Applying to Grad School

Are you applying to pre-professional school or graduate school?

Wouldn't it be convenient to access your letters of reference from one place and not repeatedly ask professors or employers each time you needed one?

Do you need to write a personal statement or essay?

The Reference Letter Center/Interfolio (RLC)

The procedure for building a file of letters is simple. The Reference Letter Center (RLC), part of L&S/Human Ecology Career Services, has partnered with Interfolio, a web-based reference letter service. Through RLC/Interfolio students can set up an electronic portfolio, a convenient way to request letters of recommendation and mail them out to medical schools or graduate schools. After creating an account, decide on the teachers or employers from whom you would like letters of recommendation. It is important to obtain letters of recommendation by the end of your junior year if you plan to apply during your senior year. Be sure to allow sufficient time for requesting the letters, with time for them to be written, returned, and processed. Medical school deadlines require early mailing of letters of recommendation, so plan accordingly and do not wait until two weeks before the deadlines!

RLC/Interfolio charges $15 to maintain your account for 1 year ($45.00 for 5 years, $75.00 for 10 years). At the beginning of your senior year (or when you apply to medical schools), you will forward your portfolio to the schools of your choice. For additional information about Interfolio, visit the RLC website.

Transfer students should have some letters of recommendation from instructors at schools previously attended, especially if they will be spending a limited amount of time on this campus.

A final point on this subject: pre-professionals are often too sensitive about choosing instructors to ask for letters, feeling that somehow if they did not earn an A, their instructors are eager to trumpet their inferiority to the world. Outright bad letters are rare, unless you have been dishonest in a course. Your instructor may note some chinks in your armor, but then few medical schools will believe you have no weaknesses no matter what he or she tells them. Most commonly, the instructor will note your particular strengths, analytic ability, broad interests, care in technique, ability to grasp and order a mass of information, and the like. At any rate, it does not hurt to ask. If your teacher plans to be hard on you, he or she will probably tell you.

Personal Statement or Essay

General Advice

Help With Your Personal Statement

Additional Resources for Medical School Statements

General Advice

Your personal statement is a vital part of your application. It lets graduate schools, scholarship committees, or employers know something about you that is not reflected in your academic and extra curricular records or in your letters of recommendation. It is not a "prose resume" but a way for you to express yourself, through captured experiences, events, or beliefs. In the absence of a personal interview, your essay allows you to "shine" before the admissions or selection committee.

Before you write your personal statement, consider the following guidelines:

  1. The statement must be well-written, with an introduction, body, and conclusion.
  2. The statement must be grammatically correct and vividly written.
  3. It must be personal. It is your opportunity to express your commitments, challenges, and values through your own personal story.
  4. Do not describe activities that the admissions committee can learn about from the application. Use this opportunity to give NEW information that is not available anywhere else.
  5. Think about the decision process you experienced while making the commitment to pursue the goal for which you are applying (a career in medicine or law, or the goal of your scholarship). Have there been formative events, people, or experiences along the way? Is there a story you could tell to explain your decision?
  6. The statement should in some manner answer the question of why this pursuit is for you AND what you can offer the profession in return.
  7. Avoid gimmiky essays (such as an imaginary trial of an application with a wise jury deciding in the applicant's favor). Be careful about using humor as it can be taken differently by different readers. You may come across as arrogant, glib, or silly.
  8. Do not lecture the admissions or selection committee about what you feel is wrong with "the system." Instead, in a positive manner, present your own goals and hopes.
  9. Avoid extensive references to childhood or high school experiences. You must convince the admissions committee that you have made a well-informed adult decision to pursue this career or goal.
  10. If you were to bold and underline every use of "I" in your statement, is that all you would see on the page? While this must be a personal statement, be certain your interest in others comes through.
  11. Turn negative experiences into positives by discussing what you have learned and how these challenges will make you better prepared in the future.
  12. Write a first draft. Do not be so paralyzed by the thought of putting something on paper that your application becomes delayed. Bring the first draft and these guidelines to your appointment with the Writing Center .
  13. Let others read revised drafts.
  14. Do some research to keep abreast of issues in health care and law as you prepare your personal statement.
Help with Your Personal Statement

The Writing Center offers assistance free of charge to all currently enrolled UW-Madison students. Register for a class or an individual appointment by:

Bring these guidelines with you so that your instructor can be see the details of your assignment!

Additional Resources for Medical School Statements

The University of Kansas has created an excellent site specifically for medical school application essays: http://www.medadvising.ku.edu/essaytips.shtml.