The Admissions Essay

[Commando303]

I have two questions:

1. How important a factor in deciding admission is the essay?

2. Could someone offer some advice as to how to write it? I'm having trouble getting started.

Thanks.

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[Kally]

I have two questions:

1. How important a factor in deciding admission is the essay?

2. Could someone offer some advice as to how to write it? I'm having trouble getting started.

Thanks.

1. Does it really matter? Just write the best essay you can.

2. Not knowing the questions this is kind of hard to answer

 

[HOPEOPT]

I have two questions:

1. How important a factor in deciding admission is the essay?

2. Could someone offer some advice as to how to write it? I'm having trouble getting started.

Thanks.

you can start your essay by creating a story that attract the attention of the admission committee, why you choose optometry, something about your self, how you see yourself fit to that career, bibliography about your self, why you choose that specific graduate school of optometry. I hope this will help, and Good luck.

 

[DrFrankenzyme]

I would say a good way to start is to "let it all out" and write as much as you can think of about the essay topic (eg. Why do you want to be an optometrist?). Then, begin to organize and streamline it into something near your desired length.

 

[Commando303]

1. Does it really matter? Just write the best essay you can.

2. Not knowing the questions this is kind of hard to answer

1. That's such a sideways, evasive answer. Half the points we raise on this forum we raise to satisfy our curiosity about these things. The other half are to find out how best to get in to a college of optometry of our choice. This question comes from both those places.

2. All right. Typically, the question is something broad and generic, like, "Why do you want to be an optometrist?"

 

[Commando303]

Thanks, all. I might take that advice about just pouring out everything then paring down what's on paper to effect something that resembles an answer to the topic ("Why do you want to be an optometrist?"). Usually, this essay is about a thousand words, is that right? (I'd like not to have to write several versions of varying length for the different colleges to which I end up applying.)

 

[Tizzle]

Some highlights that I considered writing about in my personal statement were...

My personality
Some history of myself
How I got introduced to optometry
Any first-hand experience
Why I decided optometry over other careers
My goals/where I see myself in x years
Wrap everything up

My personal statement was very anecdotal and personal. I wrote it as if I was talking to someone who wanted to know all those questions, but of course, keep a formal tone and don't use vernacular. I don't think it's meant to be an essay about how well you can write or a book report, so don't be afraid to use "I, me, you" pronouns because it's a personal statement.

I didn't get any help or ask any professionals about writing it, so this is coming from my experience only. It's what I thought of covering when I wrote it. If you're really worried about it, I would ask a health professions office adviser for more tips.

 

[OpticalBlackOut]

Thanks, all. I might take that advice about just pouring out everything then paring down what's on paper to effect something that resembles an answer to the topic ("Why do you want to be an optometrist?"). Usually, this essay is about a thousand words, is that right? (I'd like not to have to write several versions of varying length for the different colleges to which I end up applying.)

Actually, these were the limits for the schools I applied to:
(I just loaded my saved docs, I could be wrong...)
ICO- 500 words
Berkeley- 5000 characters
NECO and PCO- no stated limits.

Personally, 500 words and 5000 characters (2 separate essays, so more like 10,000 characters) was a huge difference, so I would try to find out the word count for the schools you're interested in before completing the entire essay. This is because I was extremely concise for the ICO essay, whereas the essays I wrote for NECO and PCO were anecdotal and much more detailed.

This is, of course, before the centralized apps. came about, I'm not sure how the application essays would work now.

I didn't exactly know how to start my essays either. However, I wrote down all the points I wanted to make in regards to the question, then ranked them in importance. Then I made connections between them, and dropped the points that were less important depending on the word limit.
Good luck

 

[SarahNC]

The way I did it: Sit down, write something, anything! Then that gets your juices flowing and by the end look at the points you have made, then go back and re-do your introduction. By the time you get to the end, its usually a different essay than you intended.

 

[Commando303]

Thanks, guys. This is what I'm teetering between: being anecdotal and casual, and being succinct and no-nonsense. I'd like to reconcile the two into something readable, but am having trouble ironing that out. I believe, with the "universal application," the one topic ("Please describe what inspires your decision for becoming an optometrist, including your preparation for training in this profession, your aptitude and motivation, the basis for your interest in optometry, and your future career goals") will apply to all schools. As for essay-length, I'm unsure — I imagine it'll be about two pages, as I doubt admissions-committees thrill in sitting around reading thousands of nearly-identical essays about recent grads. who "have wanted to be an optometrist ever since I was a kid, because I'm sure it'll be really neat and super-rewarding."

 

[zyg0te]

http://www.studentdoctor.net/2008/11/essay-workshop-101/

 

[idoctor82]

When i went to Berkeley's Opto-Camp, one of the 4th year students said to me that when i write my essay, talk about the experiences and attributes that makes me unique and different from everyone else. I kept in mind that i needed to make my essay stand out over the other hundreds of essays the admissions committee will read also.

 

[rudolffairbanks]

interesting post you have shared here.