The University of California System consists of ten schools on separate campuses – commonly known as the UCs – that all use the same application: UC Berkeley (Cal), UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara, UC Los Angeles (UCLA), UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Francisco, and UC San Diego. (Note, however,…
Four Ways to Show How You’ll Contribute in the Future
Schools are looking for and will actively contribute not only to their student/alumni communities but also to the greater community and society. Many applications include an essay question with some variation of “What would you contribute to your future campus community?” or “How will you contribute to our program?” If you are invited to interview, you’ll…
Three Must-Have Elements of a Good Statement of Purpose
What are the essential components of a strong statement of purpose essay? Very simply, you’ll need to include your MAP: your Motivation, Aspiration, and Perspiration. At Accepted, MAP has a double meaning for individuals writing statements of purpose and goals essays. It illustrates the road one should follow when writing one of these essays. Here’s…
How to Project Professionalism, Positivity, and Confidence in Your Statement of Purpose
What is the right tone to aim for when writing your statement of purpose (SOP) or other application essays? Should you try to sound more mature or intellectual than you actually feel? Or is it better to sound casual and friendly? Will boasting about your achievements hurt you? It can be difficult to pin down…
Tips for Answering the Common Application Essay Prompts 2023-2024
Many universities and colleges use the Common Application across the United States and in countries around the world. There are more than 1,000 Common Application members in the United States, Canada, European Union, United Kingdom, and elsewhere worldwide. These institutions are united in their commitment to a holistic approach to the admissions process. This commitment…
Writing an Excellent Diversity Essay
What is the diversity question in a school application, and why does it matter when applying to leading programs and universities? Most importantly, how should you respond? Diversity is of supreme value in higher education, and schools want to know how every student will contribute to it in their community. A diversity essay is an…
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 teams 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 when you are writing…
Can You Use the Same Personal Statement for Different Schools?
One of the questions we are asked most often by college and graduate school applicants is this: “I’m applying to six different schools, and each one requires two to seven essays/personal statements. That’s so much writing! Can I reuse the same essay for different schools? How can I keep up the quality and not burn…
Admissions Tip: Be Yourself!
Would you like to know one thing that admissions committee members really want from applicants? Here it is: they wish – really, truly wish – that applicants would not try to write what they imagine the adcom wants to hear but instead just be themselves. Time and time again, admissions committee members tell us they want applicants…
Four Tips for Highlighting Your Strengths in Your Application Essays
One of the most important pieces of advice you can receive regarding your personal statements and application essays is this: Show, don’t tell. But you might have been given this advice before and are wondering how to go about it. Let’s dive into how to show effectively. Here are four tips to help you achieve…
Writing a Lead That Pops
How many times have you sampled the first few lines of a book and decided, “Nah, this isn’t for me.” Whether you picked up the book in a store or library, or tested the free sample on your e-reader, you probably made a pretty speedy decision about whether it would hold your interest. The human…
Proving Character Traits in Your Essays
When you write an application essay or statement of purpose, you’re trying to accomplish two equally vital goals at once. First, you need to prove your worthiness for acceptance at your target school. Second, you need to show the adcom that you have the desirable character traits that their program values. But how do you prove…
Resilience: How Flaws and Failures Can Strengthen Your Application
A speaker recently told a story about traveling in Asia, where he saw a stunning emerald. Enchanted by the stone’s beauty, he decided to buy it – on the spot. He returned home and took the emerald to a jeweler for appraisal. The jeweler began examining the stone through his magnifier, and as he did…
Revise and Polish Your Application Essays
Check out all of the blog posts in this series: You’ve completed your first essay draft – this is a great milestone! Now it’s time to revise and edit that draft. Outstanding essays are not sprung into the world on the first try. Here’s how to edit and polish your essay until it shines: 1. Let…
How to Start Your First Draft of an Application Essay
Check out all of the blog posts in this series: Now that you have reflected on the questions that helped you identify and develop your theme, you have a clear sense of what will make your essay effective. Time to start writing! First, make an outline. An outline can be formal, with clearly delineated categories…
Writing Your Career Goals Essay
Check out all of the blog posts in this series: The career goals essay demands a laser-like focus. Unlike personal statements that can cover one’s 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 prompt could actually involve…
Finding a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose
Check out all of the blog posts in this series: All effective essays have a distinctive theme. Referring back to the essays we examined in the previous post, we might say that 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…
Identifying the Ingredients of a Winning Essay
Check out all of the blog posts in this series: As you gear up to write your application essays, you might 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…
Bring Your Personal Statement to Life With Vivid, Active Verbs
Your personal statement is an essential element of your application and allows the adcom great insight into who you really are aside from your stats. However, no matter how extensive your experience or how accomplished you might be, all that can be lost in prose that does not do a good job of profiling who…
Got a Criminal Record? Here’s How to Address It in Your Application
If you have ever engaged in disorderly conduct or petty theft, gotten a DUI, been arrested during a political protest, or garnered any other kind of infraction (minor or major) on your record, we hope that you have learned important lessons from the experience and won’t repeat it. But if you are applying to a…