Pursuing a nursing career takes a lot of courage and determination. Not to mention that the admissions process into your dream school is a tough one. To help you land that spot in your dream school, here are some tips on what to discuss in your admissions essay.
Tell them why you want to be a nurse through “about myself” stories
The topic that cannot be eliminated from a nursing “essay about myself” is why you wanted to be a nurse. Some find it hard to express their desire to pursue nursing education since decisions especially about careers are not mainly based on mere reasons. There are a lot of things that are involved when deciding to pursue a nursing career. The best way to express this is to narrate in your “essay on myself” the related experiences and views about how you came up with the decision. Avoid writing general statements on your “essay about myself.” Instead, focus on tying up your values and motivation with your personal experiences. You can discuss about the most influential people in your life including the values that you learned from them.(1)
Discuss your passion and interest in the health care field
Admissions panel members are looking for applicants who are passionate to pursue a nursing career. They do not want applicants who do not have a thorough understanding of where they are heading to. It is vital to show the admissions panel that your decision to be a nurse is a mature decision. Show them proofs such as narrating your past volunteer jobs with feeding programs and medical missions, or your compassion about a sick neighbour. Through such stories, you will be able to effectively convey your deep interest in the field.(2)
Explain why you think you’ll be successful as a nurse
It will also be a good point to discuss about why you think you will be successful as a nurse. Discuss about your strengths that you think will be essential for the pursuit of this career. Entering into a nursing school is a tough competition. Thus, it is essential to prove to the application committee that you deserve one of the most coveted slots in their school by submitting a well-written application essay.(3)
(1) http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/application.html
(2) http://www.careerowlresources.ca/articles/nursing.htm
(3) http://www.atsu.edu/kcom/admissions/preparing_DO_admission/personal_statement_tips.htm
Getting into your dream school is a long and tedious process. That is why it is a common sight to see the sad and frustrated look at the faces of students who did not see their names on the admission list. Well, it is normal to mourn over the loss but it should not hinder you to go on and pursue a college education.
About myself: analyze your mistakes.
If you fail to get admitted at your dream school, take this as the opportunity to assess yourself and have a good “about myself” session. It will be a good chance to analyze your mistakes that you may have committed during the application process and learn from those mistakes to do better next time. Examine carefully what went wrong; is it your “essay about myself,” your interview answers, or your grades? Read again your “essay on myself.” Was it too dramatic or desperate? There are many different factors; what is important is that you will be able to acknowledge them and give room for self-improvement.(1)
Look for other options.
Not getting into your dream school is not the end of the world. There are still many schools out there that offer similar features that you want from your dream school, whether it is the calibre of education, the environment, or tuition rates. You can still find other schools that offer the same curriculum or degree that you want. Just be patient enough to look for them because who knows? Maybe you will find your new school as enjoyable as your dream school or even more.(2)
Inquire about transfer programs.
Never lose hope. If you really want to be in that school, then wait for the next school year and apply again. It will be better if you maximize your options by looking into the possibility of transferring to your dream school after a year. Look for the schools that have the same degree that you want to pursue to avoid taking subjects that will not be credited as you transfer. After all, maybe this year is not just for you. Remember, patience is a virtue.(3)
(1) http://www.actstudent.org/college/mistakes.html
(2) http://www.morehouse.edu/campus_life/
(3) http://www.brcc.edu/services/advising/transfer/Default.htm
As a prospective college student who is going into the process of writing your “about myself” essay, it is common that you will browse the net to search for a sample “essay about myself” that will guide you and give you ideas on how to write an effective essay. But not all sample essays are worth your time. The following are just to site a few characteristics of a sample essay that you should be wary of.
The sample essay contains unforgivable grammar errors
It is imperative to note that in an “essay about myself,” there should have no room for grammatical errors. One of the objectives of writing this essay is to show the admissions panel that you know how to write well. So why will you waste time looking at sample essays full of grammatical errors? Well-written essays contain no errors whether grammatical or typographical. Knowing this one common mistake in writing an essay can help you in avoiding such lapses when making your own.(1)
The flow of ideas is not that clear or logical
When you notice that the sample “essay about myself” that you are reading seems to be too redundant and pointless, then it is definitely not a good example. Essays should be vivid and rational in presenting the topics that are being discussed. The essay’s structure should have a coherent flow of arguments, experiences, and accounts so the correct message will be conveyed to the readers. To develop a sense of spontaneity, thoughts should be organized properly in a narrative form to keep hold of the readers’ attention.(2)
You lost interest in it after reading the first paragraph
The introduction part of the admission essay is the most crucial part. Time and effort should be devoted in creating an introduction that will capture the attention of the readers. As you read those sample essays with dragging first paragraphs, try to put yourself in the shoes of the application committee. How will you find the interest to read further when the introductory part displeased you already? It is only then that you will be able to appreciate the value of the introduction and for sure, you are not going to repeat the same mistake in your own essay.(3)
(1) http://www.acm.edu/uploads/cms/documents/acm-writing-essay.pdf
(2) http://www.gradschools.com/Article/essay-writing-lesson4-transition/989.html
(3) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14347374/
Let’s face it, the doctors almost always take the credit. When somebody is treated in a hospital or a clinic, it’s always because of the good doctor. But it is also a fact that there are other people who have helped a lot in the process—particularly the nurses. As independent, allied medical health professionals, nurses are not a doctor’s assistants; they have an entirely different and important function in patient care. After all, it’s the nurses who are almost always at the patients’ side. Nursing schools have the noble and difficult task to mold students to be the professionals who are truly fit for a nursing career.(1) Want to know if you’re meant for this career? If you can deal with the following issues aside from having the passion to help patients, then a nursing career may be perfect for you.
Dealing With bodily parts and secretions
The nurse is the first to assess the physical and emotional condition of the patient at his or her bed before the doctor comes. The nurse also sometimes assists by helping the patient clean himself or herself or his or her wounds. It is therefore inevitable that a nurse would be exposed to bodily parts which are often times, well, not on their perfect conditions. The nurse will have to endure blood, pus, urine, stool, and other bodily fluids and secretions on the job.(2)
Working on graveyard shifts
Taking care of a patient requires a 24-hour watch. After all, emergencies do not select a particular time of the day when they occur. Medical facilities have interns and more junior residents to fill in for the attending physicians at night, but nurses have to rotate among themselves. The nursing career entails sacrifices, especially in terms of working schedules.
Stubborn patients
As mentioned before, it’s the nurses who first face the patient at his or her bedside to assess his or her conditions before the doctor starts the rounds. Furthermore, it is also the nurses who implement the doctor’s treatment plan to the patient, such as the giving of medications. So as a nurse, you should be prepared with patients who will not cooperate during the physical assessment or who will not take their medicine. Just remember that however stubborn they are, they are still your patients and it’s your job to enforce the treatment plan on them.(3)
Aside from preparing yourself to face these challenges, you can start preparing for your admissions essay or “essay about myself.” The “essay about myself” is your tool to land that spot in your dream school. When writing your essay “about my self,” you can read an online sample essay about myself to get an idea on how to begin yours.
(1) http://www.nursingsociety.org/Education/SchoolsOfNursing/Pages/schools.aspx
(2) http://stats.bls.gov/OCO/OCOS083.HTM
(3) http://www.marylandhealthcareers.org/html/student/nursing.html
Stanford University is a learning institution that most high school graduates hear about, but only few students are actually admitted to. On a yearly basis, thousands of people send their application packages to Stanford with high hopes of getting admitted to this school. More often than not, however, applicants receive the thin rejection envelope instead of the bursting approval envelope. If you are one of the many people who were not accepted to Stanford or if you decided against going to Stanford, you may want to read this article on reasons not to attend Stanford University.
The Farm: The good and the bad
As one of the most prestigious schools in the world, Stanford University has produced some of the most influential and most renowned world figures. Aside from having educated some leading scholars, writers, and artists, Stanford also produced numerous political and legal figures. Some of the most prestigious people to graduate from Stanford include US and foreign presidents, vice-presidents, prime ministers, members of the royalty, senators, and Supreme Court Justices.(1) You can bet that not all of the Stanford graduates were perfect role models though. A classic example would be the 1971 experiment of a Stanford professor of psychology and his students, who created a mock prison system. The experiment led to the mock guards getting more sadistic, while the mock prisoners would show depression and passivity. Some students were emotionally scarred by the experiment.(2, 3)
Berkeley’s better academic environment
One of the biggest problems with going to school at Stanford is that it can cost you more than your entire life savings. At University of California, Berkeley, you can get a great education at a great value. Berkeley has also produced numerous influential figures, including Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel Laureates. Berkeley even has a larger student body, which means a bigger and more diverse network of friends and social contacts. Stanford even allows their students to drop classes before taking the finals without incurring any penalties to their grades. What kind of education is that? How can you forge character, virtues, and values if you allow students to just drop a class to save their GPA? Talk about baby feeding.(4, 5)
A bunch of preppies with attitudes
Another problem with Stanford is that the students can be stuck-up and conceited, only worried about how good they look in their designer outfits. If you aren’t the type to try and look like a goody-two-shoes preppy, then you’ll probably get annoyed as hell in Stanford. Besides, all they have to talk about is their money and the people they “know.” Whatever happened to real conversations?
Life over money
Finally, if you believe that there is more to life than just money, then Stanford isn’t the right place for you. The people at Stanford tend to get caught-up in talking about their financial capabilities. Who can blame them, though? With the huge tuition that they pay, they must have money. But you have to agree that there is much more to life than fattening your bank account, like getting a good education at a place other than Stanford University.
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stanford_University_people
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Zimbardo
(3) http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/02/ted_zimbardo
(4) http://ual.stanford.edu/AP/academic_policies/AcPolicies.html
(5) http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/04/us/stanford-u-decides-to-make-courses-harder-to-drop-but-easier-to-fail.html?pagewanted=all
