Ready to write your personal statement? Then it’s time to conjure your inner storyteller. The best way to distinguish yourself from other applicants is to tell the admissions board a good story, a tale of your greatest achievements, dreams, and challenges. How do you tell a good story? It’s not about lifting plots from Harry…
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…
Writing the Diversity Personal Statement
One of the many challenges of applying to college or graduate school is showing the admissions committee how you’ll fit in and stand out. Adcoms are trying to build student bodies that will work cohesively towards shared goals and ideals, but that come from different backgrounds and with different ideas so that the combined educational,…
3 Tips for Highlighting Your Strengths in Your Application Essays
One of most important pieces of advice I can give you regarding your personal statements and application essays is this: Show, don’t tell. Here are three tips to help you achieve this essential writing goal: 1. Show the steps you’ve taken. If you are writing about a goal you achieved or a project you completed,…
Writing About Resilience in the Face of Failure
Essay questions dealing with failure, risk, mistakes, and difficult interactions or conflict often cause applicants to cringe, squirm, and bite their nails. After all, you want to show yourself succeeding and conquering the world in your essays and personal statements, not falling down. But there’s a reason why these questions are common. Schools want to…
Revising and Polishing Your Application Essays
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create exemplary essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. In the last post, we shared tips on how to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to create that first draft. Now it’s time to revise and edit; outstanding essays are not…
‘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!”…
Creating the First Draft of Your Application Essay
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create outstanding essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. In the last post in this series, we discussed what makes an essay effective, and reflected on the questions that will help you develop your theme. Now it’s time to start writing. Before you begin,…
Writing Your Career Goals Essay
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create exemplary essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. A career goals essay, similar to the graduate school statement of purpose that we discussed in a previous post in this series, demands a laser-like focus. Unlike personal statements, which may discuss career goals but…
Choosing a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create outstanding essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. All effective essays have a distinctive voice and theme. Referring back to the essays we looked at in the first post in this series, we might say that our MPH candidate’s theme was his…
Identifying the Ingredients of a Winning Application Essay
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create outstanding essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. Let’s jump right in and get started by looking at two sample essays to see what makes them so effective. The first essay, The Public Health Student, opens with a question: “What if people…
Encore: Your Past Doesn’t Define You [Episode 228]
This week we are airing an encore of one of the most populars shows of 2017. Many applicants focus on the past – both the good and the bad – to the detriment of their applications. Find out the role your past plays in admissions and what you should focus on in your applications when you listen…
What 3 Essential Ingredients Must You Include in Your Statement of Purpose?
What are the essential components of a strong statement of purpose or MBA goals essay? The adcom will want to see a MAP of where you’ve been, where you are now, and where you’re headed. (A personal statement is slightly different in that your readers will want to know your current location and how you…
Flaws Make You Real
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 to examine the stone through his magnifier, and as he did…
Common Grammatical Errors: How to Use “Leverage” & “Comprise” Properly
Non-native English speakers (and some native English speakers) frequently make some easily avoidable mistakes. Even if you have excellent English there are sometimes words that get lost among misused prepositions. Here are some tips to help applicants improve their use of two words that are commonly misused: leverage and comprise. 1. Leverage Rule: Do not…
How Personal is Too Personal?
The personal statement serves as a terrific opportunity to share with admissions committees an interesting and unique aspect of your life. How much should you tell, and how much is too much? When I applied to college, I wrote a personal statement describing some challenging family circumstances I’d had while growing up. I can still…
First Drafts of Personal Statements: Let Yourself Go
Writing the first draft of your personal statement is probably the hardest part of the whole application process. And it makes sense – it’s not easy to capture so much of your experience onto a single page. Moving Your First Draft from Just OK to Simply Spectacular I’ve read hundreds of first drafts over the…
How to Demonstrate Leadership When You Don’t Have Leadership Experience [Short Video]
Most admissions committees are looking for applicants who can demonstrate leadership. If you don’t have any formal leadership positions to discuss in your application essays, that doesn’t mean that all is lost. Watch this short video for Linda Abraham’s definition of “informal leadership” and how to highlight it in your applications. Visit our services section…
How to Choose X Essay Questions to Answer from Y Choices
If you face multiple essay questions on an application, how are you going to choose which one(s) you should answer and which one(s) you should skip? What factors should you consider when choosing the best essays for you? Appreciate Your Options! First, options are good! But they do force you to think (a task we’re…
Admissions Tip: BE YOURSELF!
One of 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, and instead would just be themselves. Admissions committee members time and time again say they wish applicants would answer their…
