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…
Whatever You Do, Do Not Leave the Law School Optional Essay Blank!
Many law schools invite applicants to share more about themselves through optional essays. For example, the University of Pennsylvania Law School provides the following optional essay prompts: Are these essays optional? Well, technically, they are; it says so right there in the name. In fact, however, the only truly optional essay here is the one…
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…
Recipe for Writing an Accomplishment Essay
Build a better accomplishments essay by following this recipe. Accomplishments are the bread and butter (and jam!) of MBA personal statements and application essays. That might sound straightforward, but a fascinating brainstorming session among Accepted admissions consultants revealed that applicants don’t always understand what an accomplishment is in this context. What goes into this application staple? And…
Why is It So Hard to Write Your Law School Personal Statement?
Why is the personal statement so hard to start? How do you put your heart and soul, and 20+ years of life, into a two-page double-spaced document? The personal statement is often a source of many starts and stops for the law school applicant. I imagine the writer, in a non-digital world, with a wastebasket…
How Can You Show Passion in Admissions?
When one thinks of passion, one doesn’t generally think of investment bankers. But the admissions committees are looking for passion in their applicants; so how are you – a computer guy, an engineer, a biology major, or yes, an investment banker – going to craft a winning application that shows them the passion they’re looking…
How to Answer Character and Fitness Questions on Law School Applications
A legal career requires all who enter the field to possess strength of character and to be fit to practice the law. Not physical fitness or endurance – though that may help you survive first year of law school! – but fitness under the definition of suitability. This is why law school applications include a…
4 Ways to Show How You’ll Contribute in the Future
Schools are looking for applicants who can show that they have strong leadership qualities and experiences and can demonstrate that they will actively contribute to their student/alumni communities, not to mention to the greater community and society. Many applications include an essay question with some variation of “what would you contribute to your future campus…
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