How To Write A Personal Statement For Graduate School

How To Write A Personal Statement For Graduate School by Jason Kay


A personal statement is a crucial part of your graduate school application, but writing it can also be one of the most stressful things on your to-do list. Many students do not consider writing to be their strong suit, and matters are only made worse due to the intense importance of this particular essay.

It may help many students to remember what the purpose of the personal statement is. The grad school admissions board uses it to determine two things:

* Whether you will be an asset to the graduate program * Whether you will be an asset to the school itself

Graduate schools are typically judged by the performance of their students. As a result, no school wants to admit a student who will be a black mark on its record. Your personal statement's purpose, therefore, is to convince the admissions board that:

* You are deeply motivated to learn about (and excel in) your chosen area of study * You are a capable student who will perform well in your studies

In order to accomplish these tasks, there are several points that almost every personal statement must cover (unless, of course, asked to do differently by the admissions board itself). You also have the challenge of trying to make your personal statement stand out from the hundreds of other applicants, who will all be saying basically the same thing.

For more information on how to write a winning personal statement, follow the guidelines below.

What Should a Personal Statement Include?

Not every personal statement should look the same. Different graduate schools have different expectations of what you should include in your personal statement. First and foremost, your responsibility is to make sure your essay answers the questions asked.

In general, though, most personal statements should include five things:

* Area of study - This should be a given, but you would be amazed by how many students focus so much on answering other questions that they forget to state which program they are interested in. Don't leave your reader to figure it out by deduction - make sure your chosen area of study is clearly stated in your personal statement.

* Your interest in the subject - By discussing the basis for your interest in the subject, your personal statement will prove you have a genuine interest in your chosen area of study. However, don't simply say, "I have always wanted to be a ______." Instead, use a personal experience to show - rather than tell - what drives your interest.

* Related experience - Graduate schools also look at your experience in the field in order to determine your interest level. For example, if you are pursuing a graduate degree in psychology, the admissions committee will expect you to see some combination of related courses, research work, internships, volunteer work, membership in related organizations, and/or other extracurricular activities.

* Your interest in the school - Many people choose a graduate school because it has a program that interests them. This should go into your personal statement. However, make sure you go beyond general flattery - the committee will want to see that you have actually researched the program. For instance, if you admire the work of a professor who teaches in the program, mention this and discuss why you would like the opportunity to study under him or her.

* Post-graduation plans - In order to choose the graduate program that is right for you, you should have a general idea of what you will do with your degree. Be sure to convey your career goals in your personal statement, as this proves that you have given some serious thought to your future, and therefore are more likely to finish the program.

How Do I Make My Personal Statement Stand Out from All the Rest?

Once you have outlined how you are going to answer the question or cover the five points listed above, you need to figure out how you will make your personal statement memorable. Remember, there are most likely hundreds of other applicants, all of whom will say more or less the same thing. Here are a few ways to make sure your stand out from the crowd.

* Make it personal. A successful personal statement should not read like a description of your resume. Instead, use stories and examples from your life to illustrate why you became interested in your chosen area of study, and your experiences as you have pursued it thus far.

* Make it organized. A personal statement is not a term paper, but it should still be well organized. Make sure your sentences flow well from one paragraph to the next.

* Make it between one and three pages. Like a resume, it is hard to say how long a personal statement should be. Some admissions boards may only ask one question to be answered, allowing your personal statement to be as short as 250 words. On the other hand, more complex answers may require as many 750 words.

* Have a theme or thesis. Like any other personal essay, your personal statement should have a unifying theme. The anecdotes you use to illustrate the above five topics or answer the admission board's question should also support your theme.

* Maintain a professional tone. As a graduate, you are no longer just a student - you are also a professional in your field. Your personal statement should reflect your professionalism and dedication to your studies.

* Gear it toward the specific school. While you may be able to reuse certain sections of your personal statement for other schools, sending out the same essay to every school is a major faux pas. For one thing, many schools differ in their requirements: They may impose a different maximum or minimum length, or ask that different questions be answered. Make sure that your personal statement is written for the specific requirements of the school you are applying to.

* Proofread your work. Nothing will turn an admissions board off faster than sloppy writing. If you are going to convince them that your graduate degree is one of your top priorities, then your personal statement should reflect your level of dedication. Take the time to perfect your work, eliminating typos and grammatical errors as well as fine-tuning the overall message.

Writing a Winning Personal Statement

While it's true that there is a lot riding on your personal statement, this does not mean that it needs to be difficult to write. By understanding the purpose of the exercise, making sure that it concisely yet thoroughly covers the necessary information, and minding details such as organization and grammar, anyone can write a winning personal statement.


About the Author
Jason Kay contributes to education related websites such as Sample Personal Statement, which provides sample personal statement essays for graduate, law, medical, and business school.

Good Writing - Back to Basics

Good Writing - Back to Basics
by Charlie Wilson



Writing well, and helping other people to write well, is my job. As a professional proofreader, copy editor and copywriter, people often ask me how to write. The following is a simple guide to remind people of the basics of good writing style.


Good writing is . . .


. . . simple. Leave the complicated sentences to Dickens. There is nothing more off-putting to a reader than long, long sentences and even longer paragraphs. Keep them short and simple.


. . . organised. Your reader wants to understand easily what you are saying, without becoming frustrated and confused by a haphazard structure. Plan your writing logically before you begin, and employ that old rule from your schooldays: it needs a beginning, middle and end.


. . . to the point. There's no surer way of losing your reader's attention than embarking on a rambling detour off the subject. By all means add interest to your writing using examples, opinions and anecdotes, but ensure they are relevant. If you're writing about the history of British castles, write about the history of British castles, not that time your Auntie Ethel fell in a moat.


. . . consistent. Inconsistent writing is frustrating, annoying and distracting to the reader. Watch out for inconsistencies in your meaning, and also in your writing style. If you've written a book with a blonde protagonist called Bob Moore, your reader won't be impressed if he suddenly becomes red-headed Rob More in chapter nine.


. . . accurate. Okay, it's a pretty obvious point, but good writing goes hand in hand with correct writing - free from spelling and grammatical mistakes. Proofread it. And then again.


. . . descriptive. Description (by which I mean adjectives and adverbs) is an important part of good, evocative writing, but overdo it and you'll read like you've swallowed a thesaurus. Consider the difference between The vibrant butterfly settled on the lush leaf. and The delicate, beautiful, vibrant butterfly settled and nestled slowly and happily on the green, leafy, lush leaf. The first is descriptive but simple; the second a fairly exhausting read.


. . . written with its reader in mind. If you want your writing to be effective - whether you're writing a letter to a client, a marketing leaflet, an essay, or a novel - you need to ensure you're appealing to your target reader. Your writing style, tone and choice of words need to speak directly to your reader, in their own language. Try to keep your reader in mind as you write, and read your writing back as if through their eyes.




About the Author
Charlie Wilson is a professional writer and editor. She runs Perfectly Write, a company that specialises in providing expert copywriting, copy-editing and proofreading services to businesses, publishers, organisations and authors. Passionate about words, her aim is to make them 'perfectly write'. Visit her website at www.perfectlywrite.co.uk.

SAT Essay - How to Write a Quick and Easy Essay

SAT Essay - How to Write a Quick and Easy Essay
by Darrell Causey


Writing your SAT essay doesn't have to be difficult or exhausting. Use the following formula to help you write the best essay possible.

The Exam Structure

The first thing you need to do is to think of your essay as three parts; the opening, the body and the closing.

Your opening should consist of one paragraph of about three to five sentences. It should clearly state your view on the topic and how you are going to support this view. Due to time limits, it is best to use only three points to defend your position. If possible try to catch the reader's attention with a controversial statement that compels them to read more. However, avoid clichés.

The body is your content and should support the three points made in your opening. Each point should be explained in a separate paragraph and flow logically between ideas. Be direct and to the point. Don't get wordy or you will get stuck in these paragraphs and the body is not the most important part of your essay. Support your ideas and move on to the closing.

The closing is where you bring your message together. Review your position and the points that support your view, then call your readers to some type of action by asking them to make a decision, buy something or support an organization. The closing is the most important part of your essay. It requires your best effort. If you spend too much time on your points and don't have a well thought out closing it will cost you. It is better to have a weak body and a powerful closing than a weak closing or no closing at all.

How to Begin Your Essay

You begin your essay by carefully reading the assigned topic. Then develop an outline that you will use as a guide while writing your actual essay. The first part of your outline should be a sentence that states your position on the topic. Next, you should list the points that will support your position and determine your body paragraphs. Finally, you should write a sentence that states your closing.

Taking the time to prepare an outline will keep you focused on the task at hand and allow you to make the most of your time.

The Outline

state your position
first point
second point
third point
conclusion

Writing the Essay

Now, armed with your outline, begin writing your essay. Start your opening paragraph with an attention grabbing statement that will draw the reader deeper into your essay. Then state your view and the points that support that view. Next write the body by supporting each of the points in a separate paragraph. Remember, don't get wordy just explain the points and move on to your closing.

You must have a closing! Do not get caught up in the body of the essay. You will not impress anyone without a closing. The closing is the most important part of the essay. Make sure you have time to write a well thought out closing that brings all your points together and moves the reader to action.

If you follow this formula for writing your SAT or ACT essay you will have plenty of time to write and complete a good essay. Whether it will be a great essay depends on your individual ability to write.

The number one thing you can do to improve your SAT scores is practice, practice, and practice some more.

10 Point Check Up

1. Decide your position and determine your supporting points.
2. Organize your thoughts with an outline.
3. Be direct and to the point.
4. Provide examples and clear explanations.
5. Avoid generalizations.
6. Use transitional phrases for a logical flow.
7. Use variety in sentence structure.
8. Maintain a consistent tone throughout the essay.
9. Avoid being wordy.
10. PRACTICE

NOTE: The above is useful for writing an essay on any type of exam not just the SAT.


About the Author
If you would like to know more about the SAT test or preparation go to MrCauseyTutors.com

Darrell Causey has been teaching and coaching for over 27 years. Mr. Causey coaches several students for the SAT Test every year. Learn more at mrcausey.com or coachcausey.com

The Best Answers to College Essay Questions

The Best Answers to College Essay Questions
by Jerry Larson


The best answers to college essay questions make meaningful connections between personal experiences and personal qualities. In other words, they provide proof that you are the type of applicant you claim to be.

The first step is to perform a self-examination to find patterns that will help in writing your college essays. Look at a list of personal qualities college admissions officers look for in applicants. Things such as academic achievement, creativity, responsibility, maturity, integrity, initiative, leadership, confidence, etc. The list is longer than this but you get the idea. Think of all the qualities that colleges would look for in the ideal candidate.

Don't worry about which ones you possess at this point just write down everything that comes to mind. Of course no candidate is perfect and no candidate will possess all of these qualities. That's fine. The next step is to go through your list and put a checkmark by each of the ideal qualities that you possess in your estimation.

The next step is to go back to the qualities that you checked and jot down two concrete examples from your personal experiences that proves you possess that particular quality. If you can't think of two examples the prove you have that quality then move on to the next one. You can either come back to that quality later or if you can't think of two examples from your entire life that demonstrate that quality chances are you don't really possess it.

Colleges and universities are interested in applicants you can demonstrate personal growth. With that in mind, it's time to examine your personal experiences and qualities looking for examples the demonstrate how you have grown as a person over time.

There are two possible tacts to take here. One is starting in your childhood and demonstrating how you have grown and developed the personal qualities college admissions officer look for. Or the other tactic is to project yourself into the future either when you are in college or after graduation and project or hypothesize how you will grow and how the college or university will play a role in that development. The first tactic is best because it demonstrate by concrete example what you've accomplished versus the second option which is what you hope to accomplish.

At this point, you should be realizing that you really do have a lot of personal experience that would make for a good college essay. That's not unusual. Most students do have it in them to write a good college essay. Sometimes it just takes a little thinking and planning to stir the creative juices. It's really just a matter of organizing your thoughts and planning how to best put your experiences in writing in the way that will most likely impress the college admissions officers.


About the Author
Jerry Larson is a former college admissions officer who knows the ropes and is now helping college applicants get an "insiders perspective" on the college admission process. Are you making these common mistakes that kill your chances of admission into the college or university of your choice? For more information, please visit http://www.105essaytopics.com

Writing Help for College Students

Writing Help for College Students
by Tamara Owen


Your literature professor has asked you to write a 7-page essay comparing Medieval and Renaissance poetry; your economics professor wants 15 pages on how globalization is affecting the economy in three different countries; and your mathematics professor has forgotten this is a mathematics class, and wants 5 pages on the quadratic formula. And you have been staring at the computer screen for over an hour wondering how on earth you are going to do all of this in the next four days.

This is an all-too-familiar scene to many students. Many students learn of these large assignments at the beginning of the semester when they receive their class syllabi, and immediately forget about them because November seems like years away. Other students are busy with extracurricular sports, trying to adjust to being away from home for the first time, and other events and issues. Still other students are quite frankly terrified of the writing process, believing the blank page to be worse than their worst nightmare, and so these assignments get shoved aside to remain untouched until the last minute.

It is an interesting fact of college life that all students, regardless of major or discipline, are asked to write about their subject matter -- often quite extensively. While it is certainly important that all individuals be literate, and know how to read and write in a variety of capacities, styles, and genres, it is also the case that not everyone has to be a professional academic writer (www.korepetycje.com/join_us.html). Engineers need to know how to design bridges or better towel racks; pilots need to be able to take off and land safely and smoothly; and physicians need to be able to diagnose illnesses and injuries and to prescribe the correct medical interventions. None of these people needs to know how to write a term paper.

What, then, are the options for the poor student struggling in the first paragraph? What will happen to the student who is a prodigy on the piano but is facing failure because she cannot write 10 pages on Beethoven? What will happen to the next Frank Lloyd Wright who is stuck in his psychology seminar, unable to write a series of vignettes portraying various mental illnesses?

There are a few options. Most college campuses have writing labs, where many students are helped with researching and writing their papers. Many students form study groups, where they help each other through the tough assignments. Some students write their custom essays and term papers (see: http://www.korepetycje.com/indexam.html) and then pay an editor to polish them. Still others turn to professional writing services for assistance with their assignments. This is where services such as CustomPapers.com come in. We have a large staff of professional writers who specialize in writing papers about a wide variety of disciplines ranging from economics to ecology, marketing to Mozart, Hemingway to heart murmurs. We can also assist students with related projects, such as PowerPoint Presentations. In the many years of our existence, we have found tremendous success helping students with assignments of all sizes, all levels of difficulty, and all subjects.

Regardless of what type of help you choose, the important thing is that you get through college as quickly and effectively as possible. College is a step leading up to the rest of your life -- don't let a term paper be the skateboard in your path. http://www.miniencyclopedia.net/writng-tips/index.html


About the Author
Tamara Owen

Successful Study using Brainstorming

Successful Study using Brainstorming
by Steve Bracken


'Brainstorming' - It's a word you hear a lot as a student from teachers and tutors, so much so that you are probably tempted to switch off because you think you've heard it all before. But before you do, let me try to convince you one last time. Why? Because it's powerful, quick to do, can get you over many of the blocks and hurdles when studying or answering questions that stop many students from reaching their potential. I know I couldn't work without it!

It's traditionally used by groups to generate new ideas, in business for example, but it can also be used individually to plan and prepare an essay, revise your lessons, prepare for new material, or get you started on a project.

The beauty of brainstorming is that it's less daunting than many of the tasks you face when studying, and so it can be used to get you started when getting started is the most difficult part of your work. It's easy to do and doesn't take much time.

I'm advocating it because I know it works. I know it works because I use it. In writing this article for example, and others like it, I brainstorm before I do anything else. Sitting down to a blank page or screen is always difficult. When you've set yourself a target to meet and you can't think what to write, what do you do?

I typed in a document any keyword or title I could think of to do with my speciality topic of study techniques - anything I could remember that I've already taught my own students; anything I use myself for effective learning; anything I have come across in my research on study skills. When I'm finished brainstorming, I have a list that I can use anytime I sit down to write. Or if I find an article isn't flowing well, I just browse the list to see what title I feel I can write about, and invariably, I find one I can work with. So far, it's still working!

Would you like to make it work for you? Here are a few tips.

* Most importantly, brainstorming should not involve any judgement of the ideas. In other words, the priority is to keep pouring out the ideas as fast as possible, even if they're rubbish! Don't ever stop yourself because you think an idea is no good, or not exactly on the topic. Just keep writing words, phrases, keywords, whatever you can think of. Do it fast. Don't think too much about it.

* Aim for quantity not quality.

* If you get stuck or run out of ideas, don't worry. Maybe you have enough to work with. If not, read over some of your ideas up to now, and see if they spark some more, they usually will.

* For essays or writing, you may then want to go back and flesh out some of the keywords with subtopics, using brainstorming again.

* When you're done, go back over the ideas and organise them. Now's the time to get rid of the rubbish, pick out the good ideas, group similar items and so on. You should now have a pretty good starting point for your work.

And that's it. It's not difficult, but it can be extremely useful, especially if you can't get started or you're stuck in a rut. You can use brainstorming to prepare an essay, prime your mind before studying a new topic, or review and recall a topic just covered. But you have to give it a chance and try it honestly for a while at least. It will be worth the effort.




About the Author
If you want to learn more, or download a free mini ebook on study, try www.yourstudymentor.com .

Steve Bracken has been teaching Physics, Science and Mathematics for 14 years at second and third level and has a particular interest in developing his students' independent study skills.

Ways to avoid plagiarism in essays and papers

Ways to avoid plagiarism in essays and papers
by Andrew Sandon


One of the most valuable things in the modern world is ideas. That is why there are no doubts that ideas require efficient protection from the plagiarism. The word Plagiarism comes from the Latin word Plagio which stands for steal. The legal definition of this word sounds as publishing or usage of someone else's intellectual property without indicating the source and without author's consent.

The objects of plagiarism can be everything from books and songs to scientific discoveries and technological inventions. The law stipulates serious penalties for plagiarists. However this shameful phenomenon is still flourishing in all the countries of the world. Custom essay writing company ProfEssays would like to warn you against using plagiarized papers downloaded from the Internet. The problem of the net plagiarism is quickly growing. Nowadays a lot of students prefer to download term papers or essays from the Internet instead of writing them on their own.

But here a student encounters a number of perils: No one can guarantee you that papers and essays that you've downloaded are used for the first time. What's more there is a possibility that it may be downloaded by the student from your college and submitted to the same tutor. It is evident that all the tutors are aware of the existence of such free collections of papers and essays. Your tutor can easily find this work on the net if there he suspects something or even know this content by heart. In this case he would have the legal grounds to demand your rewriting the paper or even try to kick you out of your college. Besides, many universities have installed the powerful anti-plagiarism software for detecting the plagiarized pieces of writing. These systems compare the text of your term paper and research papers with the Internet resources base, with other students' works and also printed issues and highlighting the plagiarized passages and pointing out the original sources and authors. Then it counts the percentage of plagiarized text. The most efficient way to avoid plagiarism without writing essays and papers is to resort to custom essay writing companies. Such companies as ProfEssays caring for their reputation produces only original custom essays, custom research papers, custom term papers, custom admission essays, book reports, case studies and this list is not complete. Custom essays and papers are submitted by the deadline. Privacy is guaranteed.


About the Author
One of the most valuable things in the modern world is ideas. That is why there are no doubts that ideas require efficient protection from the plagiarism. The word Plagiarism comes from the Latin word Plagio which stands for steal. The legal definition of this word sounds as publishing or usage of someone else's intellectual property without indicating the source and without author's consent.