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.