What are your three most substantial accomplishments, and why do you view them as such? — Harvard

What is the most significant change or improvement you have made to an organization with which you have recently been affiliated? Describe the process you went through to identify the need for change and manage the process of implementing change. What were the results? — Kelley

Describe your greatest professional achievement and how you were able to add value to your organization. — Johnson

The goal in answering this kind of question is to analyze, rather than summarize, an achievement. This advice is particularly true if you’re discussing an accomplishment that is listed elsewhere on the application. Your readers want to gain insight into your character, not read a factual summary of what occurred.

Here are some guiding principles to use in constructing your answer:

Choose something that’s meaningful to you. Some applicants feel obligated to choose the most objectively impressive accomplishments. You should write about something that has personal significance, even if you weren’t formally recognized for it. What matters is that you write passionately and insightfully about your subject. Unless otherwise specified, you should feel free to draw on academic, personal, or professional successes.

Focus on details about the process. Show the reader through concrete details how you achieved what you did. If you want to discuss a grade you earned in a particularly challenging class, show us how you mastered the material. For example, describe creative strategies you used; don’t rely on clichés like “I succeeded through hard work.

Build tension. Describe obstacles and how you overcame them. Note initial difficulties or intermediate failures, then show how you recovered. By adding a sense of drama to your story, you will not only keep the reader interested, but also make the accomplishment seem that much more significant.

Evaluate the significance of the accomplishment. Again, the goal here is to add insight beyond what the reader knows from the straightforward facts. For example, you can comment on how the accomplishment represents an aspect of your character, or you can describe how it fits within your background of successes and failures. Don’t get carried away, however, and try to draw overly grand lessons. You might discuss external consequences of your actions to convey their magnitude, but ultimately you should stay focused on your personal response.

Don’t boast or be overly modest. This is a hard balance to strike, but if you stay focused on the details of your story, then you shouldn’t have a problem. Use the details to convey the magnitude of your accomplishment; you should be able to do so sincerely without having to promote yourself. For example, if you can show through illustrative evidence how you influenced the course of someone’s life, you won’t have to make a presumptuous statement about, for example, “having a profound impact on the life of another.