quickapps.cjb.net

WE NOURISH THE HANDS THAT'LL NOURISH INDIA TOMORROW
Dear gaurv,

Keep in mind that any essay should be short and simple. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

In the beginning, you state your thesis - what it is that you're arguing for the essay. This should be no more than a few sentences.

The middle of the essay develops your argument and fleshes out what you have to say.

The end should restate your beginning statement in a positive way.

That's not too difficult, is it! But here are some sites that can help you with essay writing:

Generally, I can tell you that there are several essay services, many of which are overpriced  including http://collegeapps.about.com/education/collegeapps/msub 14.htm, http://www.collegegate.com/, and
http://www.admissionsessays.com/college_index.html. You can, however, find references to others at the following sites (warning: you may have to perform other searches or read through a great deal of info to find what you need):

First, try the Princeton Review B-School Message Board. Just be aware that there is a lot of bad and misinformation on this message board. There is, however, some good information as well but you have to be careful and pick carefully through the junk to get to the good stuff): 
http://discuss.review.com/forums/Main.cfm?CFApp=19

Business Week B-School Message Board (Click on "Forums" in the left-hand index):
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/index.html

You should thoroughly read the applications materials and websites of the schools you ultimately apply to. Some schools actually tell you what they are looking for in candidates. The best thing to remember is to answer exactly the question posed. Don't try to answer what you think the admissions committees want to hear. Answer from the heart.

And don't try and submit the same essay to each school. Vary it depending upon the school and the program you're applying to. There must be a reason why you chose the school or the major(s) youre applying for in the first place. Write down that reason or reasons on paper first. Then approach the essay logically - begin with a thesis statement, 1-2 sentences. Expand on your reasons in the middle paragraphs - each point should be a separate paragraph, and close with a restatement of your earlier position. It's important to have that tie in. Before you know it, you've written 500 to 1,500 words.

You should try and utilize your friends, family and, if you can talk openly with your co-workers, your co-workers, to assist you in reading your essays. Ask them if your answers focus on the questions asked, or if your responses go off on tangents. If you are in touch with your former teachers/professors or have any friends who are teachers/professors, ask them to read your essays for you and to provide a critique. You have plenty of time to start cultivating people who can help you and who won't charge you an arm and a leg (like some so-called "admissions consultants" of which I have been one though my prices were never outlandish - darn them all!)

There are different theories on college essays but the general consensus is that they should be between one and two pages in length, and should tell the school something about you that they wouldn't know from your application. The college essay is your chance to make yourself stand out from the rest of the applicant pool.
Normally theyll provide you the topic  the most significant person in your life or the bravest thing youve ever done (Hint, dont talk about Albert Einstein or anyone else terribly famous unless theres a personal connection. Talk about people who are close to you and who you know intimately.) If youre given a choice of topics, remember that there are no right or wrong topics but I may suggest avoid writing on sports, politics, and/or family members (unless you have something really special and different to say or unless your dad is Bill Bradley in which case you could cover all three). 
What defines you as a person, what makes you special? Make the person who reads your essay remember it... that's the best advice I can give you.

Accepted.com | Writing Your Personal Statement for Law School 
Accepted.com is a place for anyone applying for admission to medical school, law school, business school and other graduate programs. You'll find valuable advice on writing personal statements, application essays, and letters of recommendation. 
http://www.accepted.com/law/persnl_stmt.htm 

Admissions Essays-personal statement, admission and application essays for business, law, medical, and graduate school. 
personal statement, admission essay, application essay. We offer custom writing and editing services to assist in developing your personal statement for college, graduate school, law, and medical school. 
http://www.admissionsessays.com/welcome.html 

Admissions Essays-personal statement, admission and application essays for business, law, medical, and graduate school. 
personal statement, admission essay, application essay. We offer custom writing and editing services to assist in developing your personal statement for college, graduate school, law, and medical school. 
http://www.admissionsessays.com/essays/sample_essay_4.h ...

LawTalk - Business Law and Personal Finance 
Audio files, from the University of Indiana School of Law, Bloomington. 
http://www.law.indiana.edu/law/bizlaw.html 

AdmissionsEssays.com - Law School Applications Resource Page 
http://www.admissionsessays.com/law_index.html 
GGU Law: Admissions - Tuition 
GGU Law Admissions Tuition Law Home Tuition, Fees Financial Aid Scholarships Awards Registration Enrollment Academic Programs Class Schedules Clinics Skills Courses Academic Calendar Law Career Alumni Services Law Library Student Life . 
http://www.ggu.edu/schools/law/admissions/admissions.ht ml

Med school essays

http://www.accepted.com/medical/medlinks.htm

Good luck to you! And PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR AND RATE MY RESPONSE BELOW. Thanks.

- Brian







Writing Your Personal Statement for Law School
The law school personal statement is your chance to demonstrate your unique qualifications for and commitment to law by discussing those experiences, people, and events that influenced your decision to become an attorney or prepared you to enter the field. 

That's a lot to accomplish--especially in the typical two pages allowed for your personal statement. You can find the key to success by focusing on a few illustrative incidents as opposed to giving a superficial overview. Remember: Detail, specificity, and concrete examples will make your essay distinctive and interesting. Generalities and platitudes that could apply to every other law school applicant will bore. If you use them, you'll just blur into one of the crowd. 

Following "Ten Do's and Don'ts for Your Personal Statement" will help you write a compelling, focused essay -- one that will transform you from a collection of numbers and classes into an interesting human being. 

Ten Do's and Don'ts for Your Personal Statement
The Do's
Unite your essay and give it direction with a theme or thesis. The thesis is the main point you want to communicate. 
Before you begin writing, choose what you want to discuss and the order in which you want to discuss it. 
Use concrete examples from your life experience to support your thesis and distinguish yourself from other applicants. 
Write about what interests you, excites you. That's what the admissions staff wants to read. 
Start your essay with an attention-grabbing lead -- an anecdote, quote, question, or engaging description of a scene. 
End your essay with a conclusion that refers back to the lead and restates your thesis. 
Revise your essay at least three times. 
In addition to your editing, ask someone else to critique your personal statement for you. 
Proofread your personal statement by reading it out loud or reading it into a tape recorder and playing back the tape. 
Write clearly, succinctly. 
The Don'ts
Don't include information that doesn't support your thesis. 
Don't start your essay with "I was born in...," or "My parents came from..." 
Don't write an autobiography, itinerary, or rsum in prose. 
Don't try to be a clown (but gentle humor is OK). 
Don't be afraid to start over if the essay just isn't working or doesn't answer the essay question. 
Don't try to impress your reader with your vocabulary. 
Don't rely exclusively on your computer to check your spelling. 
Don't provide a collection of generic statements and platitudes. 
Don't give mealy-mouthed, weak excuses for your GPA or test scores. 
Don't make things up. 
So far Accepted.com's law school section has emphasized content, but of course, persuasive writing requires good style, grammar, vocabulary, usage, etc. You know, those nit-picky details that most people prefer not to think about. Well if you prefer to continue not thinking about them or if you don't think you know enough about them to ensure good writing, visit Accepted.com's review and editing service. If you want a quick brush-up on writing fundamentals, visit Ten Tips for Better Writing. 

But wait. Before diving into the writing process, what if you are still not sure how to develop a unifying theme? Or perhaps you don't know which experiences to focus on, or simply lack confidence in your writing skills when writing about yourself? Or have suddenly developed an acute case of blank-screen-itis? Remember, you can have one-on-one, personalized assistance every step of the way. Accepted.com's complete package is designed to give you the guidance and direction necessary to draft a compelling story and the comprehensive editing needed to perfect it. 







Ten Tips for Better Writing
1.  Express yourself in positive language. Say what is, not what is not. 

2.  Use transitions between paragraphs. Transitions tie one paragraph to the next. 

A transition can be a word, like later, furthermore, additionally, or moreover; a phrase like After this incident...; or an entire sentence. 
If you are writing about Topic A and now want to discuss Topic B, you can begin the new paragraph with a transition such as "Like (or unlike) Topic A, Topic B..." 
3.  Vary your sentence structure. It's boring to see subject, verb, object all the time. Mix simple, complex, and compound sentences. 

4.  Understand the words you write. You write to communicate, not to impress the admissions staff with your vocabulary. When you choose a word that means something other than what you intend, you neither communicate nor impress. You do convey the wrong message or convince the admissions officer that you are inarticulate. 

5.  Look up synonyms in a thesaurus when you use the same word repeatedly. After the DELETE key, the thesaurus is your best friend. As long as you follow Tip 4, using one will make your writing more interesting. 

6.  Be succinct. Compare: 

During my sophomore and junior years, there was significant development of my maturity and markedly improved self-discipline towards school work. 
During my sophomore and junior years, I matured and my self-discipline improved tremendously. 
The first example takes many more words to give the same information. The admissions officers are swamped; they do not want to spend more time than necessary reading your essay. Say what you have to say in as few words as possible. Tips 7, 8, and 9 will help you to implement this suggestion. 

7.  Make every word count. Do not repeat yourself. Each sentence and every word should state something new. 

8.  Avoid qualifiers such as rather, quite, somewhat, probably, possibly, etc. 

You might improve your writing somewhat if you sometimes try to follow this suggestion. 
The example contains nonsense. Deleting unnecessary qualifiers will strengthen your writing 1000%. Equivocating reveals a lack of confidence. If you do not believe what you write, why should the admissions officer? 

9.  Use the active voice. Compare: 

The application was sent by the student. (Passive voice) 
The student sent the application. (Active voice) 
They both communicate the same information. The active voice, however, is more concise; it specifies who is performing the action and what is the object. The passive voice is wordier and frequently less clear. 

10.  Read and reread Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. Containing basic rules of grammar, punctuation, composition, and style, this indispensable classic is available in paperback and is only eighty-five pages long. 













The Letters of Rec Too?!?!?!?
OK. You've written dynamite essays and filled out the applications. All of a sudden you get an unexpected curve ball. One of your recommenders says "I really want to help you get into law school. Why don't you write the letter of rec, and I'll sign it. That way it will emphasize exactly what you think is most important." 

You of course graciously acknowledge the recommender's good intentions and thank him or her for the outstanding idea. Inwardly you are less than thrilled with the idea of writing one more word about yourself. 

Relax. We'll tell you what a recommender should say. In fact, you can pass these tips on to your recommenders, in case they don't know what to say and don't ask you to say it. 

10 Tips for Recommenders
Review a copy of the applicant's personal statement or application essays so that your letter of recommendation can dovetail with--not conflict with or duplicate--the rest of the application. 
  
Ask the applicant to supply you with additional information such as a rsum. 
  
Describe your qualifications for comparing the applicant to other applicants. 
I have been teaching for twenty years and have advised approximately 450 students on independent research projects over the last five years. 

I have personally supervised ten interns every summer for the last five years plus worked with over two hundred college graduates in my capacity as trainer for Big Bank Corp. 

Discuss how well you know the applicant. 
I was able to get to know Mr. Doe because he made it a point to attend two of my sections every week when only one was required. 

Ms. Smith reported directly to me for two years prior to her well-deserved promotion to the position of Senior in our Big Six Accounting Firm. 

Choose two to three qualities that you observed in the applicant. 
Jane has a rare blend of top writing and interpersonal skills. 

The combination of tenacity, analytical abilities, and good communications skills found in Mr. Doe is truly unique. 

In discussing those qualities, support your statements with specific instances in which he or she demonstrated those attributes. Be as concrete and detailed as possible 
He is the only student I ever had who came to all my office hours as part of a relentless, and ultimately successful, drive to master financial theory. He was one of just ten percent in the class to receive an A. 

Because of Jane's writing skills, I didn't hesitate to ask her to write a report which was used by our PAC as the basis for a major policy statement. Congressman X eventually used the statement, based on Jane's sophisticated 20-page analysis of Middle East politics, in lobbying for increased funding. 

Try to quantify the student's strengths or rank him or her vis a vis other applicants that you have observed. 
He was in the top 10% of his class. 

She has the best analytical skills of any person her age that I have ever supervised. 

Avoid generalities and platitudes. 
  
Include some mild criticism, typically the flip-side of a strength. 
The only fault I have encountered in him is his retiring nature. His modesty sometimes hides a young man of remarkable strength and broad interests. 

Occasionally, her fortitude and persistence can turn into stubbornness, but usually her good nature and level-headedness prevail. 

Discuss the applicant's potential in his or her chosen field. 
I enthusiastically recommend Mr. Doe to your business school. This well-rounded student will be a fine businessperson. 

With her exceptional leadership, writing, and quantitative skills, Ms. Smith will be an outstanding strategic consultant and and a credit to the business school she attends. 





The Archeology Enthusiast
As sweat dripped down my nose and mixed with the dirt, I yelled, "I found glass!" Glass is considered a rare find, and upon hearing my announcement the excavation team stopped digging. Later, as I sat under the overhang on the laboratory roof patiently brushing dirt off a pottery shard and reconstructing a pot from the shard, I realized that archeology parallels the process of producing a paper, piece by piece and note-card by note-card. I came to Mallorca, Spain because of my passion for Egyptology and archeology. I was determined to excavate, and although Mallorca is not Egypt, this was my opportunity to do so. I love solving puzzles  discovering pieces, analyzing their importance, uncovering relationships and then utilizing the information to produce a final work. An archeologist discovers an object; draws on knowledge of the culture, materials available, and history to analyze the object; deciphers its role and determines its value. Writing, research, legal study, and legal practice share this process with archeology. Instead of finding a pottery shard in soil, the discovery is information and requires research and analysis. 

The challenge of researching and analyzing an unknown subject is the most enjoyable part of academic life. An honors thesis I wrote on Colombian environmental policy allowed me to study a topic about which I had been ignorant. I chose Colombian environmental policy because my Latin American Politics class did not cover Colombia, and I was interested, after writing about French and American environmental policy, in continuing my study of different countries' environmental policies. Colombia, however, presented a greater challenge than the other two countries due to the paucity of available material. After the Colombian consulate was unable to help me, I located one of the few experts in the field who directed me to relevant material. I threw myself into a provocative topic, formerly unknown to me, and transformed it into something about which I was knowledgeable. The process is like discovering a shard, or if lucky, a piece of glass. 

The Colombian paper also stands out as one of my favorite projects because of the analysis and interpretation it required. The class analyzed events using a matrix comprised of political, social, international, and domestic factors. The environmental articles offered no obvious examples of reasons for the events; my analysis relied solely on my interpretation. Just as archeology or a research paper require analysis, so too does the law. It requires the generation of arguments and analysis of relationships, facts, and precedents. The interpretive aspects of law and legal practice attract me. 

Writing is much like replicating the clay pot; it conveys your conclusion. Just as when the archeologist spends more time constructing the bowl from a shard, the more effort and patience the writer devotes to writing the better he/she conveys the conclusions. The paper I wrote for a politics and business class best demonstrates this point. For this paper, research material was abundant. The challenge was to persuasively present my arguments as a Ford Motors representative whose job was to fight environmental legislation. All the information was provided; the true test was analyzing perspectives, best utilizing and manipulating the facts, exploring various ways to approach the situation, and convincing the reader to accept my policies. 

In addition to my affinity for research and writing, my work experience has confirmed my desire to learn more about the law. Currently, I am working at an Internet firm that focuses on the real estate industry. One of my assignments, researching the possible expansion of the company into the art industry, required delving into a field I knew relatively little about. Through researching similar Internet art-related services, interviewing presidents of art associations, compiling a list of artists and galleries, and developing sales material, I was exposed to a new area. I enjoyed learning about this unknown industry. The law and the Internet share constant variety. Since both are evolving, they require constant research and learning. 

Through my various jobs and internships, the breadth and variety inherent in the law has impressed me. Especially at my current job, where my employer prepares for heavier regulation of the Internet and new legislation regarding copyright, privacy rights, and pornography, the law's omnipresence is looming. My work at John Smith's law office exposed me to some of the realities of law such as the legal atmosphere, the commitment and initiative required, and the diversity of the work. Whether helping research, correcting dictation, or watching Mr. Smith in court, I was glad to have participated in the legal process. 

The thrill of discovery that I so enjoy in my academic and professional life partially stems from my travel experiences. Whether traveling on a dirt road in Kenya taking a pregnant women to receive her malaria medication, observing the species Darwin studied, visiting my grandfather in Italy, or submerging myself in French culture, my travels expose me to different facets of humanity. My experiences on foreign soil allow me evaluate daily situations as well as academic works from a unique perspective. It was a trip to Egypt that fostered my interest in Egyptology which led to my reconstructing a pot and drawing parallels between archeology and the law. 

Three pillars of law school and legal practice--research, analysis, and writing--are activities I enjoy. Whether organizing hard-to-come-by research on stacks of note-cards or compiling data on dealers, art magazines and the like, I like discovering and embracing a subject, learning about it in depth, and then applying what I have learned through school, work, and travel. Law requires a constant commitment to learning new precedents and digging deeper. Law will allow me to find the pottery shard, analyze its location and markings, discover its purpose, reconstruct the pot, and complete the puzzle. 









Change
Change has been the one constant in my life. While staring out at the bleak Wisconsin winter, I think back to my beginnings on a warm tropical island. The biggest change was probably the first  moving from that buzzing Spanish-speaking isle to the sleepy sea-side town that was Tampa in 1978. It took me some time to realize that the other pre-schoolers could not understand my native tongue. Before long, I too was speaking their language.

Five years later I, an excited eight-year-old girl, boarded a school bus in New Jersey. The excitement quickly turned to fear as I heard rampant swearing in the back of the bus. I was truly shocked when the bus driver did nothing to stop the vulgarity. In my schools in Florida such behavior would have met with a bar of soap and a visit to the principals office. A year later, I had a "Jersey" accent, and had started swearing too. 

After nine years my family then moved to a place called "a whole nother country": Texas. I discovered that everything is bigger in Texas, from the size of a glass of ice tea to the distances on the road. My mother added barbecued brisket to the regular menu of turkey and Idaho potatoes on Monday and arroz con pollo on Tuesday. The incredibly friendly Texans, wearing cowboy boots and going to high school football games on Friday nights, seemed a totally different breed from my friends in New Jersey. A slight drawl entered my speech. 

In two years time, I found myself in the mountains of rural Bolivian. As part of a team of doctors and students researching hypertension on a group of African-Bolivian villagers, I quickly learned a new vocabulary that included medical and anthropological terms. The greatest test of my linguistic abilities came when a villager accused me of drinking blood samples in some kind of vampire-like witchcraft ritual. I had to bridge a vast cultural gulf to explain a DNA isolation and analysis protocol in Spanish to someone who had never heard of a gene much less a double helix. 

A year later I stood in a line at a McDonalds outside Buenos Aires asking for a sorbeto with a Puerto Rican accent and receiving a blank stare in return. I did not realize that in Argentina the word for straw was papote. Working at the U.S. embassy, I could clearly see the obvious differences between the U.S. and Argentina, but being out among the people and actually experiencing the culture helped me begin to understand and appreciate the subtle differences which, when taken together, make up a people. 

Each place I have lived has its differences, from the obvious distinctions of Wisconsin and Texas weather, to the regional variations of the Spanish language. I bring with me wherever I go a part of those places and the impact they have had on my life, most evident to others by the variations in my speech. Beneath all the accents, however, lies something more significant, for I believe who you are is immeasurable more important than where you were. When I was younger, I could not clearly discern between situations where I should or should not adopt the ways of those around me. With maturity however I have come to understand the crucial difference between adaptation and assimilation. I have chosen to reject the vulgarity of the New Jersey school bus; I have also adopted the Texans warm and friendly manner. Having experienced frequent moves to very different surroundings, I can adapt without compromising what is important to me while learning from each new setting. 

A sign hung in my garage for many years that said, "Home is where you can scratch where it itches." To me this means that home is wherever you are comfortable and secure with yourself and your surroundings. I will be at home and prepared to meet new challenges wherever I am. Starting over so many times has taught me not to fear failure, but rather to embrace opportunities for change. 








Step 1: Strategy

Research! Research! Research!

Research the schools you are applying to.  Most schools will provide you with a brochure that provides information about the school's expectations from its applicants.   Talk to people you know who attended that school and its graduates.  Take full advantage of the school's alumni program to network with graduates.  Call the school and make an appointment with an admissions counselor or another official.  The more you know about the school, its programs, and its faculty members, the better you will be able to structure your essay and show that you are truly interested in the school.   Additionally, this extra research effort pays off by notifying the reader that you have taken more time to learn more about the school than other applicants.  Extra research leaves the reader with a favorable impression of your diligence, dedication and interest in their institution. This extra knowledge and information does not have to be mentioned in every sentence or otherwise be overstated. Your statement need only contain enough information to convey the impression that you have gone the extra mile.

To facilitate this first step, AdmissionsEssays.Com offers a free search engine listing the key statistics and website addresses of highly regarded colleges, universities, professional, and graduate schools.


Know the Stakes Involved!

Understand the importance of the Application Process. Always remind yourself of the high stakes involved in being admitted into the school of your choice.  Be aware of the impact this will have on your future career trajectory, earnings expectations, and career options.  Instead of feeling overwhelmed or anxious, use the gravity of the process to motivate yourself and write the best essay you possibly can.


Know the Question Being Asked!

Depending on the type of school, department, or reputation of the school you are applying to, the Admissions Committees will be reading hundreds if not thousands of personal statements. In order to make your statement engaging, memorable, and distinctive you must apply the basic strategy of isolating and focusing on the central theme asked in each question--answer it!  Think it through. What exactly are they asking for? What is the Scope of the question?  Application questions often range from the extremely specific [e.g., what are the personal challenges regarding interpersonal matters that you feel brought out your conflict mediation and management skills?] to the open-ended and amorphous [e.g. tell us something about yourself regarding your desire to become an attorney].  In addition to the question posed, most schools provide guidelines for answering their questions.  Follow these guidelines carefully. Don't deviate from them.

Some question formats pose one general question and several more specific questions. Don't let your answer to the general question be a mere repetition of the specific queries. Pay close attention to the precise question asked and avoid being repetitive. Reserve all other information worthy of some detail for the general personal statement. Make your general statement a "catch-all" document which gives the Admissions Committee the impression that there is more to you than you have previously revealed.

Avoid redundancies among the differing parts of your application package.  Don't just recite your GPA and/or courses taken in your personal statement.  These will probably be given adequate consideration elsewhere in the application.  However, you may mention your GPA and courses taken if you believe they require explanation.  For instance, you may state that your GPA discrepancy was due to an illness that required hospitalization or due to family problems.  Aside from such situations, do not make "excuses" for your grades.  The Admissions Committees probably run into hundreds of such excuses each and every year. 

Beware of a "one size fits all" attitude!

Once you estimate the parameters of what the personal statement question is asking for, you must discern the type and structure of an essay that would be the most efficient and responsive to the question posed. With this in mind, beware that there is no ONE generic personal statement that could possibly meet all the questions posed by the schools you are applying to. Most schools vary in the personal mix of people they wish to admit. Your must tailor your statement closely to the questions the application package asks.  Although one personal statement might generally meet the requirements o
 
















