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This post isn't going to say things like "get a high undergraduate GPA" or "get high LSAT/MCAT/GMAT/GRE scores" because while these things are true they are also pretty straightforward.
This post will focus on the more nebulous aspects of a successful graduate application. How do you 'wow' application committees and prove to them that you're the right person for their program? What character traits do you need to exude? What will make you stand out in a stack of hundreds or even thousands of applications?
The application process is daunting but it does not need to seem like an insurmountable task. Here are 5 suggestions about ways to make your application process run smoother and feel less stressful!
Today I am boldly and fully following my dreams to enter academia and pursue entrepreneurship but it has been a journey to get to this point.
My parents are Caribbean immigrants. And anybody familiar with Caribbean immigrant culture knows about the pressure put on children to educationally and particularly--economically--succeed. After all, your parents didn't immigrate to the 'Land of the Free' for nothing!
For me, the problem was that I never really wanted to do anything that was considered responsible, practical, or lucrative by my parent's standards. I didn't want to go into the sciences or medicine or law or accounting. I wanted to write and I also enjoyed tutoring and teaching.
I struggled with guilt for awhile because I come from a low income family and I felt like I had no right to do what was best for me if it wasn't also the immediately best thing for my family. I also struggled with a lack of support as I transitioned from pretending to want to go to law school to being honest about the fact that I wasn't going.
But these are the 5 reasons why I pushed through in spite of the challenges.
I've revised hundreds of personal statements and as a result I've met hundreds of passionate and driven students and yet most of the personal statements I look at--at least when they're first shown to me--don't reflect that enthusiasm. At all.
In other words, most of the folks I encounter are intelligent and highly engaged students who will doubtlessly benefit whatever institution or job they apply to and yet their personal statement is written in a way that none of that will be communicated to the admissions committee. This greatly decreases their chances of acceptance even if their numbers (their test scores and grade point average's) are up.
So how do you write an effective and engaging personal statement that ups the odds of your application?