Sunday, October 15, 2006

Aah - this is taking long

Longer than i expected.

I am done with three of the four essays though. The all important "What matters most..." Essay has been completed to my total satisfaction. I showed the essay to a new reviewer and she absolutely loves it. I have also finished the two smaller essays.

The one i am fighting with it the "Career Aspirations..." essay. I am finding it extremely difficult to freeze the why Stanford part. Well, it is a problem of a plenty :) Stanford is one of those schools which boasts of the unimaginable stretch of resources it can offer to its students. I am trying to put the right things on paper based on what i am most interested in, and i am finding that i can at most dedicate one line to an entity. I am unsure whether it is right or wrong. There's just so much to say :)

I have an essay which is just a tad more than 3 pages long, which again i am not sure abt. If i have to shorten it, then there goes some more space. I have decided to stop it for the day and get working on it again tomorrow. I have completed everything on the online data questions and so i can submit the app once I upload the essays. Looks like i will be able to stick to my Wednesday deadline.

My manager still has to submit two of his Recos - Kellogg and Stanford. He's on an unexpected vacation till Wednesday :( I am hoping he would be able to take some time off and submit the recos. I just sent him a mail reminding abt the Kellogg deadline. If he doesn't do it from home, we might have to fight with the busy Embark Application server :)

That reminds me, this week there are 2 deadlines I'm interested in - Chicago on 18th and Kellogg on 20th. All the best to all u folks applying to these schools.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Iday,

I have a quick question about transcripts... Did you get a consolidated one from your college? Or did you just get your HOD to sign on every one of those 8 marksheets?

Iday said...

@anon
I got a consolidated one from the college. I don't think HOD is the authority who can sign ur certificates. It must be the registrar or the Controller or Exams or someone in a similar role. Speak to ur college - that would be the perfect place to start.

Anonymous said...

Ok.. thanks!

StressTensor said...

Hey Iday,

I spoke with Sharon Hoffman (Stanford Adcom) in person about the essay lengths. Her take: The lengths are prescribed because when there were no limits, applicants got too anxious about their essay lengths. It helps to "stay close" to the limits though, else other applicants come across as more focused. So I would not be worried about a few extra lines.

From my visits to schools, it is apparent that you will not have the time to participate in all that interests you. So if you are short of space in your essays, mention those which you would pick over the rest.

I am working on the same essay right now and I agree - problem of plenty indeed!

Iday said...

@StressTensor
Thanks a lot for your inputs.
I just finished reviewing this essay once again. It is still longer than three pages though :(
I dont see how i can shorten it.

I am planning to revisit the essay once again tomorrow and that will be it :)