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One aspect of the application people stress the most about is the personal statement, or long essay question. Read More →
Archive for essays – Page 2
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Admissions essays can be one of the most daunting parts of the application process. Applicants often spend hours (or days) staring at a blank computer screen, just hoping for the perfect words to flow from their fingers to the keyboard. They don’t want this opportunity to go up in proverbial flames by writing down the wrong response, and neither do admissions officers. But in reality, we’re not looking for the perfect response. We’re looking for your truth. So don’t be afraid to be honest in the words you choose.
To help you in the writing process, here are some tips that are sure to help your writing shine.
1. Follow directions.
It’s an easy step, but it’s one that applicants often fail to follow. We know you’re applying to multiple schools, so every year we develop essay questions and set word limits that will save you time. The guidelines also help our admissions committee make the best decision about your eligibility. So answer the essay question—and only the essay question—and abide by the word limit. (OK, you can go over by a few words.) And if you want to expand upon another topic, take advantage of the optional essay question.
2. Be concise.
Keep your responses short and to the point. Don’t waste your word limit on Brobdingnagian (really, really big) words and long-winded sentences. There’s a word limit for a reason: we want you to get to the truth of your educational/professional desires as quickly as possible.
3. Show us your hunger.
This is your chance to tell us your truth that we mentioned at the beginning of this post. Show us that you really want to be here and why SIPA is the only place for you. Introduce yourself, your intended program of study and your motivations and experiences. Did something interesting happen that led you on your path to SIPA? Then tell us about it, and what you want to accomplish. Don’t forget to cite specific examples of how SIPA can help you achieve your deepest aspirations.
4. Take advantage of the optional essay.
This is your chance to talk about deficiencies in your application. If you don’t have as much professional experience or your lacking quantitative skills, explain to use why you’re still a stellar candidate. There’s a reason you’re applying even if you don’t “check off all of the boxes,” so elaborate on exactly why. Or, just tell us something unexpected about yourself. What makes you unique compared to other applicants? What’s something specific you can bring to the program?
5. Don’t quote Mahatma Gandhi. Seriously.
It’s nice to read that applicants admire great people throughout history, but admissions officers don’t want to read the same inspirational quotes time and time again. (Besides, you’re quoting them wrong.) We want to read about what you have to say, not what other great people in history have said or done. So keep your essays focused on you, and you alone.
6. Proofread your work. When you’re finished, proofread it again.
Believe it or not, spell check doesn’t catch everything. So make sure you proofread your work carefully. Heck! Ask someone else to read it as well. A great trick is to print out your essay and read every single word backwards. (You’d be surprised at how mistakes you’ll catch!) Also, a good way to catch grammatical and sentence-structure mistakes is to read the essay aloud. For example, if you have trouble catching your breath between sentences, tighten things up.
Are you ready to write an outstanding admissions essay? We thought you might be. You can start (or finish) your MIA/MPA application here: MIA/MPA Admissions Application.
The first application deadline has passed and the admissions staff is busily processing all submitted applications. A few of the submitted applications are missing a couple of items so they are in our “Awaiting materials” bin until ‘completion’. However, the majority of the applications submitted are complete and have already moved forward for review. Congrats!
But we did notice a couple of applicants mistakenly did not complete all three required essays:
If you are a re-applicant, you will also need to respond to the “Re-applicants Only” essay: How have you enhanced your candidacy since your previous application? Please detail your progress since you .
There is also an optional essay for any applicant who has something more to say about their candidacy. There is no word limit; however, use some discretion and keep it within reason.
Please make sure all your materials are submitted by the indicated deadlines for consideration. If you forgot to upload required materials and clicked the “submit” button — No worries, you may still upload them into your application. If you have trouble doing it yourself, please let us know. You can find a checklist of required admission-related items on our website.
You may track your application status by logging back into your application account any time. Materials submitted and received will be reflected as we process them — this may take up to 10 days. If you are reading this post over the weekend, don’t check now and freak yourself out — there was a glitch in the system today that changed all received materials to “awaiting material” status so if you submitted and you see this in your application status, relax. We got you. The tech team is working on this and will have it resolved early next week.
An application that is (submitted and) complete goes to the Admissions Committee for review. Once an admission decision is reached, you will receive an email to check your account again (this will happen in March); so don’t lose your application log in information.
For now, don’t lose sleep and enjoy your weekend.
Processing and reading applications gives a whole new perspective on the admissions process. When you’re going over hundreds of papers in a day it’s hard to understand why people make the same mistakes with their applications over and over. At the same time it wasn’t that long ago when I was an applicant myself and I remember the pressure, conflicting instructions from different schools and competing advice from friends and colleagues. If you are finishing up your application for the February 5th deadline, here are some tips and answers to frequently asked question to help the process go more smoothly on your end as well as ours.
1) We do not need your official score reports from the TOEFL or GRE/GMAT. There is a place to self-report your scores on the application. Once you have been accepted, we will ask for your official report, but if you have submitted unofficial scores to us there is no need to contact our office to see if we have received a report for ETS.
2) You must answer the second essay question. We recognize that many schools offer an “additional information” question as an option to address special circumstances that may have affected your grades, scores or professional history. While this is one way to use this question, we really want to get to know all our applicants on a personal level, which is why the question is required. For suggestions on what types of information to include, you can read my earlier blog post here.
3) We do not have a minimum GRE score or GPA. SIPA is a competitive program so you are encouraged to put your best foot forward in your application. However, there is no floor under which we will not consider your application. This is because many of our students are several years out of undergrad and have had time to mature or hone skills they may not have had five or ten years ago. The one exception to this is our hard rule of at least a 100 score on the TOEFL (or 7.0 on the IELTS). As SIPA classes are taught in English there is a minimum level of proficiency necessary to participate and contribute.
4) We do not consider supplemental materials. While we all admire the family pictures, PhD theses and audio visual aids that are sent into the admissions office every season, we do not consider them as part of your application. We realize that other schools, particularly those in other countries, have differing policies, but please do not waste time producing or shipping these materials on our account. We have thousands of applications to consider and so for the sake of our time as well as fairness to other applicants, we consider all of the required application materials and nothing more.
5) Do not waste words in your essays. It is hard enough to confine your professional experiences and goals to a 600-word limit, so you need to be strategic about the way you write. Do not waste essay space rehashing information that is available elsewhere in your application, for example your name or the grades you received as an undergraduate. In addition, we want to hear from you, not Gandhi or John F. Kennedy. If you choose to include a quotation in your personal statement make sure that it is necessary and supports your personal story.
I can’t wait to read your applications. Good Luck!
"The most global public policy school, where an international community of students and faculty address world challenges."
—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs
