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Graduate School Success
(Admitted to Yale) |
"Had it not been for my editor and the fantastic job she did, I'm not sure I would have been accepted on the first try. My GRE scores were rather low and I was very disappointed. The graduate coordinator reviewed my packet and commented on how well my statement of intent had been written. At that very moment I realized how very important this document was."
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 Lesson
Five: Intros and Conclusions
In the Graduate Statement
Themes section, we touched on some of the purposes of the introduction
and conclusion. Specifically, we discussed how an introduction can orient
the reader to the ideas the essay will undertake, and, more briefly, how
the conclusion can be useful in synthesizing those ideas. At that point,
we were most concerned about the coherence of your essay's structure.
In this section, our
focus is slightly narrower for the introduction and broader for the conclusion.
That is, having covered one of the two major aspects of the introduction
already, we will now focus on the other: how to draw in the reader. Conversely,
since we have not yet covered the conclusion in depth, we will focus here
on defining its purpose and offering tips on how to achieve that purpose.
Select One:
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EssayEdge
Extra: Opening With a Quotation
There is
no approach more hackneyed than opening with a quotation. The
ones we see at EssayEdge are almost always just marginally clever
expressions of the most obvious lessons about hard work, persistence,
and fulfilling one's dreams--often barely relevant to the rest
of the essay. Occasionally, someone will find a quote that's
worth a pause, but even then the reader will not be impressed.
The very sight of quotation marks at the beginning of your essay
may very well elicit a cringe or a sigh.
The admissions
committee is far more interested in hearing what you have to
say. If you happen upon a fascinating or pithy quotation by
another person, using it will not make your case for admission
any more compelling. In fact, an impatient reader might simply
write you off as unoriginal. Additionally, quoting a philosopher
or Shakespeare will not make you appear well-read, because anyone
can open Bartlett's Familiar Quotations to find something
that appears intelligent and insightful.
Finally,
even quoting your grandmother or some other wise relative has
been overdone. This is not to say that you shouldn't use dialogue
if you're describing a particular episode, but anything that
sounds like an aphorism will only make your essay seem trite,
no matter how perfectly it sums up your theme.
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 Introductions
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