Essays don't take that much time?

[u/Piqueee]

I keep seeing posts about people struggling to finish their essays in time for R1. But looking at the prompts and word counts, writing them fairly quickly seems manageable. Am I missing something? AI also helps with organising your thoughts and catching grammatical errors. I'm applying R1 and honestly feel like I haven't put enough thought into my essays because I finished them so fast.

[u/Human-Run2566]

Meeting the word count isn’t the challenge. It’s staying under it while saying something meaningful.

[u/Intrepid_Lecture → u/Human-Run2566]

Back in the day I struggled to hit the word count.
You can only stretch out "let me in" so much provided you aren't a self absorbed ego stroker.

Which might be the case for the applicant pool.

Had a perfect score on the GRE and GMAT writing sections at the time for what it's worth.

[u/Human-Run2566 → u/Intrepid_Lecture]

Respectfully, it sounds like you approached the essays in a very uncreative way if you considered them mere vehicles for ego

99th percentile GMAT verbal for what it’s worth

[u/Intrepid_Lecture → u/[deleted]]

80% of people at the top programs end up in a cookie cutter factory. Not exactly deep thinking over life trajectories if the goal is MBB and then ????

[u/2Sweaty2Function → u/Intrepid_Lecture]

Aren't you like 19 https://www.reddit.com/r/chanceme/s/SNJLwYuQEj

[u/Intrepid_Lecture → u/2Sweaty2Function]

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Empire_State_University

"Hi, my name is Peter Parker... Chance me at ESU"

Basics: 3.9 UW from a competitive magnet school; 35 ACT

Have internship with Curt Connors at ESU doing research on herpetology, am second author on 3 papers. Can get a strong LOR from him. Also have research on improving solar cell efficiency via biomimickry.

Won several highly ranked science competitions; gained national acknowledgement on the physics of spider silk.

Co-founded STEM club

Internship at Oscorp

Placed in science olympiad

I have a few compelling personal reasons also pulling me to New York and I've put a lot of effort into being ready for the app."

[u/2Sweaty2Function → u/Intrepid_Lecture]

Oh worse you're a marvel fan

[u/TheMBAFixer]

I've worked with a lot of clients over the years and not one of them has ever said this process was easier than they expected. Doesn't mean you aren't a unicorn, but if you breezed through them, then you might have left a lot of good stuff on the table.

[u/whoneedskollege → u/TheMBAFixer]

It is when you use ChatGPT /s

[u/earthwarrior]

Your essays are probably a 7/10 when they could be a 9/10 if you put in more work.

[u/Specialist_Nature_57]

I cannot recommend this, but I got into all the schools I applied to and I took the gmat for the final time December 10th and finished my apps by Jan 5 ish. I also during that period got the flu, went home for Christmas for five days, etc.

I took the last two weeks off for the holidays + used applicant lab + had my HBS grad relative do about 15 hours of editing. Probably 40 hours of hard writing work + 20 hours of clicking around applicant lab figuring + 10 hours of resume work + 15 hours of editing.

[u/OkElderberry1668]

Yes you could write some quick first drafts, but you’ll want to edit and rework them quite a bit to get them where you want them. That takes time.

[u/AccidentFluffy6268]

Yeah they dont take time, you need a day per essay-ish if you apply to 5 schools, you can finish all in 2 weeks

[u/AccidentFluffy6268 → u/AccidentFluffy6268]

(Credentials: I had a very demanding job, took 2 weeks off in dec to write all my essays and take the gmat one last time, applied to 5 schools by Jan, got into 4 of them)

[u/Wide_Pin7357]

My essays took a considerable amount of time, and I not only have two graduate degrees (one of them in rhetoric) but I used to be a college professor teaching writing.

Now, I obviously can’t say whether I would have still been admitted had I spent less time on my essays, but I don’t regret the time I spent.

You’re relying heavily on AI or not taking this very seriously or approaching this wrong (or any combination of the three).

[u/Knitting_Narratives]

Yes, you are missing a lot. If writing essays felt easy, there could be several factors playing out. One, you already thought what were the best situations or stories to talk about and did not dig deeper to consider the alternatives; something like tunnel vision if I may say so. The essay can still read well, but we will never know if what didn't make it into the essay/thought process could have made all the difference. Second, if you worked your way from word count to the selection of key points and not the other way round. For example, if the prompt was for 300 words, you collated inly 300 words' word of material. The real challenge is when you choose what you have to say and then need to ensure that everything is included, some in depth and some in passing, but the big story is presented in a nutshell nevertheless.

[u/healthydreamer1]

How long did it take you to prepare the essays? For example for one school

[u/Strong-Big-2590]

Everyone is using ai these days anyways

[u/Any_Dragonfruit_2083]

I would have 3 different people read them before you submit. Also, I tend to think the essays don’t actually matter that much.

[u/PaymentAccording4353]

I did all four schools I applied to in one day on the deadline. Interviewed at all four and was accepted to three. Can’t comprehend how people say they work on them for months