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Accepted.com Odds 'N Ends
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What's New at Accepted.com |
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Pre-Season Discount for future MBA's and
JD's
2006 M.B.A. and J.D. applicants, purchase essay by July 31 and save 10%. For details, please visit the
MBA and
JD services pages.
Johns Hopkins Medical School Admissions Chat
What can I say? It was great. Paul White, Assistant Dean for Admissions
and Financial Aid at Hopkins, and three Hopkins medical students
answered questions for an hour. Their candid answers gave real insight
into what Hopkins seeks and what life is like for first-year students.
Did you miss it? Don't worry. You can review the
Johns Hopkins Medical
Admissions chat transcript at Accepted.com.
Save the Date: Michigan Medical School Admissions
Mark your calendar: Dr. Daniel Remick, Dean of Admissions; Robert Ruiz,
Director of Admissions; and Michigan Medical School students will answer
your inquiries on July 13 at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET in the
Accepted.com chat
room.
Blog posts
Personal Statements: Less is more
Questions for MBA Feedback
Financial Aid: Lock in Low Rate
Residency: No to Second Match
SAT Writing Test Draws Criticism
And much, much more.
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Essay Tip |
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Why Attend Grad School? Not Because It's There.
"What do you want to do after you earn your degree?" I asked.
Jennifer was trying to decide which graduate program to attend. In our telephone meeting, she had
summarized her options, along with the strengths and weaknesses, pros
and cons of each, but she was having difficulty narrowing down the
options. My deceptively simple question stopped her. Cold.
"Ah, I. I don't know." Jennifer stammered somewhat sheepishly.
"Then how can you choose a program? Are you planning to pursue this
degree just for personal edification? Or do you want it to prepare you
for a career?"
"Oh, I want it to prepare me for a career," she answered immediately.
"Then you need to do more homework. The answer will
probably determine which programs you should apply to."
There are lots of bad reasons for applying to grad school, and Jennifer
had supplied a few. Here's a bad reason sampler:
- My parents want me to go and will pay for it.
- I hate my job.
- What else is there to do after you finished college?
- I like school.
- Grad school is the next thing to do.
- It's there.
For George Mallory climbing Mt. Everest, the logic in #6 proved
fatal. For you the above examples of flawed logic are unlikely to prove
fatal, but they certainly don't impress admissions committees and/or
justify a graduate degree.
Unless you are one of the fortunate few who can attend grad school
simply for personal growth, which is fine, you need to have a
professional goal in mind and know how the degree will help you achieve
it -- before you choose schools and apply.
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Resume Tip |
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Selecting Material to Include in Your Resume
Impact is the key guide as you decide what details to
include in your resume. Yes, responsibilities are important. In
fact, many people mistakenly give them priority in their resume,
thereby creating an unexciting document that doesn't distinguish
them from the myriad others with similar responsibilities. Your
impact is unique, because it reflects your specific
contributions in your specific situation. If you cast your
experience in the light of impact, it has a dynamic message,
while simultaneously conveying your responsibilities.
When you think of ways to show impact, consider how you've
contributed to changing your workplace for the better. E.g., an
entry in a typical marketing coordinator's resume might read,
"Prepare financial analysis of proposed campaigns for marketing
manager." This reflects the conventional approach of showing
what you do, but it doesn't show how effective you were at doing
it. If you present such experience in the context of impact,
you'd write, "Proposed $5M campaign for new product, identified
$15K in savings by using in-house designers, which also
strengthened process control." This description makes clear that
your responsibilities include financial analysis - and much
more.
There are a few other points to bear in mind while selecting
items to include in your resume:
- Show growth, whether formal (via promotions) or informal
(via increased responsibility/accountability that you gained
through initiative). If the growth exceeds what is normal or
usual for a position, be sure to clarify that exceptional
aspect.
- Present at least one bullet point or accomplishment that
shows interpersonal and/or communication skills - the
ability to work effectively with people is an asset in every
position, and only becomes more important the higher you
aim.
- Keep your prospective readers in mind. Think about the
qualities, skills, and experience they value, and when you
elucidate your impact, address the reader's needs. Say, for
example, you are a paralegal assistant who spent weeks with
your team at a client site preparing for financial
litigation. Depending on your target reader, you might
emphasize the interpersonal skills and client interface
aspect more, or the document preparation and control more.
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
Member, Professional Association of Resume Writers
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| Wrap Up
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Our Services
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