After you have gotten clear on why and how you will apply to grad school, and identified and contacted those who will help you along your journey, it is time to zoom in on “the little things”. Breaking your application journey into small, daily tasks is key; do each task to the best of your ability, and your final product will shine. Here are the steps to take in months two and three.

MONTH 2: WRITE YOUR WAY IN

Week 1

• Find your CV/ resume. Ensure that it reflects your latest and most relevant achievements in a convincing way. Your CV, like your personal statement, functions as a marketing document. It must be clear, cohesive, and as convincing as possible. If your CV needs to be updated, start tweaking it, and approach a friend or professional to help you review it once you are done.

• In month 1, week 3, you approached your recommenders. Now it is time to give your recommenders an information packet to refer to as they write on your behalf. It should include the main message you will explore in your personal statement, your CV, and information on your chosen program(s). Give them a specific date by which to submit their letter, and make them aware that you will remind them about the deadline. Add the dates to remind them to your personal calendar.

• Continue studying for your standardized test. Take a timed practice test at the end of the week, review it thoroughly, and note the areas which need improvement.

Week 2

• Begin writing your personal statement according to your time table. Create an outline that expounds on your main message, and start fleshing out the outline. If you are writing multiple statements, prioritize the one for the program you most want to get into or the one which will require the most effort (research, writing, editing). As much as is possible, work on one statement at a time.

• Continue updating your CV/ resume. Ensure it is focused on the impact you have had in relevant professional roles, not on the tasks you have performed in these jobs. Admissions officers don’t care that you “Entered data in a spreadsheet daily,” they care about what you made possible by doing that.

• Open an application at all the schools to which you will be applying. Thoroughly review each application form—ensure that you are aware of any and all short essays/ commentaries requested and the format in which you are expected to submit your CV (as a Word document or PDF file, or typed directly into a form the school supplies). This will help you accurately estimate how much time you need to complete each application.

• Continue studying for your standardized test. Take a timed practice test at the end of the week, review it thoroughly, and note the areas that still need improvement. Block out a few hours on the weekend to complete and review as many practice questions focused on your problem areas as possible.

Week 3

• Continue writing your main personal statement. Give yourself a deadline, by the end of the week, to send a completed draft to those reviewing your statement.

• On Thursday, use these three tips to make sure your personal statement draft is as strong as it can be. On Friday, send your draft, the writing prompt, and a description of the program to your editor.

• Continue updating your CV/ resume. Ensure it complements the main message in your personal statement. The information in your CV should corroborate what you explore in your personal statement. It should also tell a story of its own—one that has no holes.

• Continue studying for your standardized test. Take a timed practice test at the end of the week, review it thoroughly, and note the areas that require that you fine-tune your knowledge.

Week 4

• Send your CV/resume to a friend or a professional to be edited. Get help. Two sharp minds are better than one. It is much better to do everything you can to prepare a strong application and ensure that you only need to apply once than to submit a mediocre application and run the risk of having to reapply.

• Edit your main personal statement based on feedback you have received. It is important to find reviewers who you trust so that you don’t question the validity of their feedback.

• Check in on the delivery status of your recommendations and transcripts. Communicate with your recommenders in a respectful, eager manner, but not in an entitled manner.

• Review the application fees for each school and ensure you are on track to pay them.

• Continue studying for your standardized test. Take and review at least two timed practice tests during this week. Once you have mastered your problem areas, exposing yourself to as many past questions as possible will increase your confidence.

MONTH 3: TEST, FINALIZE YOUR WRITING, AND APPLY

By now, your main personal statement and your CV should be in robust shape. This means you should be able to complete both with as little as 30 minutes of work each day over the next few days.  It’s time to focus on writing additional personal statements, filling out your application forms, and taking any outstanding tests.

Weeks 1 and 2

• Review what you wrote down in month 1, week 1. Remind yourself why going to graduate school is the best move you can make in your life right now, then remind yourself that as important as this is to you, you have an abundance of options in your life. You don’t need to worry, because your ability to create and enjoy a fulfilling life does not rest solely on getting into your top choice school.

• Devote just an hour or two each day (or every other day) to writing and editing your remaining personal statements. As before, try to work on one statement at a time. If you find that you are staring at the computer screen but not making progress, ask those supporting you for help rather than letting the time go to waste. Sometimes a quick conversation is all you need to get ideas flowing.

• Remind your recommenders to upload their letters on your behalf. In your email, include the web links they must use to do so. Check each program’s application system for confirmation that the letters have been delivered.

• Take and review at least two timed practice tests during each week. In week 2, test closer towards the beginning of the week, and leave a few days between your last practice test and the actual test.

• Take your standardized test. You did it!

Week 3

• Devote three to four hours each day to editing and copyediting your personal statements and CV/resume. Ensure that you have followed all formatting directives, including margin widths, fonts, placement of your name and applicant number etc.

• Triple check that your recommendations and transcript(s) have been submitted.

Week 4

• • Upload your personal statements and CV/resume.
  • Complete your application forms. Review your forms to ensure you have uploaded the correct documents, according to submission regulations.

• Submit your applications.

Take a few days to rest and celebrate this bold step you have taken towards achieving the goals you have for yourself. Be sure to thank those who supported you during the process.

In the weeks to come, if you need to, start searching for scholarships that can give you more discretionary income with which to enjoy your graduate school experience. Otherwise, start thinking about how you want to spend the last few months before you head off to school. If you managed to impress the admissions committee, it won’t be long from now.

Found this helpful?

To get our one-on-support with your match application, email the word “GRADUATE” to shawna (at) memorableessay.com.

The post How To Apply To Graduate School In Three Months – Part II appeared first on Memorable Essay.

Yes, it can seem non-serious to delay making a positive change immediately, especially when there are no barriers to doing so. However, I have found that at the end of the Gregorian calendar year, there is a widespread upsurge in expressing gratitude, doing self-reflection, and envisioning possibilities — a kind of communal momentum — that makes late December an enticing time for planning; of course, if you receive Christmas vacation days from your job, it is also a convenient time.

So it is understandable that acting on these intentions would start right afterwards: New year, new you!

Are you committed to a “new you” for 2017? And does your renewal plan entail applying to graduate school? If so, here are six things you can do before 2016 ends to increase the chances of making your application successful.

If you wish to pace yourself, do only one each day. Block the time off on your calendar and keep the appointment:

1. Take Yourself On A Date

You will be writing about yourself when you apply to graduate school. Specifically, you will be trying to convince a selection committee that what you have accomplished and experienced makes you desirable, and what you have to add to their campus and the world makes you a unique asset.

You must know yourself well in order to advocate for yourself. Spend two to five focused hours with yourself over the holidays and ask yourself some questions like the ones below:

• Are you ready to commit your time, attention, effort, and finances to graduate studies, or are you applying because others are telling you you’re at that age and stage?

• What do you most value in life? How will going to graduate school help you to have more of what you value?

• Which problem or issue in the world did you think about or research the most in 2016? Is this issue what you will be focusing on in graduate school? If not, why?

• When did you realize that 2017 was definitely the year you would start graduate school? Why was that moment or those moments so definitive?

• Which academic or professional achievement in 2016 are you most proud of?

• How did you grow in 2016, and how do you want to keep growing in 2017?

• Which of all the grad schools that you’ve seen most perfectly fits your needs and wants? Why?

• When you look over your list of schools, are you settling out of fear of rejection?

• What is the one thing you most want to accomplish before you die?

• How will you use graduate school to help you accomplish your one thing?

Write your answers, or record voice notes to yourself. Have follow-up conversations in the days after the date; if it is hard to get alone time, you can do so when you shower. When it’s time to apply to school, read your notes, listen to your answers; you will have plenty of ideas about why this move is important to you and how you can package and present yourself.

2. Review Your Finances, Including Your Plan To Pay For Grad School

It doesn’t matter how excellent the school you are admitted to is or how hard you worked on your application. If you can’t pay your fees, you cannot attend. In my experience, if you can’t pay your fees and living expenses comfortably, think twice before attending.

Enter free time this holiday season: Take a few hours and fill out a pre-made annual budget planner. Google “Free annual budget planner template.” Not a monthly or quarterly one — one for the whole year.

An annual budget will allow you to:

• See how your expenses will change when you are applying, moving to, and attending graduate school

• Verify that your income can indeed cover those fluctuating expenses

• Make any alterations to your grad school application strategy, such as applying for additional scholarships, adjusting your school list, or changing your degree program based on funding available

3. Create An Application Timetable and Strategy

Get organized. In what timeframe will you be applying to graduate school? How many schools are you applying to and when is each school’s deadline? When will you have the most free time to work on your applications? In which ways are you networking to get into your top choice school? In which area and when will you need support from your friends, family members, or professionals, and who can you start recruiting to help you?

Right now you are at Point A. The grad school of your dreams is at Point B. Use the holiday break to map out a step-by-step plan to successfully land on Point B in 2017.

4. Brush up your CV; Locate your transcript

There are two documents that will be required at most of the schools to which you apply: A CV/resume and transcript(s). Your December into January break is a window in which you can take one to three focused hours to improve your CV/resume: Ensure all your latest achievements are reflected, play up the achievements and experiences (eg. leadership, service) most relevant to grad school, and find stronger ways of wording each entry.

In just a few hours, you can also locate and review a copy of your existing transcripts. It is not uncommon for graduate school applicants to have very little recollection about how they performed in college or in other graduate school programs. This becomes problematic when applying to graduate school on a tight deadline. All of a sudden, they are grasping for “the right words” to describe discrepancies and downward patterns on these transcripts.

If you can’t find your transcript, order a copy from your alma mater (and while you are at it, find out how long it takes and how much it costs for them to send official ones).

Once you have a copy of your transcript in hand, study it and decide on if and how you will explain your past pursuits and performance.

5. Connect With Potential Recommenders, Especially People You Haven’t Spoken With All Year 

The holiday season is a perfect time to reopen communication doors that have been closed for too long. Hopefully, you genuinely care about the people who will be writing on your behalf, so you do want to know how they are doing and how their year went. Few people will question your motivation for reaching out to them at the end of the year, even if you have been silent all year long.

Once they respond, slowly bring them up to date with how you spent your year. Keep the conversation going into the new year. You will get a feel for if they still remember nuances about you, respect you, and are invested in their success. This will help you determine whether or not you indeed want them to write on your behalf. It will also make it feel less awkward if and when you ask them to help you.

6. List 10 Things You Excelled in During 2016

Application processes can be tedious and expensive. You might need some support —that you can outsource. What you can’t get from someone else, however, but will need plenty of, is self-confidence. You will need to believe in your ability to successfully gain admission to your dream school as well as in your ability to thrive in life whether or not you go to one of your Top Three choices.

Use an hour during the next week to make a list of 10 things you did well this year. Here are some ideas:

• Did you consistently make time to listen to a friend or stranger in need? You have remained kind; the world needs kind professionals.

• Did you walk away from a situation that denied you access to what you most value? You lived by your values.

• Did you attempt anything new? You opened yourself to growth. This indicates maturity, an essential ingredient for graduate school success.

• Did you save a portion of your earnings? Clean up your credit? Or did you rely on previous years’ savings to stay solvent during a crisis? You have financial savvy. That will take you far.

• Did you research a project idea as thoroughly as you could, even if the project did not launch or soar because of things you did not forsee? Congratulations on taking initiative!

• Did you finally make a big decision you had been avoiding? You felt fear but moved forward anyway? Boom. Understand that that took courage.

• Did you work on a project every week (your business, talent, health), even when you did not feel like it? Congratulate yourself on mastering consistency.

• Did you end a relationship (of any sort) that did not make you feel valued, safe, or worthy? Or did you amp up your commitment to a relationship in which you feel respected? You can choose healthful environments for yourself, congrats.

• Did you read a book, research a topic, watch a documentary, attend a seminar, talk with an elder, or expose yourself to any kind of continued education? You remained curious about your world; this is worth celebrating.

• Did you handle responsibilities to others while paying attention to your own needs every day this year? This can be difficult, so be proud that you persisted.

Have you displayed consistency, courage, curiosity, kindness, and maturity in 2016? Have you identified and placed yourself in environments that help you thrive and been willing to try new things? This is how you know that you are indeed ready for graduate school in 2017.

Are you planning on doing any of these things this holiday season? What did you excel in in 2016? I would love to hear from you in the Comments below.

The post 6 Ways To Work On Your 2017 Grad School Application During The Holidays appeared first on Memorable Essay.

• How do I condense years of accomplishments into a few hundred words?
• How do I explain a motivation that is emotional and personal while remaining professional?
• How do I write something that the selection committee has not heard before?

You condense many years into a few hundred words by first coming up with a single message that your statement will explore—I call this process clarifying your main message. Among other things, your main message addresses why what you have accomplished in the past shows that you are poised for future academic and professional success. You remain professional by sharing information that paints you in a positive light and positions you as a mature individual. And you write something unique by focusing on what you, and only you, can bring to your dream school and create using the education you receive there.

Once you quiet some of the questions in your mind, you are in a position to acknowledge that the personal statement is a golden opportunity. It is a chance to speak directly with the admissions committee about why you are among the most deserving applicants. Better yet, it is a chance to show that you are exactly who the selection committee is looking for.

While a memorable personal statement cannot “make up” for deficiencies in your application, it can make a strong case for your admission, grant you a chance to interview, and win you merit scholarships. This opportunity to set yourself apart must not be squandered. Here are three tips to help you write a personal statement that makes you memorable.

1. Discuss something you feel strongly about

Authenticity is one of the keys to writing a memorable personal statement. Write about something in which you truly believe or about which you are genuinely concerned. The issues that bother or motivate people deeply are ones that they tend to speak easily and convincingly about. These are also the topics people are normally able to discuss from various angles. In order to convey the passion you have for using what you gain at your dream school to a worthwhile end, focus on something dear to your heart in your personal statement.

2. Begin with words that grab the reader’s attention

You cannot keep attention that you have not grabbed. However, you want the admissions officers to read your entire personal statement with rapt attention. Start strong. You don’t have to use a quote from a famous person to do so; in fact, that approach is hackneyed. Open with an original thought or philosophy. You can also use a single detail from a story you later tell in full, or write a line that is surprising. Dedicate time to nailing down an arresting opening that also sets the stage for the rest of the essay. If you can keep you reader’s attention, you can make them remember you.

3. Revise your personal statement so that it flows

Think of your personal statement as an experience you are inviting someone to partake in, whereas people they know and love are inviting them to nap, eat, talk, or attend a concert. Your writing must entice them away from these familiar activities they would genuinely like to do; to do this, it must flow smoothly. Within paragraphs and between paragraphs, the transitions from sentence to sentence should be seamless.

Don’t fill your writing with words you don’t use in everyday conversation. Don’t try to be creative to the point where your essay becomes overly descriptive and performative. Your reader should not remember that they are reading. Your personal statement, therefore, should feel like relaxed but professional chitchat with you.

With these three tips you should be on your way to a stronger personal statement.

Which tactics are you using to make your personal statement stand out? Share below.

The post 3 Tips To Make Your Personal Statement Stronger appeared first on Memorable Essay.

Here are three things you must do before you start writing your college essay, scholarship application essay, or graduate school personal statement.  By doing them, you’ll spend only as much time writing as you need to, and you’ll be poised to make your essay memorable.

1. Understand what is being asked of you.

To do this, you must be aware of the writing prompt. I have had several experiences where applicants with near-final essays had not properly read the given prompt. They thought the prompt was “open-ended,” but it asked a specific question.  Usually they (or I) reread the prompt, and they have to write a different essay, or overhaul their existing essay, in a short space of time.

It is also not uncommon for applicants to write an essay that is only a partial answer to what has been asked. Read and make note of all you have been explicitly asked to address in your essay.

A few weeks ago, the College Board tweeted some advice from the MIT dean of admissions and student financial services, Stu Schmill. His number one piece of advice? “Answer the question that’s asked.” To do this, you must understand what is being asked. It seems so simple, but it is so important. Don’t be that applicant who is denied admission because you did not follow instructions.

2. Understand what is implicitly being asked of you.

A friend who loves literature once taught me that in order to get the most out of a text, I must read what is written and also what is not written. Similarly, in order to write a memorable admissions essay, you must understand what is asked not just explicitly, but also implicitly. No admissions essay prompt ever asks “Why are you worth admitting to this program?” However, this is the question on the minds of every admissions committee member while reading your essay.

For instance, let’s say you are responding to the college essay prompt “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”

This is not an invitation to vent about a bad experience and how it affected you, then add a few lines at the end about what you learned. This question is also asking you how does your response to one particular incident of failure prove that you are a student who is worthy of a college education.

Within your response to this question, you must showcase that you deserve to be admitted to college— you can rebound from unfavorable circumstances (you might face some of those in college), you can creatively solve problems (there will be plenty of problem solving in college), and you use what you learn (don’t all professors dream of students who know how to apply knowledge?) to do better in the future than you have done in the past.

To ensure your essay stands out: Regardless of the prompt, you must show why you are worthy of admission.

3. Clarify your main message before you write.

If you are not clear about what you want to say, your reader will be just as confused as you are. Your main message is a concise, clear, and unique response to what has been asked of you directly and indirectly.

Boil down to one to five sentences what you intend to say in your essay. Write it down and read it aloud. Ask yourself: Is this the most important thing for admissions to know about me? Can I develop this message into an essay that says I am a prime pick?

For instance, you’re responding to “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”

You might write: In the first semester of 10^th grade I got low grades because, in addition to taking two advanced classes, I played football and tennis. I was sad at first, but I soon understood that I could do better in the following semesters if I managed my time better. I stopped playing tennis and devoted that time to studying, and I saw a great improvement in my GPA. I learned that doing what I can manage is essential to doing well.

Do you want admissions to know you as “the applicant who will do what he can manage?” Does this message scream “I am the best prospective student you can find?” No.

A main message that gives you a better shot at admission would explain that you learned that by giving sustained effort to fewer tasks, you could accomplish better results than the ones you see when giving limited attention to many activities. Of course, you can think of all sorts of ways that focused effort and good time management would help you do well in college. It is much better if admissions officers remember you as “the applicant who learned that focus is key to time management.”

Before you start writing your application essay, be clear about what is being asked explicitly as well as implicitly, and clarify the main message you will give in response.

• To test whether your main message will give you the best possible shot at admission, go here.

• I would love to hear from you. Which of these prewriting techniques are you looking forward to using? Comment below.

The post Do These 3 Things Before You Write Your Admissions Essay appeared first on Memorable Essay.

They should speak strongly to why the program you are applying to is a great fit for you, as well as to why you are an asset to your chosen program and your field.

For the most competitive opportunities, there is no substitute for a track record of stellar academic and other relevant achievements; however, a solid personal statement that speaks to your drive and vision is also necessary to get the results you desire.

Keep these five tips in mind as you write:

1. Your graduate school personal statement must have focus and clarity. At this stage in your academic life, your personal statement should, without rehashing your resume, portray you as committed to your field of study and sure about why you have this commitment.

2. If you are clear about your motivation to attend graduate school, you should be able to communicate this succinctly and convincingly. From the first sentence, the essay should entice and keep the reader’s attention. A succinct essay easily undercuts the word limit; no word should be wasted.

3. Your personal statement must assure the reader that you are qualified for the opportunity, that you will be an asset (hopefully you already are!) to the field in the short- and long-term future, and that this opportunity, uniquely, will help you advance your life goals.

4. Although you are likely to have developed a track record of commitment, or even expertise, in the area you now want to pursue, and you need to advertise this, your personal statement should still be personal. Ensure that the reader gets a good idea of what motivates you, what you value, and all that has gone into bringing you to your current desire to attend their school.

5. Leave breathing room in your personal statement—use only striking anecdotes, and only as many of them as are likely to be remembered; in most cases, one or two for statements under 850 words. If you try to tell the reader everything you have ever done, the truly memorable anecdotes will be undersold, and there is nothing left for the reader to wonder about or want to ask you in an interview.

Good luck! Which other strategies are you using to write a graduate school personal statement that stands out?

The post You’re A Big Kid Now: 5 Tips To Make Your Grad School Personal Statement Pop appeared first on Memorable Essay.

Recommendations function somewhat as testimonials; they are written by people who have had a chance to assess your work over some extended period. Your recommendations should advocate for you.

Here are four tips for getting a strong recommendation:

1. Choose recommenders you trust—people who will portray you in a strong and positive light, and take the time to write something unique, relevant and grammatically correct. The best recommenders are people who feel personally invested in the outcome of your application.

2. Make it easy for your recommenders to pen a stellar letter—give them plenty of time to write! High school teachers will be busy in September, so go ahead and approach them before you leave school in May. Your former college professors may be busy with research or travel, so reconnect with them at least six months before you need a letter and let them know of your intentions.

3. Guide your recommenders. As I once heard someone say, “Who is more suited to toot your own horn than you?” You should have thoroughly researched the opportunity you are interested in and understood why it is perfectly suited to your goals, and why you deserve to win it. Communicate your selling points to your recommender; the most convenient way to do this is by talking with them, and then giving them a ‘brag sheet’ with bullet points of your relevant accomplishments as well as a copy of your resume or CV.

4. When getting more than one recommendation, approach people who can speak to different strengths. For example, if applying to a liberal arts institution that values students with broad interests, secure a recommendation from teachers who can speak to your strengths in disparate disciplines, e.g., in the arts and sciences. If applying to graduate school, approach someone who can speak to your academic prowess and someone else who can speak to your impact in professional settings.

BONUS : Don’t forget to thank your recommenders! One, it is thoughtful. Two, you might find yourself asking them to write on your behalf again and again.

Which strategies have you used to secure stellar recommendations?

The post How To Get A Strong Recommendation Letter: 4 Tips appeared first on Memorable Essay.