How Are You
Qualified?
Your academic performance
will play the most significant role in exhibiting to the admissions
committee your qualification for admission. However, the personal
statement gives you the opportunity to analyze your background and offer
the insight and interpretation that you want your readers to take away
from your application.
The best way to prove your
qualification is to discuss concrete experiences that show your
abilities and qualities. Details about the process are paramount.
What we mean by the "process" is the path to achievement. The rest of
the application has already summarized your accomplishments and
activities. Show the reader what you did in concrete terms, and most
importantly, highlight your active roles.
The experiences that
demonstrate your qualifications are not necessarily distinct from those
that explain your motivation. You shouldn't plan on dividing the essay
into two separate sections for each, but rather organize the structure
by topic and extrapolate insights as they develop. We will cover
structure in greater depth in its own section, but it is important that
you begin thinking in terms of an integrated essay.
Research Experience
The best way to demonstrate
your qualification for graduate school is to focus on research
experience, since research will be your main job for the duration of
your studies. Be specific about what you did. If you worked for a year
under a professor, you might consider emphasizing one particular project
and exploring that in depth. The experience does not have to have been a
major undertaking: Any practical experience can be used as long as you
demonstrate your enthusiasm and aptitude for the field of study.
Remember to keep the
discussion personal. Do not become bogged down in minute details and
jargon. Ultimately, the focus of the story should remain on you and your
growth or success.
This applicant cites specific projects to demonstrate both the
growth of his interest in psychology research and the skills he has
honed in the process. Note, in the third paragraph, that he does not
jump to the end result of presenting his paper at a conference. Rather,
he shows the work he did--the active role he played--to make that
accomplishment possible. Moreover, he concludes this paragraph not with
a final word about his research, but with an explanation of what he has
gained: "Again, I was involved in all aspects of the experiment, from
typing the protocol and administering it to the subjects to analyzing
the data and finally presenting my results."
Field Experience
If the program you're
applying to is more practice-oriented, then demonstrating real-world
experience can be just as important as academic pursuits.
This applicant is applying to a computer science program, and he has
a couple years of work experience. He explains one specific achievement
as follows: "As an MS student at DePaul University, I worked as a
network support technician and project manager for Information Services.
My most significant accomplishment in this capacity involved the
re-wiring of over a thousand dormitory rooms to enable the students to
have Internet access with a link to the other four campuses. In doing
so, I had to investigate the existing needs of a high-speed Internet
network, as well as the transport of bandwidth to support future
demands, which are almost impossible to determine." He starts by
describing the end result, which in this case is acceptable because he
poses it almost as a challenge that he faced, and then he proceeds to
explain the concrete tasks he had to perform. In this applicant's case,
it's clear that citing academic work could not prove the same level of
skill that he has shown by drawing on real-world experiences.
Unrelated Work Experience
The skill sets needed to
thrive in various fields often overlap, and some qualities are essential
everywhere. If you have a strong record in an unrelated field, you
should not hesitate to discuss this, though the more you can tie the
discussion in with your current objectives, the better.
This applicant is applying to a graduate program in geology, but he
devotes some space to his work experience in computers: "During the past
18 months I have had firsthand experience with computers in a wide array
of business applications. This has stimulated me to think about ways in
which computers could be used for scientific research. One idea that
particularly fascinates me is mathematical modeling of natural systems,
and I think those kinds of techniques could be put to good use in
geological science." Not only is this particular link relevant, but it
also offers a unique angle, since few geology students would think to
emphasize computers and mathematical modeling. Note, however, that the
applicant could have described his work in computers in further depth
before returning to geology. You should explore experiences on their own
terms before trying to force connections.
The links provided by
this applicant are far broader, but still effective. Though she is
applying to a Master of Library Service program, she discusses volunteer
experience in a nonprofit organization: "My work for the organization
has taken a number of forms over the years, but can be summed up as
gathering information, both practical and technical, and using human
relations skills to make it accessible to others." Basic qualities such
as "human relations skills" could have a wide variety of applications,
but that fact doesn't diminish their relevance to the applicant's future
in library service.
Extracurricular
Activities
It is very possible to
demonstrate the relevant qualities you possess for graduate school
through extracurricular activities. The approaches you take will
essentially be the same as those we discussed in the above two sections,
Field Experience and Unrelated Work Experience, depending on whether the
activity is related. In the Library Service case cited above, for
example, the applicant was drawing on volunteer rather than work
experiences, but the purposes were the same.
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