Okay, you’ve calmed down after your initial essay-writing anxiety, and you still don’t know where to begin. How do you capture your whole life in the meager number of characters allotted? What is clustering? Whether you’re feeling stuck or feeling overwhelmed by all the ideas bouncing around...

Essay questions dealing with failure, risk, mistakes, and difficult interactions or conflict often cause applicants to cringe, squirm, and bite their nails. After all, you want to show yourself succeeding and conquering the world in your essays and personal statements, not falling down. But there’s...

I am taking time off for family this week, and as a result I decided to air an encore of one of our most popular shows ever, Focus on Fit. I chose it not only because of its popularity, but because the topic is relevant to...

To really draw your readers into your goal-focused essay, you’re going to want to lay the scene for your future accomplishments. After all, what better way to convince the adcom of your ambitions than to illustrate them in your essay? First, identify your goal. When you begin...

The London Business School Master’s in Management application essay questions indicate that the adcom values applicants who, at an early stage in their careers, already have self-understanding and the ability to reflect and self-critique. Why? For people who are just starting their careers and don’t...

The essays discussed below are for the MPP and the two-year MPA applications. HKS seeks well-rounded master’s students – people with proven academic success, strong leadership and career potential, and “commitment to advancing the public interest” (quoting the dean). The school also wants the student...

Learn how real students navigate their way through the graduate school admissions process and grad school itself with our What is Graduate School Really Like? series. Meet Macy, a student in a uniquely flexible, Ivy League PA program Macy, thank you for sharing your story with us! Was there a...

The LBS Master’s in Finance (full-time program) essay questions, taken together, convey the adcom’s interest in two interrelated points: (1) how you envision and plan your future career; (2) your knowledge of and interest in the LBS Master’s in Finance program. Showing fit is particularly...

Interview with Kenton Kivestu, CEO of RocketBlocks [Show Summary] Kenton Kivestu is CEO of RocketBlocks, a firm that provides tools to help you prepare for and nail your Product Manager interviews at high tech firms. In today’s episode, he and Linda discuss the unique challenges of...

One of the things admissions committee members tell us again and again is that they wish – really, truly wish – that applicants would not try to write what they imagine the adcom wants to hear, and instead would just be themselves. Admissions committee members...