Will that lonely typo doom your otherwise perfect application to the great round file in cyberspace, putting the kibosh on years of effort and nixing your attempt to walk through the hallowed halls of your favored institution? No. A single, minor typo will do nothing. So don’t sweat one minor spelling mistake, a missed comma,…
6 Tips for Getting Started on Your Application Essays
Sometimes the hardest part of writing a personal statement or application essay for college or grad school is finding the discipline to sit down and focus. Often, once you accomplish that, the ideas begin to form and the words begin to flow. The following 6 tips will help motivate you to start writing, and then…
Writing a Compelling Personal Statement [Episode 368]
How can you write a stand-out personal statement? [Show summery] Dr. Mary Mahoney, Associate Professor of English at Elmira College and Accepted consultant, draws from her expertise in the medical humanities to deliver advice for writing a compelling personal statement. Listen to the show! A professor of English and Accepted admissions consultant shares top writing…
How Much Overlap Can There Be Between My Resume/CV and My SOP?
When submitting an application for college or graduate school, it’s important to view the application holistically. The application includes multiple elements, such as a CV/resume, a personal statement, and grades, among other things. Because this application is key to receiving an admissions offer, it is important to be selective and strategic in choosing which elements…
How to Get Started on Your Personal Statement with One Easy Technique
Okay, you’ve calmed down after your initial essay-writing anxiety, and you still don’t know where to begin. How do you capture your whole life in the meager number of characters allotted? What is clustering? Whether you’re feeling stuck or feeling overwhelmed by all the ideas bouncing around in your head, a stellar technique to start…
Encore: Focus on Fit in Admissions [Episode 334]
I am taking time off for family this week, and as a result I decided to air an encore of one of our most popular shows ever, Focus on Fit. I chose it not only because of its popularity, but because the topic is relevant to so many, if not all, specialties. A solid understanding…
How to Use Powerful Details to Create Strong Essays
To really draw your readers into your goal-focused essay, you’re going to want to lay the scene for your future accomplishments. After all, what better way to convince the adcom of your ambitions than to illustrate them in your essay? First, identify your goal. When you begin your essay, try showing yourself having reached your…
Generic-itis Prevention [Warning: If Untreated, Can Cause Rejection]
Each year, Accepted consultants are witnessing a recurring epidemic. And it’s worse than you can imagine: Generic-itis. What generic-itis looks like Here is an example of a severe case of generic-–itis that I drafted based on several different examples I recently read, along with 25 years of experience in this business: I find Top Choice’s…
Two Grad School Applicants Walk Into a Bar…
This might be a great opening line for a comedy night at a university student center, but can you use humor in a graduate school application essay? Should you even try? The answer is…maybe. If you have a funny bone, use it If you can use humor effectively, it will help you stand out from…
Review Your Essays Like an Admissions Consultant and Use the Editing Funnel
Most of you are now — or will be soon — editing your critical application essays and personal statements. When Accepted consultants review and edit your essays, they go through a process I call the editing funnel. When you edit your own essays, you should follow a similar process. How the editing funnel works Here’s…
How to Stay Within Essay Word Limits by Reducing Verbal Verbosity
Most applicants – whether applying to med school, law school, business school, or any other grad school or college program – need to deal with rigid character or word limits when writing their application essays or personal statements. You may start out thinking that you have nothing to write, but generally, once applicants begin writing,…
Fully-Funded PhD Program at Harvard University: How I Got In
Harvard is one of those places that people often talk about with admiration but rarely as an aspiration. “Could I ever get into Harvard?” is usually a question asked with a great deal of doubt and trepidation. However, thousands have graduated from Harvard over its lengthy and illustrious history, and those people are real people….
Your 5-Item Checklist for Submitting Your Applications
Whether you’re applying to b-school, law school, med school, grad school, or college, this checklist will be the same. Don’t hit that “Submit” button until you’ve checked off the following 5 to-do’s: You’ve made sure that your application presents a holistic, multi-dimensional picture of you. Each section of your application should not just present you…
Application Essay Tip: The Devil is in the Details
You can argue about the devil, but certainly the substance, distinctiveness, and success of your essays depends on the details. Bringing Out Your Uniqueness in the Details Many applicants tend to bury their uniqueness and success under vague assertions. You don’t want to hide your achievements; you want to trumpet them loudly and clearly. For…
Personal Statement Tip: Less is More
Most of us have heard the saying “less is more,” but how many of us put it into practice when it counts? Your application essays are the perfect forum for reaping the benefits of this deceptively simple principle. What does “less is more” really mean? It’s the idea that we must resist our natural tendencies…
Statement of Purpose Must-Haves: 4 Tips to Get You Started
You’re ready to sit down and write your statement of purpose. You’ve got a cup of coffee and a chunk of time to think and write. Now, how do you get started? Here are 4 things you need to write a great statement of purpose: A clearly thought out goal This is the most important…
Stand Out or Fit In? 4 Application Strategies to Help You Do Both
It can be confusing: Half of the advice you read urges you to stand out in your application, while the other half advises you to explain how you’ll fit in. So which is it? Should you stand out or fit in? The answer, unsurprisingly, is BOTH. You need to show your distinction and demonstrate fit…
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…
4 Pillars of a Splendid Statement of Purpose
To create a winning graduate statement of purpose, you need to understand the fundamental pillars of a strong essay. In this short video, Linda Abraham, CEO and founder of Accepted, will highlight what those four pillars are and how you can use that to build a solid, compelling graduate school SOP. Full video transcript If…
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,…