In our last post, we illustrated 5 key story elements with these opening application essay lines: The moment I found the lump, I suspected my life was about to change – in a big way. It was mid-May 2011. I was a busy consultant in McKinsey’s Chicago office, the proud father of a boy about…
Personal Statement Tips
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…
5 Elements to Telling an Attention-Grabbing Story
Ready to write your personal statement? Then it’s time to conjure your inner storyteller. The best way to distinguish yourself from other applicants is to tell the admissions board a good story, a tale of your greatest achievements, dreams, and challenges. How do you tell a good story? It’s not about lifting plots from Harry…
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…
Ace the AMCAS Essay: Why Do We Have Personal Statements?
In this blog series, you’ll get succinct, practical tips on how you can optimize your AMCAS essay for acceptance to top medical schools. Do the essays in your med school applications serve as mere padding for the rest of your application? Or do they have some higher purpose? I’d like to propose three important reasons WHY…
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,…
3 Tips for Highlighting Your Strengths in Your Application Essays
One of most important pieces of advice I can give you regarding your personal statements and application essays is this: Show, don’t tell. Here are three tips to help you achieve this essential writing goal: 1. Show the steps you’ve taken. If you are writing about a goal you achieved or a project you completed,…
5 Tips to Write a Law School Personal Statement that Gets You In
While there’s no getting around the fact that LSAT scores and GPA matter a great deal in law school admissions, the personal statement is the one place where law school admissions faculty get to know you and your reasons behind studying law. Below are 5 tips – based on real-life scenarios – that have successfully…
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,…
Writing About Resilience in the Face of Failure
Essay questions dealing with failure, risk, mistakes, and difficult interactions or conflict often cause applicants to cringe, squirm, and bite their nails. After all, you want to show yourself succeeding and conquering the world in your essays and personal statements, not falling down. But there’s a reason why these questions are common. Schools want to…
Revising and Polishing Your Application Essays
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create exemplary essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. In the last post, we shared tips on how to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to create that first draft. Now it’s time to revise and edit; outstanding essays are not…
‘Twas the Night Before Deadlines: A Cautionary Tale of Cliches
‘Twas the night before deadlines, and all through the world, Our consultants sat cramming, coffee brewing, brows furrowed; Though the essays were written with effort and care, There were still a few things that were cause for despair! The clichés! Oh, forsake! Terrible, were they – That all our consultants could think was “oy vey!”…
Creating the First Draft of Your Application Essay
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create outstanding essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. In the last post in this series, we discussed what makes an essay effective, and reflected on the questions that will help you develop your theme. Now it’s time to start writing. Before you begin,…
Writing Your Career Goals Essay
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create exemplary essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. A career goals essay, similar to the graduate school statement of purpose that we discussed in a previous post in this series, demands a laser-like focus. Unlike personal statements, which may discuss career goals but…
16 Grad School Application Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make [Episode 237]
![16 Grad School Application Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make [Episode 237]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Application_Mistakes_to_Avoid-1024x512.jpg)
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…
Choosing a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create outstanding essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. All effective essays have a distinctive voice and theme. Referring back to the essays we looked at in the first post in this series, we might say that our MPH candidate’s theme was his…
Identifying the Ingredients of a Winning Application Essay
In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create outstanding essays by analyzing sample successful application essays. Let’s jump right in and get started by looking at two sample essays to see what makes them so effective. The first essay, The Public Health Student, opens with a question: “What if people…
Encore: Your Past Doesn’t Define You [Episode 228]
![Encore: Your Past Doesn’t Define You [Episode 228]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/past-doesnt-define-you-admissions-1024x512.jpg)
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…
What 3 Essential Ingredients Must You Include in Your Statement of Purpose?
What are the essential components of a strong statement of purpose or MBA goals essay? The adcom will want to see a MAP of where you’ve been, where you are now, and where you’re headed. (A personal statement is slightly different in that your readers will want to know your current location and how you…
Flaws Make You Real
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 to examine the stone through his magnifier, and as he did…
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