"I AM STRUGGLING, WHAT SHOULD GO INTO MY APPLICATION ESSAY?"
Do these, when you are not sure what to do.
“I AM STRUGGLING, WHAT SHOULD GO INTO MY APPLICATION ESSAY?”
“ I AM STRUGGLING, WHAT SHOULD GO INTO MY APPLICATION ESSAY?”
Do these when you’re unsure what to take out or keep in your application essay.
One of the challenges you will encounter, when you are sending applications to universities abroad, is deciding what goes into the application or what you need to take out.
You probably have identified your research ideas, you have received several awards, have amazing professional experiences, cum volunteer experiences. Despite these amazing feats, you still struggle.
The university’s website is clear: For instance, it can read “submit a 4-page only statement of purpose”
Now, I know how confusing it is.
Come to think of it, how do you put your entire life into a 4-page document? I mean 🤔 how❓️
How will you solve this puzzle? 🤔
I can teach you what I have done in the past when I first applied to study in the United States.
Oh, this is even better; let me share what I am doing differently in the JD/AM/PHD applications I am working on this fall.
Let’s begin.
Brain dump. Take a plain piece of paper,(the smarter option is to get a journal) and write down all the words that describe the personal, communal, and global stories that will go into your application.
Next, pen down all the educational (academic or certification-based programs) professional and volunteer (or extra-curricular) experiences. Write everything that comes to mind, even if you are not sure what you should leave or take out.
Research in and out. My idea of research in- is to clarify what you want to study and write that down in another part of your brain dump. While research out is to identify what the university you are applying to is looking for in a candidate. To get into the top 10 universities in the world is becoming more competitive, but you sure can get into them, once you do your due diligence.
Narrow down. Once you complete the brain dump, and research what you are really interested in studying and what the university is looking for in candidates who are applying, you want to narrow it down. When I decided to apply to the social work program, I had to narrow down. This means that not every one of the stories, research, professional, or volunteer experiences need to go into the application I am working on. So, narrowing it down is key.
It was easy for me to do this third activity because I was clear about what aspect of social work I wanted to focus on, and how that aspect intersects with the practice of law ( and of course, I was clear about what aspect of law I want to focus on), as well as what the university I was applying to was looking for. Let me explain, my interest is in domestic violence, and I am primarily interested in the clinical aspect of social work, and also family law aspect of the Juris Doctor(JD or law degree). With this clarity, I had to select only the stories and experiences that resonate with these intersecting areas.
Select the most compelling and logical. This is where we all get it wrong. Not everything that is compelling, is logical. I have so many stories about my childhood, teenagehood, and adulthood experiences of domestic violence. I consider not only logical, but also compelling the experiences of the past 10 years. In fact, while that is compelling, it is not enough to help build the logic for my interest in social work and law; because not everyone who is a survivor goes to study social work and law. So, it is important to clearly articulate this!
Articulate what matters. See, universities want very smart students, and your survivor story is not enough! That is how life works! “No one gives you the job because your child has cancer, but because you can do the job. Even non-profits are profit-driven.” It’s the way the world works, so we have to get used to it!
How do you articulate what matters?
One thing I am doing in the application essays I am working on right now, is that I am including practice experiences. So, beyond selecting the important stories, I am selecting the important professional experiences. For instance, since I live in the United States, it makes more sense to include my current practice experience as someone who wants to explore scholarship at the intersection of law and social work. Even though I have years of experience back home, it is not as relevant as what I can show that I have done here. After all, who is giving the dollars? To do this, I am gaining practice experiences at organizations that serve survivors of domestic violence.
Repeat: Repeat the same process, when choosing academic or professional experiences. Two quick examples. When I had to choose relevant research experiences, I had to consider the research experiences that resonate the most with my social work and law interest.
For instance, I selected two research projects that I carried out at the University of Alabama, that relate closely to my new interest. One of the projects I selected was a research that proposed a rethinking of the legal assistance framework at the University of Alabama’s Domestic Violence Clinic(DVLC), which relates to the law interest. Next, I selected another qualitative study, titled “How do non-native victims of domestic violence, describe their experiences to their American counselors"?”. Obviously, this speaks to the social work side of things.
Even more, when I needed to select relevant volunteer experiences, I did not include my experience working with teenagers at the redeemed church in Nigeria. I have been here for two years, so the question becomes, what have I done for the community here? What change have I made? In Alabama, I volunteered with The University of Alabama’s Women and Gender Resource Center (WGRC). Here in Chicago, I volunteer with the Hyde Park Neighbourhood Club and also, Hyde Park Village, two purposeful organizations in the Southside of Chicago, where I volunteer to teach African dance, crafts, and cooking classes.
Repeat again: When you do all the aforementioned, and realize you have gone beyond the word limit, go back and take something out. You may think there might never be something to take out. Peruse your document again, there is always something to take out or vice versa. Lastly, every time you feel stuck and unsure what should go into any application document, be it a cv or essay, or even an ordinary email to a professor or organization, repeat this process, and you will never be confused again!
If this is useful, please provide me with some feedback please!!!
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This is great, BM! I will praise myself, so you should follow suit too. Lol!