Arizona State

[Gabby]

Arizona State University is my top choice, even though it is very competitive to get into. Does anyone know what exactly they're looking for? Anyone ever been accepted or gone to the program?

[lily48slp]

I was accepted, but it's hard to say what any school is looking for just based on one admissions decision. Someone on the results page from another year had this to say: 

"I am an undergrad at ASU right now and for those of you who are curious, I thought I'd share a bit I know about their admissions process since I am a research assistant in their clinic and I sort of know the dean of admissions. So basically the man that makes the final decisions takes the process very personally. He is really well known in the field and all of his friends are top professors and researchers at other schools. It seems like what matters most to him is WHO is recommending you. So the only way to have a real "in" is by working under someone at your university who is really important. And he said during his lecture of an undergrad course that there were 380 applicants and 120 of those had a 4.0 GPA. Essentially making it one of the hardest places to get into. (And he's really slow at getting things done because he is so thorough, so thats why ASU is so late with everything)."

Obviously it helps if you have high stats, etc. But I think this is important advice -- remember, you don't have to ask the same people to recommend you to all of your schools, so you might want to choose more well-established faculty at your program as your recommenders if you can since it sounds like it matters a lot here. Also, their personal statement requirement limits you to only 300 words, so it's likely you'll have to have a whole other version for ASU that's shorter. Make sure you have someone else read through your final draft, because after staring at it so long and cutting it down, it's easy for it to sound choppier than you think.

Hope this helps!