Graduate School Applications

• Getting Started

  5-Minute Brainstorm/Free Writing Ideas:

  1. Your phone rings; it’s your dream graduate program. They’re offering you a full ride on the spot if you can tell them—right now—what your research agenda looks like. (You can change your mind later).

  • What specifically do you plan to study and research?
  • What questions do you have about this subject?
  • Why do you want to devote the next two, five, or eight years to this subject?

  2. Brainstorm possible lists

  • What is your “best” work? (e.g., your best grade, most innovative research, most thoughtful volunteer work)
  • What are your personal strengths?
  •  

   
• Resources | Personal Statements
  • Purdue OWL | Guide to Personal Statements
  • MIT Guide + Annotated Examples
  • How to Start the Personal Statement: The Killer Opening
  • UC Berkley Personal Statements

   
• Resources | SOPs
  • UNC Chapel Hill | Tips and Tricks
  • UCLA Guide | Writing SOPs for STEM Fields
  • 10 Tips on How to Write a Statement of Purpose
  • Writing SOPs for Medical School, Law School, etc.
  • UC Berkeley Guide to Writing the SOP

   
• Annotated Sample Essays

   

  Sample 1: Application essay for UC Berkeley's History Dept : https://ls.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/statement_of_purpose.pdf

  Sample 2: Application essay for Louisville's Curriculum & Instruction program: http://louisville.edu/education/degrees/files/phd-ci-annotated-exemplar-of-statement-of-purpose.pdf

  Sample 3: Application essay to Boston College's MA in Social Work program: https://career.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/11/MSW-Personal-Statement-Sample.pdf
• Carnegie Mellon University | Writing a Graduate School Application Essay