A speaker recently told a story about traveling in Asia, where he saw a stunning emerald. Enchanted by the stone’s beauty, he decided to buy it – on the spot. He returned home and took the emerald to a jeweler for appraisal. The jeweler began examining...

We’re here to figure out the ins and outs of applying Round 3 to business school. Well, if you’re looking to ensure a positive outcome, then the answer is clear… never! Do it? Don’t do it? Do it if certain conditions are met? Never ever do...

I often advise my clients to write like a human being, and NOT like a corporate video whose script was written by AI. What does this mean, concretely? Start by eliminating jargon in your personal statement. Using jargon can make a personal statement seem stiff,...

Drawing on her knowledge as the Director of Masters Admissions at Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, Kari Calvario shares everything students should know about CMU Temper’s MS in Business Analytics program. [Show Summary] Welcome to the 510th episode of Admission Straight Talk. Thanks for joining...

The early bird gets into their top choice school, so they say (don’t they?). It’s never a bad idea to be ahead of the game, especially when it comes to college applications. Is it Worth it to be an Early Bird? Beyond simply reducing stress, applying early...

Check out all of the blog posts in this series: Identifying the Ingredients of a Winning Essay Finding a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose Writing Your Career Goals Essay How to Start Your First Draft of an Application Essay Revise and Polish Your Application Essays Now that you have...

  At Gurufi, we help applicants of all backgrounds write powerful and compelling personal statements, but if I had to pick our specialty, it would be helping people with blemishes on their record. Maybe you had a bad first year in college; maybe you got arrested...

Letters of recommendation are hugely important parts of your application. Having a third party assess your skill, talent, experience, accomplishments, potential, and maturity provides admissions committees with valuable data. Unfortunately, because this is an “outsourced” part of the application, many applicants aren’t sufficiently thoughtful about...

Congratulations! You’ve written the first draft of your personal statement. You’ve managed to distill your life, aspirations, and strengths down to a few hundred words, which is no easy thing! But here’s the bad news: you’re just getting started! But, as Ernest Hemingway famously said,...

Graduate school can be deeply fulfilling, put you on a path to a career you love, and allow you to study things that you’re passionate about under the mentorship of people who are genuine experts. But it’s also an intense all-encompassing experience and can be...