Get Clear. Get Into Grad School. Get On With Your Life. by Dr. Khia on March 27, 2012
I consider myself a writer. Reading and writing have always been among my great passions in life. I was one of those kids who took great delight at a trip to the library because this is where I felt at home. So many books and so many interests, I wandered up and down the aisles in search of my next great adventure.
In time, I wanted to write, and I did. I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote as a middle schooler and high schooler. When faced with the decision of what to major in in college, I was torn between English and Psychology. Psychology won out and I designated English as my minor.
As an undergrad and Ph.D. student, one of the most consistent praises I’ve earned is for my writing style. Late last year, I contributed a chapter to the Legacy Letters anthology. The Legacy Letters project creator and editor told me (and I take as an extremely high compliment):
“You write with an authenticity and transparency that is interesting and inspiring.” – Lisa Nicole Bell
And it is my intention to bring the same authenticity, transparency, inspiration, along with a heavy dose of usable advice and guidance here to grad school admission seekers. [click to continue…]
Get Clear. Get Into Grad School. Get On With Your Life. by Dr. Khia on March 21, 2012
Personal statement. Statement of purpose. Now a personal goals statement. Each of these terms boils down to the same thing – in order to complete your application to grad school, you have to write an essay.
As I explored in a previous blog post, if you want to solidify your chances of getting in, regardless of the name given in the application materials, you better write a kick ass essay that knocks the socks off of the admissions committee. [click to continue…]
Get Clear. Get Into Grad School. Get On With Your Life. by Dr. Khia on October 18, 2011
One of the biggest and most challenging aspects of completing your applications to grad school is the *dun dun dun* essay portion of the package. Sometimes the essay is called a personal statement, sometimes it is called a statement of purpose, and sometimes the instructions are as simple as write an essay. No matter what term is thrown out there, make no mistake, writing one of these bad boys can be confusing, especially knowing WHAT to write about, and then HOW to write about it. [click to continue…]
Get Clear. Get Into Grad School. Get On With Your Life. by Dr. Khia on August 18, 2011
A former classmate of mine shared an article that I think the ENTIRE WORLD should know about. The oh-so-important topic? Shame in academic writing.
You know the feeling. You’ve lost sleep, worked super duper hard on an important paper, spent hours of your life that you will never get back trying to capture your eloquent thoughts in standard 12-point Times New Roman font. You turn it in, hoping to get an A, but halfway fearing that it might not measure up. Or at worse, your professor will laugh uproariously at your best effort.
I remember once working through the night on a draft of my master’s thesis. The feedback on my great piece of theoretical work was less than stellar. MUCH less than stellar. So un-stellar it was that I immediately burst into tears after reading the professor’s comments. It is still a blur to this day, but I remember something about “disjointed and disorganized.”
You may have figured that the fear of incompetence, incoherency, and lack of brilliancy eventually goes away. Sorry to burst more bubbles… but nope it doesn’t. Don’t believe me? Read on for the anecdote of a tenured professor who felt the same exact way! [click to continue…]
Get Clear. Get Into Grad School. Get On With Your Life. by Dr. Khia on August 11, 2011
Hurray! Your Grad School Coach is growing! You may have noticed that there’s a brand spanking new Testimonials page! Now you can keep up to date with what actual coaching clients have to say, in addition to the valuable information posted here on the blog.
I had the pleasure of working with a client who set aside dedicated time this summer to work on her statement of purpose for graduate social policy programs. And talk about getting started EARLY! Applications are due by October 1st and we were working together in JULY to add some polish to her essay. She seriously deserves an e-round of applause for being so proactive.
The First Read
She was off to an incredible start – and I said so after reviewing her first draft- but she shared that she had a nagging feeling that something was missing. Some oomph, some impact, some something, but couldn’t quite put her finger on what else was needed.
Enter Your Grad School Coach. Together, we were able to pinpoint areas that needed improvement, and go through several rounds of edits – three rounds, to be exact – in order to produce a polished essay that she felt confident was submission-ready. What was the final verdict on the coaching services? In her own words: [click to continue…]
