Develop Your Research Experience and Build Your Skills

I recently addressed some of the issues an informed PhD applicant should be aware of and consider prior to applying (such as the state of the academic job market).

Once you’ve made the decision to apply for a PhD in a STEM field, how can you prepare effectively and strengthen your candidacy?

Your research is a vital part of your PhD application—you need to have clear reasons for pursuing advanced research in your field, and you need to be able to show that you have the research skills to succeed. Pursuing a PhD means dedicating yourself to high level research in your field. Admissions committees (rightly) expect that before deciding to do that, you understand what that type of research involves, and that you demonstrate the potential to succeed in an advanced program. Your grades and GRE scores serve as confirmation that you can succeed in grad school— this is not to discount the importance of those numbers. But you will not get into a top PhD program without strong research skills or well-thought-out research interests.

If you’re still an undergrad, participate in research. If your department offers the chance to do a thesis, write it. Try to find other ways of developing your research experience and building your skills: volunteer in a lab, assist a professor or doctoral student with research, etc. Some universities have a formalized system for assigning undergrad researchers to labs. If yours doesn’t, contact professors in your department and ask about lab opportunities. (The best way to do this is to contact individual professors: explain your qualifications/background and ask if there are volunteer positions available in their labs.)

If you’ve already graduated and don’t have enough research experience, try to fill that gap. If you’re near a university, contact faculty in your department of interest and ask about volunteering in their labs. If you’re working in industry: have you conducted research for your job? If so, think about how to present this experience in your application (and ask a supervisor to write you a recommendation that addresses your research skills).

Whether you’re applying directly from undergrad or have been out for a few years, stay current with the publications in your area of interest.

Building strong research skills will enhance your PhD application and set you on the road to a successful graduate school experience.









By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, Accepted.com editor and former Student Affairs Officer at UCLA’s Scholarship Resource Center, and author of Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

Take Advantage of the Early Bird Special!

Need an incentive to jump-start your b-schoool, graduate school, or law school apps? No problem. We’re offering 10% off all non-rush application services as part of our Early Bird Special.

Our editors are standing by, waiting to help you with any and all aspects of the law, grad, and MBA admissions process!

Use promo code EB10 at checkout by Monday, July 15th to save big and get one step closer to your top graduate school program!

BONUS TIP: Here’s something you can do right now that will aid your cause: Go through each of your social media accounts and CLEAN THEM UP. Delete anything that makes you look bad, untag yourself in your friends’ photos and videos if you need to, and last but not least, check that your privacy settings are set at the highest possible standards. Make sure that only those people whom you WANT to see your activity are the ones who have access to it.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

     This post was written by our friends at Magoosh. 

The number of tenure-track and full-time jobs has fallen.

While prophecies of doom might be more common regarding the job market for humanities PhDs, a number of studies and articles have pointed out that the situation isn’t too rosy for STEM PhDs, either. A recent story in The Atlantic characterized the current situation as a “PhD Bust.”

In short, the number of tenure-track and full-time jobs has fallen, while more young scientists are spending longer working as post-docs (a position that, while it is an accepted transitional part of a research career, can be exploitative).

In 2010, The Economist critiqued the ever-expanding low-wage post-doc, and the over-supply of PhDs generally.

Many PhD students in STEM fields have goals that lie outside of traditional academe (research in industry, etc). But it is clear that the academic market in the sciences has become even more difficult in recent years.

Obviously, none of this is to say that a PhD is not the right choice. It’s just important to be an educated applicant, and apply for the right reasons. Know your goals, be aware of the (growing) challenges posed by the job market, and plan your strategy accordingly.







By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, Accepted.com editor and former Student Affairs Officer at UCLA’s Scholarship Resource Center, and author of Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

Just Don’t Go to Grad School: Good Advice?

Pursuing a PhD in the Humanities or Social Sciences has never been an “easy” path, or one that is guaranteed to lead to the tenure-track job of your dreams. Recently, the question of the “worth” of a PhD has received a great deal of attention from journalists and bloggers.

A recent article in Slate (“Thesis Hatement”) triggered a series of responses, some pro, some con, and of varying levels of thoughtfulness (see this Slate article, this New Yorker article, this Aljazeera article, and this LinkedIn article).

As a humanities PhD (and someone who helps others apply to grad school), I wanted to comment, with some thoughts and a little advice.

A classic of the “don’t go to grad school” genre is William Pannapacker’s “Grad School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go,” from 2009. The problems Pannapacker outlines—declining jobs, a university system that is designed to take advantage of cheap/free grad student labor, etc—have only gotten more pronounced since then.

When I decided to pursue my PhD in Comparative Literature, I knew the job market for humanities PhDs was bleak. I listened to a great deal of conflicting advice, from parents, professors, mentors, bosses. “There are always jobs out there for the right people,” said the academics. “It would be such a waste to do anything else.” “You’ll never get an academic job,” said other people. “There just aren’t any to get. Is this what you really want to do? Spend your 20s in school, with no likely job at the end?” “Are you sure?” said my parents.

I was. I really, really was. I’d fallen in love with a fascinating corner of medieval literary studies (Old Irish!), and I had ambitious research goals. Grad school was the only way for me to get the training I needed. I figured I would deal with the job market question when I came to it. In the meantime, I worked hard: teaching, publishing, presenting papers, helping to run conferences—all the tasks of a “professionalizing” grad student.

For me, grad school was a valuable experience. My work with students ultimately led me to the work I do now. I did work I loved and learned skills I could gain nowhere else. I wouldn’t give it up. Was it “worth” big money? It was of value to me, intellectually and for my career. I didn’t go into debt—I was fully funded. At the same time, I spent the majority of my 20s earning less than $20k/year, at a time when my peers were moving through their careers, saving money, etc. This is something to think about.

We live in a society that places little value on the humanities in general. (If you’re serious about studying the humanities, you already know this: how many times have you explained what you do to people who tell you it’s essentially useless?) And the structure of the university is only shifting more towards contingent labor. If anyone tells you that well-worn myth about faculty positions being bound to open up because all the old professors are going to retire, please don’t believe it: even when those professors do retire, their jobs will not be replaced with tenure-track jobs, but with cheaper, adjunct positions.

So, if you’re a committed undergrad eager to do a PhD in the humanities, what to do? While I might sound a little jaded, I don’t subscribe to the blanket “don’t go” advice. I think the decision to pursue a PhD is intensely personal and case specific. Only you know whether your goals and research interests can be met via a PhD or another route. I advise that you consider the realities of the situation as you make your choice:

1. Don’t go to grad school to “avoid the real world” or “sit out a recession.” Go because you have goals and research interests that can only be achieved with a PhD.

2. Research funding options. Because of the realities of the job market, I strongly encourage applicants not to go to a program without funding. Don’t multiply your student debt for a PhD.

3. Take into account the opportunity costs of a long program. Be sure.

4. Take advantage of career support opportunities at your PhD program. More and more grad schools, recognizing the reality that many PhDs will never work full-time in academe, offer support for people preparing for the non-academic job market. Make yourself aware of these offerings and prepare to expand your job search.

By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, Accepted.com editor and former Student Affairs Officer at UCLA’s Scholarship Resource Center, and author of Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

Victor Cheng, is now a strategic adviser and consultant to owners of mid-size business with $1M – $25M in sales and a speaker and expert on business issues. That’s his day job.

When he’s not working at his day job, he advises applicants to McKinsey & Company and other elite strategy consulting firms how to join those firms. And it’s in this capacity that Linda invited him to Admissions Straight Talk. Listen to the full recording to hear Victor’s insider advice and insights.

00:02:01 – Why is a podcast about admissions worrying about post-graduation careers?

00:02:30 – Meet Victor Cheng, Author of Case Interview Secrets, and former McKinsey consultant, resume screener, and interviewer.

00:03:33 – Caseinterview.com beta: Victor’s senior year of college. What a story!

00:06:06 – Linda shares a bit of her own story. ☺

00:07:04 –3 changes in how McKinsey selects candidates.

00:09:56 – If you don’t like case interviews, you probably won’t like consulting. Really.

00:12:55 – The qualities and/or skills that make for a good consultant. (What qualifies you at age 25 to advise a Fortune500 CEO at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars a year!?)

00:16:56 – IQ and EQ. Equal factors?

00:18:47 – Victor’s advice for liberal arts graduates who’d like to break into management consulting. Poets, this discussion is for you.

00:21:32 – The best of the best: Consulting firms are less focused on an applicant’s academic preparation and more concerned about a mindset and “mental horsepower.”

00:23:20 – What is the difference between the skill sets that the top consulting firms are looking for. Or is there a difference?

00:24:22 – How to project confidence without arrogance, and other great advice on self-confidence in a case interview.

00:29:46 – Check out Case Interview Secrets. Learn what to do and why to do it.

 Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk in iTunes to keep up with the latest in admissions news and trends! You know you want to give us a 5-star rating!

Stitcher fans, we’ve got good news! Admissions Straight Talk is now available on Stitcher! Check it our here. 

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.

Show Note Links:

• MBA In Sight: Focus on Management Consulting, Accepted’s free guide to b-schools for management consultant wannabes.
• Recent articles related to management consulting
• Case Interview Secrets by Victor Cheng
• Case Interview.com

Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk:

• Admissions Straight Talk on iTunes
• Admissions Straight Talk on Stitcher

Coming next: A conversation with the director of the Entrepreneurship Initiative at Georgetown University

So all you Stitcher people: run, don’t walk, to your nearest iPhone, Androiod, iPad, or PC and join Linda for a bi-weekly discussion of what’s new, thought-provoking, and useful in the world of graduate admissions.

• Former McKinsey consultant, resume screener, and case interviewer.
• Passed 60 out of 61 case interviews and landed 7 consulting job offers.
• Author of Case Interview Secrets, an extremely clear and well-written book on excelling in case interviews.
• Since 2003, strategic adviser and consultant to owners of mid-size business in service or web- based industries with $1M – $25M in sales.
• Speaker and expert on business issues turned to by media outlets including TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Inc, Fortune, and others.

I plan to focus this segment of Admissions Straight Talk on preparation for a career in management consulting.  I have a bunch of questions I know I want answers to, but I am also wondering:

What would you like me to ask Victor? What would you ask him if you could?

Please put those suggestions, requests, and questions in comments below. Don’t be shy. I am asking this same question in various social media too.

I’ll take the ones I’m dying to ask along with the best ones you send me, and they will be the building blocks of the next Admissions Straight Talk podcast.

We’ll post the segment here on Thursday May 23. To make sure you don’t miss it or any other segments of Admissions Straight Talk, the podcast for graduate school applicants, please subscribe:

• iTunes
• Stitcher
• Accepted’s blog

It can’t be easier, just put your questions in a comment below.

Never post any comments or pictures that you wouldn’t want everyone in the world to see.

When Kaplan Test Prep released the results of its survey of business school admissions officers, revealing that 32% of business school admissions officers performed internet searches on applicants, 27% visited an applicant’s social media (Facebook, Myspace, etc.) page, and 10% had found something online that negatively impacted an applicant’s admission chances, applicants around the world collectively shuddered. Not only do we have to consider every comma and turn of phrase in the applications themselves, now we have to worry about what we may have posted online in the past as well?! YES! Here are a few tips to consider when using Facebook given these stark statistics.

1. Make sure that your Facebook profile is for Friends only (and not open to Friends of Friends or Everyone), and also remember to check that you’ve selected this option for every picture that you post.

2. As a general rule, never post any comments or pictures that you wouldn’t want everyone in the world to see. That way no one of your closest 1300 friends who is offended by your post can simply take a screenshot of it for global dissemination. Think very hard before using Facebook as a forum to comment on a political matter, your satisfaction with your job, your affinity for a particular teacher or supervisor, etc. Go through now and delete any questionable posts.

3. Even if your Facebook profile is private and viewable only to Friends, you need to keep in mind that some things are viewable by anyone on Facebook: all of the data you’ve entered in Basic Information, the names of Groups you’re a member of, the pages you’ve Liked, all of the pictures you’ve saved as Profile or Cover Photos, and any pictures or comments you’ve posted to an open group. Be conservative in your Group memberships and contributions to open groups, and delete any cover or profile photos that you don’t want in your application file.

 Jennifer Bloom has been successfully helping applicants demonstrate their readiness for the top MBA programs around the world for 14 years. 

You will require more than one night of preparation—regardless of how many cups of coffee you drink.

Studying for a test is easy. Right? You burn the midnight oil, pouring through a textbook, your class notes by your side. As long as you get a pint-sized cup of coffee in the morning, you should probably knock out a ‘B+’—before crashing a few hours later.

The GRE is very different. Achieving a high score is far more elusive than merely flipping through a book. You will surely require more than one night of preparation—regardless of how many cups of coffee you quaff.

Knowing how long to study for the GRE and how much to study are important questions to consider. In regards to the first question there is no easy answer. Two weeks to six-months is a range that will accommodate 99% of test takers. How hard the GRE is for you (basically your baseline score), how much time you can study each day, and the competitiveness of the program you are applying to are just a few of the other important factors to consider.

The GRE is important so regardless of the amount of time you study, you want to use the best resources. Below is a list of the best GRE books and resources, which will sustain you, whether during a two-week study tornado, or on your six-month quest to become a GRE guru and get you that hard earned and well-above average GRE score.

Manhattan 5 lbs. Book

This massive trove of questions will definitely keep you busy for a while. The quant is especially excellent, with each of the concepts given its own chapter and dozens of practice questions (if combinations have got you down, the practice in this book will bring you out of the quant doldrums).

The Official Guide to the GRE

No one quite writes GRE questions the way ETS does, the company responsible for creating the test. The official guide not only gives you plenty of practice questions, but you also get access to four full-length tests. Simply put, there is no better way to prepare for the test than this book.

GRE word lists

Don’t waste your time on a GRE word list with vocabulary randomly thrown together (or worse, in alphabetical order), with vague definitions to boot. Using a word list that places words into useful categories, offers memorable example sentence(s) for each word, or chooses words likely to show up on the test is the way to go.

Barron’s 1100 Words has most of the above, and more. Of course, it’s not a traditional word list, but more of a vocabulary exercise book replete with quizzes, crosswords, and context identification exercises.

To be fair, some of the definitions are vague and you’ll need more elaboration. That allows me to segue to my next recommendation: wordnik.com. It is not a word list per se, but rather a website that provides not only definitions drawn from a variety of dictionaries but also example sentences from a wide variety of sources. Anytime you need more clarification on a word, look no further than wordnik.com.

Manhattan GRE (MGRE) guides

If you are starting out, and want to feel as though a patient, adept tutor is walking you through the fundamentals of the GRE, look no further than the MGRE guides, which are a collection of eight books, broken down by math and verbal concepts. Purchase of any one book will also give you access to MGRE 6 on-line tests, a great way to prepare for test day.

Magoosh

For those who learn best online—or who are simply on-the-go and/or can’t afford a class—Magoosh provides the same comprehensive, robust prep as Manhattan GRE, but all in one tidy, easy-to-use website. A dashboard allows you to track your progress and pinpoint your weak areas. Magoosh is a veritable virtual tutor at your fingertips.

This post was written by Chris Lele, resident GRE expert at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GRE, check out Magoosh’s GRE blog.

You have 2 more days (TODAY and TOMORROW) to celebrate Linda’s birthday and save 50% on all Accepted.com books! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to stock up on the books that will help you get accepted to b-school, law school, med school, grad school, or college! (P.S. Linda’s book, MBA Admission for Smarties, is included in the sale!) To receive your discount, just enter SAVE50 at checkout through Saturaday, May 11th, 2013.

Happy shopping!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Harvard Business School

The Blavatnik Family Foundation donated $50 million to Harvard University to launch the development of a major initiative to support early-stage breakthrough therapies and cure of diseases, reports a recent article in the Harvard Gazette.

The gift will create the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator to identify new technologies and prepare them for commercial development and licensing, as well as the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Program at HBS. This program will provide MBA students with life science entrepreneur experience through exposure to the work done through the Accelerator.

The Blavatnik Family Foundation is headed by Harvard Business School alum Len Blavatnik (MBA ’89). “By partnering with Harvard’s world-class biomedical research division, I am delighted to help accelerate the development of new therapies,” says Blavatnik. “Moreover, by increasing the collaborative efforts between Harvard Business School and Harvard’s scientific community, we will empower the next generation of life science entrepreneurs and provide a further catalyst for innovation and research development.”

The dean of HBS, Nitin Nohria adds, “By bringing together expertise and experience from across Harvard, the Accelerator and the HBS Fellows program will further enhance Harvard’s commitment to innovative research and entrepreneurship. With student interest in entrepreneurship at an all-time high and with the resources of the University’s Innovation Lab and HBS’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at the ready, we are well positioned to make the most of this generous gift from the Blavatnik Family Foundation.”

See the Harvard Gazette article for more info.







Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Hi everyone! It’s me, Linda Abraham, CEO and founder of Accepted.com, and today is my birthday.

For me, birthdays are a time to appreciate life and the people around me who have contributed to making my life special. It’s also a time to celebrate, and I’d like to do that with you by offering you 50% off Accepted.com’s entire stock of books and ebooks!

For 5 days only (Monday, May 6 – Saturday, May 11), you can use coupon code SAVE50 at checkout to save big on all our admissions books.

Visit our bookstore now!

Happy birthday to me and happy shopping to you!

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

It’s been an interesting few weeks.

Starting with the day of the Boston Marathon a little over two weeks ago, I have seen and heard amazing stories of resilience and fortitude. And no, I was not in or even near Boston. As a city, it has demonstrated those qualities, and those injured in the bombing and grieving for lost loved ones will need even more strength in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Coincidentally that night I went to see the movie, No Place on Earth. It is a documentary narrated by the people who lived it: six elderly Holocaust survivors who hid in a cave for over a year and a half. Actors act out the scenes. The elderly people, who have since lived seemingly normal lives, raised children, and enjoyed the privilege of seeing grandchildren and in some cases great–grandchildren, relate an amazing story of fortitude and resilience brilliantly presented in this outstanding movie.

Then two weeks later, I traveled with my 83-year-old mother, herself a Holocaust survivor, and attended the 20th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Here we again heard stories of courage and heroism as the conference honored survivors, veterans who liberated Europe, and rescuers who saved the persecuted. We heard from Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel, President Bill Clinton, aged veterans, survivors, and rescuers. Most of the honorees are in their 80’s and 90’s. Almost all were accompanied by their children and grandchildren. The younger generations’ attendance evidenced their elders’ resilience – their ability to move forward and rebuild their lives.

Former Buchenwald prisoner, Elie Wiesel, represented the survivors and spoke movingly of how he and 400+ orphans freed from that hell on earth and sent to a children’s home in France after World War II, should have been emotional cripples. All 400+ became doctors, lawyers, teachers, tradespeople, rabbis, leaders, businesspeople, and writers. Despite the scars, they moved on. Despite the pain, they picked up the pieces of their lives. Refusing to be victims, they became survivors.

Similarly the Stermer family from No Place on Earth emerged from their cave, literally dusted themselves off (layers of dirt), and began their lives anew. They moved to the U.S. and Canada, built businesses, and had families. They moved on.

On some level the people of Boston demonstrated that same strength after their week of horror as they resumed their lives.

From the depths of my heart I hope that none of you have been tested in the way that those whose lives were torn apart by World War II were tested, but I know that’s not true. Some of you have been persecuted. Some of you are vets. Some are heroes. Your ability to recover despite the pain or the scars defines the difference between a tragic victim and a resilient survivor.

For the rest of you — the lucky ones who haven’t endured the horrors of war or genocide, lived in a cave for a year and a half, or been under lock-down in a city in the grip of a murderous terror attack – you too can demonstrate that endurance.

What does resilience mean for applicants leading blessed lives with more pedestrian challenges, frustrations, and aggravations and having to answer questions either in an essay or interview about failure, setbacks, or mistakes? It means showing through examples that you have the ability to come back, learn, and move forward. It means that after your leg, broken in a skiing accident, heals, you return to the slopes. It means that after your first “patient” dies, you continue with your plans to be a doctor. It means that after your start-up fails, you resolve to get an MBA so that you can successfully manage your next business.

When asked about failures, setbacks, and mistakes, you just have to show that you have the strength and courage to deal with events within and beyond your control, to recover from disappointment and failure, and to pick yourself up, hopefully learn from the experience, and yes, move on. That’s resilience.








By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

The playlist was created based on a Stanford study that shows that certain types of music engage different areas of the brain and can improve skills such as paying attention, making predictions, and memory.

Check out Wash U’s blog post on Spotify Playlist here.

An Attention Enhancing Study Playlist provided by @WashULaw, an online LL.M Degree

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

A good place to start

With everything that is challenging, patience and perseverance are a must. And like any arduous journey, knowing where to start is key. First off, pick up a copy of the Official Guide to the GRE by ETS. Do a few of the practice sets and know where you stand. If you are struggling with some of the easy questions, your plan of attack is going to be different from than if you do moderately well even on the tough questions. Below is some verbal study help that, depending on your level, will aid you in gaining a good grasp of the GRE.

For beginners

The GRE verbal section ultimately tests your ability to understand complex syntactical structure, vocabulary employed stylistically, and nuanced information packed into a few paragraphs.

If you are not a “reading person”, or if English is not your first language, oftentimes the first step is read voraciously. That’s right – don’t just pick up a copy of the Official Guide. For recommended GRE reading, look no further than nytimes.com (the online version of the New York Times). Start reading voraciously, typically from the extended articles (the weekend section is excellent). Write down words or phrases you do not know. At first doing so may seem overwhelming but over time you will begin to recognize more and more words.

What this process is doing is “turning on” your reading brain. By that I mean, you will start to pick up on the complex sentence structures found on the GRE. Simply opening a GRE prep guide and jumping into the treacherous syntactical waters of a three-blank Text Completion will only dishearten you.

By reading from respected sources such nytimes.com (The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and aldaily.com also jump to mind), you will be more prepared for the GRE verbal section.

At the same time GRE prep consists of a lot more than sitting back with a latte and opening up the New York Times. How much effort you put in with each reading depends on your study schedule, of course. Let’s just say if you’re down to the wire, you won’t be doing much latte sipping. There are still plenty of good GRE study schedules for you, of course.

For more advanced students

Even if you are answering many of the medium-level questions correctly, getting a really good grasp of the GRE verbal section will take some time. For one, much of the GRE vocabulary consists of words that you don’t necessarily encounter in everyday collegiate. And trying to guess the meaning of a word like ‘recondite’, based only on roots and sound of a word, is most likely going to backfire (‘recondite’, by the way, means little known, and usually refers to an obscure subject).

Learning words as you read the New York Times, etc. is a good idea. You will also want to scour the many word lists out there, learning the words you don’t know. You will also want to dive right into practice sessions of the GRE. Taking practice tests from Manhattan GRE or Magoosh is also a good idea.

For both intermediate and beginner levels, a great GRE vocabulary guide PDF is Magoosh’s vocabulary ebook, created in part by yours truly. You will learn high-frequency words with straightforward definitions. An example sentence will accompany most words, so you can get a sense of a word’s usage.

Well what are you doing still here? Time to start studying for GRE verbal!











This post was written by Chris Lele, resident GRE expert at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GRE, check out Magoosh’s GRE blog.

To ease the reader’s eye strain, the font should not be smaller than 10 pt.

I suggest that applicants for Fall 2014 entry begin assembling materials for their applications now –  five months in advance of the first fall deadlines. One of the ideal documents to begin now is a resume, something that any professional should always have updated and at the ready. Here are some tips on starting the ideal admissions-worthy resume.

First, you need to know how far back in time to detail in this document. As a general rule, if you are applying to graduate school and have at least two years of work experience, your high school activities should not be included in your resume. However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, if you won a prestigious national award in high school, you may certainly consider including this important recognition.

Other general rules for the resume:

• There should be no more than four bullet points beneath each position.
• Each bullet point should ideally be no more than two lines long.
• To ease the reader’s eye strain, the font should not be smaller than 10 pt.
• Margins should be as close to one inch all around as possible – I, personally, will not reduce them lower than 0.7 inches.

With these rules in mind, how should applicants to the top international programs focus the resume on their most relevant and compelling experiences? Limit the number of bullet points describing your early entry-level roles and instead expand the space dedicated to those in which you made the most impact.

For instance, if you were promoted from an entry-level programming position with your company, then you don’t even need to dedicate a separate line to describe that first role. Instead, you can simply impress the reader by describing the fast pace of promotion in a line of the job description, like this:

Team Lead, IT Consulting Company                    2010-Present

Twice promoted from Analyst (2010-2011) to Senior Analyst (2011) and then Team Lead in record 12 months, a full 4 times faster than the average rate of promotion.

What if one position has allowed you significant leadership opportunities and impact? Or what if you have been in your current role for several years? How can you detail all that you have accomplished in just four bullet points? The trick is to break that down into sections, like this for example:

Private Equity Associate, PE Firm                         2011-Present

Lines of job description here…

Leadership Accomplishments Include:

• First point
• Second point
• Third point
• Fourth point

Financial Impacts Include:

• First point
• Second point
• Third point
• Fourth point

Keep in mind that the majority – if not all – of those bullet points should include quantifiable impact that you had on the organization. Breaking up a bulk of text with numbers and section headings makes the entire document more compelling.

Finally, to ensure that your document is easy to read and keeps the admissions officer’s attention, you need to include ample white space. To add some white space above each position in Microsoft Word, highlight the title line of each row (hold the Ctrl button down as you click to keep them all highlighted), then click on Format, Paragraph, then in the Spacing Before box try at least 4 pt. (if you have more space left on the page at the end you can go to 6 pt.). Do the same Ctrl highlighting for the bullet points throughout the document and try 2 pt. or 3 pt. spacing before each of those lines.

Check out this pdf file (viewable in Adobe Reader) to see the difference this little formatting trick can make.

Jennifer Bloom is a Certified Professional Resume Writer and is available now to create an easy-to-read document that highlights your exceptionality. Creating this document now will help you see where you need to generate more content – i.e., take more action – before the fall deadlines .

What can you do when you don’t get in anywhere at all?

There’s no getting around it: rejection letters are discouraging. Especially when you’ve invested as much time and energy in something as you have in your PhD plans. What can you do when you don’t get in anywhere at all?

Take a deep breath. This isn’t the end of your plans.

Take stock. Did you make a miscalculation in your application strategy this year? Should you have applied to more programs, or programs that were a better fit for your profile? Were there weaknesses in your application that you can work on strengthening for the future? Carefully and honestly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your application.

Make a plan. If the PhD is your must-have goal, make a plan for strengthening your strategy and your candidacy for next year:

- Consider applying to more schools, or to a broader range of schools.
- Do careful research on your “fit” with the programs you’re targeting, and research potential mentors. For example, if you want to study Spanish Renaissance Literature, but the only professor in that area at your target school is headed for retirement and isn’t taking new students, you probably won’t get in, no matter how compelling your application is.
- If you have gaps in your academic record or CV, take this opportunity to fill them. Pursue additional research, take courses in areas you need to develop more, etc. If your GRE scores are low, retake the test.
- Depending on your field and your goals, enrolling for a master’s degree (or taking non-degree courses) could give you helpful experience and strengthen your candidacy when you reapply for a PhD.

Is there an alternative path? Can you achieve your career goals without a PhD? Is a master’s a viable option? Can you work as a researcher without the PhD (or work for a couple of years to build experience before reapplying)?

Hearing “no” is never easy, but rejection letters aren’t the end of the line. If you take the right steps now, you can come back stronger next year.



By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, Accepted.com editor and former Student Affairs Officer at UCLA’s Scholarship Resource Center, and author of Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

Show the adcoms that you’ve got the skills and the tools needed to give back.

Schools want to see that the applicants will actively participate in and contribute to their student bodies and alumni communities, not to mention the greater community and society. Yet grandiose, declarative statements and promises to be a superlative do-gooder are unpersuasive.

So how is an applicant to show what he or she will do in the future? Point to the past. Most admission committees are firm believers that past behavior reveals abilities and interests and is a good predictor of the future.

Here are four tips to help you relay the message that you plan on achieving greatness by contributing to your school/community/world-at-large, by highlighting your impressive past.

1. Share the story of past achievements and quantify if possible the impact you had.

By showing how you’ve already contributed, you demonstrate that you have the initiative, people skills, and organizational talent to make an impact in the future.

2. Discuss skills you’ve developed that will aid to future contributions.

You can show the adcoms that you’re prepared to give back by proving that you’ve got the skills and the tools needed. Use evidence to support your skill development by talking about how you’ve worked to build your skill set, i.e. by taking a course or through work experience, etc. Analyze your success and failures (when asked for the latter) to reveal that you are a thinking, growing, dynamic individual. And when asked about failures or setbacks, discuss what you learned from the tough times. Demonstrate a growth mindset.

3. Show how your skills are transferable.

To contribute to your classmates or school, you’ll need to show how your unique talents or experiences can be shared with your classmates, professors, or work colleagues. Talk about how your skills, understanding, and ethics can impact those around you.

4. Mention how your target school will help.

Now the adcom readers know that you’ve got skills and that you’re ready to share them. Next, you need to reinforce the idea that their school is THE PLACE to accelerate your upward trajectory.

A good essay on your contributions will cover each of the above topics – what you’ve done in the past, how you’ve developed your skills, how you plan on sharing that knowledge, and how your target school will help you effect change. Remember, the past reveals much about the future, so share the story of what you’ve done and how you’ve reached this point and you’ll be well on your way to proving that you’ve got what it takes to contribute in the future.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com

I’ve discussed some important criteria for helping you to select a grad program: your goals/research interests, and evaluating whether you’ll be a competitive applicant. Those are big ones. But as a classic PhD Comic  reminds us, you’re not just a “brain on a stick”—you have concerns and needs outside of your research. You also need to find a program where you’re going to fit as a human being for the next several years. A few things to consider are location, finances, and departmental culture.

• Location: is there a part of the country you want to live in? Are you constrained geographically by family needs, or by a career you’re pursuing already? Do you prefer an urban or rural setting? What kind of community do you want to live in?
• Funding: it’s a good idea to investigate funding opportunities when you research admission information. Will you need to submit additional applications? What type of funding is available to grad students in your target department? Is funding guaranteed for the duration of your program? Is funding available during the summer?
• Departmental culture: this is largely an issue of “fit”– but you can find out a fair amount about how a department treats its students by talking to people. When you visit, do people seem at ease? If you sit in on a seminar, do you sense a collegial environment? The grad program you select will be a major part of your life for the next several years, so you want a good fit on a personal level.

Remember, make sure the school where you are going to spend several years pursuing your Ph.D. fits your needs, and not just the other way around.

By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, Accepted.com editor and former Student Affairs Officer at UCLA’s Scholarship Resource Center, and author of Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

• Talking about who you WISH you were.
• Exaggerating your volunteer achievements.
• Making up job titles to boost your employment profile.
• Cracking jokes when you’re really not such a funny person.
• Using big words that you found in a thesaurus when you have no idea what they mean.

Instead, when introducing yourself to the adcom, follow these simple tips:

• Use your own, authentic voice in your writing.
• Talk about what’s important to YOU instead of what you think the adcom want to hear.
• Tell things as they are – you don’t want to get the boot because a fact checker shows that you were really an “Office Assistant” instead of an “Office Manager.”
• Use a dictionary/thesaurus to ensure you use words correctly, not to engage in communicative creativity…

In short, if you want to stand out among the throngs of applicants in your field, your goal shouldn’t be to introduce yourself as a superhuman, god-like overachiever; instead introduce yourself as you actually are, with your unique interests, passions, accomplishments, and voice. This will be the most extraordinary, stand-out, note-worthy introduction. Not the introduction that makes the adcom members roll their eyes and say “yeah right.”


Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Dr. Drew Appleby

For this week’s episode of Accepted Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted’s biweekly podcast, we interviewed Drew Appleby, Professor Emeritus at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, who identified five types of applicant errors. These mistakes decrease candidates’ chances of acceptance to graduate school – even if the applicants have stellar stats.

Check out the full recording to learn more about these “Kisses of Death.”

01:58:00 – Introducing Dr. Drew Appleby in Admissions Straight Talk.

02:40:00 – How Dr. Appleby discovered the Kisses of Death.

05:20:00 – Why letters of recommendations are so important.

07:52:00 – The difference between good grades and motivation.

14:18:00 – How personal is too personal?

15:50:00 – Choosing relevant letters of recommendation.

18: 54:00 – Lack of information about the program to which you are applying AKA when you just go by the rankings.

20:00:00 – Importance of good writing skills.

21: 00:00 – Misfired attempts to impress the adcom.

24:15:00 – Help your professors write the best letters of recommendation.

28:40:00 – How undergrads should determine professional goals.

33:51:00 – Dr. Appleby’s sound bites to live by: 1. Know Thyself 2. To Thine Own Self be True, and 3. Just Do It.

37:49:00 – What should an applicant focus on when drafting a statement of purpose?

41:20:00 – 3 most memorable “words of wisdom” at the psychology orientation panel.

42:36:00 – Learn more about Dr. Drew Appleby.

Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk in iTunes so you don’t miss any segments! Stay in the admissions know. (And while you’re there, feel free to leave us a review.)

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.

Shownote Links:

• Summary: How to Avoid the Grad School Application Kisses of Death
• Full report: Kisses of Death in the Graduate School Application Process
• Download special report: Get Your Game On
• O’Net http://www.onetonline.org/
• Form: Request a Strong Letter of Recommendation
• Dr. Drew Appleby’s page

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Last time, I discussed the first important criterion for helping you to select a grad program: your goals/research interests.

The next step to narrowing your list: doing an honest evaluation of your credentials and considering where you will be a competitive candidate.

A caveat: most PhD programs are extremely competitive, and admissions can seem downright capricious. That’s the inevitable result of admitting only a handful of applicants each year.

1. Are you PhD material? Have you discussed grad school with any mentors—and do they think you’re capable of grad-level work?
2. Have you done research as an undergrad or master’s level student? If not, consider gaining more research experience before applying.
3. Are your GPA and test scores competitive? Most programs (not all) publicize their average admitted GPA and GRE info. Bear in mind that at some schools, your application will be processed first by the university’s graduate school, which may impose a minimum GPA or GRE requirement. If you’re concerned about meeting minimum standards, check the department’s requirements carefully.
4. Do you meet the prereqs for admission? This might seem like a no-brainer. But many of the competitive/highly ranked programs (in a variety of fields) have minimum requirements that far surpass the requirements you met as an undergrad. For example, to enter many English departments, you’ll need to demonstrate fluency in two or more foreign languages. Do your research.
5. Is there a professor in your specialty at the program you’re targeting, and (important!) is he/she accepting students? You could be a superstar and still not be accepted if the program doesn’t think they can fit your needs.
6. Don’t only target the very top ranked programs in your field. Because PhD admission is so competitive, it is important to do a broad-ranging, well-researched search.
7. Apply to several schools. Not just 2 or 3—closer to 10. I know this is a lot of work. But applying to a balanced selection of programs (ie, a range of selectivity) will give you the best chance for success.

  By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, Accepted.com editor and former Student Affairs Officer at UCLA’s Scholarship Resource Center, and author of Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

“Passion” has a sexy ring to it. An emotional, visceral appeal. It evokes images of glamorous actors and actresses in hot and heavy romances. The good guy in a Frank Capra film changing history. Generals exhorting the troops before sending them into battle.

Forget the steamy romances. Forget the hero delivering a stirring speech. Forget the generals addressing their troops.

That’s not what we’re talking about in admissions.

“Passion” in admissions — be it college, MBA, law school, medical school, or grad school — means dedication. It means commitment. It requires action over time. It can be very calculated and goal oriented, and not at all glamorous. It may lead to a feverish culmination, an earth-shattering moment, and it may not. It can be any one of the following and an infinite number of other activities:

• Spending hours practicing the cello day-in and day out, year after year.
• Assuming responsibility for an annual silent auction that raises thousands of dollars for your favorite cause during the five years that you have chaired it.
• Training and training and training so that you beat your personal best in the race of your choice.
• Volunteering at a medical or legal clinic twice a week since your sophomore year in college.

Next time you see the word “passion” in an admissions context, look between the lines. Read “dedication.” And those calculating, number-crunching, spreadsheet addicts among you, remember this equation: Passion = Action + Dedication.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

It may seem early to be thinking about next year’s application cycle, but if you’re considering applying for admission to a PhD program, you should start thinking about where you want to apply. Your criteria for selecting target programs will depend on your goals and circumstances, but here are a few things to think about.

First (and most importantly), what is your goal, and what are you primary interests? Do you want to pursue an academic career, or do you plan to work in another sector?

If you’re primarily interested in research, your priority should be finding a program that will give you the research training to launch your career:

• Try to identify scholars who are working in the areas that interest you.
• Review the lit in your field, network at conferences, review CVs on departmental websites.
• If you have an undergrad mentor in your field, consult her/him for advice about departments where exciting research is going on.
• Ask yourself: who would be a good mentor, and who would you be interested in working with for the next several years?
• Go beyond the rankings, which often don’t reflect the real dynamism of a department (particularly once you’re talking about the specific sub-fields PhD students are concerned with).

If your goals lie outside of academia, work on identifying programs that will help you reach your goals. What industry are you interested in? Does the university you’re considering have research ties with that industry? Does the department offer opportunities for professional development (fieldwork, internships, etc)? What other resources does the university offer to support graduate students (career development, professional groups, alumni working in the field, etc)?

Do your research to find the best programs for your interests and goals.

By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, Accepted.com editor and former Student Affairs Officer at UCLA’s Scholarship Resource Center, and author of Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

Sheryle Dirks

For this week’s episode of Accepted Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted’s biweekly podcast, we interviewed Sheryle Dirks, Associate Dean for Career Management at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. Check out the full recording to hear our in-depth conversation about Duke University’s Masters in Management Science Program and the career options for business school graduates.

00:16:00 – Introducing Sheryle Dirks, Associate Dean for Career Management at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

02:54:00 – The job market for MBAs now and compared to previous years.

05:00:00 – Companies that recruit exclusively in the fall season or later in spring season.

06:50:00 – Who is hiring in the technology sector.

10: 07:00 – Active/top industries for MBAs.

14:04:00 – Internship search and hiring and importance for career changers.

18:38:00 –Benefit of determining which job path is NOT for you.

23:04:00 – Stats on the Masters in Management Science program.

31:29:00 – Recruitment & hiring for Duke’s MMS graduates.

36:40:00 – Steps applicants can and should take prior to the program’s commencement.

42:15:00 – Recommendations for everyone before the job search.

47:47:00 – Learn more about Duke Fuqua’s MMS program.

Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk in iTunes so you don’t miss any segments! Stay in the admissions know. (And while you’re there, feel free to leave us a review.)

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.

Check out these links discussed in the show:

• Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk Podcast
• Duke Fuqua MBA 2012 Employment Report
• Duke Fuqua MMS 2012 Employment Report
• Grad Degrees that Lead to Jobs
• MBA Goals 101
• MBA Career Changer 101
• Now, Discover Your Strengths

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“Reflect.”

GMAC has just launched a self-assessment and development tool called Reflect™. The online program will help MBA applicants and MBA graduates discover and strengthen their professional and personal strengths, measure soft skills, identify and improve weaknesses, and create an action plan to help boost job performance. The tool will help put incoming students on the right path to find and then advance in their ideal careers.

John Byrne from Poets & Quants offers a thorough review of Reflect. He explains how the assessment works – 574 questions, some of them “rather silly or frivolous” (you can see his examples on his post), to be completed and then analyzed by the program. The user than receives grades in 10 different competencies. Bryne likens Reflect to the Myers-Briggs test, but instead of focusing on psychological preferences focuses on soft skills solutions. Applicants can use the tool to showcase their leadership qualities to graduate school adcoms, while graduates can gain a new way to present themselves to corporate recruiters.

One benefit of Reflect (compared to other assessment programs) is that the tool can be used effectively without a coach or facilitator – all you need is a computer.

Once you receive your scores, you’ll also gain access to 200 learning resources to help you develop a customized work plan, 300 tips, and guidance on career benchmarking in various job functions.

The Reflect tool costs $99.99.

See GMAC’s Reflect™ Self-Assessment and Development Tool for more details.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Welcome Back!

We’d like to welcome back one of our favorite consultants, Cydney Foote, back after a temporary retirement. After dabbling in Hollywood screen writing and some admissions consulting on her own, Cydney decided that she just missed Accepted.com too much!

Cydney specializes in med school admissions, as well as residency and fellowship admissions. She is also a skilled and experienced MBA admissions advisor and editor. She looks forward to working with you on your winning applications!

Welcome home Cyd!

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“Avoid these Kisses of Death in the graduate admissions process.”

Guest post by Dr. Drew Appleby, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and Dr. Karen Appleby, Idaho State University. Dr. Appleby and Dr.  Appleby surveyed psychology graduate admissions committee chairs and discovered 5 types of errors that applicants make and that decrease their chances of acceptance to graduate psychology programs. The authors labeled these mistakes Kisses of Death (KODs).

When we shared the study with Accepted’s staff, all felt that it reflected realty far beyond the confine of psychology. We sought permission from the authors to share their summary of KODs, and they graciously gave it. The following are Kisses of Death in the graduate psychology admissions process, and probably in all other graduate admissions processes too.

Numerous authors offer advice to undergraduate psychology majors about what they should do to gain admission to graduate programs. However, few authors advise students about what they should not do when applying to graduate school and, when they do, few support their advice with data. We surveyed the chairs of graduate school admissions committees in psychology about the contents of graduate school applications that decreased chances for acceptance (i.e., kisses of death or KODs). A qualitative analysis of these surveys yielded the following six categories of KODs.

Although the KODs identified in this study reflect unwise choices on the part of applicants, we believe many of them resulted more from a lack of appropriate advising and mentoring than from a lack of applicants’ intelligence. Unless undergraduate psychology programs provide appropriate advising and mentoring concerning graduate school culture and the requirements of the graduate school application process, their majors are likely to commit these KODs. For example, an unmentored psychology major may interpret a personal statement at face value by perceiving it as an opportunity to share personal (i.e., private) information with the members of a graduate admissions committee.

Unless applicants know that a personal statement should address issues such as research interests and perceived fit with a program, they may misinterpret its purpose and write personal statements that inadvertently doom their applications. Similarly, an unmentored student may interpret a letter of recommendation as a request for information from a person who knows her/him well and can vouch for her/his admirable traits and strong values (e.g., a family member or a member of the clergy). The purpose of our study was to remedy these unfortunate situations by providing undergraduate psychology majors with advice that will enable them to avoid the KODs in the graduate school application process.

Damaging Personal Statements

• Avoid excessively altruistic statements (e.g., “I just want to help people.”). Graduate faculty could interpret these statements to mean you believe a strong need to help others is more important to your success in graduate school than a desire to perform research and engage in other academic and professional activities.
• Avoid providing excessively self-revealing information. Faculty may interpret such information as a sign you are unaware of the value of interpersonal or professional boundaries in sensitive areas.
• Avoid inappropriate humor, attempts to appear cute or clever, and references to God or religious issues when these issues are unrelated to the program to which you are applying. Admissions committee members may interpret this type of information to mean you lack awareness of the formal nature of the application process or the culture of graduate school.

Flawed Letters of Recommendation

• Avoid letters of recommendation from people who do not know you well, whose portrayals of your characteristics may not be objective (e.g., a relative), or who are unable to base their descriptions in an academic context (e.g., your minister). Letters from these authors can give the impression you are unable or unwilling to solicit letters from individuals whose depictions are accurate, objective, or professionally relevant.
• Avoid letter of recommendation authors who will provide unflattering descriptions of your personal or academic characteristics. These descriptions provide a clear warning that you are not suited for graduate study.
• Choose your letter of recommendation authors carefully. Do not simply ask potential authors if they are willing to write you a letter of recommendation; ask them if they are able to write you a strong letter of recommendation. This question will allow them to decline your request diplomatically if they believe their letter may be more harmful than helpful.
• Avoid statements that reflect a generic approach to the application process or an unfamiliarity with the program to which you are applying. These statements signal you have not made an honest effort to learn about the program from which you are saying you want to earn your graduate degree.
• Avoid statements that indicate you and the target program are a perfect fit if these statements are not corroborated with specific evidence that supports your assertion (e.g., your research interests are similar to those of the program’s faculty). Graduate faculty can interpret a lack of this evidence as a sign that you and the program to which you are applying are not a good match.

Lack of Information About the Program to Which You Are Applying 

• Avoid statements that reflect a generic approach to the application process or an unfamiliarity with the program to which you are applying. These statements signal you have not made an honest effort to learn about the program from which you are saying you want to earn your graduate degree.
• Avoid statements that indicate you and the target program are a perfect fit if these statements are not corroborated with specific evidence that supports your assertion (e.g., your research interests are similar to those of the program’s faculty). Graduate faculty can interpret a lack of this evidence as a sign that you and the program to which you are applying are not a good match.

Poor Writing Skills

• Avoid spelling or grammatical errors in your application. These errors are an unmistakable warning of substandard writing skills, a refusal to proofread your work, or your willingness to submit careless written work.
• Avoid writing in an unclear, disorganized, or unconvincing manner that does not provide your readers with a coherent picture of your research, educational, and professional goals. A crucial part of your graduate training will be writing; do not communicate your inability to write to those you hope will be evaluating your writing in the future.

Misfired Attempts to Impress

• Avoid attempts to impress the members of a graduate admissions committee with information they may interpret as insincere flattery (e.g., referring to the target program in an excessively complimentary manner) or inappropriate (e.g., namedropping or blaming others for poor academic performance). Graduate admissions committees are composed of intelligent people; do not use your application as an opportunity to insult their intelligence.

Thank you to Dr. Drew Appleby and Dr. Karen Appleby for sharing this report with Accepted.com.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

01:09:00 – Introducing Mark to Admissions Straight Talk.

02:24:00 – YouTern’s background.  How did Mark come to found YouTern?

03:37:00 – The value of internships.  How do they help grads enter the workforce?

07:27:00 – Comparison of different types of internships: summer, part-time, and virtual Internships.

09:17:00 – What makes YouTern different from other job boards? Mentorship!

11:40:00 – Do unpaid internships make sense?

18:16:00 – Internships can help clarify goals and answer the big question, “What to you want to be when you grow up?”

25:03:00 – Differences in the internship process for undergrad and graduate students.

33:55:00 – Learn more about YouTern.

Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk in iTunes so you don’t miss any segments! Stay in the admissions know. (And while you’re there, feel free to leave us a review.)

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

00:47:00 – Introducing Daniel, Co-founder and VP of Business Development at SoFi.

02:25:00 – SoFi’s background. How did Daniel come to co-found Sofi?

05:02:00 – SoFi’s plans for future expansion beyond the 78 currently eligible schools including Stanford, Harvard, MIT, NYU, and UC Berkeley.

06:07:00 – More than just financial loans!  Find out about the wonderful networking opportunities available to you through SoFi’s alumni community.

11:15:00 – Find out how SoFi works together with universities’ financial aid offices.

13:58:00 – Do you qualify?

15:25:00 – Daniel’s financial advice for current students and applicants: Do your research and don’t take the first loan that is put into your hands!

18:02:00 – Insights into Daniel’s experience as a Stanford Sloan Fellow.

20:31:00 – Learn more about SoFi.

Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk in iTunes so you don’t miss any segments! Stay in the admissions know. (And while you’re there, feel free to leave us a review.)

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“A great funding opportunity for members of the military.”

This is a great funding opportunity for members of the military.

The Tillman Military Scholar program was founded to honor the legacy of Pat Tillman, who” proudly put his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals on hold to serve his country” and  died while serving with the U.S. army in Afghanistan in 2004. The scholarship is open to US service members and veterans (and their spouses) who are full-time students at accredited 4-year institutions in the US. You can use the funding for both undergraduate and graduate degrees in any field. The scholarship application will be available starting Jan 14 (the deadline is Feb 15).

Scholarship winners are selected based on their record of accomplishment, leadership skills, and commitment to service. The committee carefully considers your responses to the required essay questions, as well as your educational and career goals. You’ll also need to submit a FAFSA to show your financial need.

To apply, check the eligibility and application requirements at http://www.pattillmanfoundation.org/tillman-military-scholars/apply/. The amount of the scholarship awards varies depending on students’ financial need, but averages around $10,000. The program also includes access to conferences and other programming.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Kids Kicking Cancer

We are THREE DAYS away from the end of Accepted’s Kids Kicking Cancer New Year’s campaign. (Accepted will donate $1 to Kids Kicking Cancer for every “Like” we get on our Facebook page through Sunday, January 6th.)

This wonderful organization helps empower sick kids to build their inner and outer strength with martial arts to fight cancer, and holds a special place for me and my family. My youngest son developed leukemia when he was six. I’m sure you realize that a diagnosis like that is devastating, and the treatment incredibly harsh, especially if the disease progresses. However, few can fathom the psychological and emotional impact on a child.

Tragically, I know what it is, and I know how hard it is to handle that stress and to empower a sick child in a healthy way. Kids Kicking Cancer addresses those issues. The organization helps children manage the stress and pain of cancer through personalized coaching instructed by black belt martial artists.

Please lend a hand by:

1. Liking Accepted on Facebook.
2. Emailing your friends or using your social media platform of choice and asking those you know to “Like” Accepted’s Facebook page.
3. Encouraging your friends to spread the word.

There are only three days left. This is the easiest uplifting thing you can do to welcome in the New Year!

Happy 2013!

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“Your are going to have to be intense.”

I know, I know… I always preach the importance of learning vocabulary slowly and in-context, so the usage of a word really seeps into your brain. But sometimes, you just don’t have the time, and you need to cram as many GRE vocabulary words as you can in a limited amount of time. Maybe you only found out that the application deadline was sooner then you expected. Maybe you had intended to study vocab all these months, but…eh, you never got around to it. Or maybe you just figured vocab wasn’t that important on the GRE. Think again! It’s crucial to getting a good score.

No need to despair, at least entirely. You can still cram a large number of words into your head in a one-week period of time. But you are going to have to be intense, and you are going to have to be clever. Simply reading a vocab list or just relying on flashcards is not going to allow you to maximize your potential.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew

My colleague at Magoosh, Mike, bet me lunch that I could not learn the periodic table of elements in one week (yes, we make silly bets like this all the time). Though chemistry is not my forte (I remember the physical education teacher replaced my actual chemistry teacher at the last minute), I was definitely up for the challenge.

Instead of just staring at the periodic table of elements, which would probably have induced nausea, I learned a few at a time, constantly closing my eyes and rehearsing those that I had learned. I went up and down, left and right, all the time strengthening the connections between the elements.

Likewise, when you learn words, you should learn about a dozen at a time. Make connections, when appropriate. See if you can come up with the word when you just look at the definition. See if you can list a few synonyms.  When you feel you have a strong grasp of the words, build off of them by learning another dozen words. Always come back to the original words, comparing them to new words. Remember, it does not help to cram words for the GRE if they fall out of your head after an hour.

Quiz yourself frequently and creatively

Researchers who study memory have learned that after 90-minutes what we learn suddenly begins to dissipate rapidly. Instead of studying two hours at a time, study in little bursts, trying to return—even if for a few moments—to your studying within 90 minutes to 2 hours. These little breaks are a good time to let the words incubate; but not enough time so that they disappear completely.

Brain barf

This is probably not the most pleasant visual—but I’m sure it is colorful. Joking aside, “brain barfing” can be a powerful way to know what is inside your brain, and just how strong the memory of a word is (are you mixing up letters? Are you mistaking one word for another?)

So here’s what you do: Take a blank piece of paper and see how many words, along with their definitions, you can write out. You will often find that the number of words you knew is fewer than expected. Don’t worry, go back and consult your list, especially for those tip-of-the-tongue words. That way you can identify those words that you tend to forget.

Take advantage of those quiet moments

Waiting for a bus? Eyeing that smartphone to kill the time with Angry Birds? Don’t succumb! Instead see if you can think of words that you had been learning. Maybe you can even use them to describe something in your immediate environment (“Where is that dilatory bus?!?”).

Do plenty of practice questions

Don’t just hang out with vocabulary the entire time. Crack open a GRE book or log in to Magoosh on your smartphone and start solving actual questions. You will be exposed to words, many of which you know, and probably many which you don’t. Of the words you do know, working with them in a problem-solving context, will only make the connection your brain has formed with that word that much stronger. For the words you don’t know, make them part of your daily list.

The flashcards

Don’t forget to use them as part of your all-out assault on vocabulary. Grab a friend or family member, and have them quiz you. And remember to see if you can identify words from their definitions (and make sure you actually know what the definitions mean, instead of just saying them in a robot voice).

Aggressively following this schedule—making sure to include all six strategies—should help you learn between 500 and 1,000 words. As for the bet, I employed many of the strategies above and was able to memorize all 118 elements—reciting them forwards and backwards, up and down—in 48 hours. The best part was I got a free cheeseburger. Of course even the juiciest burger pales in comparison to a great verbal score, which you can only attain from learning lots of vocabulary words.

This post was written by Chris Lele, GRE expert at Magoosh GRE Prep, and originally posted here.
 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Trends for 2013

2012 has been an exciting year. Experimentation in applications including interviews and essays has marked the most recent admissions cycle. In addition, the recession, growing concern about rising tuition and student debt, and the promise of MOOCs is shaking the world of higher education.  But let’s leave the 35,000 foot view of last year and gaze into the crystal ball for next year.

Trends for 2013

1. Increased use of MMI in medical school admissions will continue.
2. For law school, an increasingly practical approach to legal education with more opportunities for externships, internships, and coursework related to legal practice.
3. More new one-year specialized masters programs like UM’s Masters in Entrepreneurship or Rochester Simon’s menu of one-year specialized masters programs as well more accelerated MBA programs or expansion of existing ones, like those at Kellogg, Columbia, and Cornell. These shorter programs, as well as part-time programs and one-year programs abroad, will present increasing competition to the traditional full-time, two-year U.S. MBA programs.
4. More experimentation with the MBA interview.  I predict more group interviews, as was introduced by INSEAD and Wharton in the last two years. I also predict continued experimentation with essays and attempts to find alternatives to essays, probably using media other than the written word.
5. Continued growth of Asian MBA programs as continuing economic contraction in Europe, increasingly restrictive visa policies there, and the relatively strong Asian economy encourage Asian business schools’ growth and competitiveness.

How did I do in 2012?

So that’s what I foresee for this year, but how did last year’s predictions stack up?  How cloudy was my crystal ball. Well I predicted:

1. Interview experimentation, specifically more use of team interviews for business school. On the money! 
2. “The trend towards more openness with data (in law school admissions) will spill over to MBA programs.” Not sure here. I think so, but can’t point to anything specific.
3. “Expect more focus on realistic, well-reasoned goals in all areas of graduate admissions.” Again, I think this is true, but I can’t point to any specific evidence. Jan. 3 2013 News Flash (Edit): I now have some evidence. Today’s Wall Street Journal article M.B.A. Pop Quiz: Are You Employable? reports on increasing number of business schools that are have career services weigh in on admissions decisions.
4. “Increased Flexibility in B-School Curricula.” I expected more schools to move toward the Chicago Booth, UCLA and Wharton models where general requirements can be taken later in one’s b-school career.  Frankly, I haven’t seen this development.

And what did I miss entirely? The shrinking of the MBA application. There have been fewer essays almost across the board.

So my crystal ball definitely had some inaccurate refraction last year. Let’s see how I do in 2013.

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

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 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Thanks for a wonderful 2012!

For this last post of 2012, I thought you might be interested in what you — our readers, visitors, clients, and friends — visited, read, and watched the most in 2012.

Top Ten Most Visited Accepted Admissions Blog Posts of 2012:

1. Harvard Business School 2013 Essay Tips
2. INSEAD 2013 MBA Essay Tips
3. Tips for Completing Your Princeton Supplement to the Common Application
4. 2013 Common Application Essay Tips
5. Tips for Completing Your Columbia Supplement to the Common Application
6. Tips for Completing Your Brown Supplement to the Common Application
7. Kellogg 2013 MBA Essay Tips
8. Duke Fuqua 2013 MBA Essay Tips
9. Indian School of Business 2013 Essay Tips
10. MIT Sloan 2013 MBA Essay Tips

5 Most Popular Articles

1. Writing Your Grad School Personal Statement
2. Go for the Goals in Your Statement of Purpose
3. Tips for Writing Letters of Recommendation
4. MBA Admissions: Low GMAT or GPA
5. 4 Must-Haves in Residency Personal Statements

And what’s the absolute best at Accepted.com? What do I like the best? YOU!  The wonderful people who are our readers, followers, circlers, fans, friends, participants, and most of all, our clients.

Thanks for a wonderful 2012. Bring on 2013!

//

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Right here folks:

One-Year Graduate Programs See Sharp Rise in Recruiter Interest

One-year specialized masters programs in business have seen a 30+% increase in recruiter interest per GMAC‘s 2012 Year-end Poll of Employers. At a time when recruiter interest in people with a bachelor’s degree has actually declined slightly, specialized business masters programs are increasingly viable and appealing options for college graduates according to a survey of 200+ employers conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Who are these programs for?

Perhaps someone like you, if you:

• Are currently a hard science major, but not too keen on spending your working life chained to a lab bench. And you find that business intrigues you.
• Studied communications, but are less than thrilled with a starting average salary of $42,286*, and are attracted to commerce as well as communications.
• Thought you would like to be a doctor, but organic chemistry and molecular genetics zapped your GPA while the world of medical devices has captured your imagination and passion.
• Studied political science because you liked it and had some vague notion of becoming a lawyer, but the current legal job market necessitates a Plan B.

And What About ROI?

It’s great that recruiters are looking to hire more of these degree-holders, but is the education worth the cost? That depends. Let’s take a look at a few salary figures for college grads in specific fields:

Let’s also examine a few specialized masters programs and average salaries for those grads:

Obviously, there is variability here, and the specifics matter. You as an individual need to weigh your tuition and opportunity cost (the earnings you lose by not working for a year) against the anticipated increase in earnings associated with your particular specialized masters. You should also consider the value of pursuing a career you enjoy.

If the average cost of tuition is $50K and the opportunity cost is let’s say $45K, then your educational investment is $95K.  Let’s examine the anticipated return: If your earnings are increased by $20,000 per year as a result of your degree, you recoup your investment in roughly five years. (Yes I know I have not calculated the future value of money, non-financial benefits, the multiplier impact of salary increases starting at a higher base, and the impact of bonuses, but I’m trying to keep this simple.)

Curious about the recruiting experience of one leading specialized masters program, I spoke to Sheryle Dirks, Associate Dean for Career Management at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. I asked to what she attributed the increased recruiter interested in these one-year degrees and specifically in Fuqua’s MMS holders.

She attributed it to two main factors:

1. Recognition of these degrees and their value to employers is increasing as grads make their impact in the workplace. She proudly said Fuqua’s MMS program gets a lot of “repeat business” from recruiters.
2. Business continues to evolve and remains a “complex animal.” Companies, frequently the same ones that hire MBAs, are seeing benefit in hiring for their entry level positions people with a bachelors in a field other than business supplemented by rigorous business analytical skills and a strategic framework.

Take-aways:

1. Yes Virginia, you can pursue non-business interests in college and study business later. The combination can be powerful in the marketplace.
2. If you are a college senior looking for a job and concerned that you won’t find one, consider applying to specialized masters programs while seeking that career-propelling position. And if you don’t get the job of your dreams, attending a top specialized masters program may be better for your career than flipping burgers or doing data entry.
3. If you are already in the work force, realize that hiring for MBAs and a variety of specialized masters programs that cater to more experienced students is also up. The percentage increase is smaller, but existing demand was much greater.

Let your goals guide you. Do your cost-benefit analysis. And then pursue an education likely to lead to a satisfying career AND to provide a return on the investment you made to acquire it.

* From NACE 2012 Salary Survey

This article first appeared on Technorati.




By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Bes

“Set yourself a schedule.”

Dealing with Application Deadlines:

1. Set yourself a schedule and work backwards from your deadlines. Allow time for the holidays, sleep, exercise, and of course work.
2. Focus first on the applications with the earliest deadlines.
3. Work on applications one at a time. Adapt essays from your first application, when possible, to later applications. However never merely paste in an essay because the question is similar. Customize it for this application and this program.
4. If you fall behind, consider dropping/postponing an application to maintain quality overall.

Dealing with Word Limits:

1. Before you start writing, spend a few minutes to determine the theme and structure for the essay. I personally like a traditional outline, but others may prefer cluster outlines or index cards. Use the method that works best for you.
2. Just write for 15 minutes. Don’t stop writing until the timer you set for 15 minutes goes off. (useful tool: http://e.ggtimer.com)
3. Keep writing in 15 minute spurts separated by short breaks until you feel you are in your groove. Then write as long as you want.
4. Edit your drafts using the editing funnel.

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

Kids Kicking Cancer

For the next 10 days (through Jan. 6th), we’ll be donating $1 to Kids Kicking Cancer for every new “Like” that we receive on the Accepted.com Facebook page. So if you want to help kids kick their cancer to the curb as they welcome the New Year, simply click “Like” – and of course, tell your friends to “Like” us too!

Visit our Facebook page NOW and “Like” us now! Help us reach our $1,000 goal!

There – that was easy, and you’ve just done your part to help kids utilize their inner powers and outer strengths to manage the stress and pain of their disease…and kick cancer! What a great way to start 2013!

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Happy Holidays!

We here at Accepted want to extend warm Holiday Greetings to the entire extended Accepted family – clients, readers, visitors, and partners. May this holiday season be a happy one leading to a wonderful 2013!

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

This is understandable— some people worry they’ll be held to their still-evolving ideas as if they were chiseled in stone; and others simply haven’t thought those ideas through very much yet. Take a deep breath! No one’s going to produce your SOP when it’s time for you to start writing your thesis and expect it to correspond exactly—everyone knows your knowledge and ideas will develop throughout your grad program. On the other hand, the SOP is the way for the committee to see that you possess depth of interest and comprehension in your field, and that you understand what goes into research. If you talk about ideas that are too vague or nebulous, or that aren’t addressable by your discipline, then you risk sounding naïve.

Here are some questions/pointers to help you focus and narrow your interests:

• What are the broad research questions/issues that interest you? Can you describe your interests in a sentence? In a paragraph? Try to create a summary of your interests that you can work with.
• Within those broad areas of interest, have you begun to focus on more specific questions? If you’re not sure what the current questions/problems are in your field, now is the time to start catching up—look at recent journal publications, go to conferences if you can, etc. Reading the lit in your field will also give you a sense of how to frame your ideas in the language of your field.
• Have you done any research in this field already? If so, do you intend to build on your previous work in grad school or go in a new direction?
• How will your research contribute to the field?
• Some projects described in SOPs are achievable in the short-term, while others are big enough to last a career. If your interests/goals fall into this latter category, acknowledge the fact that you’re being ambitious—and try to identify some aspect of your interests that you can pursue as a first step.
• Use your SOP to demonstrate your skills (and past experience) in your field, as well as to define the next steps you intend to take.
• Focusing your interests will also involve more detailed research about the programs you plan on applying to. Who might be your research supervisor? How do your interests relate to the work this scholar or scholars are doing now? How would you contribute to the department, and to the discipline?
• Your SOP will also address your longer-term goals (post-degree). Do you plan to pursue a career in research/academia? (For many PhD programs, this remains the department’s formal expectation, even though many PhDs find employment outside the academy.) If you’re applying for your MA/MS, be prepared to discuss what your plans are. How will the degree help you?

“How to Write About Your Research Interests” is excerpted from the Accepted.com special report, Get Your Game On: Prepping for Your Grad School Application.  To download the entire free special report, click here.

By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, author of Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

For this week’s episode of Accepted Admissions Straight Talk, we interviewed Jon Hodge of Strictly English. Check out the full recording to hear our great conversation about test prep, the latest technology in test-taking and more!

00:29:00 – Introducing  Jon Hodge, founder and owner of Strictly English.

01:26:00 – The origins of Strictly English and its focus on the TOEFL.

03:16:00 – Find out how the TOEFL changed since its start in 1969 and added a speaking component to the exam.

06:29:00 – Overview of the 3 different English exams: TOEFL, IELTS, PTE.

08:58:00 – Is there really a difference in the speaking sections of these three exams?

15:13:00 – Do students of certain native backgrounds have greater difficulties with certain parts of the TOEFL?

17:30:00 – Impact of cultural background on communication skills.

18:57:00 – Newest exam, the PTE – uses the latest technology to provide test-takers with results within 48 hours.

21:22:00 – Heads up: TOEFL allows universities to hear a selection of your speaking!

25:22:00 – Learn about this essential communication skill: paraphrasing.

29:40:00 – Reading improves all language skills: speaking, writing, and listening.  So, read, read, read!!

33:35:00 – The unique approach at Strictly English not only prepares you for the TEOFL, but also teaches essential skills for graduate school.

39:23:00 – Learn more about Strictly English and TOEFL prep.

Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk in iTunes so you don’t miss any segments! Stay in the admissions know. (And while you’re there, feel free to leave us a review.)

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“As a new company in a new space, we need to exceed client expectations, so first and foremost I drive client projects in the health-care and telecom verticals. But my job requires an internal focus as well, and I spend a ton of time both building and updating scalable systems, from knowledge management to invoicing and payroll.”

Ouch!!! I suppose this fellow is highly intelligent, and I hope he is good at what he does, but don’t write as he talks. Write directly and clearly so people can understand you. Can the buzz! Perhaps a translation would be:

“As a new company entering a new market, we need to impress our clients with outstanding performance. I personally manage projects for clients in the health-care and telecom industries. But in addition to serving our clients, I am striving to build our business by ensuring that all our systems from personnel to invoicing support our growth.”

For more on what real writers (and readers) think of the latest in vapid jargon, please see:

• Rid the World of Solutions
• Attack of the Zombie Copy
• Personal Statement Clichés of the Year

Avoid Fatal Flaw #3: Write pointed and direct answers to the questions.

“Fatal Flaw #3: Cliched Writing” is excerpted from the Accepted.com special report, 5 Fatal Flaws: Eliminate the 5 Most Common Flaws in Your Law School Personal Statement.  To download the entire free special report, click here.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of this American holiday, one of my favorites, I would like to share a few things with you:

1. One of my favorite posts on this blog is a post I wrote for Thanksgiving several years ago. I like the story, and it also manages to convey a few important techniques that you can use in your personal statements and application essay.
2. I received a lovely thank you note from a client’s mother. The client is doing exceptionally well in her medical school application process and in the spirit of the day, the mom wrote to thank us.

In that same spirit, I would like to thank you for your readership, your participation in the Accepted.com community, and of course your patronage.

On behalf of the entire Accepted.com staff, thanks for choosing Accepted!

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

Save $100 NOW!

Just a reminder about our Get Moving Special which ends on Thursday, November 15th at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. Purchase any non-rush law school, grad school, or MBA service totaling $1000 or more and save $100! What are you waiting for?

Hurry up and get the one-on-one guidance you need to ace your application…and put $100 back in your pockets!

Use promo code R2START to save!





Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“Can I cram for the GRE?”

How long you should study for the GRE is an important consideration. However, there is no one pat answer. You can be a quantum physicist with a penchant for vocab, one who enjoys spending his or her time solving really convoluted math problems (while penning purple poetry). Clearly this person could cram for the GRE by whipping through the 2^nd Edition Official Guide.

On the other hand there are many who take the GRE for whom English is not a first language. There are others for whom the only thing that comes to mind when they hear π is apple (usually the last time they opened up a textbook on math bell-bottom jeans were in). Clearly cramming is not a viable option.

Can I cram for the GRE?

If cramming means two to three weeks then you don’t have to be our aforementioned quantum physicist. For some, they are relatively adept at math and can score well with little preparation. Many of these same people are looking to enter a program that is quant-heavy, so their verbal scores do not need to be very high. A few weeks and they can get the scores they need (and thus focus on other important parts of their applications!).

Regardless of your aptitude you will need to do a couple of practice tests, just to test your mettle. So even if you believe that you are capable of cramming for the GRE, the very nature of the word cramming implies that you are going to sit down and do some serious studying (just not for a very long time).

So yes: you can cram for the GRE, but you better have a pretty good reason: Rhodes scholar, non-competitive programs, major procrastination. Regardless, you should keep in mind the following:

• Magoosh e-books (vocabulary, math formulas, and general)
• On-line, paper-based test
• 2^nd Edition Official Guide
• Powerprep tests (available on CD that comes with the 2^nd Edition).
• For those quasi-cramming: 30-day study plan
• Really cramming: 1-week study plan
• That said, I only recommend cramming if you can’t avoid it. And even for the most gifted amongst us, I recommend more than just a lazy Sunday afternoon with the GRE 2^nd edition propped open on your lap.

How long SHOULD I study for the GRE?

Again, the answer to this question depends on a lot of factors. But I can give a range: you should study for the GRE for one to six months. Below are some of the factors to consider.

How long have you been out of school?

If you are fresh out of an undergraduate program, you have been around academic jargon and, presumably, you’ve been studying diligently for four or more years. Your brain is most likely pretty sharp. That of course is not to denigrate those who’ve been out of school for years. However, when the “study part” of your brain has not gotten a workout for a while, it takes some time to get back into learning word lists and math formulas, and reading dense passages.

How much do you read (and what do you read)?

I don’t mean to imply that after graduating people become glaze-eyed zombies incapable of fathoming even basic prose. Much to the contrary our adult brains become more adept at sifting through a morass of words and gleaning the overall meaning…if we continue to read diligently. And I don’t mean the last gossip column. Read literary works, essays on current events, or even a best-seller (provided it has some challenging words in it). If you have been reading diligently over the years, it is very likely that you’ve developed a strong sense of how vocabulary works in context. And hence, you will need as much time prepping for the GRE.

Are you a math-y person?

If you are the person everybody turns to when it comes time to figure out the tip on a bill, then you likely very good with numbers. You will likely to be able to navigate the GRE math section without too much prep.

Which program do you hope to get into?

There is a big difference between the state college down the road from your house and a Harvard Ph.D. program. Most likely, your choices will fall somewhere in between. The more competitive the school, the more you will have to prep.

Are you “good” at taking tests?

I’ve tutored standardized tests for a while now. Some of my students seem to have a sense of how the tests are put together and how the answers are meant to trick you. Others are simply good at focusing for four hours at a time. None of this is a bad thing. If you are good at taking test, you should not have to study for more than a few months.

Are you a non-native speaker?

Simply put, the GRE verbal is insanely difficult for non-native English speakers. If you fall into this camp, do not despair. You can still do well on the GRE verbal. But you may have to study for six months, or even longer (depending on your answers to the questions above).

This article was written by Chris Lele, GRE expert at Magoosh GRE Prep, and originally posted here.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Paper application? That’s like, so yesterday. Now you Gen X, Y and Millennial candidates get a chance

Imagine you’re a pro rock-climber, contemplating the 300-foot granite face looming above. To succeed, you need to visualize how you’ll make it to the top. It’s the same with video. Envision what you want to see on the screen, then plan, plan, plan ahead!

Storyboarding
Just like you would do for an essay or an audio clip, first write an outline and script. With video, you will also create a pictorial guide called a storyboard.

Print out several copies of a template. Draw out each shot. It doesn’t have to be complicated at all. Use stick figures. Just make a quick sketch to envision what you’ll see through the camera.

Each shot should last between three and five seconds. Under three seconds, people might have a har time grasping what is going on, and over five seconds, people generally become bored. When you’re speaking to the camera, however, you can hold the shot for a little longer, like seven to eight seconds. So for a one minute clip, you’ll need about 12-15 different shots.

Under the picture, write the portion of the script that you plan to say.

Variation of shots: Sequence and Distance
As you tell your story, make sure to show a sequence at various distances from the camera. For
example, when filming the DJ sequence, you could start like this:

• Shot 1: Establishing shot of room with DJ equipment. The viewer can see your entire body, standing near the DJ equipment, facing a crowd.
• Shot 2: Medium shot. Closer to the DJ booth, midriff to just above your head with your hands visible on the turntable.
• Shot 3: Close-up shot. Your fingers on the turntable.
• Shot 4: Establishing shot again. This time with the camera behind your head capturing the silhouette of your back and the crowd dancing below you.

“Video: Let’s Get Technical” was excerpted from Audio & Video in Admissions: Get Ready for Prime Time. To view the entire free special report, please click here.

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“Remember to Vote!”

I’ll admit that no matter how cynical I’m feeling about our political process by the time Election Day rolls around (so many negative ads!), I always get a buzz when I actually go to the polls and vote. There’s something about this moment of actual, physical engagement with our democracy—it excited me when I was 18, and it still does.

Of course, citizenship and public service aren’t just something you think of (or do!) every four years. All of us participate in the life of our communities in some way, and some pursue careers dedicated to public service. Whether that means working in government, the military, the law, non-profits, policy, public health, journalism, or any number of other fields, you can use your strengths to serve the public good.

As you plan your education and career, keep in mind that there are often scholarships and fellowships available to support students who plan public service careers.

A good example is the prestigious Truman Scholarship [Truman.gov]. Students apply during their junior year of college and must be nominated by their universities; applicants must plan a career in public service (defined as government, the non-profit sector, or education). The award provides $30,000.

For students who plan a career in the Foreign Service, the Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship provides a combination of funding (up to $40,000/year), internships and mentoring. The undergraduate fellowship provides funding for the senior year of college and first year of a grad program, and the graduate fellowship covers two years of a master’s program.

If you’re planning to earn a law degree and intend to pursue public interest law, there are frequently scholarships to support your studies. Research scholarship opportunities at each law school you’re considering to see whether you’ll need to submit any additional application materials. The American Bar Association also provides a listing of public interest funding.

Opportunities that combine service, education, and work can often come with benefits for your future education and career. AmeriCorps participants earn education awards and can defer student loan payments (americorps.gov). And programs like Teach For America combine regular salaries and benefits with AmeriCorps awards and other benefits (teachforamerica.org).

Wherever your future goals take you, remember to vote Tuesday! (I’ll be proudly wearing my “I voted” sticker!)

By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, author of  Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School. Rebecca will be happy to assist you with your grad school applications.

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$100 Back in Your Pocket!

We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again – the earlier you start work on your applications, the better chance you’ll have of doing an outstanding job and getting accepted. A last-minute application that’s just slapped together will not go unnoticed by the adcom…and not in a good way. A sloppy application will only convince the adcom of your sloppiness, lack of attention to detail, and minimal commitment to your higher education goals. Not a great first impression, huh?

Instead, get an early start on those applications and prove to the adcom that you are an exceptional, committed, and timely person. This is the sort of applicant the admissions members are seeking.

And now, we’ve made getting started easier than ever by offering you $100 off your order of $1000 or more. With our Get Moving Special, you’ll have no trouble hitting those December/January deadlines…and you’ll get to put $100 back into your pocket! Talk about a win-win situation!

Offer valid on non-rush MBA, law school, and grad school service orders of $1000 or more purchased between now and November 15, 2012. Use coupon code R2START at checkout to save big!

 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best