In my non-admissions life, I recently went to a lecture given by a biographer whose work I admire. In the course of his talk he mentioned that while writing about genius has merit, writing about typical folks and their extraordinary achievements is more valuable. The compelling story -- the inspiration, and attention grabber -- resides in the tales of "ordinary people who made a difference."

Bingo! That's relevant to applicants. One of the most commonly asked personal statement questions I see on Twitter is "What should I write about?"

You need to write about when YOU made a difference.

So if you are a Michelangelo, Einstein, Gates, or Buffett, you may be able to write about your incredible talents and how they propelled you to achieve, although you may appear arrogant if you take this approach. In any case, you geniuses can stop reading this post.

For the rest of you, please continue.  Think about those times when your participation in a project, organization, business, team, or club made a difference.

• What was the situation? the problem? the challenge?
• What was your role in meeting that challenge?  What did you do?
• What was the result?

You may or may not want to tie this story explicitly to your educational and professional goals. That decision will depend on many factors, but one evergreen topic for your personal statements and application essays remains: times when you made a difference.

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• College 5 Fatal Flaws

  By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.

Duke University is once again expanding its global footprint, by forging two new partnerships in China. The new cooperative will create new educational and research opportunities.

According to a press release by Duke University’s Office of News & Communications, a groundbreaking ceremony was held last Friday in China along with a formal announcement of the partnership between Duke, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the city of Kunchan, the site of the new educational complex and a fast-growing economy located in China’s Yangtze River Delta. The 200-acre five-building campus will include educational, research, and living facilities, and will be built by Kunchan’s municipal government.

Duke’s Fuqua School of Business will lead this initiative, using the campus for the first time for EMBA, pre-experience masters in management program, and non-degree executive education programs as well as training PhDs and recruiting top faculty members.

Richard Brodhead, president of Duke, explains:

We look forward to working with the Ministry of Education, the government of Kunchan, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University to support education and business development in this most dynamic region of China. The Duke-Kunchan campus will create great learning opportunities for our students, and represents a new model of international educational collaboration.

Following the success of the b-school expansion, Duke intends on expanding other graduate and undergraduate programs to the new campus.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

On the importance of attending a women’s college, 40 years ago, by an alumna: “At a certain age, it’s appropriate to stop thinking of boys as playmates and start relating to them as potential boyfriends and husbands. It’s easier to make the transition if you’re not in each other’s hair all the time.”

In a four-part blog post series, Mama PhD reminisces about her experience at a mostly women’s college in the 1970s. She reflects on the pros and cons of studying in an all-female environment at that time.

The Advantages

• Safety – Walking around a dorm where there are no men and around a campus where there are few men reduces fear of rape, violence, and sexual harassment.
• A relaxed attitude towards appearance and debate – In an all-female environment, there’s little concern for spending an excess of time on primping and preening. Roll out of bed, brush your teeth (if you have time), and run to class. Likewise, women in such an environment are more likely to speak their minds and not worry about men dismissing their ideas or about heated debates turning violent.
• Respect as women and for past women – Mama PhD notes that the male and female professors in a women’s college tend to be more respectful “of women’s contributions to the larger world.” She explains how many years later she realized that graduates from co-ed institutions gave less credence to the value great women authors like Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and Virginia Woolf.
• The opportunity to take on traditionally male roles – At a co-ed college in the ‘70s, women were expected to take care of costume design while the men got down and dirty with set construction. At a women’s college that same decade, however, women naturally did what was necessary for the stage, regardless of whether that job was a “male” or “female” task.
• Encouragement, growth, and self-expression – In a place bursting with strong, independent women who are all bolstering each other’s goals and ambitions, the feeling of sorority and personal assurance can blossom. No deferring to men and no insecurity due to having strictly “female” ideas. Mama PhD writes, “[T]hose of us who had believed, consciously or not, that men were smarter, more capable, and/or more interesting than women were forced to reexamine those beliefs and, in the end, trash them.”

The Disadvantages

• Prestige – In the 1970s women’s colleges did not receive the same acclaim (not to mention funding) as their brother schools.
• Harassment – Mama PhD puts it best, “To a certain type of male, ‘women’s college’ is synonymous with ‘hunting ground.’ These men imagine that women who choose to attend such an institution are desperate for male attention.” She notes that date rape was not uncommon, and that men simply didn’t understand how women could enjoy the lack of male presence.
• Female disregard for men – Mama PhD describes the value that arose from strong female friendships made at her mostly female college, but admits that in those bonds, a disregard for men became apparent. Men became marginalized, the “other,” “good for dates and sex if you happened to be heterosexual, but not necessarily people with whom to relate honestly and with trust.” There was so much appreciation and passion that went into forming strong friendships with other women, that the importance of value of men in a woman’s life (of which there should also be much) was decidedly absent.

Lasting Effects of the Women’s College Experience

The social, romantic, and educational goings-on that take place during the four formative college years have a lasting effect on one’s future. In her final post on the subject, Mama PhD discusses the lasting advantages and drawbacks from her women’s college experience that shaped her future. Among the advantages are the value of female friendships and the value placed on women in the workplace. These are obvious; spend four years in an intense, growth-oriented, learning environment, and you’re bound to come out with eternal friendships and an undying respect for the endeavors and aspirations of your cohorts.

On the negative side, Mama PhD admits that the experience marked her for a future of “weird” relationships with men.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

The Boston Globe reports that about 35% of American college students continue on to receive degrees beyond a B.A. This percentage is up from 32.7% in 1999. While an increased interest in higher education is admirable, one must ask: Is this upswing towards higher education positive? Are these M.A. and Ph.D. graduates obtaining jobs (and raises) that they otherwise wouldn't receive? Are these higher degrees necessary? Is the additional degree worth the time and money that goes into obtaining it?

A recent recession-related job survey shows that less that 4.5% of workers in America hold Ph.D.s, and that this number is dropping. If more people are getting Ph.D., but studies show that there are fewer Ph.D.s in the workforce…well…you do the math.

Another staggering figure that may make you reconsider pursuing that Ph.D.: Employees with Ph.D.'s earn 10% less than those same Ph.D. holders would have made a decade ago.

This chart explains it all:

In a Chronicle article written one year ago Thomas H. Benton restated a position he'd held for many years, a "message many prospective graduate students were not getting from their professors, who were generally too eager to clone themselves": that prospective Ph.D.s should scratch their Ph.D. dreams and run the other way, towards a job.

Prospects are bleak for Ph.D. holders in the humanities, Benton explains:

Most undergraduates don't realize that there is a shrinking percentage of positions in the humanities that offer job security, benefits, and a livable salary….They don't know that you probably will have to accept living almost anywhere, and that you must also go through a six-year probationary period at the end of which you may be fired for any number of reasons and find yourself exiled from the profession.

Becoming a humanities professor is not a reliable prospect, though, Benton admits, it may be a more responsible choice than freelance writing, acting, or becoming a professional athlete.

Ph.D.s used to be reserved for the few elite students in a particular field. Today, a doctorate program has become a hiding shelter from searching for a job.

A warning from Benton: The recession won't go away simply because you've locked yourself in the library.

A Ph.D. is for some people, relents Benton, for individually wealthy people who have the time and money to devote themselves to academe, you are an extremely well-connected person who has a reliable job guarantee, or if you have a current job and your current employer offers to pay your way towards Ph.D.-hood.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Here are some news tidbits from last week:

• BusinessWeek reported some good news last week regarding the job market, particularly for new college graduates. The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported a turnaround in college hiring. Surveys show that the recent economic recession hit college graduates ages 22 to 27 among the hardest. BW states that this new job market optimism may be a bit premature, but remains hopeful from this year’s graduates. 

 

• Ash Martin, an MBA student at MIT Sloan, writes in BusinessWeek early last week about his experience with the MBA internship. Martin describes the internship as a test: A company evaluates your performance in a particular job. Do you fit with this office’s environment? Can you get the job done? Can you put your MBA skills to good use? Martin explains that your MBA internship should not be something you should fear (like possibly other tests you’ve taken in your life) but one that you enter with confidence—it’s a test, after all, that you should know all the answers to.

 

• As India’s middle class emerges, so does the growing desire to study abroad at a top college or graduate school program in the U.S. A recent article in The Chronicle explains that international college recruitment is at an all-time high in India. The streets, taxis, and storefronts in New Delhi, according to the article, are plastered with advertisements for test-prep and admissions counseling and promises of securing a solid educational future abroad. Many factors contribute to this increasingly popular trend of attending overseas universities, but one reason remains strictly practical: The Indian universities simply cannot accommodate the number of students who would ideally attend locally. Colleges in Britain and Australia have pursued more active recruitment strategies than the American universities, which in general have little trouble attracting Indian students.

 

• In an effort to expand its global footprint, the Financial Times reports, Harvard Business School will open its first overseas branch in Shanghai. The new Shanghai facility will open its doors this month for short executive courses and will serve as a base for full-time MBA students involved in international projects. 

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best