Short Essay Samples

PrintPrint

Below is a pdf link to personal statements and application essays representing strong efforts by
students applying for both undergraduate and graduate opportunities. These ten essays have one
thing in common: They were all written by students under the constraint of the essay being 1-2
pages due to the target program’s explicit instructions. In such circumstances, writers must attend
carefully to the essay prompt (sometimes as simple as “Write a one-page summary of your reasons
for wanting to pursue graduate study”) and recognize that evaluators tend to judge these essays on
the same fundamental principles, as follows:

First, you are typically expected to provide a window into your personal motivations, offer a
summary of your field, your research, or your background, set some long-term goals, and note
specific interest in the program to which you are applying.

Second, you are expected to provide some personal detail and to communicate effectively and
efficiently. Failure to do so can greatly limit your chances of acceptance.

Good writers accomplish these tasks by immediately establishing each paragraph’s topic and
maintaining paragraph unity, by using concrete, personal examples to demonstrate their points, and
by not prolonging the ending of the essay needlessly. Also, good writers study the target opportunity
as carefully as they can, seeking to become an “insider,” perhaps even communicating with a
professor they would like to work with at the target program, and tailoring the material accordingly
so that evaluators can gauge the sincerity of their interest

Overview of Short Essay Samples

Geological Sciences Samples

In the pdf link below, the first two one-page statements written by students in the geological
sciences are interesting to compare to each other. Despite their different areas of research
specialization within the same field, both writers demonstrate a good deal of scientific fluency and
kinship with their target programs.

Geography Student Sample

The short essay by a geography student applying to an internship program opens with the writer
admitting that she previously had a limited view of geography, then describing how a course
changed her way of thinking so that she came to understand geography as a “balance of physical,
social, and cultural studies.” Despite her limited experience, she shows that she has aspirations of
joining the Peace Corps or obtaining a law degree, and her final paragraph links her interests directly
to the internship program to which she is applying.

Materials Sciences Student Sample

For the sample from materials sciences, directed at an internal fellowship, the one-page essay has an
especially difficult task: The writer must persuade those who already know him (and thus know both
his strengths and limitations) that he is worthy of internal funds to help him continue his graduate
education. He attempts this by first citing the specific goal of his research group, followed by a brief
summary of the literature related to this topic, then ending with a summary of his own research and
lab experience.

Teach for America Student Sample

The student applying for the Teach for America program, which recruits recent college graduates to
teach for two years in underprivileged urban and rural public schools, knows that she must convince
readers of her suitability to such a demanding commitment, and she has just two short essays with
which to do so. She successfully achieves this through examples related to service mission work that
she completed in Ecuador before entering college.