The main purpose of a nursing essay (or, more exactly, nursing school admission essay) is to make the committee that will read and study it believe that you are going to make an excellent nurse; and not only excellent, but better that the majority of those who submitted similar essays at the same time with you. Although there are not so many nurses working in the health care system, and there is constant need of more, the nursing schools are still very selective about whom to accept and whom to refuse. It is hardly surprising, for there is hardly any other sphere where an incompetent may cause harm. However, it is none of your concern. Your concern is to get through, and ours is to help you do it.
First and foremost, concentrate on personal experience. There are many applicants and they all present similar essays. The best thing to stand out of the crowd is to say something nobody else will be able to say. But, for God’s sake, don’t write about a heroic nurse you once have seen and who have let you understand that it is you goal in life to be like her. There is no better way to write something extremely trite and clichéd than to think along these lines.
If there is something wrong with your academic record, don’t try to conceal it or avoid talking about it. State the reason why it happened that way, make them sure that it was due to a certain unique event and not because of your general sloppiness in studies. Don’t make open pleas and don’t try to provoke pity – it is most likely to make an unfavorable impression.
Remember that you are going to work in a capacity that doesn’t presuppose revolutionary changes in your sphere of work. Don’t say what you are going to make different, what are your views on the health care system and so on; just make them believe you will be really good in this vocational choice.