of it</p>
<p>but the optional essay does seem to be a space specifically provided for the applicant to explain past difficulties, so i might be better off going into detail about the circumstances behind my grade dip in that section instead. </p>
<p>as a general rule, what would you advise? should i compromise the completeness and cohesion of my narrative essay for the sake of following their instructions and just address my difficulties in the second? or should i go with my gut and just make the main essay comphrensive? i doubt you can answer that without knowing more about my individual case, but still thought i’d ask since i’d be interested in any thoughts you have.</p>
<p>Good thoughts Hellojan.</p>
<p>I mostly tried to answer the questions without directly answering the questions. (ie putting the year I entered and left the military which infers my non-traditional status.) Not sure if this was the best move, but there was a fear of sounding like I was staggering through the essay instead of moving smoothly.</p>
<p>I ended up not submitting a resume though. (I believe you still can through the additional supplement upload.) In my case, my job was literally life and didn’t want to make tell it in black and white in the resume… I think generally you are right regarding the use of a resume though.</p>
<p>For the Optional Essay I pretty much used it for addressing what I felt were shortcomings and added some additional honors in as well. Again, not so sure if this was a good idea. :-/</p>
<p>Funny, I don’t feel quite as confident about my package now that it is submitted, lol</p>