Beyond the SoP and CV: Additional Application Questions

[aforman1]

I'm applying to Northwestern, and as a part of their application process there is a series of questions (with a 700-character limit) that ask: "What are your plans after the completion of your study?" "What honors have you received?" and "What awards/fellowships have you received?" I remember from my first time applying to graduate school that other programs/universities had these questions included as a part of their online application.

How important are these questions to the overall application? Obviously, they are not to be skipped, but it seems to me that future plans are covered by the statement of purpose, and the last two would be covered by the CV. Should I have someone look over my answers to these questions before submitting them? I plan on asking faculty members at those schools how important these questions are, but I wanted to see if anyone on these forums had some suggestions.

For those applying for Fall 2012, hope everything is going well!

[Lexicon]

I think they are important enough that your answers should be concise, well-written, and informative but I wouldn't spend as much time on them as you would your SOP or CV. I think they are separate questions because CVs can vary so much in format that they want to be able to access this specific information more easily.

I'm not sure what kind of answers you're expecting but I don't think anyone is going to tell you that these are unimportant or throw-away questions.

[m41]

I'm applying to Northwestern, and as a part of their application process there is a series of questions (with a 700-character limit) that ask: "What are your plans after the completion of your study?" "What honors have you received?" and "What awards/fellowships have you received?" I remember from my first time applying to graduate school that other programs/universities had these questions included as a part of their online application.

How important are these questions to the overall application? Obviously, they are not to be skipped, but it seems to me that future plans are covered by the statement of purpose, and the last two would be covered by the CV. Should I have someone look over my answers to these questions before submitting them? I plan on asking faculty members at those schools how important these questions are, but I wanted to see if anyone on these forums had some suggestions.

For those applying for Fall 2012, hope everything is going well!

Every aspect of your application should be treated as if it is the deciding factor in admissions.