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…
Got a Criminal Record? Here’s How to Address It in Your Application
If you have ever engaged in disorderly conduct or petty theft, gotten a DUI, been arrested during a political protest, or garnered any other kind of infraction (minor or major) on your record, we hope that you have learned important lessons from the experience and won’t repeat it. But if you are applying to a…
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…
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…
Harness the Power of Storytelling in Admissions and Job Interviews
“Tell me about a time when you disagreed strongly with your supervisor. ” “How would you do things differently now?” “What draws you to this program more than to any other?” If you have interviews coming up, whether for a seat in a college program or a job opening, will you be ready to answer…
9 Secrets to Telling an Attention-Grabbing Story
You’ve completed most of your application. Now it’s time to write your personal statement. You want your statement to stand out from the rest, and the way to do this is to tell a compelling story – the tale of your greatest achievements, dreams, and challenges. You can tell a compelling story by tying together…
How to Write the “Why This Medical School” Secondary Essay
One of the most popular secondary questions asked by medical schools is “why our program?” Saying why you’re attracted to a particular school can be a hard thing to explain, especially when you’ve looked at so many programs that they’ve all begun to blur. I think that’s why I so often see the same answer:…
Writing About Your Experiences Abroad
You studied, worked, or volunteered abroad. Now you want to include part of this in your personal statement as part of an undergrad, AMCAS or other application. Maybe you want to show that you’ve experienced a different culture and expanded your perspective through your eye-opening experiences meeting new people, mountain-climbing, assisting in a rural community,…
How to Write a Great Statement of Purpose [Episode 473]
How to Write a Statement of Purpose That Gets You Accepted [Show Summary] Vanessa Febo is a PhD candidate in English Literature at UCLA and a writing instructor who has guided students to acceptance at top programs at Harvard, Stanford, and USC. In this episode, she shares her expert tips on mastering the writing required…
10 Tips for Better Essay Writing
Let’s take your writing up a notch–or two! Ready to up your game in the writing department? Since you’re probably eager to show the adcom that you’ve got the “write” stuff and can relate your significant experiences and insightful ideas eloquently, these 10 tips are for you: Think about writing as a conversation on paper….
What NOT to Write in Your Medical School Secondary Application Essays
Since the number of secondary applications that you receive can be overwhelming, you may be tempted to take a few shortcuts. Some shortcuts are warranted while others are just too risky to consider using. To ensure that you are one of the “lucky” few who receive a medical school interview, avoid the following egregious errors:…
How to Write Essays That Will Get You Into Medical School: An Expert’s Take [Episode 472]
All you need to know about med school admissions [Show Summary] Madison Searle, a published writer, graduate application advisor, and former director of an undergraduate Honors Center at a leading Public Ivy, shares his tips and strategies for medical school applications that lead to acceptance. Madison Searle, Accepted medical school consultant, talks about how to…
Here’s How to Match Your Values to the Medical School Mission Statement
While every U.S. medical school offers you an education that will prepare you for a career as a successful physician, the social mission of each school vary greatly, and you should understand these nuances before you apply. Successful applicants will not only have the essential qualifications a particular school wants, but will also have proven…
Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Med School Personal Statement
Our recent webinar, How to Write a Compelling Medical School Personal Statement, featured Accepted med school expert Mary Mahoney, who combines her medical knowledge with her talent for creative storytelling. Mary’s experience and advice will help premeds compose meaningful personal statements with impact. We know the life of a premed is hectic, so if you…
Why Do You Want to Be a Doctor? [Short Video]
“I really want to help people” simply isn’t a valid response to the common medical school application question, “Why do you want to be a doctor?” Watch this short video for Linda Abraham’s reflections on what to say – and what not to say – when answering this million dollar why I want to be a doctor essay question. Do…
How Personal is Too Personal?
The personal statement is a terrific opportunity to share an intriguing and unique aspect of your life with the admissions committees. How much should you tell? 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 I’d had while growing up….
Five Tips for Perfecting Your AACOMAS Personal Statement
The AACOMAS requires one personal statement that is a maximum of 5,300 characters long. Below are five tips to help make your AACOMAS personal statement shine. Perfecting your personal statement Show, don’t tellThe first axiom of the personal statement is to “show, don’t tell.” Honest, compassionate, caring, dedicated – you want to show all of…
3 Reasons Why Writing About Overcoming Obstacles Strengthens Your Application Essays
Why do obstacles matter to the adcoms? Applicants love to write about their accomplishments, whether in personal statements for graduate school or in b-school essays that ask for greatest achievements, challenges, and the like. And when they do, they are not shy about coming up with tangible accomplishments: driving innovations that led to revenue boosts…
16 R’s for Medical School Essay Writing
Writing can be daunting for all of us. “What do I write about?” is the most common question that comes to mind when contemplating medical school personal statements or secondary essays. When writing these essays, organization is crucial. The thought of writing an essay up to 5300 characters long for AMCAS or several pages long…
5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Medical School Application Essays
Your medical school personal statement is your first chance to let the adcoms see who you are beyond your stats. An engaging, well-written essay will make them want to meet you for an interview to learn even more about you. There are 5 application essay killers that you need to avoid. This blog post will…