Along with the basic Common Application essay, the Ivy League schools require supplemental essay responses. These additional essays help these elite schools gain a deeper understanding of you as an applicant. It’s also your chance to explain how the school is a good match for you and how you can enhance their unique college community….
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Tips for Answering the Harvard Supplemental Essay Prompts [2022 – 2023]
It comes as no surprise that Harvard consistently ranks among the top universities in the world. Its highly regarded reputation and academic chops attract the best and brightest. The alluring Harvard brand coupled with its extraordinary education cannot be ignored. It is important to keep in mind throughout the application process that your focus should…
Tips for Answering the University of Michigan Supplemental Essay Prompts [2022 – 2023]
The University of Michigan is a large (over 40,000 students), predominantly residential campus located in the small city of Ann Arbor. This well known school has an outstanding reputation for research, academic rigor and athletic spirit—it is often referred to as a public-Ivy. It offers a non-binding Early Action option with an application deadline of…
Summarizing Your Activities on the Common Application
If you want your Common App to stand out from the crowd, your short activity descriptions must reflect the same thought and care you give to your personal essay. If you thought that a 280-character limit on Twitter was tough, get ready to deal with the short answer questions on your activities on the Common…
Common App Essay Prompts 2022-2023: Tips for Writing Essays That Impress
Many universities and colleges use the Common Application across the United States and in countries around the world. There are over 900 Common Application members in the United States, Canada, the European Union, United Kingdom, and worldwide. These institutions are united in their commitment to a holistic approach to the admissions process. This commitment means…
Happy 4th of July!
Empowering International Students with the Financing for Grad Ed [Episode 475]
How can an international student pay for grad school in the U.S. or Canadian graduate education? [Show Summary] MPOWER Financing has changed the graduate education financing industry by offering international students loans with no collateral or co-signer requirement. Sasha Ramani, the Associate Director of Corporate Strategy explains how they do this responsibly and shares his…
Writing About Your Experiences Abroad
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,…
How to Write a Great Statement of Purpose [Episode 473]
How to Write a Statement of Purpose That Gets You Accepted [Show Summary] Vanessa Febo is a PhD candidate in English Literature at UCLA and a writing instructor who has guided students to acceptance at top programs at Harvard, Stanford, and USC. In this episode, she shares her expert tips on mastering the writing required…
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 to Pick an Undergraduate Major: 14 Important Considerations
Choosing your undergraduate major is a big decision. Before you settle on one, consider these suggestions to help you identify the right choice for your personality, skills, and aptitudes: Enroll in a variety of courses in different areas to see what really engages you–even courses in subject areas that you never considered as a possible…
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….
7 Simple Steps to Writing an Excellent Diversity Essay
What is the diversity question in a school application, and more importantly, why does it matter when applying to leading programs and universities? A diversity essay is an essay that encourages applicants with minority backgrounds, unusual education, distinctive experience, or unique family histories to write about how these elements will contribute to the diversity of…
Admissions Tip: BE YOURSELF!
One of the things admissions committee members tell us again and again is that they wish – really, truly wish – that applicants would not try to write what they imagine the adcom wants to hear, but would just be themselves instead. Time and time again, admissions committee members tell us they wish applicants would…
Writing a Lead That Pops
How many times have you wandered through a bookstore or library, opening up a book to read the first few lines only to quickly close it again? How often have you tested a free sample on your Kindle only to decide after a paragraph that you’re glad you didn’t buy it? How often have you…
Revise and Polish Your Application Essays
You’ve got your first draft ready – this is a great milestone! Now it’s time to revise and edit. Outstanding essays are not sprung into the world on the first draft. Here’s how to edit and polish until your essay shines: 1. Let your essay rest for a day or two, particularly after an intensive…
How to Create the First Draft of Your Application Essay
You now have a clear sense of what makes an essay effective. You have reflected on the questions that helped you identify and develop your theme. Now it’s time to start writing. Before you begin, draft an outline, even if it’s only a very informal list of the main points you want to cover. Based…
Writing Your Career Goals Essay
The career goals essay–a close cousin to the graduate school statement of purpose–also demands a laser-like focus. Unlike personal statements that may discuss career goals but also allow for more flexibility in content, the career goals essay has a specific and packed agenda. In fact, a career goals essay questions may contain several questions in…
Finding a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose
All effective essays have a distinctive theme. Referring back to the essays we read in the previous post, we might say that our MPH candidate’s theme was her passion for finding answers to significant public health issues. Our law school applicant’s theme was his yearning for greater intellectual challenges while remaining in the healthcare field….
Identifying the Ingredients of a Winning Essay
As you gear up to write your application essays, you may have looked at sample “winning” essays published in books or on websites, only to ask yourself afterward, “Sure, these are great, but what do these essays have to do with me?” This blog series will show you how to plan for, draft, and edit…
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