: Re: Are essays supposed to be formal? After reading a prompt to one of essays, and then looking at this link, I realized how little I know about the actual meaning of an essay. Here is how my

@Holmes449

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I endorse Chris Sunami's answer, as far as it goes, and gave it a +1 on the strength of that.

However, I'd like to take it further. To address the original question, I have a very different perspective on this: @jlam55555 , you are applying for a position. This trumps any abstract question about the nature of essays.

It trumps it because when you are answering this kind of question, you have only one meaningful audience: the person evaluating your application. To this person, "essay" simply means "Free-form statement that helps me figure out what kind of prospect you'd be."

In other words, you're writing a sales document.

Now, this isn't intended to suggest that you write a pack of lies. :-) "Sales document" doesn't mean that. Often, truth is far more persuasive than false claims or shaded implications.

Properly speaking, you are writing a persuasive piece of rhetoric. You have to be the judge of what to do.

There's no guarantee of success, of course.

Make it bold; make it buttoned-down. Make it gonzo; make it timid. Try to game the reviewer's expectation; or make a defiant statement, indifferent to consequences. You really don't know for sure what's going to catch the reader's attention, and it's tough to guess what the effect will be.

It's also tough to guess how much you can compromise yourself without suffering internal consequences.

But really, "how to write a self-promotional essay" is a separate topic, and merits a separate question...

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