Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering Program
Writing your Position Specific Essay
Purpose of the Position Specific Essay
After you turn in your Final Application, ASE will forward your application to your three chosen
mentors. Each mentor will have a copy of your application, your two adult recommendations, your
narrative questions, and your transcript. The Position Specific Essay is your chance to tell the mentor
about yourself, your interest in the position, and why s/he should pick you instead of another applicant.
Your essay allows you to tailor your application to each specific position.
In addition to tailoring your application to a specific position, the essay also allows you to highlight the
most important and relevant accomplishments, skills, and experience listed in your application. And it is
where you specifically request an interview.
Finally, remember that your essay is, in a very real sense, an overview of yourself. It reflects your
personality, your attention to detail, your communication skills, your enthusiasm, and your intellect.
Your essay and the rest of your application are usually all a prospective mentor has to decide whether or
not you will reach the next phase in the application process – the interview.
Essay Content and Structure
Introductory paragraph: this paragraph should be brief, perhaps two or three sentences.
State what position for which you are applying.
State your general qualifications for the position.
Supporting paragraphs: this is the body of your essay, include one to three longer paragraphs.
Expand upon your qualifications for the position.
Discuss the most relevant qualifications listed in your application in detail, demonstrating
how your background and experience qualify you for the position. Be as specific as possible,
and refer the reader to your application for additional details.
Concluding paragraph: this paragraph should be brief, perhaps two or three sentences.
Request an interview: state where/ when you can be reached, express your willingness to
come to an interview or supply further information.
Mention that you look forward to hearing from them.
This is a good place to mention your vacation plans or other scheduling considerations.
Close by thanking your reader for his or her time and consideration.
Four key rules:
1. Customize: Take the time to customize your essay to fit the mentor’s requirements.
2. Show your contribution: Write the essay with the mentor's needs in mind - not your own. In other
words, don't describe what YOU want, but explain what you can do for the mentor.
3. Actively sell yourself: Tell them WHY they should select you. Be assertive about your
qualifications without being egotistical. The tone of your essay should be professional, but sound
as if a real person wrote it.
4. Format: Limit each essay to 500 words or less. To indicate paragraph breaks, you will need to
place a ^ (first hold down the Shift key, then press the 6 at the top of your keyboard) where you
would like paragraphs within your essay. The online form will not recognize “Enter”/carriage
returns – it runs paragraphs together and the ASE staff must format your essays. The ASE staff
will only put paragraphs where a ^ is placed.
The next two pages are designed to walk you through writing your Position Specific Essay. You can use
them step-by-step, or simply as a guide to make sure you’re not missing anything. The last page provides
more details on submitting a Generic Essay.
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Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering Program
Writing your Position Specific Essay
Getting Started
I.
II.
III.
Prewriting
Writing
Editing
I. Prewriting: The prewriting stage is when you prepare your ideas for your essay before you begin
writing. You will find it easier to write your essay if you jot down your ideas first.
1. Think carefully about what you are going to write. Ask yourself: Who is my audience?
How can I best explain my interest in this position? What are the skills needed by this mentor?
How can I make an introductory sentence from the most important part of my answer? What
experiences or ideas can I use to illustrate my interest and qualifications for the position? How
can I make this paragraph or essay interesting? Do I need more specifics about myself? Where
can I find more facts about this institution? Why do I want to work at this position and this
organization instead of somewhere else? What are my goals for the future? How have my past
experiences led me to be interested in this position?
Before you start the writing process, review the criteria for the position and make a list of what
the mentor wants. This list might include specific areas of experience, computer skills, related
classes, personal interest, and personality traits. You’ll want to incorporate these items into your
essay, demonstrating by example that you have the desired qualifications.
2. Write down some notes. Write out your answers to the above questions. You don’t need to
spend a lot of time doing this; just write enough to help you remember what you want to put into
your essay.
3. Collect facts related to the position. Write down facts about yourself that will help you write
your essay. Look for information about the organization.
4. Write down other information about yourself. Ask yourself: What else do I want to say
about myself? Why should people care that I’m interested in this position?
5. Find the main idea of your essay. Choose the most important point you are going to present.
In the case of the Position Specific Essay, the most important point may be that you are the best
person for this position.
6. Organize your facts and ideas in a way that develops your main idea. Once you have
chosen the most important point of your essay, you must find the best way to tell the mentor
about it. Look at the skills you have and the skills or traits the mentor is looking for. Look at the
other information you want to include about yourself. Decide what information will best support
the main idea of your essay. Ask yourself which order to put this information in the essay.
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Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering Program
Writing your Position Specific Essay
II. Writing Steps: The writing stage is when you turn your ideas into sentences.
1. There is no need to include the company name and address at the top of your essay (as you
would if you were writing a cover letter and mailing it).
2. For the introduction, write your main idea and give some background information.
3. Develop each supporting paragraph and make sure to follow the correct paragraph format.
4. Write clear and simple sentences to express your meaning.
5. Focus on the main idea of your essay.
6. Use a dictionary and spell check to help you find additional words to express your meaning.
7. Each essay should make specific references to the company and indicate your knowledge of
and interest in the work the company is currently doing.
III. Editing Steps: The editing stage is when you check your essay for mistakes and correct them.
Grammar and Spelling
1. Check your spelling.
2. Check your grammar.
3. Read your essay again.
4. Make sure each sentence has a subject.
5. Make sure your subjects and verbs agree with each other.
6. Check the verb tenses of each sentence.
7. Make sure that each sentence makes sense.
8. One way to judge your essay is to read it out loud. Do you trip over the words? If so, work
on it until it flows naturally and has a conversational tone.
9. Have another person read over your essay to proof it for grammar, spelling, style,
organization and readability. Teachers, counselors, friends of the family are usually happy to
help.
Style and Organization
1. Make sure your essay has an introductory paragraph, supporting paragraphs, and a
concluding paragraph.
2. Check that you clearly state why you would be a good match for the position.
3. Check that all your paragraphs follow the proper paragraph format.
4. See if your essay is interesting.
5. Read your essay out loud to yourself. Does it read well? Does it sound good?
Steps to Success
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Leave enough time to develop, complete and proofread your essays
Personalize your essays so each mentor believes that you want to work with him/her specifically
Check your spelling and grammar
Make sure your interest and enthusiasm shine through in your essays
Write a generic essay to increase your chances of being chosen for a position
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Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering Program
Writing your Generic Essay
Details on Generic Essays
You will increase your chances of selection for an internship by writing and submitting a generic
essay. When mentors join the program close to or after the final student application deadline, we
select applications from students that match the requirements for the new position and submit
generic essays to the mentor. In other words, if you submit a generic essay, you may be
considered for more than your top three choices.
Your generic essay should include the same general structure as the position-specific essay: an
introductory paragraph, one to three supporting paragraphs and a concluding paragraph. The
prewriting, writing and editing steps outlined earlier, modified slightly, will help you create a
high quality generic essay. Once again, you will need to include a ^ to mark where your
paragraphs end.
Some of the content in your generic essay will differ. In the introductory paragraph, instead of
referencing a specific internship, you will list one or more categories of internships that interest
you. In the preliminary application you indicated your levels of interest for a variety of science,
engineering and technology disciplines. Your generic essay should focus on those disciplines
that most interest you. For instance, you might be interested in any biology-related internship.
Alternatively, you might be interested in several disciplines; in that case, your generic essay will
focus on all of the disciplines (for instance, biology, environmental science and chemistry). You
will need to write your generic essay carefully, so that you are able to address several disciplines
while still keeping your essay within the 500 word limit.
As you did in the position-specific essays, in your generic essay you will tell the mentor about
yourself. The generic essay is a chance for you to explain to a mentor why you would make a
high quality intern. You will describe your qualifications including your academic strengths,
special skills, previous work experience, activities, and personal characteristics and strengths. In
the generic essay, you will focus on qualifications related to one or more disciplines (instead of
qualifications related to a specific position). For example, if you are interested in computer
science, include the programs and computer languages that you know, classes you have taken,
computer-related projects, etc.
The concluding paragraph will be very similar to the one you included in your position-specific
essays: you will request an interview, provide your contact information and thank the mentor for
his or her time and consideration. Don’t forget to proof your essay. Good luck!
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