Check out the other posts in this series: All original essays have a unique and distinctive theme, and it can take time and careful thought to identify what yours should be. If you go back to the essays we examined in the previous post in this series, you will see that the public health program applicant opened…
Statement of Purpose versus Personal Statement for STEM Programs
Applicants to graduate school quickly become familiar with the request to provide a statement of purpose (SOP). The SOP for graduate schools, and especially for STEM programs, usually requests information on the applicant’s motivation and preparation for the graduate program. The SOP question can vary from school to school, but essentially, you’ll be asked to…
Three Ways Writing About Obstacles Strengthens Your Application Essays
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…
Five Tips for Writing Compelling PsyD Personal Statements
“What should I include?” “How do I start?” “What will impress the admissions committee?” These are the most common questions PsyD applicants ask about their application essays. What makes this task even more confusing is that different programs refer to this same essay as a “personal statement,” a “statement of purpose,” a “graduate essay,” a “statement of…
How to Write a Statement of Purpose for Graduate School
Your statement of purpose is one of the best ways you can sell yourself to the admissions committee as an original, well-qualified, and purposeful candidate. A strong statement of purpose will demonstrate your knowledge of and suitability for your chosen field, as well as your intellectual development, maturity, and ability to write and think clearly….
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…
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…
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…
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