A YouTube video by Madeline (Self Made Millennial) describing her experience on a graduate admissions committee for small master’s programs (≈100 or fewer admits). She gives four key insights for applicants beyond GPA/test scores: 1) research programs deeply and contact alumni; 2) demonstrate interest through outreach; 3) apply early (especially with rolling admissions); 4) craft a focused statement of purpose that links past experience to career goals and the program. The advice targets applicants to small cohort professional/academic master’s programs.
Chapters
Hey everyone, this is self made Millennial and it's me, Madeline. I am currently wearing a disguise right now because we are about to go undercover into the admissions of grad schools to understand how these admissions committees work and exactly how you can get in. This video will have nothing to do with your GPA or test scores. There's so much more to getting into grad school than that. So I'm going to walk you through four insights and tips on exactly how to increase your chances to get into grad school. All right, well, my cover's bl, so I'm taking this off. A few things you should know is that I was on the admissions committee of a master's program, so I got to see it from the inside as well as I've talked to a lot of other admissions committees as well and know that we're talking about programs that admit about 100 or fewer people. We're talking about smaller programs, not necessarily the big law schools or MBA programs. Insight one is do your research. You must do your research about grad school in such a deeper way than you did for undergrad. The reason is grad school programs with similar titles may provide you with vastly different opportunities and experiences. So look into do they have a small cohort or big cohort? What kind of community do they build? Is it practicum or research? What are the classes you're taking? What are the requirements during the program? You do all this research for two outcomes. The first one is to make sure you are going to a program that really meets your career aspirations and interests. The second is that admissions board can smell from a mile away if you didn't do your research and they will reject you. For example, I've seen programs that are fully focused on building practical skills for the workplace in a business setting get applications that talk all about their deep research experience and how they aspire to get a PhD someday that is completely at odds with the goal of the program. And so either that person applying just applied to completely wrong program or they were just selling themselves wrong and they actually would be a good match for the program. Either way, they're going to get rejected because they didn't do the research. The number one best way to do research on a program is to find people who are alum of that program and ask them tons of questions. You can either do that by finding them on LinkedIn or you can ask the program, hey, can you put me in touch with some alumni who have gone on to certain careers that align with yours? Here are some example Questions that you could ask alumni. Who were some of your favorite professors from the program and should I mention certain professors in my application that I want to work with? What kind of people were in your cohort? What kind of backgrounds did they have and what career direction were they going? What's the focus of the program's curriculum? What classes did you take? What kind of experience does the program value? Is it professional experience, Is it research experience, and so on? I'm planning about talking about XYZ in my personal statement. Do you see that being relevant to the admissions committee? And the second best way to learn about the program is to reach out to the people running the program and ask them questions. Which brings us to insight number two. Persistence and eagerness goes a long way. I recommend calling the program and asking them questions, genuine questions that you cannot just find the answer on the website. Reaching out to the program, attending info sessions. Each point of contact is called in Admission speak. Demonstrated interest and this is a real thing that goes into the admissions decision at a lot of different programs. Reason why demonstrated interest is weighed in admission decisions is because these programs want to have a high yield. Yield is the ratio of the number of offers of admission they send out and the number of acceptances they get back. This ratio affects their rankings. It's not the only determinant of rankings, but it does affect it. For example, if the program was looking at two different applicants, Applicant A attended an info session and they've called the program three different times to ask questions versus Applicant B who just simply sent in their application, Applicant A is showing signs that they are more likely to accept. So it's a better idea for the school from a yield perspective to admit candidate A. And obviously there's other factors involved. But it definitely helped that candidate A was so proactive and we're moving right along to insight. 3. Apply at the early admission date whenever possible. The odds that you will get into a program if you apply earlier are just so much higher. And the reasons are is that there's generally more spots available. And two, again, it's demonstrated interest if a program has rolling admissions. Apply as soon as possible. Programs do things differently. There's obviously exceptions to this rule, but I can't emphasize enough how important it is to apply early. Let's round out this video with insight number four. Make sure your statement of purpose focuses on how the program fits your aspirations. Grad school admissions committees want to hear that you know what you want in your career and you know exactly how this program is going to help get you there. It was disheartening when I was on an admissions committee and I saw some of these essays come through and they were written in the undergrad style. So I don't know about you, but when I was in high school I was told that when applying to colleges and I should focus on a story that is attention grabbing and kind of shows how I became the person I am today. That style definitely works for undergrad admissions, but do not do that for grad school. I remember reading an essay of a guy where his story was all about When I was 10, my parents left me in the forest to survive and he walked us all through that entire story and how it built character. And honestly, I have no idea what his career aspirations were or even if he knew what the program was about. And I don't think he got in. And it was really sad because maybe he was a perfect fit. But it went on this totally different tangent. It was a compelling story, but just not meant for grad school admissions. Instead of that, show your personality in your essay by telling the story of how you got to where you are in your career and why that makes you prepared for this program. And avoid any adjectives about how you're driven or detail oriented or any of that crap. Make sure to tell stories that illustrate those characteristics. So here's an example of my personal.
Statement and the whole story was about.
Moving from journalism to wanting to be in HR and recruiting.
And so I talked about how I became the training and development manager of the newspaper I was at and how much fun I had creating recruitment plan and training programs and creating lots of guides on how to hire and over performance reviews. And this is all to show that I take initiative, that I'm very passionate. But I never say that in here. It's all illustrated by the way I write.
And then in the end I tie.
It back to how USC can help me enhance these skills.
Those are my tips for today. I have so many others that get a little bit more detailed, but do let me know what are your struggles with the grad school application process. Make sure to click a like on this video if the information helped. And subscribe to see these videos coming up every single week. Thanks for going undercut with me. I must go into hiding now.
