MARISA SCHNAITH

I arrived at Zulaa’s home as her moans of pain filled the one-room house, blood soaked the bed, and the dogs and goats outside started barking and bleating. I had spent my life with my nose in a book, but now here I was with my nose between her legs, watching a new life enter this tiny Mongolian village. Hours later, I had helped clean beautiful baby Sarnai and dispose of the bloody towels in the outhouse. When the midwife took her leave, I took a moment to reflect. How had my central-Ohio suburban upbringing, full of study and rigorous academic pursuits, led me to my—now—good friend Zulaa’s bedside, squeezing her hand and offering encouraging Mongolian words with every contraction?

I grew up in the middle-class suburbs of Powell, Ohio, a place I both lovingly and regretfully came to know as the “Powell Bubble.” When I began my undergraduate studies among the conservative student body at Miami University, I was determined to step outside “the Bubble.” Initially, I explored my interest in diverse groups of people and lifestyles through coursework such as Arab Nationalism in World Politics, and Development of the Soviet Policy. Encouraged by these courses to expand my learning beyond the classroom walls, I studied abroad in Argentina and Spain.

I brought my study abroad home through volunteer work at Su Casa in Cincinnati and creation of an after-school Spanish program for a local second-grade class. This connection to the Latino culture inspired my selection of the 2007 abortion reform in Mexico City as the subject for my senior honors thesis. I studied the reproductive laws of Mexico City and the history of politics and social activism that allowed for this reform to occur. Seeing a few strong voices effect such change, this research encouraged my interest in the law, specifically as it relates to human rights.

Excited by this new focus, I wrote a grant to the honors program and received funds to join the Students for Peace and Social Justice Delegation to Guatemala. Through our meetings with indigenous groups, women’s rights organizers, and local authorities struggling with immigration issues, we witnessed firsthand the inequalities and human rights abuses occurring there. At Miami I shared my experience in various classes and campus events, and also presented on Guatemalan violence for the final project in my honors Warfare and Violence in the Bible course.

After college graduation, I sought an experience that would further cultivate my growing passion for human rights, public service, and international perspective. When I received an invitation to teach English in Mongolia for the Peace Corps, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to experience a new part of the world. The challenges of living in rural Mongolia were great, but I learned to thrive inside my Ger, building fires in my wood-burning stove as one of the deadliest Mongolian winters in over a decade raged outside. When my site mate decided to return to America after one year of service, she left me the only foreigner and native English speaker in over a hundred miles. I persevered, however, and opted to extend my service by two months to work with a fellow volunteer in implementing a six-week intensive English training for employees of Mongolia’s National Emergency Management Agency.

And so I found myself in the final spring of my service, holding baby Sarnai, reflecting on my accomplishments. I made the sort of friends that ask you to attend the birth of their first daughter. I built bridges between the seemingly incompatible Powell Bubble and rural Mongolia. I equipped people with the confidence and tools they needed to pursue their dreams. Zulaa was an out-of-work mother of three, living in a town most cannot pronounce and in a country unknown to many. However, with the English I taught her and, more importantly, the confidence I helped her find in herself, she and her husband pursued one of their dreams to coordinate with the international charity, Samaritan’s Purse, to bring gifts and basic necessities to the children of over fifty local Mongolian families.

My relationship with Zulaa taught me that one person’s passion and commitment can make a difference in others’ lives. With its commitment to the importance of public service and international connectedness, Harvard Law is the perfect environment for me. Harvard’s extensive partnerships in the semester abroad program, the Summer Public Interest Funding program, and the Human Rights program all present an exciting chance to combine my passion for public service work with my interest in international cultures. The breadth of courses, clinics, and externships offered at Harvard provide the opportunity I am looking for to explore my interests and share my experiences and perspectives. Further, the Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising will equip me with the tools I need to pursue a career in public service. Growing up deep in the countryside of Mongolia, baby Sarnai Marisa Namsrai will serve as a reminder of how I once touched someone’s life and made a difference.

Analysis

Press pause for a moment, and before figuring out why Marisa Schnaith’s essay is successful, let us figure out what we know about her after reading her essay. What does each paragraph say, and what does that mean about Marisa Schnaith?

Schnaith worked in an environment very different from her hometown in Ohio—rural Mongolia; we know that she’s had very diverse experiences. She describes her will to expand her horizons beyond the homogeneous community she grew up in; so Schnaith’s diverse experiences are a product of her own curiosity and initiative. She talks about volunteer work and academic interest in Latin America; we learn that she is passionate about human rights and this passion has spurred her interest in law. The fifth paragraph is about her experience in Mongolia with the Peace Corps and the sixth paragraph is about the value she found in her experience. From these two paragraphs we know Schnaith is capable of hard work in a harsh environment, and that she turned her passion for human rights into a tangible accomplishment. In the final paragraph Schnaith talks about making a difference in people’s lives, and her interest in specific programs at Harvard. Schnaith wants to make a difference, and Schnaith has spent time and energy figuring out what specific opportunities Harvard has to offer.

In short, Schnaith is curious and hardworking, she takes initiative, she’s had challenging experiences in other countries, and she’s passionate about human rights. Sounds like someone I’d want to be my lawyer! We know a lot about Schnaith, but how? Did she ever explicitly say, “I am curious and hardworking!”? Of course she didn’t say that; if she had we probably wouldn’t believe her without evidence to back it up. The reason Schnaith’s essay is successful is that she communicates a lot about herself without plainly stating her qualities. Schnaith couldn’t just claim that she’s passionate about human rights and that she wants to be a lawyer, she had to take us through her experiences so that we understand and believe her. Apart from being well written and interesting, the success of Schnaith’s essay can be boiled down to two things: First, she communicates a lot about herself, and second, she does so by showing the reader what it is about her life and her actions that make her who she is and make her want to apply to law school.

—Eliza Hale