Success Stories: Into the (Wake) Forest!
At GoFurther, we understand that not everyone goes for top 10 schools only. Here is a sample essay for a top 30 school - Wake Forest University.
Share an experience where you incurred risk to demonstrate respect for others (i.e., interacting with others in a manner that acknowledges their value and worth as human beings and colleagues). Be sure to discuss why respect is important to you.
During one of our university intramural games for soccer in 2015, I saw that one of my teammates was being too aggressive and fouled the opposite team member who got an injury. As captain, I saw that this was wrong so then I went over to the other guy and told my own teammate to back down. I am driven to keep respect because respect is a bond that ensures that everyone plays fair. At the end of the 90 minutes, the opposing captain walked up to me and thanked me for my sportsmanship. Although it was an important match, respecting others can be just as important as the results. Just like sports, I believe respect is very applicable to business because I want to do business with integrity.
Share an experience that illustrates your work-ethic (i.e., one’s commitment to engage in hard work to achieve goals and fulfill duties and obligations).
I believe that the perseverance that I developed as a university basketball player transfers to working hard in business. I was not the tallest or naturally gifted but I worked hard every day during the basketball tournament in my junior year. For example, I woke up at 6AM to play 2 hours before I went to school every day. I practiced free throws, three pointers, and even was able to touch the rim and dunk a tennis ball during my peak. At night, I did speed training by doing jump rope exercise for 20 minutes, high-intensity drills, and plyometric exercise every other day. All this hard work paid off in the form of increased stamina, skill, and explosiveness in my technique, which allowed our team to reach the quarter-finals of a province-wide competition with over 30 teams. Ultimately, the lesson I learned is that when I commit to something, I will always put in 100% or not do it at all. Contrary to popular belief, practice does not make perfect, it makes improvement. Looking forward, I hope to apply this mindset to any task I undertake and do my utmost to improve my skills.
