Overview of Short Essay Samples

Geological Sciences Samples

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.

Neuroscience Student Sample

The sample essay by a neuroscience student opens with narrative technique, telling
an affecting story about working in a lab at the University of Pittsburgh. Thus we are
introduced to one of the motivating forces behind her interest in neuroscience. Later
paragraphs cite three undergraduate research experiences and her interest in the
linked sciences of disease: immunology, biochemistry, genetics, and pathology.

Medieval Literature Student Sample

This sample essay immerses us in detail about medieval literature throughout,

eventually citing several Irish medieval manuscripts. With these examples and
others, we are convinced that this student truly does see medieval literature as a
“passion,” as she claims in her first sentence. Later, the writer repeatedly cites two
professors and “mentors” whom she has already met, noting how they have shaped
her highly specific academic goals, and tying her almost headlong approach directly
to the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, where she will have flexibility in
designing her own program.

Beinecke Scholarship Student Sample

The Beinecke Scholarship essay is written by a junior faced with stiff competition
from a program that awards $34,000 towards senior year and graduate school. This
student takes an interesting theme-based approach and projects forward toward
graduate school with confidence. This writer’s sense of self-definition is particularly
strong, and her personal story compelling. Having witnessed repeated instances of
injustice in her own life, the writer describes in her final paragraphs how these
experiences have led to her proposed senior thesis research and her goal of
becoming a policy analyst for the government’s Department of Education.

Online Education Student Sample

Written during a height of US involvement in Iraq, this essay manages the intriguing
challenge of how a member of the military can make an effective case for on-line
graduate study. The obvious need here, especially for an Air Force pilot of seven
years, is to keep the focus on academic interests rather than, say, battle successes
and the number of missions flown. An additional challenge is to use military
experience and vocabulary in a way that is not obscure nor off-putting to academic
selection committee members. To address these challenges, this writer intertwines
his literacy in matters both military and academic, keeping focus on applications of
Geographic Information Systems (GIS), his chosen field of graduate study.

Engineer Applying to a Master’s Program Sample

This example shows that even for an engineer with years of experience in the field,
the fundamentals of personal essay writing remain the same. This statement opens
with the engineer describing a formative experience—visiting a meat packaging plant
as a teenager—that influenced the writer to work in the health and safety field. 
Now, as the writer prepares to advance his education while remaining a full-time
safety engineer, he proves that he is capable by detailing examples that show his
record of personal and professional success. Especially noteworthy is his partnering
with a government agency to help protect workers from dust exposures, and he ties
his extensive work experience directly to his goal of becoming a Certified Industrial
Hygienist.