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…
Seven Signs an Experience Belongs in Your Application
You want your medical school application to make it to the top of the accepted pile. Your medical school personal statement and secondary essays are one way to make your application really stand out. How do you choose which of your lifetime of experiences to include in your application? Let’s see what the 7 signs…
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 Use Your Research Background to Get into Medical School
You’ve always been great at science and figured your research – whether in college, grad school, or professionally – would help you get into medical school. Now you find it a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you probably aced the MCAT science sections. On the other, you may be viewed (rightly or not) as…
Writing About Weaknesses in Your Med School Personal Statement
When coming up with material for your medical school personal statement, it’s important that you ask yourself the following: Are there any weaknesses, any holes in my information, or any questionable data that somebody may question about my application? You don’t want your admissions reader getting to the end of your application and then asking,…
5 Steps to Medical School Admissions Success
How can you turn your medical school dreams into reality? By following the 5-step framework that Linda Abraham, CEO and founder of Accepted, lays out in this quick video. Watch, and learn. Full video transcript: You’re going to make a fantastic physician. You know it. Your family knows it. And now you need to…
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…
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,…
16 Grad School Application Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make [Episode 237]
The application cycle is in full swing in early December, when I’m recording this podcast. In reflecting on the many applications that my colleagues and I review here at Accepted and the problems we help our clients deal with, I thought it might be a good time to discuss things you shouldn’t do – mistakes…
7 Traits of a Competitive Medical School Applicant
Are you med school material? What traits are the adcoms looking for in their future students? It’s time to do some serious introspection to make sure that you’ve got what it takes to get into med school, and that you know how to show off these top skills to the admissions committee! Here are some examples…
Encore: Your Past Doesn’t Define You [Episode 228]
This week we are airing an encore of one of the most populars shows of 2017. Many applicants focus on the past – both the good and the bad – to the detriment of their applications. Find out the role your past plays in admissions and what you should focus on in your applications when you listen…
Three Steps to Starting Your Medical School Personal Statement
Don’t know where to start? Take a deep breath. You’re facing the blank page with that dizzying cursor flashing expectantly. You think it shouldn’t be that hard to write a personal statement, yet you’ve already gotten up for a second cup of coffee, scrolled through Instagram, and twiddled around with your new fidget spinner. What’s…
How to Demonstrate Leadership When You Don’t Have Leadership Experience [Short Video]
Most admissions committees are looking for applicants who can demonstrate leadership. If you don’t have any formal leadership positions to discuss in your application essays, that doesn’t mean that all is lost. Watch this short video for Linda Abraham’s definition of “informal leadership” and how to highlight it in your applications. Visit our services section…
How to Write a Med School Personal Statement that Captures Your Best Qualities
This is the third post in our series on applying to med school in the most efficient and timely manner. You’ve got six months to make this happen. Make sure you do it right by following the tips in Med School Action Plan: 6 Steps for the 6 Months Before You Apply. In preparing to…
5 Pointers for a Stand-Out Med School Personal Statement
If you don’t put effort into standing out in your medical school personal statement, then you likely won’t. Most applicants will have rather similar profiles; and without going the extra mile to highlight your unique strengths, talents, experiences, and interests, you run the risk of blending into the pool of applicants. These 5 pointers will…
Writing an Awesome AMCAS Essay
You’ve taken the MCAT, completed all the pre-reqs, and maybe shadowed a physician, done some research, and volunteered. Now it’s time to make sure you’re all in for the last legs of this long journey. In this series, we’ll discuss how you can continue to navigate your way to a med school acceptance by analyzing…
What Should I Write About? Making a Difference
In my non-admissions life, I once went to a lecture given by a biographer whose work I admire. In the course of his talk he mentioned that while writing about genius has merit, writing about typical folks and their extraordinary achievements is more valuable. The compelling story — the inspiration, and attention grabber — resides…
Stand Out! A Critical Goal for Your Application [Episode 181]
I covered the importance of showing fit in Episode 162 “Focus on Fit,” the second most popular show of 2016 and the most popular show of the second half of 2016. But there is a second focus you need if you want to apply successfully to highly competitive programs. You need a corollary to fit….
Female Medical School Enrollment Reaches 10-Year High (and Other AAMC Report Findings)
According to a report by AAMC, the number of women enrolling in medical school in 2016 increased 6.2% over the previous year to 10,474. This is the largest increase since 2006. 2016 also represented an all-time high in the overall number of medical school applications, with 53,042 students applying, 38,782 of whom were first-time applicants….
Where’s the Poetry? The Secret Ingredient in Your Graduate Application Essays
Strategy will necessarily guide your selection of essay topics, anecdotes/examples, and structure. Yet an essay built on calculation alone, even if the strategy is spot on, will often disappoint. Logically it all makes sense. But it doesn’t take flight. Poetry can be the secret ingredient to make your application essay sing – right into the heart of its readers….