Once you submit your grad school applications, it’s time to work on the rest of the required materials. All of the schools I applied to required a college transcript. I sent in my transcripts right after I applied to schools because Mercyhurst is notorious for its inept registrar’s office and slow mailroom. The transcripts have to be sent by the school, which I was extremely nervous about.
Even though I was wary, I filled out the form in the registrar’s office, turned in the required $10 for them to mail an official transcript and hoped for the best. Luckily, all of my transcripts made it to their destinations.
The transcript process was easy, but prior to sending them, I did not account for them costing money. So on top of the application fees, check with your college or university to find out how much it costs to send official transcripts.
You should also realize that some schools will require more than one transcript. I had to send two for Ohio State. I sent one to the school of communication and one to the graduate committee at Ohio State. With the application and transcripts, it cost me $80 to apply to Ohio State, and that’s not including the cost to take the GRE.
After you take care of sending in your transcripts, it’s time to work on your personal statement. This was the one part of the application process I was dreading because I had no idea what I was supposed to write.
One professor told me that I should write a paragraph about my experiences in college that have prepared me to begin studying at the graduate level, a paragraph about why I want to study in the particular program I’m applying for and a paragraph that explains what I want to do with a master’s degree.
Her directions got me off to a good start, and this website from Purdue gave helpful advice and allowed me to understand what exactly I should be writing.
Some schools will be more detailed than others in their directions for writing personal statements. Ohio University had few specifications for what they wanted to see in my personal statement. My Ohio University personal statement can be found on my online portfolio.
Ohio State gave me certain questions to answer. For example, I had to explain what areas of research I am interested in and which faculty members I would most like to conduct research with. To be able to answer these questions, I had to read about the Ohio State communication faculty members and examine their past research projects. I then chose the ones I was most interested in.
It's okay to use a lot of the same information in your personal statements for different schools, but make sure you change all the names in the letter to match the program and school you are submitting it to. Also be honest about your goals and always have someone else read it before you send it in.
Even though I was wary, I filled out the form in the registrar’s office, turned in the required $10 for them to mail an official transcript and hoped for the best. Luckily, all of my transcripts made it to their destinations.
The transcript process was easy, but prior to sending them, I did not account for them costing money. So on top of the application fees, check with your college or university to find out how much it costs to send official transcripts.
You should also realize that some schools will require more than one transcript. I had to send two for Ohio State. I sent one to the school of communication and one to the graduate committee at Ohio State. With the application and transcripts, it cost me $80 to apply to Ohio State, and that’s not including the cost to take the GRE.
After you take care of sending in your transcripts, it’s time to work on your personal statement. This was the one part of the application process I was dreading because I had no idea what I was supposed to write.
One professor told me that I should write a paragraph about my experiences in college that have prepared me to begin studying at the graduate level, a paragraph about why I want to study in the particular program I’m applying for and a paragraph that explains what I want to do with a master’s degree.
Her directions got me off to a good start, and this website from Purdue gave helpful advice and allowed me to understand what exactly I should be writing.
Some schools will be more detailed than others in their directions for writing personal statements. Ohio University had few specifications for what they wanted to see in my personal statement. My Ohio University personal statement can be found on my online portfolio.
Ohio State gave me certain questions to answer. For example, I had to explain what areas of research I am interested in and which faculty members I would most like to conduct research with. To be able to answer these questions, I had to read about the Ohio State communication faculty members and examine their past research projects. I then chose the ones I was most interested in.
It's okay to use a lot of the same information in your personal statements for different schools, but make sure you change all the names in the letter to match the program and school you are submitting it to. Also be honest about your goals and always have someone else read it before you send it in.
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