A thorough understanding of yourself, your passions, and your goals can deeply influence how you put together your grad school application.
Before applying to graduate schools, you should reflect on yourself, your interests, and your goals. While your academic focus may change with time and exposure to a university’s courses, programs are looking for applicants who show clear potential for contributing to intellectual communities in specific arenas. Programs are not only looking for candidates who will be an asset in the classroom, but also those who will make the most of the resources provided to them. By reflecting on your own interests, you will not only gain insight about yourself and what you are looking to gain from your experience in graduate school, but also about how you might thrive in a university environment.
As you prepare your application, try to imagine yourself in your reader’s position. The admissions reader will be trying to put together a picture of you based on your application, interests, and statement of purpose, so you should strive to make your application as indicative of your goals as possible. Before you begin your grad school application, consider these questions:
When answering these questions, allow yourself to dream big. Graduate school will grant you the opportunity to connect with professionals in your field, expose you to new ideas that may change your worldview, and introduce you to peers who will challenge and enrich your work. While admissions boards are looking for focused candidates with specific research interests, they also are aware that your line of focus can transform over your years of graduate study. Therefore, they are interested in candidates who have specific interests and strengths, but also who are ambitious, flexible, and capable of thriving in an academic setting. Therefore, your enthusiasm, flexibility, ambition, and focus will be your greatest assets in applying for graduate school, and should all be reflected in your application.
Once you have meditated on your goals and interests, you will be faced with the task of strategically expressing these ambitions in your application. While universities will not explicitly ask about your 20-year plan, there are more implicit ways of communicating your goals and passions within your application. Most graduate school applications will require a personal statement for graduate school, or statement of purpose, in addition to supplemental essays.
Your personal statement is your chance to distinguish yourself to your readers. The admissions board has likely already reviewed your resume, transcripts, and test scores, and will turn to the personal statement as a testament to what roles you may play in an incoming class. Thus, your personal statement should both reflect your strengths and give readers a glimpse to who you are as a person, student, and community member. Most personal statement prompts are intentionally open-ended to allow candidates to interpret the prompt according to their interests and focus. However, there are questions that you should answer regardless of your interpretation of the prompt. You should aim to answer several of the following questions in your personal statement:
Consider these examples that successfully synthesize academic focus with positive personal qualities. The given prompts are adapted from real prompts asked by specific universities:
Prompt: Describe your goals and influences as a writer.
Andrea is applying to a MFA in creative writing. Her poetry focuses largely on social and cultural issues faced by first-generation Hispanic immigrants, but she is also interested in ecofeminist theory. She begins with a hook about how her mother used to read to her in Spanish and English, and how her bilingualism informs her poetry. She talks about poetry as a bridge between two cultures and references specific writers who have influenced her approach. Next, she discusses how the environmental angle of this particular program will allow her to fully synthesize her passions. She paints a picture of herself as a passionate and focused candidate who will make the most out of the program’s unique resources.
Prompt: Describe your research interests, professional objectives, and how this program will match your interests.
David is applying for a PhD in English literature. While his intellectual interests are diverse, he knows he needs to tailor his personal statement to each school. David’s main focus is the intersection between Renaissance literature and the art of the period, so he emphasizes how a school’s unique resources will contribute to his education. His top-choice program offers a study abroad option, so he researches the international university where he would like to study for a year, and demonstrates his knowledge of and admiration for the program. He points to his award-winning undergraduate thesis on a similar topic as a catalyst for his interest in the field, but also acknowledges that the university’s specific course offerings will challenge his work in exciting ways.
A thorough understanding of yourself, your passions, and your goals can deeply influence how you put together your grad school application. By understanding both how you see yourself, and how you hope your reader will see you, you can leverage your experience and interests to best express your potential as a student, leader, and citizen.
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