Need Help Getting Into College?

So you really wanted to pursue your education but you have no idea as to what to do first. In this article you will understand how the admission process of your choice of university works.

All colleges and universities require their aspiring students to make an essay, or a personal statement. A personal letter example will also help you get into college. But first, you should know what these universities are looking for. You should take note of the following:

1. Give them a picture of your overall personality. Don’t just say, “I am athletic”. Provide some evidence to support this trait.
2. Academic background and/or work experience. If you got some good school records or work achievements worth mentioning then do not be shy to do so.
3. Continuity. When composing a personal letter example, think of what you have done in the past, doing now in the present and what would be done in the future then connect them all.
4. Your Motivation and Commitment. Don’t just say, “I am committed”, infer to them how you are committed and show them how motivated you are.
5. Your Communication Skills. Through your personal letter example they will be looking at your writing skills. How you present yourself clearly and intelligently through writing.

Now here are some do’s and don’ts:

• Do take your time in writing your personal statement or essay. Never do it at the last minute. Prepare for it. Plan ahead. Maybe let it sit for a month then read it again. Revise if needed.
• Do read the question carefully. If they ask you a specific question about your field of study or your goal, focus in answering that. Avoid being too verbose.
• Do write the length that they ask for. If they ask you to write a 200-word essay be sure that it is at least more than 200 words.
• Don’t flatter the admissions faculty. This does not give a good impression. Focus on the best programs suitable for your field and not on the teachers.
• Don’t be phony. Always be honest. Keep in mind that they can spot a dishonest person right away.
• Don’t glorify yourself. Do not say, “I am the best in my class”, there is a fine line between boasting and being humble.
• Don’t be repetitive. Be prepared with a lot of supporting statements to back up your main idea.

What is a Supporting Statement and How to Use it for your Essay

An essay is a literary composition that is intended to convey a certain idea, purpose, or a concept and should be backed up by supporting statements. Your essay should follow a logical pattern.

There are the few things that you need to consider before writing your essay:

Your Introduction: this is the first paragraph where you should capture your reader’s interest. Think of writing a news headline. Your first words are the appetizer and you want your readers to ask for more information. You do not want them to get bored just by reading the first sentence of your paragraph.

Introduce The Topic: this is what you call the transition stage. These are the next few sentences wherein you explain your statement. You are now leading them to the main course and preparing them to see your message a little bit clearer.

The Body: this is the main course. This can be at least two to three paragraphs and each should be limited to one main idea that supports your essay. This is also the place where you will offer evidence and should include supporting statement example to back up your main idea. Transition words or phrases are also needed to lead these paragraphs. Some examples are: for this reason, furthermore, by comparison, in fact, as a result, moreover, similarly, surely, likewise, it follows that.

This is the most important part of your essay. There are many supporting statement examples that you can use to furthermore explain your message. For example, in writing personal statement for college or graduate school admissions this is the part where you should answer these questions: “What are my personal traits that will win over the admissions staff?”, “What are the personal experiences that made me better?”, “What have I accomplished in my life that will make a good impression to my readers?”

Choose your words carefully in making your supporting statement example, this is where your readers will know if you really have something to say or you are just blabbering about something not important. Your supporting statements should be strong. Your essay should express that you are a person worthy to be known and this will help you land an interview or maybe even a spot to that college, university or job that you wanted.

Last but not the least, Your Conclusion: this is where you will summarize your main points without repeating your previous examples. This is where you will leave that great impression that you wanted to achieve from the beginning.

How to stand out from the crowd even if you have mediocre grades

Having Mediocre Grades- Impress with Your Better Qualities

Getting high grades and test scores will definitely give you a better chance of getting accepted into the school of your choice. But not everyone gets to have excellent remarks in academics. Having mediocre grades should not hinder you from believing that you can get the course that you wish to take in the university that you want. So how can you stand out from the crowd even if you have mediocre grades? Here are facts that will help you focus on your better qualities and impress the college admissions committee.

First, take note that the lesser extracurricular activities you have the better. Some students think that they will make a good impression if they are involved with many extracurricular activities. You should start thinking otherwise. College admissions committee will be more impressed if they find out that you have just focused in one or just a few extracurricular activities which you have gradually progressed from just being a member to being appointed to a leadership position. They want to see your progress in these organizations rather than merely being a jack of all trades. Another reason why it is better to stick to one extracurricular activity in school is because it shows your dedication and your loyalty to the organization.

Second, part time or full time jobs while attending college is a good way to impress the college admission committee of the school. This will give you an opportunity to talk about your strengths. This is also a chance to impress them by sharing the lessons and skills that you have learned from multitasking and balancing work and education. As much as possible, choose a job that will give you skills that are valuable and useful to your chosen course. If you had to work to support your family, this is a good chance to let them know about that too. Another thing that you can impress them with your job is your perseverance and your dedication to your studies and to your family.

Finally, take a look at your extracurricular activities. Will your extracurricular activities really impress the college admission committee? Take note that they tend to look favorably on those who are involved in the student newspaper, yearbook, student council, varsity sports, national competitions or any leadership position in an organization. Take note that these activities will prove that you are looking for a well-rounded education that includes learning inside and outside the classroom.

Cook Up A Personal Statement That Admissions Staff Will Like!

In a lot of cases, many graduate school applicants do not even get that chance for an interview. Writing a personal statement is your only shot to let the admissions staff of your chosen university know the reasons why you are applying and why should they consider you as their student.

You will need the following ingredients to cook up that personal statement examples graduate school admissions staff will like:

Originality – keep in mind that there are hundreds and maybe thousands of personal statements that the admissions staff read every day. They will recognize a pattern and see evidence of a copy-paste and this will result to a rejection. You will have to sound like yourself and make it sincere. Be cognizant of the fact that they are not looking for the brightest students but the ones who have the genuine passion for their chosen field of study.

Clarity – refrain from using too many words that can only result in confusion as to what it is that you really wanted to say. You don’t have to channel in Shakespeare to express yourself in words. The admissions staff will appreciate personal statements that are purposeful, undeviating and written in simple English. To accomplish this, your purpose should be first clear in mind and the rest will be easy. Test write, search for a template of some personal statement examples graduate school admissions staff would like.

Grammar – always check for correct grammar. Press F2 or use online websites that can spot wrong grammar and offer some corrections. An applicant for a graduate school is expected not to make grammatical mistakes. Spelling, syntax and grammatical errors will not be appreciated well by the admissions staff anywhere.

Personal Touch – this will make your personal statement stand out from the rest. Illustrate some incidents from your life that is related to what you want to achieve as a student of their university.

Style – bear in mind the fact that there is already too many personal statement examples graduate school admissions staff has already read and they may have already been bored to their skull from reading. Make your personal statement eye-catching by using idiomatic sentences with a dash of humor. Do not use too many quotes from famous people. They want to hear you not those famous novelists or scientists.

Now you have all the ingredients you need to win over the admissions staff of that university that you have been eyeing!

Get into the University of Your Choice

How to select an admissions counselor

An ideal admissions counselor has two job responsibilities. The first job responsibility is to look for future students for the school. An admissions counselor serves as a scout for universities for potential students. The second job responsibility is to help prepare current students for their education’s future. An admissions counselor outlines the programs that are suitable to the student’s interests and skills and makes sure that the student is able to fulfill the necessary courses. Without good college admission counseling, a student might be taking up unnecessary or even the wrong courses and ends up getting burnt out from their school. Here are some tips that will help you choose the right admissions counselor to assist you all the way.

First of all, you must filter the advice that you get from your school or community college. This means that you should keep an open mind when you are getting advice from them and not limit yourself to what they say. Most of these professionals do not really have enough experience to provide you with the right advice that is essential to your college admission’s success. Aside from that, most of them do not have comprehensive knowledge of the admissions process.

A good admissions counselor should advice you on having some extracurricular activities. These can give you a good image that is important in your college admission application but you must remember that focusing on only one extracurricular activity is better than getting involved with a lot. You should not devote too much time on these extracurricular activities and just focus more on getting higher grades.

To add more emphasis to what was mentioned earlier, a good admissions counselor should remind you to get good grades and good test scores all the time. Your academic performance is important to your college education’s future. This means that you should not focus too much on your extracurricular activities. Even if you do well in these extracurricular activities but are getting low grades and test scores you will still have a difficult time getting admitted to the university that you want.

Aside from getting good grades, getting high test scores and a few promising extracurricular activities, you need the have the best admissions counselor to help you get into the university that you want. Selecting the best admissions counselor can be challenging but the effort is worth it since the advice and help that you will get from them is essential to the success of your application to the university of your choice.

What Constitutes a Great MBA Personal Statement Essay

While good grades can help you win a slot in the MBA program of your dreams, they are not enough to show why you’re a fit candidate. Beyond your past academic performance, the university has to know who you are and what you can contribute, which will greatly affect the name of the institution that you will always carry with you. And through a personal statement essay, the school will get a glimpse of who you are. So make a good impression by understanding what constitutes a great MBA personal statement essay.

1.    It reflects honesty and integrity.

Sure, you may have made your own share of mistakes in the past. But they should not stop you from highlighting the good things about yourself. So in your personal statement essay, deeply reflect on your uniqueness that makes you standout among all the applicants. Expound on these traits with all honesty on your piece to let the university know that you are more than just a good student—you are a great asset to the institution.

2.    The details are organized.

Especially when there is no specific question that is asked of you to answer, getting your ideas organized can be quite a challenge. Too much freedom to choose the direction of your thoughts can sometimes mess up your whole essay in the end. Therefore, you should remember that a great personal statement essay has its details organized. For instance, the introduction part should contain your reason why you want to pursue the study of the subject matter. In the body, tackle one point per paragraph. Make sure, however, that each paragraph discusses in detail the evidences that support the main idea that you presented in your introduction. And in the conclusion, reiterate your interest in pursuing the study of the subject matter while restating the key points that you’ve
mentioned in the body.

3.    The explanation of a low GPA is kept at a minimum.

If you happen to have a below-average GPA and you think you can justify such performance, do so in your personal statement essay. Doing this will reflect your honesty. Remember, however, to keep your explanation at a minimum. Get rid of all the drama and just keep your discussion simple and straight to the point.

Make a good impression by understanding how your personal statement essay can catch attention. Show your uniqueness and standout from the rest.

Steps in Writing an Excellent Personal Statement Essay

In a pool of applicants competing for limited slots in a study program, good grades are not enough to help you stand out. Selling yourself through an attention-catching personal statement essay also plays a big role.  Because more than the good academic performance, it is your personality that will help you achieve your goal. So put your best foot forward and learn how to make an excellent personal statement essay that will make you shine.

1.    Make an assessment of yourself.

An excellent personal statement essay truly reflects who you are. While the information may naturally be filtered, the essay should still depict the real you. So before you begin weaving impressive words, make an assessment of yourself first. Dig deeper into your past experiences from the important aspects of your life to unveil your strengths and weaknesses. Remember that this is the most important step in order to come up with an effective essay, as it will provide the foundation upon which you will build an excellent personal statement essay.

2.    Organize your information.

An excellent personal statement essay is able to clearly convey your message. Since this essay is your tool to appeal directly to the reader, it should clearly express the ideas that you want to send across. Therefore, the next step of the process is to organize the information that you’ve gathered upon making a self-assessment. As in any other kind of essay, a personal statement is also divided into three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.
So organize your information in the following manner:

Introduction

The introduction is the crucial part of your essay. It acts like a lure that will hook your reader to continue  on till the concluding paragraph. It should include information such as a brief statement of your interest in pursuing the study of the subject matter. While the details are not yet necessary in this part, it is important that you also concisely state what influenced your decision to pursue the study of the subject.

Body

Normally, the body of the essay would include more than one paragraph. This is to give you the opportunity to discuss in detail the information that supports your claim. So organize your key points into one point per paragraph. Each paragraph should contain a sharing of your experiences, some accomplishments, and goals that are supportive of your reason for pursuing further studies, which you have stated in your introduction.

Conclusion

The concluding part of your essay should reiterate your interest to study the subject. And since it is important for your reader to remember the message that you want to send across, recap the key points mentioned in the body as well.

Learn how to make an attention-getting personal statement essay and standout from the rest. Leave a good impression and you’ll increase your chance of getting accepted.

How to Write an Affirmative Action Personal Statement Essay

Besides good grades and a solid extracurricular background, your ethnicity MAY get you through a painstaking application process of a study program. Thanks to many schools’ affirmative action policy, equal opportunities are now given to people from all races, ethnicity, and gender. But how will you make your application worth the attention of the school’s admissions officer? Learn these tips on how to make an effective affirmative action personal statement essay.

1.    Ethnic proof is crucial

Affirmative action makes study opportunities available to members of the ethnic minority. And in some cases, special privileges such as scholarships are even given to students that belong to ethnic minority groups.   This has given rise to a growing trend of “ethnic fraud.”  So before you write your essay, learn about your ethnic background. Do this by doing some research on your family’s
language, genealogy, family stories/narrative, migration pattern, and ancestry. By proving your ethnicity in your application, you will have a greater chance of scoring a special opportunity if you have documentation you can allude to and incorporate in your essay.

2.    Highlight your uniqueness

More than your ethnic background, your unique qualities, whether as part of an ethnic group or a larger group, as an individual are what will make you stand out.   While your ethnicity is not unique to you, your skills and personality are what will help you get through the application process. So as you write your essay, mention how you have grown and learned well through your personal
circumstances and experiences. If you are applying for an MBA program and have worked in the past, ask yourself what were the skills that you have acquired from the workplace. At the end of the day, the true person behind that skin color is what really matters.

3.    Emphasize your goals

If you are aiming for a scholarship for the study program, mention it along with your other goals for pursuing the study of the subject matter. Letting the admissions officer know why you want to study the subject and what you want to achieve out of doing such creates a great impression. Explain how your goals fit in with your cultural identity. Mention also what has influenced you for
deciding to get into the program. Showing your drive to achieve your goal will show that neither ethnicity nor race issues will stop your success.  Above all else, be sincere.

4.    Determine who is your audience

Determining your audience will help you make your essay more targeted. This will help you decide on how you
will make your piece as compelling as possible.

Neither race nor ethnicity should stop you from achieving success in your studies. So learn how to make a personal statement essay that will let people see beyond just skin color, regional origin, or other barrier.

How to Write a Personal Statement Essay for Non-traditional Students

If you are financially independent while studying, has dependents (usually a spouse or children) that you support financially, or is attending school on a part-time status, you will be considered as a non-traditional student. Since this status is not uncommon anymore, competition for a slot in a school study program, especially for a financial aid, gets even tougher. But then again, you can still stand out from the rest by learning these tips on how to write an effective personal statement essay for non-traditional students.

1.    Know who you really are

Even if the non-traditional status is not uncommon, you can still take your situation as a unique angle of the story. Because more than just being a working student, you are a unique person. So before writing your essay, reflect on your qualities that sets you apart from the others. Ask yourself how you have become who you are now being financially independent in life. These things are truly unique to you and can surely set you apart from the rest.

2.    Address your academic record but spare the drama

Normally, non-traditional students would have gaps found in their academic records. Especially if you are studying part-time, your schooling years may have gaps in between. So in your essay, try to explain the noteworthy information as straightforward as possible and skip the drama if you can.

3.    Mention the skills that you have learned through your work

Besides the values that you have learned from your job, you may have also acquired new skills. And these are the skills that will help you cope up with the challenges that schooling brings. They are also the qualities that will give you a bigger competitive advantage over the traditional students. So to make your essay worth the attention of the admissions officer, mention these skills and explain how they will give you the competitive edge.

4.    Organize your ideas

Sure, you have a lot of touching stories to tell in your essay. But presenting them properly is the key to clearly send your message across and be able to appeal to the reader. So organize your essay by emphasizing your main idea in your introduction while making sure that the body supports your thesis and the conclusion reiterates your key points.

Enhance your competitive advantage through an effective personal statement essay. Learn how to make one that will truly make you stand out from the rest.

How to Write a Personal Statement Essay for an Older Applicant

If you are planning to go back to school despite your age, there are probably a lot of concerns that go through your mind now. Worries like your age becoming a hindrance to your getting accepted in the study program is what will bother you. But worry no more because all it really takes is a good personal statement essay that will sell your unique qualities that you have acquired through the years.

1.    Be specific with your goals

While it is good that despite your old age, the willingness to learn beyond everyday experiences is there,  your goals for going through years of grueling schooling should be solid enough. So as you write your personal statement essay, determine where you want to go and why you want to pursue that direction. Avoid canned answers such as the desire to challenge yourself. Instead, explain what you want to contribute for the common good that will be achieved by going back to school.

2.    Explain career changes without being negative

If over the years, you have worked in different fields, it may give a bad impression to the admissions officer without explaining the situation on your essay. So view the writing of a personal statement essay as an opportunity for explaining such changes in your career. Remember, however, to veer away from negative justifications. Instead, discuss your principle-based realizations that have contributed to your growth over time.  Also, you can mention how you have gained connections because of career changes, which will help you on your new path in the future.

3.    Elaborate why you still have what it takes to succeed in the program

You should expect that competition can be stiff especially with younger people around you who are also eyeing for the same slot in the study program. While you may have gained wisdom over the years that is just beyond books, today’s generation has technology inclination as its competitive advantage. So in your essay, highlight the things that you think are your competitive edge over the youngsters. Ask yourself about the things that you can do that today’s generation can’t that will catch the attention of the admissions officer. And if you are also knowledgeable in computers and technology despite your age, be sure to mention it to make a better impression.

It is never too late for you to pursue greater learning. Understand how you can use your personal statement essay to help you win your dream study program.