There's nothing interesting about me to write -_-

[Student88]

I have the "Graduate Admission Essays" by Asher 3rd edition. Each one of those essays has something interesting happen to each student. I honestly don't have anything to start my essay off with a bang. Any tips? 

[jmu]

I didn't have anything particularly interesting either. I just went right into some of my background, explaining why I went to a Jr. College before university. I was able to focus more on my research and explaining why I would be a good fit. I got excellent feedback from my essay.

[Faith.Ze]

Try explaining about some interesting course you have taken during your Bachelor's Degree, give some explanations and state how it triggered your interest in the course your are applying for. You can also explain about your internships, what you have learnt, what you were exposed to and from there draw some conclusions about how you became interested in the course you are planning to apply to.

 

You can also explain about some challenges you faced during you Bachelor's Degree and how you overcame it. What did you learn from those challenges? How did it impact your path? 

 

Or, you can talk about your relationship with the professors at your former university. Talk about your Bachelor's Thesis, your supervisor, what you learnt during this time, what you learnt from your supervisor and etc.

 

Usually universities provide you with a list of the things you have to write about. This one is kind of vague. Basically, they have left it up to you to talk about anything you wish to, so make sure you explain everything about yourself! Talk about your academic life and extra curricular activities as well, you can even go further and explain how you managed your time and balanced everything during your Bachelor.

 

Hope this helps!

Edited May 25, 2013 by Faith.Ze

[fuzzylogician]

Although I think the Asher book is generally very helpful, this is one place where I disagree with his advice. By and large it's not necessary to have extraordinary backgrounds or unique life stories in order to apply and successfully get into graduate school. What should get you noticed is your interests and fit with the program, not anecdotes and stories.

 

I would do as jmu recommends and not as Faith.Ze recommends. You can worry about finding a 'catch' phrase for your beginning once you have written the rest of the essay, or you could open with your research interests as I have often recommended in other posts. But either way, the majority of the essay should be devoted to explaining some of your background and mainly what your interests are and why you are applying to the program that you're applying to (fit). I would NOT spend too much time discussing courses, internships, challenges, relationships with anyone, etc -- UNLESS they connect to your current and future plans. You could discuss your thesis or other research experience as part of an explanation of your interests and what you hope to do in school. You really don't need to take your reader through your entire background and story of how you developed your interests (you'll be surprised how similar most "eureka" stories are). Generally, I'd say maybe 1/3 should be devoted to the past, the rest to current/future plans and discussion of fit.

[jmu]

 the majority of the essay should be devoted to explaining some of your background and mainly what your interests are and why you are applying to the program that you're applying to (fit).

 

Definitely. What I've noticed is people suggest a catch phrase or anecdote so that you are remembered by the adcomm. In my case I was remembered because I had an interesting and original topic I wanted to research and was able to show why I would do well in those programs.

 

As an anecdote, I was at a conference for my subfield and someone from one of the programs I was accepted to recognized me based on my name tag and talked about what I wanted to research/what I was presenting on.

[Student88]

Thank you all! I have some sense of direction. I do have research experience to focus on and bring out in my essay and can elaborate on. I'm sure a program won't accept me just because I had a good "hook" in my essay but rather my experience/school. 

[MikKar]

It might be a bit extreme but I'll say that graduate schools don't give a **** about your past, if your present and future plans don't look solid and worth investing in. Obviously you have to be academically sound (it helps, always), but the most important thing is WHAT you are going to do with the education you received, HOW graduate study is going to help you achieve this and WHY that particular graduate school and not some other one.

 

Any experience that helped define your vision of the future you want to build (for yourself) is relevant, but if it's something the graduate school also does, it will make it easier for you since they'll identify themselves with you better.