Turning Your Weakness Into Definite Advantage in Your Admission Essays
The question tell us about your weaknesses strikes fear in so many applicants, for good reason, who really want to expose his or her failings? Still, there is a way out of this: read and internalize the following courses of action, and come up with a most impressive admission essay.
Application essay guide: Don’t dwell on the negative but on your potential to improve
Any Admissions officer worth his/her salt will cringe and shake his head when he reads a line that goes ‘I have no weaknesses, I have attended to them a long time ago, and I am now the perfect specimen.’ Yes, it will be the perfect specimen, but not you. Your essay will be the perfect specimen of the kind of document that gets trashed faster than you can finish this paragraph.
Honesty is the name of the game here. Just mention one or two of your most glaring weaknesses, but do not apologize- the readers don’t need it. What you should do is show them that you have been working on your weaknesses, but that is not enough. You can narrate concrete events showing an act that proved that you are intent on killing that particular failing. The potential to improve is what counts for these respected Admissions officers. You may not have realized it yet, but the ability to talk about your weakness in a candid manner is considered as a mature thing, let that be the case in your essay.
Admission essay guide: Talk about how the school can give you another shot for a better life
For example, you were forced to drop out from an Ivy League campus because you joined the wrong crowd and your grades plummeted, then you can use this. You can tell them that you have studied the on probation freshmen programs of the school and say that given the chance, you can survive all the hardships and make it to the finish line. Make it a play for compassion, without being obvious about it. Remember, these assessors are human, they take pity on people who deserve a second chance.
Weaknesses, when asked, should be answered truthfully. Turn it around by showing the readers how committed you are to improving yourself. Remember, it is only a fraction of the whole essay, so you don’t need to be paralyzed with fear when admitting the failings.
Related questions:
1. Should one lie about his weaknesses in the admission essay?
2. How can one soften the impact of weaknesses in the admission essay?
3. Is apologizing on the admission essay a good thing?