How To Write A Killer Graduate Admissions Essay
Part 1 - Brainstorm
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Every year, I receive requests to review graduate admissions essays and statements of purpose (SOPs) from friends, colleagues, and acquaintances applying to top-tier MBA, MS, and STEM-oriented PhD programs. Along the way, I've picked up a few tips about what distinguishes a good graduate admissions essay from a great one for such programs. I've decided to share my tips through this three-part blog post to play what little part I can in democratizing access to quality higher education.
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How to write a killer graduate admissions essay
Part 1 - Brainstorm (this post)
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Some starting notes
There are many resources that detail the basic SOP writing process. These posts are not intended to replace, but rather to complement those resources. Candidates who already have a good grasp of the basics of admissions essay writing will find tips here on how to really stand out and/or not make common mistakes in their essays.
These posts assume that applicants meet the minimum bar to apply to the programs of their choice. Great story-telling can be an impressive differentiator but it cannot fully replace academic and professional qualifications.
My experience is exclusively in US-based programs, so my insights are more relevant to the US as well, although some of the advice might be generally applicable.
These posts include advice I've gathered over several years of experience. I may continue to update them based on new learnings.
Great, now that we're on the same page, let's dive right in!
Tip : Really take your time to reflect and brainstorm
This is the first and last tip in this post. I believe brainstorming to be the most critical step in the admissions essay writing process, but the step that usually gets the least attention. Much of the advice foreshadowed here has been elaborated on in Parts 2 and 3.
Why brainstorming is the most critical step
Your SOP tells your story and helps you stand out in a sea of impressive applicants. So it's critical that you think deeply about your narrative, curate the right anecdotes (more on anecdotes in Part 3), and develop clear structure for your SOP before you flesh it out. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking; any lack of clarity in your mind on your story and your motivations will reflect in your writing too. But it's not just about impressing the admissions committee - reflecting on who you are and what matters to you can also focus you and help you prioritize where you want to apply.
What to brainstorm
Master's and PhD programs typically ask for a Statement of Purpose (SOP) while MBA programs ask for at least one long essay response to a more creatively worded prompt. Some examples of MBA prompts from past years:
It’s the first day of class at Harvard Business School. You are in Aldrich Hall meeting your “section.” This is the group of 90 classmates who will become your close companions in the first-year MBA classroom. Our signature case method participant-based learning model ensures that you will get to know each other very well. The bonds you collectively create throughout this charged experience will be lasting. Introduce yourself. - Harvard Business School.
(In more recent years, HBS has changed the prompt to be more deceptively simple: As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program? )
MIT Sloan seeks students whose personal characteristics demonstrate that they will make the most of the incredible opportunities at MIT, both academic and non-academic. We are on a quest to find those whose presence will enhance the experience of other students. We seek thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world. We welcome people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers. We want people who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to preempt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas. We demand integrity and respect passion. Taking the above into consideration, please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. - MIT Sloan School of Management
What matters most to you, and why? - Stanford Graduate School of Business
If you are a candidate applying to multiple programs, writing different essays for each program may seem like a daunting task at first sight. But the good news is no matter whether you're writing SOPs or MBA admissions essays or both, at a high level all admissions committees want to know three things:
Who are you?
What have you accomplished so far?
Where do you want to go from here?
These are the keys pillars to your essays and you want to spend the bulk of your word count (if any) speaking to these questions, which means your brainstorming should be focused on these questions as well. Various other details you may be advised to include, such as why you want to attend a particular program or why you're at the right point in your career for a particular degree, should generally be included in service of answering the above questions. Needless to mention, based on the different prompts and programs, you may want to highlight different aspects your profile and frame your accomplishments and vision slightly differently. However, planned properly, the brainstorming effort and output should be able to serve as fodder across different applications.
How to brainstorm
Brainstorming, like the first step in any journey, can often feel overwhelming. This sense of doom is usually rooted in our desire to get it right the first time and our tendency to immediately output an organized, well thought out narrative. The faster you can shed those expectations and embrace the messiness of brainstorming, the better. Like most people, there are likely many dimensions to you that don't all fit perfectly together. That's great. In fact, it's those bumps and eccentricities that will add authenticity to your essay and help you stand out. With this in mind, the here are some other tips on how to go about brainstorming:
Make sure to list out everything you can think of that's relevant to the three questions above, no matter how irrelevant they may feel to your story at first.
Don't rush the brainstorming process. Sleep on it. Stare at it. Come back to it. Take at least a few days (if not a few weeks) for the process.
Once you're convinced you have your universal set of points, look for patterns, organize by theme, and distill the points into an overarching structure for your narrative.
As you select which points to highlight in your essay, make sure to answer the "So what?" A good way to do this is to put yourself in the shoes of a particularly skeptical admissions committee member and ask yourself whether your chosen points are relevant and help communicate what value to bring to the table or what you hope to learn. For example, you might play the clarinet or you might have lived in three different countries. Just mentioning these facts aren't good enough to impress the admissions committee. Instead, a candidate applying to a Design program might say, "Having worked in Indonesia, Poland, and Fiji, I am especially aware of the cultural influences on product design and hope to incorporate my learnings in my research and in classroom discussion." Even the most skeptical admissions committee member would be intrigued by that!
Lastly, remember that the brainstorming process does not need to be a solitary exercise. Resist the urge to ask for feedback only once you have a shiny first draft done. If possible, lean on a few trusted people who know you and/or who have been through the admissions process themselves, during your brainstorming phase. (I've highlighted some phrases above because not all feedback is good feedback, so be careful whom you seek it from.) Bounce ideas off of them. Encourage them to call out points that seem inauthentic. If you can do this, you should be well on your way to writing an excellent admissions essay.
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