Ten Tips for Nailing Your Interview
I am one of those people who enjoy job and academic interviews. I’m weird that way, I guess. I’ve always viewed them as an opportunity to talk about the things I’m passionate about with someone...
Use the ‘Hemingway Rules’ to Build a Powerful Personal Statement
Writing a powerful personal statement can be a genuine challenge for inexperienced writers. They often pile on unnecessary complexity, use fancier-than-needed words, and try too hard to *dazzle* their reader. Don’t do that. The best...
How to Write a Strong Diversity Statement
I want to spend a few posts talking about Diversity Statements. Most schools require some version of this, and for many applicants it can be quite confusing in terms of what the prompt is asking...
Five Tips for Writing a Great Letter of Recommendation
Letters of recommendation are hugely important parts of your application. Having a third party assess your skill, talent, experience, accomplishments, potential, and maturity provides admissions committees with valuable data. Unfortunately, because this is an “outsources”...
Be Enthusiastic in Your Personal Statement!
People like happy people. People respond passionately to passionate people. That’s why you need to make sure that your Personal Statement has some fire in its belly! It can be helpful to show passion in...
Ten Mistakes to Avoid in Your Personal Statement
Personal Statements are an unusual form of writing. We’re so rarely called on to write about ourselves, much less boast about our accomplishments. This is doubly difficult for people without a lot of essay-writing experience....
How to Think About Diversity Statements
Diversity statements are among the most stressful and uncertain parts of your application package, so we’re going to spend a few posts talking about them. In a recent YouTube post, I talked some about my...
How to Talk About Leadership In Your Personal Statement
During a recent episode of my GMATClub / Gurufi MBA Podcast, I spoke with Russ Morgan, at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. When the conversation turned to personal statements, he offered an insight into...
How to Beat Writer’s Block and Write a Powerful Personal Statement
You've picked your dream school, taken your GRE, and gotten your letters of recommendation. You sit down to write, and the blinking cursor on the blank page taunts you. You're frozen. What to write? Who...
How to Write a Powerful Conclusion to Your Personal Statement
We often work with clients who spend a lot of energy making sure that their introductions are unique and compelling, but then don't invest enough attention in their conclusions. This is a mistake and a missed...
