The process of applying to graduate school is very competitive. In order to ensure your success during the admissions process, you have to submit the requirements on time. One of these requirements is your personal statement. You can find helpful ideas regarding this on The Writing Center. Read on and get useful ideas for graduate school essays that could help you when you write your personal statement.
Start early
If you have begun your application process early, take the time to investigate thoroughly each institution to which you are applying.
- Go to the library and locate/browse-through/read texts or abstracts by the school’s faculty members who work in your field or area of interest.
- Study and re-study the application materials sent to you very carefully; in particular, read through the school catalog and required course offerings.
- Find out if the school and program have web sites where you can learn more about them.
You have to know some information about the school. In this way, you will have something interesting to say on your essay.
Read sample graduate school essays
Aside from doing research, you also have to read a lot of sample graduate school essays. These samples can guide you. They can help you get ideas regarding the things to include and exclude in your personal statement. Here are some things that you can include in your essay:
- Demonstrate your ability to think and express ideas clearly and effectively.
- Show motivation and capacity to succeed in graduate education.
- Write concisely and try to keep your readers interested. Remember that they are reading many application essays and therefore, you need to be considerate of their needs.
Discussing your skills, abilities, and motivation is one great way to differentiate your essay from thousands of other personal statements. It can help you make your essay more memorable among the readers.
Additional tips
The Stanford MBA Program has additional tips that could help you.
Feel free to ask your friends or family members to provide constructive feedback. When you ask for feedback, ask if the essays’ tone sounds like your voice.
You have to edit your essay several times. You can also employ the help of your peers and family.
It is important that you tell your own story through your own voice in your essay. And also keep in mind the following:
You best serve your own interests when your personal thoughts, individual voice, and unique style remain intact at the end of your editing process
Your individual voice is very important when writing your essay. After all, how will the admissions panel know the real you if you don’t use your own voice?
In order to write an excellent personal statement for graduate school, you have to start early so you will still have time to research for info and proofread your work, read sample essays, and edit your work several times.
Your sample graduate school essays can help you with your application essay. The sample graduate school essays may get you the coveted admissions interview. However, once you are in that position, you are left to your wits to impress your interviewer. In this situation – regardless of your test scores, transcript records, or any amount of sample graduate school essays – you are on your own. You need to come prepared and put your best foot forward. Here are some tips.
Before you interview:
1. Read up on how to best conduct yourself in formal interviews for a slot in graduate school. There are several online sources for this. Likewise, know the many expectations for your degree course. You need to make it know that you are capable to handle these expectations.
2. Know who’s who in the department that you are applying to get into. It is impressive to the interviewer if you seem to really know what you are getting into.
3. Reread your graduate admissions essay. What you present to your interviewer should reflect what you wrote in your essay.
4. Practice with friends. Have your friends interview you and practice your communication skills with them. Ask for their feedback and work on any flaws they’ve observed.
During the interview:
1. Look your best. Unless you’re an accomplished artist or the like, no one can get away with looking sloppy. A mess distracts. Neatness and hygiene is impressive.
2. Even when you’re tempted to take a swig at that bottle of tequila in your room for that extra confidence, don’t. This is a formal interview; where in your slot in graduate school is at stake. Don’t risk it by coming to the interview stinking of alcohol. At the same time, do not smoke prior to the interview. While some people use nicotine to calm the nerves, the smell of it stays on you and can turn off your interviewer.
3. Always maintain eye contact. At the same time, display a good degree of confidence. Do not go over-the-top with the confidence though. Also, have some humility. You are applying to graduate school to learn.
After the interview:
1. Immediately send a follow-up thank you note or email. Also promptly ask for a status on your application.
Photo credit : midiman
When you say PhD, what come to your mind are tons of paperwork, endless research hours, and rigorous work schedules. While these are true, the rewards you’ll get from having a PhD may outweigh years of graduate studies. Getting a PhD is perhaps one of the most rewarding for a true-blue academic professional. But aside from personal rewards, others pursue having a PhD also for the career boost it may serve.
Grounds for higher income and better career salary
With a PhD, you may rise to higher positions or even be considered automatically for promotion. Expect to have better career opportunities to come your way. Offers may not only come from the company you’re working for but also from other industries. By specializing in a particular field of study, your expert knowledge and skills are considered worthy investments for different workplaces. You may also explore other opportunities through consultancy services or easily shift to another field. With all these, you’ll surely enjoy a bigger paycheck as well as better employee benefits.
The rewards of learning
The learning process is in itself rewarding to those who have completed their PhD. By specializing in their field of interest, such as applied or pure science, arts, and humanities, those who earned their PhD titles are considered true-blue experts. They may conduct their own studies or spearhead a special project that centers on discoveries, proofs, and validation of a study. With higher academic title to back you up, you’ll have less trouble when it comes to funding or sponsorship. You’ll also earn the respect of your colleagues and of other people.
Traits to have
For you to earn your PhD and be a so-called expert in your field, you should possess highly desired traits such as high literacy skills, strong motivation, persistence, industry, and passion for learning.
Photo Credit : sndrspk
Regardless of the reputation of the institution you work for, being a research or teaching assistant still poses dangers of being sexually harassed. This is because of the power relations involved in holding a job as a subordinate of a professor or lecturer. There are lots of gray areas on the topic of sexual harassment in the workplace, so to help you steer clear of situations that could potentially lead to sexual harassment, here are a few tips:
Be conscious of both the professor’s actions and yours
A common argument that perpetrators make when faced with accusations of sexual crimes is that the woman or the complainant was allegedly “asking for it” or “showing she wanted it, too.” This part can get a bit tricky, as confirmation or rebuttal of such claims relies on subjective interpretation. Avoid making sex jokes and sharing intimate information. Not only can this be interpreted wrongly, it’s also unprofessional to do so. If your professor does something, anything, that can be remotely considered sensual or sexual and makes you uncomfortable, speak up.
Discomfort and uneasiness are not just the telling signs of sexual harassment. If your professor coerces you in any way to engage in intimate activities, that is considered sexual harassment. This can come in the form of threats on your job (“I guess I can always hire another TA if you’re not comfortable…”) or more direct blackmail. Also, sexual harassment need not involve physical acts. Verbal sexual harassment is also common in the workplace. Use of lewd and obscene language when talking or referring to you is sexual harassment. The same is true with spreading rumors of sexual nature about you to the extent that it affects your professional relationship with your boss and colleagues.
Know the specific tasks the job involves and be prepared
As with any other job, you should do research and inform yourself on the benefits and risks before applying for the post of teaching assistant. Working for a respectable and renowned institution and professor doesn’t ensure your safety from being sexually harassed. Holding a job as a teaching or research assistant entails working closely with an academic superior, and this may mean late nights grading exams, doing student evaluations, and sharing opinions – instances which may inadvertently lead to precarious and awkward situations.
Knowing in detail the tasks involved in your job will help you draw lines between professional and personal favors. This way, you can say no if your boss asks a personal favor from you that makes you uncomfortable. Universities and colleges have different academic cultures, so make sure you look into the institution’s procedures and regulations on professor-teaching assistant relations before you apply.
Photo Credit : Orin Optiglot
Most colleges and universities require students to finish an internship in able to graduate. But aside from it being a mere graduation requirement, a college internship can also help you gain an edge when applying for grad school. This is because admissions committees of grad schools look for demonstrated skills and interest in the field or major that the student is applying for. Below are more reasons a college internship is beneficial to those planning to pursue graduate studies:
An internship proves your concrete interest in the field
Having a college internship shows that you’re passionate enough about the field of study because you sought out a way to apply the theoretical knowledge you’ve gained in college. Going that extra mile to apply and practice your knowledge on that specific academic discipline not only shows your genuine interest in it, but also that you’re goal-oriented and focused enough to pursue an internship in that field.
A completed internship shows determination and high level of responsibility
Aside from genuine interest and focus, having completed a college internship also shows that you know how to set priorities and stick to them. Anyone can easily quit halfway through an internship once the duties involved therein and work load at school become too hard to juggle. By successfully completing an internship, you send a message to admissions committees that you have the determination and time management skills to get through grad school and persevere to get that higher educational degree.
An internship doubles as a relevant work experience in your resume
A college internship also enhances your resume in that you’re automatically granted with a relevant work experience to include in your resume. Most grad school admissions committees favor applicants who have demonstrated the skills needed to survive in the cutthroat world of professional field practice. Having that internship as a work experience in your resume and grad school application shows that you’ve tackled real world situations and trials in applying the knowledge you gained in college.
Photo Credit : ceeb
When you apply to graduate school, you will probably be asked to send letters of recommendation along with your application package. Because these letters are usually written by other professionals, they give the admissions committee a look at who you are from a professional perspective. Here are some suggestions as to who you can go to for requesting your letters of recommendation.
Getting to know you
Basically, letters of recommendation allow admissions committees to get to know more about you. These letters contain information on how you performed in the academic or professional setting. This means that the people that you ask for letters of recommendation from should be able to honestly detail your personality, your qualities, and your traits.
Where to begin
As mentioned above, most recommendation letters will have to come from other professionals (usually in high positions). Depending on what your graduate school asks for, you may need to submit recommendation letters from past professors, instructors, or bosses. Be sure that the people you ask letters from are those that have recognized and witnessed your good qualities. If a letter of recommendation from a professor is required, you may want to ask for one from a dean or department head who has been your teacher.
Choosing the right people
Now that you have an idea of who can issue your letters of recommendation, it’s time to narrow down your list and choose the right people. Here are some considerations you should keep in mind:
* Choose someone who knows you and has witnessed you at your best
* Choose someone who can write about your good personality traits
* Choose someone who you think will write a good recommendation for you
* Most importantly, share your goals, aspirations, and plans with the people who will be writing your recommendations letters. This will help them to understand why you need the letters and how they can write more appropriate and personal letters of recommendation for you.
Besides the letters of recommendation, you may be asked to submit graduate school admission essays. Check out the web for sample graduate school essays. You can consult online resource that have sample graduate school essays, so you can use these as a guide.
Photo Credit : Hacob Botter
If you want quality graduate school education, then you would really need money. This is because dealing with graduate school expenses can be challenging for students, especially for those whose families aren’t earning much. But does this mean that quality graduate school education cannot be accessible to the financially underprivileged?
The answer is NO. With strong motivation, strategic financial planning, and institutions granting financial aid in the form of loans and scholarships, practically anybody can stand a chance in graduate school.
Here are some of the financial aid opportunities available for graduate school students:
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
Funded by the government, FAFSA is accessible to students of graduate schools participating in the said project. FAFSA applicants are usually evaluated based on factors such as a student’s financial condition and eligibility for aid.
In-house financial aid programs
If you happen to be in a university that is not a participant of FAFSA, you can check out the school’s in-house student financial aid programs. Schools usually offer financial aid opportunities that students can avail of, though such opportunities may depend on the graduate school program that one is enrolled in.
Private schools usually ask for additional requirements such as graduate school admission essays, where students have the opportunity to explain or describe their financial and economic condition. To help you out, there are sample graduate school essays online.
There are some graduate schools that tie-up with other financial aid institutions instead of offering in-house financial aid. Here are some funding organizations that offer financial grants and scholarships to graduate school students:
Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS)
GMS, initially an offshoot of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to give financial assistance to students belonging to racial minorities. It aims to increase these target groups’ representation in different academic disciplines. Granting scholarships since 1999, GMS has already aided more than 12,000 students financially.
American Association for University Women (AAUW)
The AAUW Educational Foundation is a financial aid institution for women of all religions, races, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Ford Foundation
This foundation offers financial grants and scholarships to students of certain graduate school programs in Engineering, History, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, and others.
Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation
This foundation gives grants to graduate school students in the field of public service. They offer up to $30,000 of financial aid, as well as fellowships and leadership trainings.
NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program
This program is accessible to students of graduate school programs under the fields of Engineering such as Aeronautics, Aeronautical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical and Electric Engineering, and others. NASA ASP beneficiaries are entitled to grants of up to $11,000 in a school year, as well as a yearly stipend amounting to $35,000.
Photo Credit : Rick’s Images
If you are planning to get into graduate school and acquire an advanced degree, you would, of course, want to get training from one of the best schools. However, ranking schools and determining the best can be a bit controversial. How schools will be ranked shall depend on several factors, some of which, can even be subjective.
To date, no single organization or body is considered an authority when it comes to ranking graduate schools and graduate school programs. Thus, the job of evaluating and ranking graduate schools and programs became a task for different institutions and organizations. These bodies use varying criteria in evaluating and ranking schools. The organization usually consider several factors such as cost of education and number of enrollees. Even the method of data gathering and analysis vary from one body to another. Thus, rankings or evaluations usually yield different results.
Besides the varying methods and criteria, published compilations of graduate school rankings also become problematic because they are seldom concentrated on particular fields or programs. It is important to note that schools usually have fields of specialty when it comes to the training and education that they provide. Thus, “general” rankings do not help that much if you’re looking for the best schools for a particular graduate school program.
To address these issues, here are lists of 5 oft-cited schools offering graduate school programs for different academic disciplines: (Note: The lists are in no particular order.)
Business and Administration
1. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management
3. Harvard University – Harvard Business School (HBS)
4. Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University
5. Stanford University Graduate School of Business
These rankings published by Financial Times are disaggregated into different MBA Programs such as full-time, part-time, dual, online, and executive.
Computer and Engineering
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2. University of California – Berkeley
3. Schulich School of Engineering of Stanford University
4. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC or U of I)
5. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
Law
1. Yale University Law School
2. Harvard University Law School
3. New York University School of Law
4. Stanford University Law School
5. Columbia University Law School
Medicine
1. Harvard University Medical School
2. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
3. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
4. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
5. University of California – San Francisco School of Medicine
These rankings published by US News and World Report were based on the schools’ medical programs, and their research and primary care facilities.
Because of the excellence of Harvard University and Stanford University in different fields, these two schools are considered as two of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Known for their highly-selective admission requirements and procedures, these two schools take pride in their long lists of prominent and notable alumni.
Applying for any graduate school program entails that you submit certain requirements. One of which is the graduate admission essay. Because it is one of the trickiest and most important requirements, investing in this essay is a must. Check out the Internet for sample graduate school essays to have an idea on how to write an effective admission essay.
Photo Credit : Jack Duval
Getting a graduate school degree is one thing; getting into graduate school is another. Graduate school application requires that you submit certain documents to show that you are qualified to get into graduate school. Some of these requirements are transcripts, recommendation letters from employers or former professors, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and other standardized exam results, and a graduate school admission essay.
The graduate school admission essay is one of the most important requirements for graduate school application. As it can be evaluated subjectively, it is important that this essay is written carefully and systematically.
Sample graduate school essays are intended to serve as guides for people who are writing graduate school admission essays. Sample school admission essays can be used as guides or patterns in writing your own application essay.
There are lots of articles on the Internet that offer tips and guidelines on how to write effective essays, but sample graduate school essays showcase how these tips are applied. You may also find badly written sample graduate school essays to show you how not to write your essay. But if you will read the sample graduate school essays that sites would consider as among the best-written pieces, you will find out what the bottom line in writing a good graduate admission essay is. The bottom line is that you should emphasize and describe how your experiences and background make the program that you are applying for the best one for you.
Those that are among the best-written sample graduate school essays describe the following information in detail:
-what your long-term professional goals are
-how a degree from the program that you are applying for can help you in attaining those goals
-what you regard as your greatest achievement
-how you have contributed to the community that you are involved in
-how you intend to contribute more to the community
-why the graduate school should accept you into the program
You will find that not all sample graduate school essays focus on all of those information. Some of them only focus on a particular topic, then go into specific details that support the claims based on the chosen topic. You may do the same thing when you write your own application essay. Also, you must focus on the personal aspects that make you a strong candidate for a graduate school program.
Well-written sample graduate school essays will show you that you don’t have to describe your professional or educational achievements in your application essay. Admissions committees would want to see YOU in your essay: your dreams, the challenges you went through, how you overcame those challenges, your goals, and the things you value. When it comes to your essay, admissions committees would be after the information about you that other documents can’t provide.
Photo Credit : fee-ach
After marching down the aisle, coming up on stage, and posing for photo opportunities while you take your college diploma and wave college life goodbye, you might get to a point when you think you’re ready to take the next step forward, and yet, you end up pausing, uncertain where to go and what to do next. Then you ask yourself, “What now?”
Your options after graduation
College graduation leads you to the “next stage.” It can be considered that simple. Only, what is the next stage? College graduation opens doors leading to many different directions, and it’s up to you to choose which path to take.
You may opt to go straight into the workforce and get started with your journey to the top levels of the career ladder. You may also put up your own business, being your own boss and your own financer. Or, you may opt to stay in the academe, digging more of the treasures that it has in store for you.
There is so much to learn, and there is so much to use these learnings for. You might think that you’ve had enough of what you need to learn to be able to compete in the career world with an edge, but there are lots of ways to get an added advantage. Pursuing graduate studies is one of them.
Advantages of Getting an Advanced Degree
An advanced degree is important not just for people who intend to pursue careers in the academe, but also for people who intend to pursue other fields. An MA or PhD can give you a ticket to higher-paying jobs and better career opportunities. Adding up to your credentials, an advanced degree makes you more qualified for promotion.
Graduate studies will also develop your research skills further. Research skill is an essential tool in almost any field.
Graduate school will also allow you to expand and deepen your knowledge and skills. You will learn more theories and get to understand them better.
Finally, a degree from graduate school will allow you access to more employment opportunities. With added training and education, you will be more equipped when you venture into the career world.
Getting into graduate school
To be able to get into graduate school, you will need to complete certain requirements. Among these are recommendation letters from your former professors, college records, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) results, and graduate school application essays. It is important to invest in your graduate school essay because this counts a lot in your application. You may check out sample graduate school essays on the Internet to see how good graduate school essays are written.
Photo Credit : David the Pimp Daddy
