How should one approach these questions?
Essays required for all applicants:
Tell us about something you did well. (400 words)
Tell us about something you wish you had done better. (400 words)
Q.1. Tell us about something you did well. (400 words)
Harvard has reworded its accomplishment essay this year. Until last year Harvard had asked multi-accomplishment essay ( three accomplishments), so you had the freedom to choose one professional, one community, and one personal accomplishment to showcase multi-faceted personality. This year, however, they have shrunk it to 'one accomplishment', so instead of three you have to choose just one greatest accomplishment of yours that you want them to remember about your career . Please make sure that your story should demonstrate your leadership skills, teamwork, innovation, integrity, analytical abilities and maturity etc..
Please do not begin your story with . "My greatest accomplishment is" or "one thing I did well was... "Let your story/ experience speak for you.
Never tell the whole story in the first sentence itself. It is like telling the climax of the story in the first sentence itself.
Make sure your story has the following four components:
a. the challenge
b. the action (how you dealt with it)
c. the outcome/ result
d. the significance ( what you learned from it or how it was meaningful to you)
Q. 2 Tell us about something you wish you had done better. (400 words)
Like the question 3 1, Harvard has slimmed down its question # 2 as well. Instead of three setbacks, you only have to discuss one . Also, like question # 1, they have reworded question # 2 . Last year they had asked, "Tell us three setbacks you have faced." which meant setbacks that were not necessarily your fault. But now they are explicitly asking," Tell us about something you wish you had done better." This means now they are asking about failures or mistakes. In either case, you need to do some introspection and look for an experience when you could not achieve what you had deserved or expected.
When choosing your setback/ failure story, make sure to discuss an experience when you feel things could have been better if you had dealt with the situation differently . Also ,explain what that experience taught you which you later used for self improvement .
Since you have to share just one story, it should preferably come from your work life. The most important aspect of your experience should be what you learned from it, and how you applied that lesson later to improve yourself .
I hope it helped. Good luck with your application. If you find my post helpful, please let me know by pushing the thank button.
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