You studied, worked, or volunteered abroad. Now you want to include part of this in your personal statement as part of an undergrad, AMCAS or other application. Maybe you want to show that you’ve experienced a different culture and expanded your perspective through your eye-opening experiences meeting new people, mountain-climbing, assisting in a rural community,…
10 Tips for Better Essay Writing
Let’s take your writing up a notch–or two! Ready to up your game in the writing department? Since you’re probably eager to show the adcom that you’ve got the “write” stuff and can relate your significant experiences and insightful ideas eloquently, these 10 tips are for you: Think about writing as a conversation on paper….
How Personal is Too Personal?
The personal statement is a terrific opportunity to share an intriguing and unique aspect of your life with the admissions committees. How much should you tell? At what point are you crossing the line into TMI? When I applied to college, I wrote a personal statement describing some challenging family circumstances I’d had while growing up….
3 Reasons Why Writing About Overcoming Obstacles Strengthens Your Application Essays
Why do obstacles matter to the adcoms? Applicants love to write about their accomplishments, whether in personal statements for graduate school or in b-school essays that ask for greatest achievements, challenges, and the like. And when they do, they are not shy about coming up with tangible accomplishments: driving innovations that led to revenue boosts…
Ten Tips for Writers of Letters of Recommendation
It’s time to ask your professor, boss, or colleague to draft a convincing and enthusiastic letter of recommendation for your grad school application. And honestly, you are not looking forward to it. The recommenders you want to write on your behalf are very busy people; can they really give this the attention it requires so…
Test-Taking Advice for People with Learning Disabilities or Test Anxiety
Nobody likes taking tests, right? Well, perhaps a few of you out there get psyched at the chance of showing how well you have boned up for your exams. But most people facing a timed test can’t wait to get it out of the way. Even those who are fairly confident of their abilities will…
5 Tips for Writing About Extracurricular Activities You Started at the Last Minute
You are this close to finishing your application, but in the section that asks you about your extracurricular activities, you freeze up. I don’t really have any extracurricular activities, you think. What should I do now? How will I be able to stand out from the competition? We’re glad you asked. Team Accepted has worked…
‘Twas the Night Before Deadlines: A Cautionary Tale of Cliches
‘Twas the night before deadlines, and all through the world, Our consultants sat cramming, coffee brewing, brows furrowed; Though the essays were written with effort and care, There were still a few things that were cause for despair! The clichés! Oh, forsake! Terrible, were they – That all our consultants could think was “oy vey!”…
Oh No! A Typo!!
Will that lonely typo doom your otherwise perfect application to the great round file in cyberspace, putting the kibosh on years of effort and nixing your attempt to walk through the hallowed halls of your favored institution? No. A single, minor typo will do nothing. So don’t sweat one minor spelling mistake, a missed comma,…
6 Tips for Getting Started on Your Application Essays
Sometimes the hardest part of writing a personal statement or application essay for college or grad school is finding the discipline to sit down and focus. Often, once you accomplish that, the ideas begin to form and the words begin to flow. The following 6 tips will help motivate you to start writing, and then…
The Art of Interviewing—Are You a “Can” or a “Cannot”?
“I am doomed… This is a disaster… I really never expected this… What am I going to do?” This from Daniel, a prospective PhD student. I couldn’t imagine what had happened to cause such a negative response, especially as Daniel is a very strong candidate with impeccable credentials. My shock was further compounded when he…
Generic-itis Prevention [Warning: If Untreated, Can Cause Rejection]
Each year, Accepted consultants are witnessing a recurring epidemic. And it’s worse than you can imagine: Generic-itis. What generic-itis looks like Here is an example of a severe case of generic-–itis that I drafted based on several different examples I recently read, along with 25 years of experience in this business: I find Top Choice’s…
What to Include in Your Admissions Resume
I suggest that applicants begin assembling materials for their applications as early as possible in advance of admissions deadlines. One of the first items you should start working on is your resume, a document that all professionals should always have updated and at the ready. 6 tips for creating a rockin’ resume Here are some…
Review Your Essays Like an Admissions Consultant and Use the Editing Funnel
Most of you are now — or will be soon — editing your critical application essays and personal statements. When Accepted consultants review and edit your essays, they go through a process I call the editing funnel. When you edit your own essays, you should follow a similar process. How the editing funnel works Here’s…
How to Stay Within Essay Word Limits by Reducing Verbal Verbosity
Most applicants – whether applying to med school, law school, business school, or any other grad school or college program – need to deal with rigid character or word limits when writing their application essays or personal statements. You may start out thinking that you have nothing to write, but generally, once applicants begin writing,…
Apply to be a Tillman Military Scholar
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…
Got Dinged? You Can Handle It!
It may or may not be fair, but many of you are going to get at least a few rejections. What are you going to do about them? First and foremost—if you’ve gotten dinged at your top choice school, that doesn’t mean that you’re never going to get in. It doesn’t even mean that you…
Application Timing: When Should You Submit?
Timing. Timing. Who’s got the best timing? Applicants frequently stress over when to submit, wondering if when they apply will affect the outcome. They lose sleep with questions like: When is the best time to apply? When do I have the greatest chance of getting accepted? The answer is surprisingly simple. Listen to this episode for…
How to Add Detail to Your Social Enterprise/Community Service Goals
Whether you’re applying for an MBA, a PhD in Public Policy (or many other doctoral fields), or a Masters in Social Work, you’re likely to talk about social enterprise or community service goals in your application. For some, this will be your primary objective – those of you seeking careers in the non-profit sector, for…
6 Tips for Talking About Your Weaknesses
How do you react when you read/hear the weakness question? With this question, schools are assessing how well you self evaluate. Like a business problem, they want to hear your plan of action, your implementation, and your success rate. Here are some tips to help you a) think about and evaluate your weaknesses, and b)…
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