I saw it. The question was looming in an essay and hiding behind a corner in the brain and/or instruction sheet of my interviewer. “So Natalie, tell me about your weaknesses and what you did to overcome them”? Gosh, there are so many, I don’t even know where to begin. Ding! What do you do…
I’m About to Make Your Day…
…by giving my essay a catchy opening line that doesn’t turn you away or bore you to tears. See, I could have started this tip post with “Today I am going to tell you how to create a compelling essay opening,” but you probably would have skipped over something as drab as that. How about…
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…
Fatal Flaw #4: Superficiality
When you write superficially you tend to blend into the great mass of applicants who on a superficial level are very much like you. They have the same goal. They have prepared similarly to gain acceptance. Of course, blending in is exactly what you don’t want to do. How can you distinguish yourself? Use specifics…
Epidemic Among Applicants!
Your personal statements, application essays, and statements of purpose are suffering. It’s serious. And could be fatal to your application. This latest epidemic of vacuous, declarative sentences that either state the obvious or make non-credible claims has reached epic proportions in applicant essays, personal statements, and statements of purpose. The cure? Substance and specifics. Stories…
How to Edit Your Application Essays
In an exclusive interview with… well, herself, Linda Abraham shares some advice that she’s learned over the course of almost two decades of application essay editing. Listen to the full recording of this excellent episode to learn concrete steps you can take right now to ensure that your essays are working for –and not against…
Personal Statement Tip: Story Time
The moment I found the lump, I suspected my life was about to change—in a big way. Good enough for an opening line? Want to read more? I hope it’s yes on both counts. Because I’m going to tell you a story. A short one. A true one. Not so much for the sake of…
Fatal Flaw #5: Muddled Thinking
I am not sure why I made muddled thinking the last flaw. Good writing starts with good thinking and ends with lots of editing, but editing is a topic for another series. Let’s stick with thinking in this tip. One of the biggest causes of muddled thinking: Writing what you think the admissions committee wants…
Fatal Flaw #3: Clichéd Writing
Don’t hide your lucid answers to essay questions behind meaningless verbiage and abused clichés. I once read an interview with a recent grad. (To protect the guilty, I won’t link.) “As a new company in a new space, we need to exceed client expectations, so first and foremost I drive client projects in the health-care…
MBA Admissions A-Z: D is for Distinctive Writing
We’ve touched upon ways in which to highlight your uniqueness in “Be Yourself” (B in our MBA Admissions A-Z series). There we talked about the importance of expressing what you’re truly passionate about rather than simply enumerating those things that you think the adcom want to hear. Writing about your passions, as well as your…
Business School Application Advice From an MBA
A guest post from the Classy Career Girl, Anna Runyan, who earned her MBA from the Rady School of Management. The business school application can be a stressful process and one that often leaves applicants disappointed and frustrated. Hopefully these tips will make your application process easier and you can use what I have learned…
3 Tips for Showing 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 must-have writing goal: Show the steps you’ve taken. If you are writing about a goal you achieved or a project you completed, providing…
Hello Adcom, It’s ME. Nice to REALLY Meet You.
Test scores and resumes can only do so much to reveal your distinct personality and unique voice. To truly grab the attention of the admissions committees, you’re going to need to step up your introduction a bit (or a lot!) more. The advice found in Accepted.com/MBA Podcaster’s newest special report, Twelve Terrific Tips for MBA…
Essay Tip: The Editing Funnel
Most of you now are — or soon will be — editing your critical application essays and personal statements. When Accepted.com editors review and edit your essays they go through a process I call the editing funnel. If you choose to be your own editor, you should follow a similar process. At the top of…
Law School Personal Statements with Pizzazz Webinar
It is with great please that I announce Accepted’s first webinar for law school applicants next Wednesday September 30 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET. I assume you want to submit your law school application early when the most spots are available. I further assume you want to send it in with a personal statement…
How to Write Bold & Brilliant MBA Essays
More and more schools are releasing their 2010 essay questions. The round one deadlines are moving earlier. And you need to start writing those essays. But how? Find out during our next free webinar “The Roadmap to Bold and Brilliant Essays” on Tuesday July 14 at 10:00 AM PST / 1:00 PM EST / 5:00…
BW Interview with Stanford’s Derrick Bolton
BW has published an informative and lengthy interview with Stanford’s Director of Admissions Derrick Bolton. If you are a Stanford applicant either preparing for a R1 interview or drafting and editing your R2 essays, this really is a must-read. At the same time, while I strongly recommend this interview to Stanford applicants and find much…
