So about these secondaries...

[LAman10]

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Are these secondary essays REALLY supposed to be full-fledged essays? you know, with the whole "beginning hook" and "ending-with-a-bang" deal. Or are they just supposed to be direct and to the point, without all the typical essay dressing?

I love writing, and I really like to make my writing sound good on the ears, which to me involves writing essays that attempt to draw the reader into the piece and keep the flow going with eloquent transitions or whatnot. But I'm finding that this becomes impossible with most essays, mainly due to the character/word limit. So I was wondering if these truly are supposed to be essays or if they are simply questions that you answer bluntly and directly.

Like for example, if the question is: "How will you contribute to our diverse community?"
Would an appropriate answer begin with "The most diverse characteristic about me is..." (or something along those lines)?

How do you guys manage to stay comfortably within the character limit, especially with ambitious secondaries like Chicago? For those of you who answer your essays WAY below the character limit, are your essays choppy or something?

Thanks for the help!

 

[trueBelief]

I think the essays which are about 1500 chars or less do not need to be written super creatively or anything. The point of most of these prompts is to know something else about you as a person that is not reflected elsewhere in your application, so starting a response by saying "My greatest strength is ..." is fine. Of course people do care about grammar and the sentences must not jump from one main point to another without a brief transition, but I have been told to keep to the point at all times.

For the longer responses like the 2000char over essay, I think one could be expected to have a short intro and conclusion but nothing too fancy or catch like the personal statement. If you are able to write all your essays with a hook, I'd say that's a good thing.