Hello readers! One of the most important documents for Grad school is the Personal Statement. Why is it important? It allows for potentiat schools to see what kind of person you are. Many
graduate schools will require this document. Some programs will list specific
directions to follow when writing this document. It is important that you
follow their instructions. For the personal statement, I recommend writing
several drafts and making multiple edits. Checking for grammar and incorrect
spelling is very important. It is very helpful to get feedback from professors
or anyone who has been through this experience/ who is talented in writing. I
formatted my personal statement per APA guidelines because my area of study
uses APA style. Some programs may prefer MLA style.
This
is how I structured my personal statement:
- First paragraph: I explained a little about myself and
what program that I’m applying to. I talked about why I am applying to the
program and I wrote about my research interests ( how my research
interests relates to the program).
- Second paragraph: I explained why I am interested in my
research topic.
- Third paragraph: I wrote about my research experience
- Fourth paragraph: I wrote about how my unpaid work
experience has helped me be prepared for graduate school ( leadership
positions, assisting a professor, working with a variety of people).
- Fifth paragraph: I wrote about future goals after
graduate school. I wrote how the graduate school could help me reach those
goals.
- Sixth paragraph : I wrote about three faculty that I
hoped to work with.
My
personal statement ended up being one page ( double spaced 12 times new Roman
font). Some personal statements can be longer. The length of the personal
statement will be determined by the requirements of the program. Some programs
may want a specific word count or page count. Mine was short because I haven’t
had tons of experience that would relate to graduate school. I also watched a lot
of YouTube videos and I asked advice from professors. My professors were nice
and gave me their personal statements as examples ( this helped me how to
organize my personal statement).
~Liu Miao~
Note : This is based on my application
for an United States graduate school and everyone has their own experience /
thoughts about the application process. This post is meant for the general
graduate school application process and it is not to be specific towards a
specific program/ degree. This is why I give general advice that could apply to
those who are applying to a variety of graduate programs.
First,
I used an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the schools I wanted to apply. You could use Google spreedsheets if you didn't have Microsoft Excel. My professor recommended doing this because it can be hard to keep track of
which deadline go with each school and sometimes schools require different
documents. Horizontally I wrote: location, deadline, number of recommendations
letters, documents needed ( transcript, CV, writing sample), Personal
Statement, GRE scores, Name of the degree, school website.
Vertically,
I wrote name of school. So my excel sheet looked like this. I have included a picture of a table that I created in powerpoint. (I didn't knw how to include a picture of my spreedsheet but the table has the same format)
Things
I learned from the application process:
- it’s never too late to start looking at graduate
schools. I started looking at school during my junior/3rd year of college.
- Double Check Deadlines. This is very important because
every program has a deadline and deadline can vary depending on the
program. Also deadlines vary depending if you are pursuing a masters or
doctoral degree.
- Check to see if your program accepts new students in
the spring or is it only fall acceptance.
- Find out if your program requires the GRE. If it does
require it, I would start studying it. I recommend scheduling the test
early because seats went fast when I took the GRE during the fall
semester. I had my test scheduled in March and took it in September. Then
I rescheduled to take it a month later ( October). There is a 21-22 day
wait period before you can re take the test. Some programs require
official scores from ETS so you need to take the test in enough time
before the deadline because it can take awhile for ETS to send the
official scores to the school and the school needs to process those scores
( according to one graduate program I looked at).
- Start writing your personal statement early . I
recommend writing multiple drafts. Many programs require this. I received
great advice from my professors and a great friend about structuring a
personal statement. If you get your personal statement done early, you can
have professors and friends give you feedback.
- Recommendation Letter. I try to give my professors two
months in advance of the deadline. Also give your professors specific
instruction on how the letter should be sent ( email, regular mail, submit
letter to an online link, etc).
- Also try to talk with someone who has gone through this
experience. This can be friends or professors or bloggers. I was very
fortunate to have professors and a friend who were willing to give me
advice and answer questions . I was able to ask those in the blogging
community who have been/ currently in graduate school. It is very helpful
to have someone to ask questions/ advice about graduate school.
I
would love to hear which graduate schools that you are applying to? If you are
already in graduate school, what is one tip that you would share about the
application process?
Have
a great week!!
~Liu
Miao~
