When my clients write about their accomplishments, whether in personal statements for graduate school or b-school essays that ask for greatest accomplishments, challenges, and the like, they almost always come up with real accomplishments: driving innovations that led to revenue boosts for their firms, conducting original and meaningful research in their fields of study, or…
MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
Admissions Warning for All
Thanks to Google Alerts, I stumbled across the following forum post by someone with the pseudonym “Balance”: Shell Shocked My worst fears were confirmed to me on Monday when, after seeking advice from a confidant within the school‘s administration and teaching faculty, I realized that I should withdraw from law school. And so yesterday morning,…
Write Killer Openings
On June 18th, 2006, I was pronounced dead for just over one minute. Want to read more? Good. That was the idea: to grab you from the start. Luckily, on June 18th, 2006, I wasn’t dead—to my knowledge. But if I had been, presumably as the result of some kind of horrible and quite possibly…
Innovation and Leadership
I just read McKinsey Consulting’s fascinating interview with director Brad Bird. While McKinsey’s focus was on the lessons one can learn about innovating from one of the world’s most innovative companies, Brad Bird’s story was also a story of laudable leadership. Many applicants find "leadership" the most difficult of the MBA qualities to demonstrate in…
Accepted Admissions Almanac Adds Authors
As of today, the Accepted Admissions Almanac will start to present the posts of different Accepted editors. The first guest post on the Accepted Admissions Almanac will appear later this morning to be followed by the posts of other Accepted editors in the future. They will all post regularly going forward. And for my fans:…
Personal Statement Tip: Pick Yourself Up and Applaud
Essay questions dealing with failure, risk, mistakes, and difficult interactions or conflict cause applicants to cringe, squirm, and bite their nails. After all, you want to show yourself succeeding and conquering the world in your application essays and personal statements. Not falling down. Schools ask these questions because they want to see how you get…
Personal Statement Tip: Once Upon a Time…
Once upon a time there was a wedding (actually yesterday). The father of the bride wanted to give a speech. His wife (me) worried that he would bore the guests. Mildly insulted and not wanting to forgo an opportunity to praise the bride, his new son-in-law, his son-in-law’s parents, and to share a few words…
What is an Accomplishment?
Accomplishments constitute the bread and butter of personal statements and application essays. Nothing too exciting in that statement. However, a fascinating brainstorming session on Accepted’s Editor Mailing List reveals that applicants don’t always know what an accomplishment is. What goes into this application staple? The bread: Impact. Your accomplishment must show you as a contributor…
Admissions Consultants and Conflicts of Interest
Since last week the activities of three admissions directors have raised a storm of controversy in the admissions world. These directors serve or have served on an advisory board at a private admissions consultancy in Japan. The directors have positions at Wharton, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and Columbia Teacher’s College. Wharton has since requested that the director…
Admissions Tip: Banish Common Boring Openings
What are the most boring, non-starters for your application essay, personal statement, or statement of purpose? The openings that use wording from the question, or in the case of general questions, are so common that they will have a narcotic effect on any admissions reader wading through mounds of files. This morning Accepted’s editors discussed…
Admissions Tip: Thanksgiving Appreciation
I could write now about the aspects of my life I am thankful for: my husband, five healthy children, two delightful, adorable grandchildren, my daughter’s recent engagement, a thriving business, work that I enjoy, and good health. I have done so in the past as I wished you a Happy Thanksgiving, a US holiday that…
Admissions Tip from Dr. Pausch’s Last Lecture (Part 1)
The Wall St. Journal has twice highlighted Dr. Randy Pausch’s moving last lecture. Both Good Morning America and the CBS Evening News featured Dr. Pausch and his tour de force lecture. While there are profound lessons for living in his lecture, as he intended, this blog focuses on admissions. I want to highlight just a…
Employment News for Grads
There have been a few fascinating articles this week focused on job opportunities for recent graduates of college and various graduate programs. Here is a brief run-down: "Best Places to Launch a Career" is a BusinessWeek Special Report surveying hiring trends for Generation Y and "ranking" the best employers. Included are pieces about the Big…
Matchmaking in Admissions
I recently found myself playing matchmaker. (No, matchmaking is not part of Accepted’s service offerings. I was off-duty.) I was talking to the young woman about a young man I know well. She asked me some questions about him, including “Is he growth-oriented?” “Yes,” I responded, “He is interested in growth.” But she wasn’t satisfied…
Those Creative Essays….
Are you going to grind your teeth or grin in anticipation when confronted with an off-beat essay question? Alison Damast, Businessweek’s B-School Reporter explores the topic thoroughly as it relates to MBA applicants in "Applying Oneself Creatively" and the accompanying slide show, "MBA Hopefuls Get Creative." Although the article focuses on the optional "Creativity Challenge"…
Ph.D. Completion Rates
Do you think you may want to go a little further educationally? Is a PhD beckoning? Are you concerned about completing your degree because you know too many people who are "ABD" or "All But the Dissertation"? The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), with financial support from Pfizer and the Ford Foundation, have established the…
Personal Statement Tip: History vs. Memory
Over the weekend I went to a talk focused on the difference between history and memory. The two are clearly related, but not the same. History is what you read in an encyclopedia or newspaper timeline. It is facts, dates, statistics, and data, impersonal and frequently very dry in isolation. Memory consists of vignettes, stories,…
Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants
Two years ago I attended Tuck’s first Conference of International Educational Advisors. I went with the purpose of learning more about Tuck. And I did learn a lot about Tuck, as expected, but I discovered that I enjoyed meeting my competition and professional colleagues much more than I anticipated. The networking was great! I have…
Indiana U Dental School Dismisses or Suspends 25 Students for Cheating
‘Tis the season for cheating scandals. Indiana University’s Dental School announced that it is dismissing or suspending 25 second-year students for cheating and reprimanding an additional 21 students for failing to report the cheating. Both the cheating and the failure to report violate Indiana’s Code of Professional Conduct. The dismissed and suspended students are expected…
Admissions: Rejection, Leadership
I came across a video and an article that present a wonderful perspective on leadership and admissions respectively. Although the former pertains directly to business and the latter to undergrad admissions, the messages in each are applicable to all the categories covered by this blog so that even if you are not in either field…
