When crafting application essays – whether for graduate school, business school, or any other competitive program – applicants often focus on highlighting their accomplishments. And it’s easy to understand why. Most candidates are eager to share their significant achievements, such as leading a groundbreaking project, making a meaningful impact through research, or spearheading a successful…
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
Six Last-Minute Common Application Tips— 2024-2025
It’s November, and we are starting down the home stretch of the college application season. As we enter the regular admissions cycle, additional deadlines are looming. Congratulations if you applied Early Action or Early Decision using the Common Application. Now you can turn your attention to Regular Decision deadlines, which will vary somewhat over the…
College Admissions: Exploring Your Identity for Your College Essays and Personal Statements
Langston Hughes begins his poem “Theme for English B” in this way: The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you — Then, it will be true. I wonder if it’s that simple? “Tell Us about Yourself” When colleges give you the instruction “Tell us about yourself,” that might…
Ask Away at Your Admissions Interview!
Have you been invited to interview at the graduate school of your choice? Great news! This means the program is seriously interested in you, and you are one important step closer to acceptance. To make the most of this opportunity, preparation is essential. Your goal is not only to demonstrate your enthusiasm for and knowledge…
Four Mistakes Successful College Applicants Don’t Make
As simple as this advice might seem, avoiding preventable mistakes is the best way to improve your outcome in the increasingly competitive college admissions process. The preparation of a successful college application does not happen overnight. In fact, it is the culmination of years of work throughout high school. The most successful college applicants take…
Tips for Answering the University of Pennsylvania Supplemental Essay Prompts [2024 – 2025]
The University of Pennsylvania, or Penn, was established in 1790 and is one of the oldest universities in America. This prestigious Ivy League school is known for its top-notch research as well as its undergraduate programs that focus on practical applications grounded by a strong liberal arts foundation. Penn accepts both the Common Application or…
Tips for Answering the Yale University Supplemental Essays and Short Answer Questions [2024-2025]
This will come as no surprise: Yale University is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world. It accepts the Common Application, Coalition Application, and QuestBridge Application, all three of which require a personal statement essay plus additional Yale-specific short answers and a Yale writing supplement. This prestigious Ivy League school prides itself on…
How to Project Confidence, Professionalism, and Positivity in Your Essays
So you’ve sat down and brainstormed, and you’re now ready to hit the ground running with your essays. Great! You might be wondering how to best convey your reasons for pursuing graduate school to the admissions committees. What kind of tone or approach should you use? A good rule of thumb is to project three…
How to Get a U.S. Student Visa – Even When There Are Complications [Episode 589]
Show Summary This week, we hear from Marla Schechter, a US immigration lawyer with 20+ years of experience. Marla shares her expertise on various topics related to obtaining a visa for studying in the United States. She covers the process of obtaining an F-1 visa, the advantages of studying in a STEM-certified program, the H-1B…
Do’s and Don’ts for Your Application Resume
Your application resume is usually the first opportunity for admissions readers to get to know you and learn about your experience and skills. Because of the number of other application components they need to review, most admissions committee readers will read your resume quickly. So, not only do you have to make a great first…
Tips for Answering the Common Application Essay Prompts
Tips for Answering the Common Application Essay Prompts 2024-2025 Whether you are applying to be a first-year student or a transfer student, you will find that many undergraduate universities and colleges use the Common Application. There are more than 1,000 Common Application member schools in the United States, Canada, European Union, United Kingdom, and worldwide….
Should I Use AI for My MBA (Grad/College) Applications?
My answer to this question used to be a hard “No.” But now, it’s “Yes! Kind of.” We’ve gone through an admissions cycle during which applicants used AI tools such as ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini, and others with both positive and negative outcomes. Some colleges, graduate schools, and MBA programs might even have essay prompts soon…
Make the Most of Your Common App Activities Summary
Your high school extracurricular activities are of great interest to the college admissions committees. Whether you played sports, volunteered at an animal shelter, played in a band, or were part of a religious or community youth group, such involvements show the adcoms what matters to you and where you have chosen to invest your free…
Highlighting Your Leadership Experience in Your Application
Mike knew that an intern on his team was struggling with speaking up on client projects, so he mentored the individual throughout the summer and encouraged them to take on a key role on a final presentation. Amy worked part-time throughout college but still found ways to volunteer as a Big Sister, all while earning…
How Personal Is Too Personal In Your Application Essays?
The personal statement is your chance to stand out and make an impression on the admissions committees. How can you make your essay original? How much should you tell? And 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…
The Diversity Essay: How to Write an Excellent Diversity Essay
What is a diversity essay in a school application? And why does it matter when applying to leading programs and universities? Most importantly, how should you go about writing such an essay? Diversity is of supreme value in higher education, and schools want to know how every student will contribute to the diversity on their…
Can You Use the Same Personal Statement for Different Schools?
There are some common questions we admissions consultants hear often from college and graduate school applicants: “I’m applying to six schools, and each one requires essays/personal statements. A lot of the content will be similar! Can I reuse the same essay for different schools? How can I keep the quality and not burn out while…
Four Tips for Displaying Teamwork in Your Application Essays
Teamwork – and its close cousin leadership – are highly prized by graduate programs and universities. But if you haven’t worked in a team on any regular basis, don’t worry! You’ve probably got a number of examples of teamwork in your back pocket that you didn’t even realize were there. Consider the following four ideas…
Admissions Tip: Be Yourself!
Psst! How would you like to know the one thing that admissions committee members really want from applicants? Here it is: they wish – sometimes they even dream – that applicants would stop writing what they imagine the adcom wants to hear. Instead, they want candidates to just be themselves, presented articulately, of course. We…
Four Ways to Highlight Your Strengths in Your Application Essays
One of the most important pieces of advice you will ever learn regarding your personal statements and application essays is this: Show, don’t tell. It’s a classic writing lesson, and you’ve probably heard it before, perhaps many times. But how do you actually “show, not tell,” in your essays? Simply “telling” is ineffective, because it…
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 15
- Next Page »