Applying to Graduate or Professional School and the Personal Statement
- Application form
- Personal Statement or Statement of Purpose
- Letters of Recommendation or Recommendation Forms
- Official transcripts of all college level academic work
- Test scores
Application Form
This is the form that asks for the essential information that the institution will use to file and keep track of your application. Fill it out clearly and accurately. Be consistent in spelling out your full, legal name on all forms and correspondence.
Request an application form, download the application or be prepared to fill out the form online. Each school's application is different, so pay close attention to the form and its instructions. If you fail to follow instructions or if you fail to include a piece of information, you might eliminate the chance for your application to be compared against other applications.
Personal Statement or Statement of Purpose
The Personal Statement, sometimes referred to as the "Essay", is probably the most critical part of the application. It is your first chance to provide the admissions committee with subjective information about your qualifications and your reasons for choosing a particular program/career. The statement provides the faculty assessing your application information regarding your motivation, intellectual skills and suitability for study in their program.
What are your intentions for graduate study? Do you write clearly? Do your interests really fit those of the department or school? Are there things about you that set you apart from other applicants and make you particularly desirable as a student? You will want to discuss what makes you a unique individual - to present yourself as an applicant who deserves a closer look. They know nothing about you that you do not tell them. YOU are the subject of this statement.
For more information and suggestions for brainstorming and composing your statement, visit Writing Your Personal Statement.
Letters of Recommendation
Letters of recommendation are required for almost every graduate school application and are a very important part of the application process. Usually grades and test scores factor in most heavily; however, your letters of recommendation could be the deciding factor in the admission process. Strong letters of recommendation can strengthen your application and if there are deficiencies in your application, they can help outweigh them.
For more information and suggestions regarding requesting letters of recommendation, visit Letters of Recommendation.
Official Transcript
Graduate programs require official transcripts of all college work that you have undertaken. Request your transcripts early, to avoid any delay. Your grade point average is a strong indicator of your ability to do graduate work, and admissions committees consider it carefully. They will look not only at your cumulative GPA, but also at the grades you earned in your major, particularly at upper division courses in that subject. Patterns of improvement could be significant if you did not start out strongly.
Test Scores
When looking at the requirements for admission, you need to determine if you need to take an admissions test such as the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), or a test appropriate to your professional area such as the LSAT for law school, MCAT for medical school, GMAT for business school, or PCAT for pharmacy school. Be certain to prepare effectively, register early and submit your scores well before the deadline. For more information, visit our Testing page.
*Adapted from Graduate School and You, Council of Graduate Schools
