graduate admission essay

graduate admission essay

The Importance of Graduate Admission Essays

1. Introduction

Most graduate programs require students to write an entrance essay. It is an essential part of the application and it is designed to enable the admission committee to assess the applicant’s caliber. In this essay, the applicant’s personality and aspirations have to be brought into focus. It is a golden opportunity to show the graduate program of your choice that you are indeed a worthy candidate for selection. You must convince them to the fullest extent that they should take you. A good essay can certainly help you to tip the balance in your favor if you have a marginal grade or score on a test. On the other hand, a poor essay can overshadow all of your other accomplishments. Although the essay is not the sole criteria for selection, it is the only document that provides a platform for you to directly address the admission committee. The essay enables you to set yourself apart from other candidates. It is the only tool that enables you to establish your presence, i.e., make yourself be more than just a GPA and a list of academic achievements. Therefore, it can make a significant difference. Coming in the backdrop of education made as an industry for skill development, the earlier system of evaluation through multiple-choice questions needs a check. It often finds students with good conceptualizing capabilities at the receiving end and mechanical ones at an advantage. The present system needs an interface to ensure that the right students are picking on skills of their interest and personality efficiently marketed. Coming to the technical line, this essay, if used effectively, can be that interface, in terms of skimming out a paragraph or two and looking beyond the academics.

2. Highlighting Academic Achievements

Before contemplating on how to write a distinctive essay, one must focus on how succeeding at a particular university will further one’s academic career. Attempting to impress grad school admission officers who are sifting through a myriad of applications with a more or less similar transcript may seem like a daunting task. Yet it is anything but; a perfect GPA and exceptional grades in one’s major are not measures that will ensure the “green light” for an applicant. Remember, these admission officers are human beings and often go into these types of jobs for lack of something better to do; they are not all mindless, soulless drones relentlessly combing statistics and ranks. They, like anyone else, are reasonably seeking reasons that their job is worthwhile and useful to themselves and/or others. Support for this statement is evident in the fact that even some of the most prestigious universities are turning away from the traditional “scholastic only” admissions. Earlham College in Indiana, ranked number one in the Midwest in the 1997 US News and World Report College issue, promotes this alternative way of thinking. You might wonder if trying to get your foot in the door with a degree in [fill with major] is worth all the trouble. According to Lee R Marks, PhD, ways to better oneself are constantly sought after in higher education programs and more and more educators are looking to recruit students who seek the same. At the beginning of PhDs, or Professional Development Higher Degrees, Marks states “For this group, at least in the years that follow the 1989 UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), research students will make a significant contribution to the income and hence indirectly the jobs of the established academic community. Such students should be regarded as an integral part of the departments in which they are placed and receive education and training”.

3. Demonstrating Relevant Experience

How to Link to Your Past Experiences A curriculum vitae or a “CV” is a comprehensive document outlining your academic and professional history. Often used by those applying for medical or teaching positions, it is essentially a résumé for the academic and would be considered overkill for a personal statement. Since a CV may span several pages, this document provides more information on your academic/research goals as well. An effective way to demonstrate your skill set is to try and create a link between it and the desired position. This can be done with a highlight of skills or qualifications in a résumé. Finally, various cover letters also require a strong demonstration of job-specific skills. For the graduate student beginning the hunt for a good research/teaching assistant position, the thought of having to prove this as a student or computer savvy individual can be quite bothersome. Though this step can be quite easy considering that it is a desired position and the skills are fresh. An understanding of job seeking resources available to you, i.e. letters, résumé/cover letter clinics, career fairs, is the best way to take a proactive approach to your impending job search.

When determining relevant experience, it is imperative that you seek experiences that are pertinent to your field of study. Examining the field includes looking at different types of experience. Sociology students may look into academic experiences, applied experiences, related experiences or transferable experiences. Having an academic experience means that you have sought out opportunities to conduct research or to present a research paper at an academic conference. This type of experience is most highly valued. Applied experiences are those where you have learned to apply your sociology knowledge or skills in a real-world situation. Perhaps you have been an advocate for a specific social cause, volunteered at a non-profit agency or interned at a government department. Such experiences are also quite valuable. Often a student’s past job can be a related experience. Whether you were waiting tables or working in a corporate office, these experiences could be directly related to the types of skills that sociologists utilize. Finally, there are skills which are transferable to sociology but may have been acquired in another field. Determining the connection between this specific experience and how it has influenced you as a sociologist can be quite daunting. Consider utilizing your transferable experiences to answer the question of a personal statement. Personal stories can provide evidence of how something has become known to you.

4. Conveying Personal Motivation and Goals

To the extent possible, the essay should be tailored to fit the specific requirements of a program. Look at what the faculty is doing research in. Does your research experience gear you towards a certain type of research in the program offered? If so, what is it and how can the program be used as a means to that end. What is it about the program that will affect your career choice? The essay should seek to identify these direct questions and then provide answers that support the information conveyed is the best choice for this specific program. How does this program fit the prior experience and future goals? Describe the logic that draws a connection between these points and the program provided. Remember that this is exactly what admission boards are trying to determine, whether or not you are a good match for their program and if it is a good fit for you.

This is one of the essay’s primary objectives, and the ability to convey personal motivation and goals requires a candidate to fulfill several different tasks. The approach required will vary with the level of education one is seeking. The primary task for many is to generate interest in a program, and to convince the faculty that you are the ‘right’ student for them. For students applying to professional schools who desire further qualification, the point at which a student decided to take this path needs to be identified. In all instances, the goal of the essay is to help admit the best match for the program and to ignore or admit the other candidates. Thus, a high quality essay will distinguish yourself from all other candidates, not just other applicants.

5. Conclusion

Graduate admissions essays are also a means for the Graduate Admissions Committee to evaluate your qualities. This is important because some programs are looking for individuals who can demonstrate critical thinking skills whereas others are looking for individuals to coordinate research projects. By evaluating qualities, it helps the committee to place the applicant into a program that will best suit the individual. In this case, an essay will be a blueprint to the committee to show where an applicant sees him/herself in the future and how the specific program will help him/her achieve that goal.

In summary, the purpose of the admissions essay is to convey a sense of your unique character to the admissions committee. The essay can come in many shapes and forms; it can also vary in depth. But it is an opportunity to explain what qualities an individual uniquely holds that can be an asset to the specific program.

This is the opportunity to sell yourself and increase the probability of being admitted. An essay that is well and good, but the research experience might mean more than a well-constructed essay to an admissions committee. This is positive in the sense that an individual with solid experience in research can still get admitted even if he/she is not the best at writing essays. On the flip side, an essay can also be the deciding factor. With the deluge of applicants, an essay of an applicant can be the difference between acceptance and rejection to a competitive program.

Graduate admissions essays are designed to get students to explain more about their specific experiences that have led them to a particular field. The most common question includes ‘why the specific field’, ‘research experience’, ‘publications’, ‘clinical experience’, and ‘work experience’. Strive to make the essays unique by using concrete examples from your life experiences. Sometimes it can be difficult, so discussing previous failures and weaknesses can show growth, a trait admissions committees highly value. Also, people can have a tendency to embellish their experiences; outlining specific experiences can help to keep an essay concise and help to persuade an admissions committee that the provided information is truly representative of an applicant’s experiences.