AIM Essays

downhiller2010 · Feb 22, 2009

I am currently fine tuning my AIM essays and am wondering if anyone has specific advice? For instance, should I harp on the fact that I am a sailor? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

averx615 · Feb 22, 2009

just answer them in the way that most shows them about you as a person who would be a good AIMster. dont shuvel it on, stress what you think is important about urself.

downhiller2010 · Feb 22, 2009

so brief and to the point? Should I include multiple examples of how I exhibit leadership?

averx615 · Feb 22, 2009

yeah those leadership things is what i think they like to see. all the guys and girls from my company last summer had some form of leadership stuff. they dont need to be short. as long as you need to get your point across

downhiller2010 · Feb 22, 2009

While were at it, It sounds like you attended AIM?

mwbluebeard · Feb 23, 2009

I'm just a mom, so my advice may not be worth a lot, but

my son did go to AIM last summer and is a hopeful for the Academy Class of 2013.

My advice is to write from the heart... tell who you REALLY are. Display YOUR unique passion in life through your essays.

On the practical side... print them out and give them to a couple of adults you respect for some input. Make SURE, SURE, SURE that you don't have any spelling errors, run on sentences or sentence fragments, and see to it that you have a good topic sentence for each one of your essays.

Best wishes!

shellz · Feb 23, 2009

Good advice....

mwbluebeard said:
my son did go to AIM last summer and is a hopeful for the Academy Class of 2013.

My advice is to write from the heart... tell who you REALLY are. Display YOUR unique passion in life through your essays.

On the practical side... print them out and give them to a couple of adults you respect for some input. Make SURE, SURE, SURE that you don't have any spelling errors, run on sentences or sentence fragments, and see to it that you have a good topic sentence for each one of your essays.

Best wishes!

In this day and age it seems acceptable to ignore the conventions of writing while communicating via email, IM, or message boards. While it is certainly understandable in these instances, the danger, for some, lies in assuming that the same rules apply to formal communication. You will not represent yourself well if you do so, and from what I can tell, all of the candidates on this board are grade A academy material!

Good advice from MWBluebeard. Take your time, and edit, edit and edit again. It's amazing what a second, or even third, set of eyes will catch.

Good luck to you all! :smile:

*School marm steps off her soapbox.*

averx615 · Feb 23, 2009

downhiller2010 said:
While were at it, It sounds like you attended AIM?

yes. i did attend AIM. it was the best-worst week of my life lol any questions?

J Collins · Feb 23, 2009

averx615 said:
yes. i did attend AIM. it was the best-worst week of my life lol any questions?

it was so amazing you are going back! :smile:

downhiller2010 · Feb 23, 2009

I am sure I would have a love/hate relationship with any military school. I may despise it while I am there, but as soon as I realize what I have learned and benifited from while I was there I know I will love it.

sailcmh10110 · Feb 23, 2009

AIM Essay and sailing

The others are right. You want to show them how much you want this whole experiance, not just AIM but CGA as a whole.

As for the military I have gone to art schools for seven years and I enjoyed my one week at AIM more then I enjoyed most of highschool.

As for sailing it can't hurt. The coach, Mark Zagol, is a really great guy, and he's looking to expand and improve the team. You should get in contact with him by email. If you are accepted you may able to sail something other then the Colgates, which means that you probably wont have to wear a helmet.

Also what do you sail?

downhiller2010 · Feb 23, 2009

I typically sail and race one-design boats, specializing in lasers. I was a sailing instructor at my boy scout summer camp also. Last summer I went with a group of my peers to sail "Ciganka" an 80ft. 60 ton gaff ketch rig in Abaco, Bahamas for 2 weeks. My peers selected me to be the first mate. I was responsible for getting the ship ready to sail in the morning, stowing the ship and putting her at anchor at night, and of course making sure she stayed clean. It was one of my favorite leadership experiences.

Luigi59 · Feb 23, 2009

downhiller2010 said:
I typically sail and race one-design boats, specializing in lasers. I was a sailing instructor at my boy scout summer camp also. Last summer I went with a group of my peers to sail "Ciganka" an 80ft. 60 ton gaff ketch rig in Abaco, Bahamas for 2 weeks. My peers selected me to be the first mate. I was responsible for getting the ship ready to sail in the morning, stowing the ship and putting her at anchor at night, and of course making sure she stayed clean. It was one of my favorite leadership experiences.

An excellent topic to write about!

sailcmh10110 · Feb 23, 2009

i agree with Luigi

That is perfect for your essay. I sail a laser radial in south Florida and I wrote about teaching summer camp as my leadership experiance, which seemed to work for me. A little note that couldn't hurt. Do you have your U.S. sailing level one instructor certification? It's a really easy coursethat take place over four days that would look really good on a resume plus its actually a pretty fun course. Also, are you a boy or a girl

downhiller2010 · Feb 23, 2009

I am a guy. I will have to look into that course this summer. I dont have much time for things like that in the middle of my athletic season.

downhiller2010 · Feb 23, 2009

If anyone is interested in looking over my essays for me (still in rough draft form) send me a pm!

Objee · Mar 5, 2009

mwbluebeard said:
Make SURE, SURE, SURE that you don't have any spelling errors, run on sentences or sentence fragments...

Spelling mistakes or typos (especially Coast Gaurd Academy, which happens more than you'd ever believe) in the essays/application are truly an applicant's worst enemy...it's really hard to justify, no matter how great everything else in the record is, recommending someone for an appointment who didn't even take the time to proofread/spellcheck their essays.

mwbluebeard · Mar 5, 2009

Oh, dear... now that I've given that advice, and Objee validated it...

I wonder if my own son was as careful as he should have been?

The die is cast now...

C'mon BIG WHITE!

AIM Essays

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