The Prewriting section contains information and tips on getting started with writing your application essay as well as general information about the application essay.

For students who have just started considering studying abroad or who do not really know the point of writing application essays, let Bob give you a brief introduction:

Introduction to Essay Writing and the Application Process

The admissions procedure for graduate schools in the United States is somewhat different than that for graduate schools in Taiwan. When you apply to an American graduate school, not only are you required to send the school your transcript and test scores, you are also required to submit one or more written essays. Different schools and programs require different essays. No matter what the essay requirement is though, the essay is always an important part of the application.

The application essay is your chance to introduce yourself to the graduate schools to which you are applying. Your essays should present information that you think is both important to express and is not sufficiently detailed elsewhere in your application. Therefore, writing an essay is not only a test of your English ability but also a test of your judgment.

The essay reveals your ability to survive and succeed in graduate school. While test scores and grades demonstrate your ability to comprehend a subject, essays help demonstrate how clearly you have thought out your academic and career goals as how serious you are about pursuing them.

Graduate school admissions committees look carefully at BOTH quantitative criteria (test scores and grades) and qualitative criteria (essays and recommendations) in deciding if whether or not to admit an applicant. For many business schools, essays are even more important than either grades or test scores.

Regardless of how important the schools you apply to treat the application essay, by the time you do apply your grades and work experiences will already be fixed. It will be too late to improve these qualifications. The essay will be the only part of the application that you still have control over, and a well-written essay will greatly improve your chances of getting into graduate school.

The Different Types of Application Essays

There are two basic types of graduate school application essays, personal statements and response essays.

A personal statement is an essay in which an applicant has a lot of freedom in choosing the topic. Application to doctoral programs often require personal statements on the applicant's field of interest and intended plan of study. This type of personal statement is sometimes referred to as a "study plan." Some master's programs have similar essay requirements. Some schools, such as many law schools, allow the applicant complete freedom in choosing the essay topic. Personal statements are generally one to three pages in length. Schools that require applicants to write personal statements often have no additional essay requirements.

A response essay is an essay that answers a question on a very specific topic or issue. They are often required for business school applications and other specialized master's programs. Response essays are generally limited to one page or less. Graduate schools that require applicants to write response essays generally require more than one response essay, sometimes up to eight or nine.

What Graduate Schools Look for in Application Essays

Unfortunately there is no way to know specifically what graduate schoolsl look for in application essays, so it is important when writing your essay to not worry about writing "the magic answer" or "the magic phrase" that will get you admitted. Since there are no objective standards for evaluating essays, you should write about experiences and issues that you actually know about and care about. If you are not genuine and sincere in your essay, it will show.

While graduate schools do not expect essays on a particular subject, there are a few things that they do expect. They expect clearly and logically written essays that reveal thought and creativity. They expect essays that reveal maturity and focus. They expect essays that bring together the separate parts of an application (e.g. transcript, test scores, work experiences, extracurricular experiences, interests, etc.) and prove an applicant is qualified and motivated for graduate study. So essays should reflect the great amount of thought and effort taken by their author in writing them, as well of course as be free of grammatical errors.

What a Unique Essay is and Why to Write One　　

A unique essay is one that will be memorable to graduate schools' admissions staffs. By writing a unique essay, you will make yourself more attractive to graduate schools. Most American universities want to have a diverse student body, one that includes all sorts of people. Not only do universities target specific sexes, races, and areas of the globe in creating a diverse student body, they also look for people with unusual backgrounds and experiences. For example, top business schools do not only admit people with excellent grades and GMAT scores, but also look very favorably on candidates who have unique and uncommon work experiences. Graduate schools believe that a diverse student body adds both to the quality of student social life and the quality of education, because students with different experiences contribute different skills and ideas to the academic environment.

The First Step: Self-Examination

Before you beginning writing your first draft, you should review your personal history carefully to figure out what makes you both unique as an individual and a good candidate for graduate school. Here is a list of questions for you to consider to help you review your personal history.

How to Use this List of Self-Examination Questions

The below list of self-examination questions is for you to consider and answer. If you answer these questions thoughtfully, writing down your answers, it will be much, much easier for you to choose what to write about in your application essays. Thinking about these questions will also be very helpful if you ever have to interview for graduate school. Good Luck!

School and Academic Achievements:
1、Why are you interested in your chosen field of study? How and when did you begin to get interested?
2、Why do you want a graduate degree?
3、Why do you want to study abroad?
4、What was the most rewarding class you took in college and why? What was the most rewarding assignment you did and why?
5、In addition to classes, how else did you learn about your field of interest (e.g. books, seminars, lectures, conversations)?
6、Do you feel your grades (university and graduate school if applicable) and test scores (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, TOEFL, etc.) accurately reflect your academic ability and potential? Why or why not?
7、What kinds of academic skills (research, lab, etc.) did you learn in college?
8、Were you involved in any especially memorable academic accomplishments in college? Describe them.
9、Who or what has been the biggest influence on your academic development and why?
Career Plans:
1、What are your short and long-term career plans? How certain are you of them?
2、How will pursuing a graduate degree help you reach your career goals?
3、What current and past work experiences have you had? What were the most important things that you learned from them?
Extracurricular activities:
1、What hobbies do you do in your free time?
2、What clubs or other extracurricular activities did you participate in during college? Did you hold any leadership positions?
3、Have you won any awards for your extracurricular achievements?
4、Have you done any volunteer work?
Personal Questions:
1、Is there anything impressive about your background (e.g. experiences, accomplishments, family history, cultural background)?
2、Did you have to overcome any unique obstacles growing up?
Personality Questions:
1、Are you responsible? If yes, describe how.
2、Are you creative? If yes, describe how.
3、Are you honest? If yes, describe how.
4、Are you independent? If yes, describe how.
5、Are you mature? If yes, describe how.
6、Are you hard-working? If yes, describe how.
7、Are you confident? If yes, describe how.

Sample Essay Questions

Looking at sample questions is a good way to get a feeling for the types of questions that graduate schools ask in their applications. Writing answers to some of the questions is one way to improve your essay writing. Here are some essay questions similar to those used by actual schools.
General Questions for Masters and Doctoral Programs
Please tell us your reasons for applying for graduate study, your particular area(s) of specialization within your field of study, your professional career plans, and any additional information that you want the admission committee to know. Your answer should not be longer than two pages.
Please tell us your reasons for pursuing graduate study and the strengths and weaknesses of your preparation for graduate study in your proposed field. Limit your answer to one page.
Please submit a statement of your academic and future career plans as they relate to the field which you wish to study. Your statement may not exceed 1000 words.
Questions for Business Schools (Answers are generally between 500-1000 words)
Why do you want an MBA? What do you expect to gain from this degree?
What are your career objectives for the next five years? fifteen years? What is your ultimate career objective?
Describe an ethical dilemma you once had to face and how handled it.
What has been your single, most important achievement to date?
What are your main interests outside your job or school? Why do you enjoy them?
Other than business management, what are some other jobs or careers that you have considered?
What do you consider your strongest personality traits? What traits would you most like to change?
Describe a significant managerial or other work experience that you have had.

When to Begin Writing

The final draft of your essay should read like a polished piece of writing. Such an essay will not only be grammatically sound but also have a logical structure. Writing such an essay is difficult. You will probably revise each essay a number of times.

Plan on spending ten to twenty hours on each essay. Of course, this does not mean that you will be working twenty hours straight. You should start on your essays as early as possible after you have decided the field(s) of graduate study you want to pursue. This means you may be starting weeks, or even months, before the application deadline.

If You are Worried about Your English

You cannot change the fact that English is not your native language, but you can still write a good essay. Remember, even native-born Americans and experienced writers struggle with their English writing. This is a common problem because, to say it simply, writing is hard. Not only is writing difficult, but writing about oneself is especially hard. High schools and colleges train students to write formal term papers and reports. Few students gain experience with writing in the first-person, with writing about themselves. So, do not be too anxious. If you are worried about your writing ability, so are probably all of your classmates.

The most effective way to help eliminate anxiety and improve your writing is to practice, practice, practice. Not only should you get an early start thinking about the essays for the schools you are applying to, but you should also look at sample essay questions from schools you are not applying to. Thinking about and writing out answers to sample questions is a good way to help improve your essay writing.