Graduate School Essay Overview 

In addition to your GRE scores and undergraduate GPA, your essay responses will play a key role in the admissions process.

The majority of masters programs ask you to provide two different types of essays when submitting applications. The first type of essay is a statement of purpose, which is standard across almost all programs (regardless of whether it is engineering, education, English, or psychology). While there are small variations in statements of purpose from program to program, the main points are almost universal for all fields. The desired length generally ranges from 250-700 words and the prompt asks you to expand on several points:

• Experiences, both academic and personal, that have influenced your life
• Academic or professional background that would make you a value to the program
• Goals you hope to attain in the program
• Goals after leaving the masters program
• Specific professors with whom you would like to work
• Specific area on which you would like to focus in the program

Writing the statement of purpose, which asks you to incorporate many different topics into one coherent essay, is a daunting task for many applicants. Adding to the pressure is the knowledge that for some applicants, their statement of purpose may be the deciding factor for their admission to a certain school. To assist you with this process, PowerScore has developed a team of admission experts, who derive their writing skill from both first-hand experience with graduate school admissions essays, and from their journalism, teaching, and professional writing careers. Our admissions counselors can help you select a topic, write a complete essay, or edit and polish an existing draft. The final result is a flawless statement of purpose to submit with your application.

In addition to a statement of purpose, many programs ask for a writing sample from your undergraduate work or for a current essay on an assigned topic. The actual topic of the writing sample varies from program to program and will be closely related to the focus of the program. For example, at the University of Texas-Austin, the English masters program asks applicants to submit either poetry or prose for their creative writing program or a critical piece for all fields within the English masters program. Generally, programs ask for a critical piece so the admissions committee can not only see your writing skills in relation to the field you plan on studying but also your ability to write at a level equal to the level of the academic community to which you wish to become a member.

For additional information on our Graduate School Admissions Counseling programs, please visit our website or call us at (800) 545-1750.