Blue-Chip Application
Preparing a Blue-Chip Application for Graduate School
Characteristics of the Most Sought-After Students for Graduate Study
- Intensive drive (fire in the belly)
- Motivation to do something significant
- High energy/Enthusiasm
- Ability to set goals and to work to achieve them
- Persistence
- Good grades
- Successful undergraduate research experiences
- Good oral and written communication skills
- Strong letters of recommendation
- Demonstrated creativity and ability to “think outside of the box”
Choosing the Right Graduate or Professional School
Access the following:
- Quality of the program
- Quality of the faculty
- Faculty whose expertise is in the area in which you are most interested
- Diversity of faculty and students
- Presence of excellent mentors
- Presence of support systems inside and outside department
- Availability of financial support
- Campus visit welcomed
- Average time-to-degree and graduation rate
- Location
- Your special needs and concerns
- Potential of a good match for you
Parts of the Admission Application
- Application Form
- Official Transcripts
- Standardized Test Scores
- Letters of Recommendation (3)
- Statement of Goals and Research Interests (Essay)
- Statement of Experiences (possibly)
Steps to Follow
- Establish a timetable for applying by referring to due dates required by each graduate or professional school and prepare a check list
- Arrange for a review course for taking the required standardized tests
- Take standardized tests during 2nd semester of junior year and have scores sent to the schools to which you are applying
- Arrange to have letters of recommendation prepared by faculty
- Make copies of everything you send in and keep in a safe place in case forms are lost
- Apply early … Apply early … Apply early
Making Your Application Special
Two parts of the application can make it very special:
- Letters of Recommendation
- Statement of goals and research interests
Letters of Recommendation should be from faculty members who taught you or from internship, research or work supervisors if the work in which you were involved is directly related to your graduate program of study.
Recommendations should be enthusiastic and detailed.
Help the referee know you by preparing for him or her an overview of your background and highlights about you and your experiences.
Recommendation Letters
Graduate Programs look for evidence of:
- Independence of thought
- Initiative
- Intellectual curiosity
- Maturity
- Ability to inspire confidence
- Natural talent
- Enthusiasm
- Energy
- Persistence
- Diligence
- Problem solving skills
- Ability to take criticism
- Ability to focus
- Ability to set goals
Statement of Goals and Research Interests
- This is your opportunity to show that this program and its objectives are a good match for you
- Show that your research interest matches some professor in the program
- Describe your honors thesis and describe the problems you explored, the data you used, any theory and method you used and the computer skills you learned
- Describe any teaching assistantships or work-study positions you held and the relevance of the work on your program of study
- This statement gives the department a sense of your understanding of the discipline and what you plan to do in it once you complete your program of study
- The statement must be well-written, grammatical and carefully craft
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Personal Statements
Personal Statements/Statements of Purpose/Letters of Intent/Personal Narratives
Determine your purpose in writing the statement
- Persuade the admissions committee that you are an applicant who should be chosen.
- Demonstrate you have the ability, motivation and experience to succeed in your field.
- Pay attention to the purpose throughout the statement. Avoid extraneous material.
- Pay attention to the audience (committee) throughout the statement. Your audience is made up of professionals in their field.
Determine the content of your statement
- Answer all questions fully.
- Analyze the questions or guidance statements for the essay completely and answer all parts.
Usual questions:
- Your purpose in graduate study.
- The area of study in which you wish to specialize.
- Your intended future use of your graduate study.
- Your special preparation and fitness for study in the field.
- Any problems or inconsistencies in your records.
- Any special conditions not revealed elsewhere in the application, such as a significant (35 hour week) workload outside of school.
- Why do you wish to attend this school?
REMEMBER, This statement should contain information about you as a person.
Determine your approach and style of the statement
There is no such thing as "the perfect way to write a statement."
There is only the one that is best for and fitting for you.
There are some things the statement should not be:
- Avoid the "what I did with my life" approach.
- Avoid the "I've always wanted to be a " approach.
- Avoid a catalog of achievements - a list of what you have done. This tells nothing about you as a person.
- Avoid lecturing the reader.
These are some things the statement should do:
- It should be objective, yet self-revelatory. Write directly and in a straightforward manner that tells about your experience and what it means to you.
- It should form conclusions that explain the value and meaning of your experience, such as what you learned about yourself and your field, your future goals, and your career plans.
- It should be specific. Document your conclusions with specific instances, or draw your conclusions as the result of individual experience.
- It should be an example of careful persuasive writing. Career Center Staff can help you by reviewing your draft statement.
- It should get to the point early on and catch the attention of the reader.
- It often should be limited in length, no more than two pages or less.
Words and phrases to avoid without explanation
- significant
- interesting
- challenging
- satisfying/satisfaction
- appreciate
- invaluable
- exciting/excited
- enjoyable/enjoy
- feel good
- appealing to me
- appealing aspect
- I like it
- it's important
- I can contribute
- meant a lot to me
- stimulating
- incredible
- gratifying
- fascinating
- meaningful
- helping people
- I like helping people
- remarkable
- rewarding
- useful
- valuable
- helpful
UC Berkeley - 2006
Graduate Programs
Graduate programs exist in hundreds of fields. Below is just a partial list of programs you may want to consider. While some of these have requirements you need to meet before applying, others have no specific pre-requisites. For a complete list, visit Peterson's Graduate Programs Guide An Overview of Graduate and Professional Programs.
- Accounting
- Advertising & PR
- African Studies
- Agricultural Econ
- Agribusiness
- Animal Sciences
- Applied Arts & Design
- Archaeology
- Architecture
- Art Education
- Arts Administration
- Art Therapy
- Asian Studies
- Biomedical Engineering
- Black Studies
- Book Arts
- Child & Family Studies
- City & Regional Planning
- Classics
- Communication
- Comparative Lit
- Criminal Justice
- Dance Therapy
- Drug & Alcohol Abuse
- Early Childhood Ed
- Eastern Eur Studies
- Ecology
- Educational Admin
- Ed Measurement & Eval
- Education of the Gifted
- Energy Mgt & Policy
- Entomology
- Env. Policy & Resource Mgt
- Finance & Banking
- Folklore
- Food Science & Technology
- Foreign Language
- Game & Wildlife Mgt
- Genetics
- Gerontology
- Graphic Design
- Health Services Mgt
- Higher Education
- Historic Preservation
- Horticulture
- Hospitality Admin
- Human Development
- Human Resources
- Illustration
- Immunology
- Industrial Labor Relations
- Information Sciences
- Insurance & Actuary Sci
- Interior Design
- Jewish Studies
- Journalism
- Landscape Architecture
- Latin American Studies
- Library Sciences
- Linguistics
- Marine Biology
- Marketing
- Marriage & Family Therapy
- Med/Ren Studies
- Meteorology
- Museum Studies
- Music Education
- Music Therapy
- Musicology
- Natural Resources
- Occupational Therapy
- Optometry
- Organizational Behavior
- Pastoral Ministry
- Pastoral Counseling
- Pharmacy
- Photography
- Physical Education
- Physical Therapy
- Physics
- Planetary Sciences
- Public Health
- Public Policy/Admin
- ReadingRadio/Television/Film
- Recreation
- Rehabilitation
- Religious Studies
- School Psychology
- Social Work
- Special Education
- Speech Pathology
- Sports Administration
- Statistics
- Subst. Abuse Counseling
- Taxation
- TESL
- Technology Policy
- Telecommunications
- Textile Design
- Theology
- Urban Design
- Urban Education
- Urban Planning
- Vocation Education
- Writing
- Women's Studies