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The personal statement is your opportunity to stand out and make a lasting impression on your target school’s adcom. 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 …
by Kelly Wilson
When I led business school admissions, I enjoyed reading applications. I looked forward to learning about individuals who might be joining our community each year. However, not every application submitted was perfect – after all, candidates are humans, and humans make mistakes. When I ran into a mistake in a person’s application, I would categorize …
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 when you …
One of the most important pieces of advice you’ll ever get regarding your personal statements and application essays is this: Show, don’t tell. It’s a classic writing lesson, and you’ve probably heard it before, but how do you actually “show, not tell,” in your essays? Simply “telling” is ineffective, because it usually involves boastful claims such …
by Kelly Wilson
As admissions consultants, we often hear college and graduate school applicants ask, “I’m applying to multiple schools, and each one requires essays/personal statements. Can I use the same essay for different schools?” Understandably, applicants want to maintain the quality of their essays and avoid burnout when having to write so many drafts. We can sympathize. Even …
In today’s world, where everything moves at lightning speed, we’re constantly making fast decisions. This applies to admissions committees, too. The pressure of their job forces them to make very quick decisions about whose applications they will invest more time in and whose will merit only an obligatory but cursory review before being set aside. …
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 so, …
Check out all the blog posts in this series: You’ve completed your first essay draft – this is a great milestone! But outstanding essays are the result of multiple drafts, so now it’s time to revise and edit. Here’s how to get the job done: “Although I have been responsible for a lot of exciting …
When you write an application essay or statement of purpose, you’re trying to establish your worthiness for acceptance at your target school. And as part of that task, you need to show the adcom that you have the character traits their program values. But how do you prove in a written essay that you really are …
Maybe you’re familiar with the concept of macros, which are the nutrients your body needs to function. Achieving the proper balance of macros in your diet leads to optimal health. When it comes to writing your MBA personal statements and application essays, it might be helpful to think of your accomplishments as the macros that can …
by Kelly Wilson
For most people, career enhancement is the primary motivation for pursuing an MBA. If this is true for you, writing your career goals essay demands laser-like focus. The essay must demonstrate a clear understanding of how you plan to leverage the MBA to achieve your professional aspirations. Presenting a well-thought-out and realistic plan for your …
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 …
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