Hi,

Thank you for this wonderful forum.

I'm curious. What do you think goes through the heads of members of the admissions committee when they read the essays?

Obviously, they read plenty of essays, maybe several a day. It has to become routine after a while. Is there any hope of really standing out with a compelling essay? One that would make the reader say to himself: "I have to meet this person"?

I guess I'm asking - is there any point in actually trying to make them like you, or should you just focus on answering the question and on listing as many impressive achievements as you can?

I know word count is crucial, but do you think I should waste some words on "color" and "mood"?

When I read a book I always measure it by how much I would have liked to meet the hero, or how much I would have liked to see a sequel. Is there any hope of duplicating that with the admissions committee or are they so tired of reading applications that they won't notice?

Thanks!
Gil