Getting into your dream graduate school can be quite a task, especially if you’re thinking of ways on how to get the upper hand over other applicants. One way to have an advantage over other fellow applicants is to come up with an outstanding graduate admission essay. The graduate admission essay is a very important part of the application process. Through this essay, the admissions panel is able to see the real you which they can’t really see through your grades or exam scores. To ensure that your essay is the best essay you can come up with, using a writing rubrics checklist is a good idea.
The writing rubrics checklist
A writing rubrics checklist is a checklist that helps you improve on your essay as you write the draft and revise it over and over again. Now what do you include in a writing rubrics checklist? The checklist should serve as a gauge for the content, organization and structure, and style of your essay. Under these “categories,” you should come up with questions that you yourself will answer while evaluating your draft essay. An example would be a checklist with the following questions:
1. Content
- Is my topic catchy enough?
- Was I able to provide supporting statements that’ll help me convince the readers that I deserve to be accepted in their school?
2. Organization and structure
- Are all my paragraphs coherent?
- Are there several statements or paragraphs that should be removed or revised?
- Does my essay convey a single idea?
3. Style
- Did I use cliches in my essay?
- Will my readers get bored when they read my admission essay?
The categories and questions you can include in your writing checklist depends on how thorough you want to be when it comes to gauging the content, organization and structure, and style of your personal statement.
Benefits of using a writing rubrics checklist
Coming up with a writing rubrics checklist is very helpful when proofreading and revising your essay drafts. Because you need to allot plenty of time when preparing your essay, you have to make sure that each revision you make contributes to the overall quality of your essay. By using this kind of checklist, you’re able to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your work. Once you’ve identified your essay’s areas for improvement, you’ll be able to come up with an outstanding essay that can land you a spot in your dream graduate school.
