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Graduate School Success
(Admitted to Harvard) |
"I needed a graduate school essay that was near perfect, and what I had written was close, but just not enough. EssayEdge was able to shore up my feelings and experiences and improve my essay remarkably, while still maintaining my unique writing style and personality. I was admitted to every school I applied to, even the Harvard Graduate School of Education...a most wonderful personal accomplishment! Thank you EssayEdge!"
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 Lesson
Two: Graduate Statement Themes
The best way to approach
your personal statement is to imagine that you have five minutes with
someone from the admissions committee. How would you go about making the
best case for yourself while holding the listener's interest? What would
you include and omit in your story? Figuring out the answer to these questions
is critical to successfully preparing an effective statement.
To arrive at these
answers, you should begin by asking yourself some more specific questions:
- Why have I chosen
to attend graduate school in this specific field, and why did I choose
to apply to this particular school's program?
- What are my qualifications
for admission?
- What is special,
unique, or impressive about my life story?
The answers will not
necessarily come easily to you, but this exercise will have great practical
benefit in readying you to write an outstanding personal statement. By
answering each question thoroughly, you will have given much thought to
yourself, your experiences, and your goals, thereby laying the groundwork
for formulating an interesting and persuasive presentation of your own
personal story.
Select One:
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EssayEdge
Extra: The
Future Over the Past
"First,
they should tell me where they're coming from--what it is in
their background that leads them to apply to a program like
ours. Second, they should tell me what it is they want to get
out of our program. Third, I want to know where they hope our
program will eventually take them in their career."
- The
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs,
Princeton University
"Usually
a straight autobiography should be avoided, although interesting
and pertinent autobiographical facts should be included. But
the statement should be more future-oriented than past-oriented.
I don't really want the story of a student's life (although
there are exceptions) but rather plans for and a vision of the
future."
- Graduate
English Department, UCLA
"Mistakes?
Dwelling on past accomplishments as opposed to describing future
interests. The recitation of past accomplishments, prizes won
and scores gotten--all that kind of stuff--is helpful but at the
stage when we're reading the statement, we know all the applicants
are highly qualified; that is almost beside the point. What
we're looking for at that stage is, again, some insight into
how the student thinks, what sort of clarity of purpose he has
into one or more research areas."
- Graduate
Admissions Committee, Applied Mechanics, Civil Engineering
& Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
Whereas
some professional programs, particularly law schools, give applicants
more freedom to discuss any past experiences that may help them
to stand out, graduate schools are chiefly interested in your
past only as it relates to your future. That said, if there
are aspects of your background that would make you stand out,
you should still try to incorporate them into your discussion.
Just be prepared to put in a little more thought and analysis.
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 Why
Graduate School?
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