MY WINNING CONSULTING METHODS FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL ADMISSION
Drawing on my experience as a university teacher, scholarship recipient and graduate admissions consultant, I have developed an effective approach to reading essays and training people for admissions interviews.
ESSAYS
Please note: I do NOT write essays for clients. Graduate admissions consultants who write essays, in part or in whole, for clients are unethical. Submitting a “ghost-written” essay as part of an application for graduate school is unethical. (It is also self-defeating as it deprives the applicant of the valuable experience of preparing for graduate school-level writing work.) I read my clients’ original drafts and offer my advice on the content, logic and tone of each essay.
As I read an essay I search for answers to the following questions:
1. Is it believable? If I do not find an essay’s claims credible, then the admissions committee reader will not either. I will discuss with you how to make sure your accomplishments and your plans sound realistic.
2. Is it personal? Even if I know nothing about your field, I should understand why it interests you and what you want to do in it. The admissions committee readers do not want to read a lecture about a topic or a history of your field. They want to read about how you came to the point you wish to devote your career to a particular field. I will help you select those experiences from your life that best illustrate your perspectives on your field.
3. Does it persuade? The primary task of an essay is to convince the admissions committee to accept you. Your essays should demonstrate not only how you will be a successful graduate student, but also how you will achieve your post-graduation goals. I will work with you to make sure that your essays demonstrate your “fit” with a particular program, a clear vision for your graduate study and how your degree, combined with your past experience, will lead logically to your new career goal.
4. Do we understand each other? It is easy for the reader to misinterpret the writer’s real intentions, sometimes even to the point of drawing the opposite conclusion. I will help you to avoid misunderstandings by ensuring that you correct the sources for any misinterpretations in your writing.
I consider your essays to be complete when I can answer “yes” to each of the questions above, and I have proofread them. Of course, from the eyes of the writer, every essay could be improved, but we will both have to agree they are done at a certain point.
INTERVIEWS
I believe that the best way to do well in any interview is be prepared for an interview that will be harder than the real thing. Clients have told me that thanks to my demanding training, their actual admissions interviews were easier than the practice sessions. As a result, they felt confident and relaxed. See my interview page for more.
My interview training methods include:
1. Strategy Planning: Through a series of questions based on your essays and resume/CV I help you find themes and patterns in your academic and professional background. Based on these, l assist you in developing talking points to help you handle any question you are asked.
2. Tactical Organization: I can provide outlines for answers based on what I know about you. With the above-mentioned patterns and themes in mind, I can help you to organize the content of specific answers.
3. Presentation Feedback: I will give you specific feedback not only on the content of your answers, but on how you speak and on your body language.
4. School Specific Preparation: Just as you would not write an essay that was not aimed at a specific school, you should not prepare interview answers that are not aimed at a specific school. I prepare mock interview questions that require you to address the relevant qualities of the schools where you will interview.
RESUMES
Through a detailed discussion of your experience and accomplishments, I will help you create a professional-quality resume or CV. It is common in North America for professionals to utilize the services of a resume advisor or writer and I offer the same service to clients.
Even if you do not use my service, and even if you are a current university student planning to enter graduate school immediately after you earn your Bachelor’s degree, I urge you to include a resume or CV with your application because it makes a strong first impression on admissions committee members. In addition to highlighting your professionalism and dedication, it showcases your accomplishments and skills in a format that is easy to read.
As you prepare a draft resume/CV please keep these three questions in mind:
1. Which accomplishments and experiences will most interest the admissions committee?
2. Which accomplishments and experiences are most relevant to my intended field of study and/or my ability to succeed in it? (If you are going to study a new field, then you should emphasize the latter.)
3. What do you want to discuss in an interview? The resume/CV often guides interviewer questions.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Please note: I do NOT write recommendation letters.
I can help you select appropriate recommenders and I can advise you and/or your recommender about content.
APPLICATIONS, LETTERS & OTHER COMMUNICATION WITH ADMISSIONS
I can offer advice on and/or proofread application forms and letters and emails to admissions offices and faculty.