As an essential requirement to get into graduate school, it’s expected that you devote ample time in writing your graduate admission essay. As compared to the other documents required in graduate school applications such as transcripts and test scores, your graduate admission essay can be interpreted subjectively. Awkward phrases, ambiguous statements, and misspelled words can be enough to show that you didn’t pour much effort in writing your essay. This is why you’ll find countless articles and books dedicated to providing writing tips and how-to’s.
As mentioned, much has been written on how to write and how not to write a graduate admission essay. Most of the pointers you’ll read emphasize writing your graduate admission essay with conciseness, sincerity, and structure. An example on how to write your graduate admission essay with sincerity and specificity is this: instead of writing about how the program the institution offers is one of the best out there, write in detail about how that program is the best one for YOU – given your specific personal background and experiences.
Familiarize yourself with common graduate admission essay questions.
What do you consider your greatest achievement? What are your long-term career goals? How can you contribute to the school’s community? How will an advanced degree from this graduate school help you attain your goals? Why should the graduate school choose you among all the other applicants? What’s in it for the graduate school if they choose to get you?
These are just some of the graduate admission essay questions commonly asked by admissions committees of graduate schools. If you find such questions overwhelming, try and focus on a specific aspect of the answers that come to your mind. For example, focus on your long-term career goals that are directly connected to the degree or program you’re applying for. Explain in detail your concrete plans of how you will use the degree from the institution to realize those goals.
Keep your graduate admission essay personal and sincere.
A common tendency among applicants is to go on and on about their academic and professional achievements without relating it to their reasons for applying into graduate school. By doing this, they’re merely putting into words the information that their transcripts, resumes, and test scores already provide. What admissions committees want to see on your graduate admission essay is a simplified story of your life – the trials and adversities you’ve faced, your inspirations and how they influence your actions, your dreams and what you are doing to realize them, and your short-term and long-term goals. Your graduate admission essay should reflect who you are as an individual and as a student.
As consultants and committee members will tell you, what they’re looking for in your essay is a glimpse of who you are, the facets of your being, that no figures, GPAs, and records will ever provide.
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