Graduate School Resources

The story can be happy or sad. The more feeling you can inject into our statement, the more you will stand out. • Find out the specific orientation and philosophy of the graduate program. Adapt and refine your statement to fit. This will make you stand out from other applicants who recycle the same personal statement with each application.

Suggested Outline

Your personal statement will likely range from 205-1200 words or 1-6 pages. The typical personal statement should be 2-3 pages double spaced or 500-700 words. Here is a suggested outline. You should adjust the main point of each paragraph and number of paragraphs depending on the desired length of your personal statement and the areas in your background that you choose to emphasize. Paragraph 1: A personal human-interest story Paragraph 2: Your academic interests and achievements

Paragraph 3: Your relevant work and/or research experiences Paragraph 4: Your career interests Paragraph 5: Why you are interested in this particular school Paragraph 6: The qualities you will bring to this school

STEP 3: PERSONAL STATEMENT CRITIQUES

Schedule an appointment with your Career Coordinator to have your personal statement reviewed.

GRADUATE SCHOOL TESTING

LSAT - Required for all law school admissions:

https://www.lsac.org

MCAT - Required for all medical school admissions:

https://www.aamc.org

GRE - Required for *most graduate school admissions: https://www.ets.org/gre

GMAT - Required for *most graduate management and MBA program admissions:

http://www.mba.com/global GRADUATE DEGREE SEARCH

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY - A degree database for all programs within the CSU system:

https://degrees.calstate.edu

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - A degree database for all programs within the UC system:

https://graduate.universityofcalifornia.edu/ admissions

GRADSCHOOLS.COM - A database of graduate degrees and certificates around the world:

https://www.gradschools.com

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Perdue Online Writing Lab - Examples of personal statements: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/02

Fastweb - A directory of scholarships and financial aid opportunities: https://www.fastweb.com/directory/scholarships-for-first-year-graduate-students