If you are a student contemplating graduate school, you likely have a ‘been there, done that’ attitude towards the process of writing admissions essays. After all, you have successfully completed an undergraduate career which likely involved writing many papers. You also gained admission to your current institution by writing an essay. However, a quick scan of the prompts of most graduate applications make it clear that something more is expected of applicants by graduate admissions officers.
Most graduate school admissions essays require that you explain in some form why you want to pursue education on a graduate level; how you have prepared yourself for higher-level study; and above all why you have a strong interest in a specific field. In contrast to an undergraduate admissions essay, in which it is perfectly acceptable to talk in relatively general terms about your character and to use amusing incidents to indicate that you are a worthwhile person, a graduate essay makes a case for your potential to be a serious scholar or to become a member of the profession of law, medicine, engineering, or another demanding discipline. A deep and abiding interest in a particular subject area is required, not a deep and abiding fear that you won’t get a job with just a B.A.
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When drafting your graduate admissions essay, make a list of relevant experiences you have had that are specifically pertinent to your area of study. Contemplate how you will use your degree if you are accepted and brainstorm some projected scenarios. Research some issues in your field and present your thoughts on them. Focus on recent accomplishments, not on what occurred long ago. Don’t rehash your undergraduate essay. In other words, don’t write: “I have loved literature ever since I was a little girl, so going to graduate school is a natural extension of my passion for books.” Instead, write about how your most recent paper on postcolonial literature could be expanded upon and form the trajectory of your future research if accepted to a PhD program.