support@accepted.com
Get Your Free Consultation!

Which program are you applying to?

  • - Select a program -
  • MBA/EMBA
  • Law School
  • Grad School, PhD
  • MD/DO, Residency
  • Other Healthcare Programs
  • College
  • About Accepted
    • About us
      • The Accepted Advantage
      • Clients Accepted At
      • In The News
    • Client Feedback
    • Contact Us
  • Meet the Team
    • MBA Admissions Consultants
    • Med School Admissions Consultants
    • Grad School Admissions Consultants
    • Law School Admissions Consultants
    • College Admissions Consultants
  • Free Resources
    • MBA
      • Free Guides
      • Selectivity Index
      • Sample Essays
      • Essay Tips
      • MBA Podcast Episodes
      • MBA Deadlines
    • Med School
      • Free Guides
      • Selectivity Index
      • Sample Essays
      • Essay Tips
      • Med School Podcast Episodes
    • Healthcare Programs
      • Free Guides
      • Admissions Straight Talk Podcast for Healthcare Applicants
    • Grad School
      • Free Guides
      • Sample Essays
      • Grad School Podcast Episodes
    • Law School
      • Free Guides
      • Selectivity Index
      • Sample Essays
      • Law School Podcast Episodes
    • College
      • Free Guides
      • Sample Essays
      • Admissions Straight Talk Podcast for College Applicants
  • Services
    • MBA
      • Complete Packages
      • Essay Editing
      • Resume Services
      • Interview Prep
      • MORE
    • Med School
      • Premed Packages
      • Primary App Packages
      • Secondary App Packages
      • Essay Editing
      • Interview Prep
      • MORE
    • Healthcare
      • Postbac Packages
      • MPH Packages
      • NursingCAS Packages
      • PharmD Packages
      • Essay Editing
      • MORE
    • Grad School
      • Complete Packages
      • PhD Packages
      • Essay Editing
      • CV/Resume Assistance
      • MORE
    • Law School
      • Complete Packages
      • Essay Editing
      • Interview Prep
      • MORE
    • College
      • Complete Packages
      • Common App Package
      • Essay Editing
      • MORE
  • Blog
    • MBA Blog Posts
    • Medical School Blog Posts
    • Other Healthcare Blog Posts
    • Grad School Blog Posts
    • Law School Blog Posts
    • College Blog Posts
    • Admissions Straight Talk Podcast
Accepted

Accepted Admissions Blog

Everything you need to know to get Accepted

July 17, 2014

Reading Time: 2 minutes

5 Keys to Concreteness

Make sure your application essays don't contain any of the 5 fatal flaws!
Chris Adcom: Smart, hardworking, and short on time.

I like to apply the principles established in Chip Heath and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick to personal statements and application essays. In this post I focus on concreteness.

The third of Made to Stick‘s six key principles, concreteness, doesn’t seem to apply to intangibles like leadership, achievement, teamwork, or character – the topics you typically need to cover in your essays. Yet, even when discussing abstractions, if your essays are concrete they will communicate more effectively and more memorably.

Here are five tips to make your personal statements and application essays concrete:

1. Use sensory language when appropriate. Write in terms of sights, sounds, smells, touch, and taste.

2. Break down large ideas into smaller sub-topics and concepts. (For more on this idea, please see “Fatal Flaw #4: Superficiality.” ) The grand summary or platitude won’t cut it.

3. Quantify when possible. Did you increase membership a lot when president or did you increase membership by 50%? Did you lead a team or did you lead a 10-person team?

4. Without using clichés, relate events, entities, and concepts to ideas that the reader already knows and trusts. For example if I say that “Accepted is the McKinsey of admissions consulting firms,” clients will expect top-notch work and a strategic approach to admissions.

5. Think about the human beings you are addressing in your essays. You have read interviews of and met with admissions committee members. Perhaps create a character that represents Chris Adcom for you. For me, Chris is usually smart, professional, and hard-working. Typically a “people-person” with a genuine interest in others, she also has a well–practiced nose for baloney and doesn’t like the odor. She is always short on time and consequently ends up skimming essays if they are boring or don’t answer the question, even though she doesn’t like to do so. She is dedicated to helping her school create a diverse, talented class of students who will be happy to attend her school, contribute to campus life as students, and add to the school’s reputation as alumni. That’s her job. Write your essays for Chris.

Use these five keys to concreteness when crafting your essays to make them more compelling.

Learn how to use sample essays to create an exemplary essay of your own! Click here to download our free report!

Linda Abraham By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

Article by Linda Abraham / Admissions Consulting, College Admissions, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions / personal statement

Get Accepted!

Sign up for a free consultation today!

Which program are you applying to?

Blog Categories

  • Admissions Consulting
  • Admissions Straight Talk Podcast
  • College Admissions
  • Grad School Admissions
  • Law School Admissions
  • MBA Admissions
  • Medical School Admissions
  • Other Healthcare Admissions
  • Uncategorized

Most Popular Blog Posts

1. 7 Simple Steps to Writing an Excellent Diversity Essay

2. 4 Ways to Show How You’ll Contribute in the Future

3. How to Write About Your Research Interests

4. Tips for Answering the Yale University Supplemental Essays and Short Answer Questions [2022-2023]

5. When Will Medical Schools Give You an Answer?

6. Sample Essays from Admitted HBS Students

7. Tips for Answering the University of Pennsylvania Supplemental Essay Prompts [2022-2023]

8. Top STEM MBA Programs: A Comprehensive List and Overview of STEM-OPT Eligible B-Schools

Sample Essays

MBA Personal Statement Examples

Medical School Personal Statement Examples

Graduate School Personal Statement Examples

Law School Personal Statement Examples

College Application Essay Examples

 

Home Page Services and Prices MBA Med School Law School Grad School College

About Us Press Room Contact Us Podcast Accepted Blog
Privacy Policy Website Terms of Use Disclaimer Client Terms of Service

Accepted 1171 S. Robertson Blvd. #140 Los Angeles CA 90035 +1 (310) 815-9553
© 2022 Accepted

BBB A+ RatingStamp of AIGAC Excellence

Copyright © 2023 · Education Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in