Personal Statement Feedback (and letter of rec. advice) NEEDED

[ucsbfuturemd]

Hi,

Would anyone be willing to take a look at my personal statement and provide some feedback? I'm applying to a graduate program to enhance the GPA because my undergraduate GPA is not pretty. I feel like I'm kind of all over the place in my personal statement and I'd love some advice on how to clean it up. If you can help me out I'd really appreciate it!

Thank you!

PS- I'm asking my professors for letters of recommendation for the first time. Some of them, I never talked to, but I got As in their class. How would you recommend going about asking them to put in their time to write you a LOR?

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[MrLogan13]

Hi,

Would anyone be willing to take a look at my personal statement and provide some feedback? I'm applying to a graduate program to enhance the GPA because my undergraduate GPA is not pretty. I feel like I'm kind of all over the place in my personal statement and I'd love some advice on how to clean it up. If you can help me out I'd really appreciate it!

Thank you!

PS- I'm asking my professors for letters of recommendation for the first time. Some of them, I never talked to, but I got As in their class. How would you recommend going about asking them to put in their time to write you a LOR?

I'll take a look. I also did a graduate program and will finish my MS this spring.

 

[Shirafune]

Hi,

Would anyone be willing to take a look at my personal statement and provide some feedback? I'm applying to a graduate program to enhance the GPA because my undergraduate GPA is not pretty. I feel like I'm kind of all over the place in my personal statement and I'd love some advice on how to clean it up. If you can help me out I'd really appreciate it!

Thank you!

PS- I'm asking my professors for letters of recommendation for the first time. Some of them, I never talked to, but I got As in their class. How would you recommend going about asking them to put in their time to write you a LOR?

For the LOR part, make a list of potential letter writers and what makes them qualified to be your letter writers. Then, prepare some packets with your resume, transcript, a statement of career goals, and other things they might find useful. Then, contact all the professors on your list 3 at a time (or however many LORs you need) in the order you ranked them. In the email, you should explain your relationship to them (i.e. what class you took, what grade you achieved, why you think he/she can write you a good LOR, etc.) and request a meeting to discuss the letter writing logistics if they are interested in supporting you. Think about which professors were the "nicest" and the ones most interested in helping their students succeed. For you, I imagine your professors will want to talk with you for a bit and get to know your future aspirations/goals and the programs you are applying to because they do not know you as well. Offer them your LOR packet and ask if they would like a 1 week reminder before the due date.

Good luck!

 

[ucsbfuturemd]

For the LOR part, make a list of potential letter writers and what makes them qualified to be your letter writers. Then, prepare some packets with your resume, transcript, a statement of career goals, and other things they might find useful. Then, contact all the professors on your list 3 at a time (or however many LORs you need) in the order you ranked them. In the email, you should explain your relationship to them (i.e. what class you took, what grade you achieved, why you think he/she can write you a good LOR, etc.) and request a meeting to discuss the letter writing logistics if they are interested in supporting you. Think about which professors were the "nicest" and the ones most interested in helping their students succeed. For you, I imagine your professors will want to talk with you for a bit and get to know your future aspirations/goals and the programs you are applying to because they do not know you as well. Offer them your LOR packet and ask if they would like a 1 week reminder before the due date.

Good luck!

thats a great idea! thank you so much! would you recommend only approaching professors that I received an A grade from? I have a few professors that I've had multiple times and have made more contact with but I got a B in their classes.

 

[Shirafune]

thats a great idea! thank you so much! would you recommend only approaching professors that I received an A grade from? I have a few professors that I've had multiple times and have made more contact with but I got a B in their classes.

Assuming this is for the graduate program, unless a professor can speak a great deal about your personality/characteristics (beyond academic ones) that would make you a great researcher/scientist I would not talk to professors whose classes you earned a B in. LORs should be written by "distinguished" people like those with professorships, a program director, or other titles that have gotten to know you at both a personal and academic level. Specifically ask your letter writers if they are able to write you a STRONG letter of recommendation; the emphasis is obvious. If they are hesitant, I would shy away from their letter. For a graduate program, I suggest only talking to professors for grades of at least an A-.