HKS Essay #3

[CyberC1]

Essay #3 of HKS starts off with the following prompt:
"…Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.”– John F. Kennedy, Presidential Inaugural Speech, 20 January 1961In the spirit of President Kennedy's famous exhortation, please tell the HKS Admissions Committee what you can do to change your community or world through your leadership and commitment to public service. Specifically, we are interested to knowHow your background has led you to apply to HKS;How you have engaged in public service;How you have demonstrated your capacity as a leader;How the Kennedy School experience would improve your capacity to contribute to the public good.
In light of the prompt, how do you think one should structure the essay? Should one focus more on past accomplishments and work experience, and how it leads up to HKS as well as what he/she intends to do at HKS while skimming lightly on career goals? Or should the focus be less on past experience and more on future goals? Or a 50/50 mix of the two? I'm having trouble figuring out whether to emphasize the past or the future...

[zourah]

Essay #3 of HKS starts off with the following prompt:
"…Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.”– John F. Kennedy, Presidential Inaugural Speech, 20 January 1961In the spirit of President Kennedy's famous exhortation, please tell the HKS Admissions Committee what you can do to change your community or world through your leadership and commitment to public service. Specifically, we are interested to knowHow your background has led you to apply to HKS;How you have engaged in public service;How you have demonstrated your capacity as a leader;How the Kennedy School experience would improve your capacity to contribute to the public good.
In light of the prompt, how do you think one should structure the essay? Should one focus more on past accomplishments and work experience, and how it leads up to HKS as well as what he/she intends to do at HKS while skimming lightly on career goals? Or should the focus be less on past experience and more on future goals? Or a 50/50 mix of the two? I'm having trouble figuring out whether to emphasize the past or the future...


Part of the beauty of the Kennedy School is that no one leaves pursuing precisely the same idea with which they entered. Keeping that in mind, and noting that three of the four sub-questions are set in the past tense, I'd recommend setting up your past as a strong foundation and then sketch future plans atop that - maybe a 70/30 split? Note that the question isn't quite "where are you going," even, but "how can HKS get you there?" I'm not connected to the admissions folks, but I think a natural structure is "I've done A, B and C - the K school offers D research center and E concentration work and once I've gotten two years with Prof F, it's completely natural to imagine me moving on to outcomes Y and Z, isn't it?"

Good luck!

[CyberC1]

Part of the beauty of the Kennedy School is that no one leaves pursuing precisely the same idea with which they entered. Keeping that in mind, and noting that three of the four sub-questions are set in the past tense, I'd recommend setting up your past as a strong foundation and then sketch future plans atop that - maybe a 70/30 split? Note that the question isn't quite "where are you going," even, but "how can HKS get you there?" I'm not connected to the admissions folks, but I think a natural structure is "I've done A, B and C - the K school offers D research center and E concentration work and once I've gotten two years with Prof F, it's completely natural to imagine me moving on to outcomes Y and Z, isn't it?"

Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback. My essay is structured along those lines, so it feels good that I'm not totally off base

[CyberC1]

I was wondering... is there a current student that's willing to read over and comment on my pseudo-statement of purpose (essay 3)? I'd certainly appreciate it.