Neuroscience Student Sample

The sample essay by a neuroscience student opens with narrative technique, telling an affecting
story about working in a lab at the University of Pittsburgh. Thus we are introduced to one of the
motivating forces behind her interest in neuroscience. Later paragraphs cite three undergraduate
research experiences and her interest in the linked sciences of disease: immunology, biochemistry,
genetics, and pathology.

Medieval Literature Student Sample

This sample essay immerses us in detail about medieval literature throughout, eventually citing
several Irish medieval manuscripts. With these examples and others, we are convinced that this
student truly does see medieval literature as a “passion,” as she claims in her first sentence. Later,
the writer repeatedly cites two professors and “mentors” whom she has already met, noting how
they have shaped her highly specific academic goals, and tying her almost headlong approach
directly to the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, where she will have flexibility in designing
her own program.

Beinecke Scholarship Student Sample

The Beinecke Scholarship essay is written by a junior faced with stiff competition from a program
that awards $34,000 towards senior year and graduate school. This student takes an interesting
theme-based approach and projects forward toward graduate school with confidence. This writer’s
sense of self-definition is particularly strong, and her personal story compelling. Having witnessed
repeated instances of injustice in her own life, the writer describes in her final paragraphs how these
experiences have led to her proposed senior thesis research and her goal of becoming a policy
analyst for the government’s Department of Education.

Online Education Student Sample

Written during a height of US involvement in Iraq, this essay manages the intriguing challenge of
how a member of the military can make an effective case for on-line graduate study. The obvious
need here, especially for an Air Force pilot of seven years, is to keep the focus on academic interests
rather than, say, battle successes and the number of missions flown. An additional challenge is to
use military experience and vocabulary in a way that is not obscure nor off-putting to academic
selection committee members. To address these challenges, this writer intertwines his literacy in
matters both military and academic, keeping focus on applications of Geographic Information
Systems (GIS), his chosen field of graduate study.

Engineer Applying to a Master’s Program Sample

This example shows that even for an engineer with years of experience in the field, the
fundamentals of personal essay writing remain the same. This statement opens with the engineer
describing a formative experience—visiting a meat packaging plant as a teenager—that influenced
the writer to work in the health and safety field. Now, as the writer prepares to advance his
education while remaining a full-time safety engineer, he proves that he is capable by detailing
examples that show his record of personal and professional success. Especially noteworthy is his
partnering with a government agency to help protect workers from dust exposures, and he ties his
extensive work experience directly to his goal of becoming a Certified Industrial Hygienist.

Click here to download a pdf of ten short essay samples.