Question pertaining to the goals essay.

[rohit.bizschool]

Hi,
One of the schools I'm applying to (Anderson FEMBA) has the following question :

"Why UCLA Anderson FEMBA for these next three years? Do you plan to enhance your current career or shift into a new career? If your interests are entrepreneurial, are you already an entrepreneur or do you plan to be an entrepreneur, and if so, when and how? (Maximum 1 page, double-spaced, 12 point font)"

When I wrote a draft-essay using google docs, a single page with double-spacing and 12 point font could accommodate only 300 characters. My draft is almost 2 pages with 550 words.

Is 300 words a reasonable length? I've read sample essays and they seemed to be 3 times this limit.

Thanks!

[ivyctor2010]

Hi,

I think almost all aspirants face issues while bringing down essays within word-limits. But word or page limits are enforced by B-schools for two reasons:

1) They wish to control the amount of effort they spend in reviewing the student application content
2) Some B-schools wish to check on how concisely a candidate can write about his/her achievements and goals while not missing out important points.

So my advise here would be to re-look your essay and include only those points which are absolutely essential. Playing around with verbiage and sentence formation may cut down further words.

[machichi]

They are very clear that they only want a page. You should look at your first draft as a brain dump and then create an outline that answers the questions they are asking. Keep it very concise and specific.

[myEssayReview]

Indeed, pruning down an essay to the allowed word limit is one of the biggest challenges in writing application essays, but with significant structure modifications, it is always possible to adhere to the prescribed word limit without compromising on the content.