Resources
I believe in accessibility. Already so much of academia is gatekeeping future scholars from obtaining the resources they need to be successful and ultimately enjoy the experience of higher education. As well, this is my hot take but personal belief to be weary of people on social media and other digital platforms who will charge you to look over your statements. I hate hearing how scholars are exploited, taken advantage of, and left with more confusion/frustration with the application process during those encounters than when they first began. These are materials that I developed from my workshops (which obviously are more interpersonal, engaging, and fun!) that can assist you as you develop your statements.
Some Rules
I am totally willing to share this information in hopes that this can assist bright, precocious, and resilient scholars, but there can be no plagiarism. No plagiarism from scholars trying to use these tools to create their own statements and no plagiarism from people trying to copy my labor. It is basically the number one rule in academia and here as well. These statements are to serve as examples, guides, and to provide an idea of how to speak about oneself in graduate school admission statements. Furthermore, these materials are not a one-stop shop — I encourage you to continue reading and speaking to other scholars about how they approached their statements because the more information you have the better you can assess how YOU want to approach YOUR statements.
As well, though the advice I follow and am sharing helped me capture a nice balance of personal but purposeful in my statements, I want to be clear that not every application I submitted got accepted, and there is not a clear-cut formula. This information is from my perspective of how I approached my writing and these are just suggestions and perspectives that I have cultivated through my time as a graduate student, writing specialist, and speaker.
With that being said, there are also other amazing (!) graduate students who have written about their experiences with the graduate application process and being a graduate student:
Enrica Bridgewater - First Generation Blog
Stephen Yang - Application Reflections
Lastly, I want to share my vulnerability in these statements in an attempt to help others learn how to speak about their own vulnerability, experiences, and narratives— please be respectful of how I wrote about myself.
Okay now that, that’s out of the way!
Below are the resources, materials, and information I have available to you all!
My Own Graduate School Admission Statements
NSF GRP Statements and Reviews
Writing Intensive Workshop Documents
These documents aim to be free and accessible.
I do offer one-on-one writing specialist services (Calendly Zoom Sign-Up) regarding graduate admission statements and general research paper reviews — I believe, again, in providing accessibility and knowledge to scholars from a variety of backgrounds. I do a '‘pay-what-you-can” system for the writing sessions. I continue to make my infographics as free as possible, but if you would like to donate to a coffee my way and tell me how these documents helped you, here is my Venmo @krisleer!
Materials
CV
It is not perfect by any means but hopefully, it serves as a guide on how to organize your accomplishments. As well, it will be updated as I continue my own graduate school journey!
NSF-GRP
This is probably one of the hardest statements I have ever written. I applied when I was a senior in my undergraduate and I didn’t get it. And even though I had the opportunity to apply again in my first year of graduate school I decided to wait, to really take time to draft, write, edit, and repeat. But it paid off!
University of Michigan-Comm & Media
These are the statements that I created for my application to UMich Communication and Media program. This includes a personal statement (that was kind of framed like a diversity statement), a statement of purpose, and a writing sample. The writing sample was optional but I recommend if you have the opportunity submit the writing sample.
Clinical Psych Apps
Out of 8 applications I submitted for clinical psychology programs focusing on trauma I got four interviews. Clinical psychology doctoral programs are one of the hardest programs to get into and I’ve even met people who out of 10+ applications only have received one interview. I didn’t get accepted into these programs after the interview process admitted probably because of a number of factors (COVID-19 being a big one) but these rejections were a blessing in disguise because I would not then have found my true calling which was Media Psychology. Pay attention to how I maintained a similar flow between my statements but tailored them to show how I felt I could fit into the program but also how the program fit with me.
Writing Specialist Materials
(ongoing) These are materials I go through during my writing intensive workshops. Again these are guides, aimed to assist scholars as they curate their own graduate school admission statements. I try to make my guides interactive by using CANVA, sometimes they show up cut off in weird places, sorry about that! Also, ever so often I come back to the page and update my guides to share the latest insight, perspective, writing suggestions that might be helpful as you continue your graduate school journey! I want to make these as free and accessible as possible - if you think I did a good job don’t be afraid to send some coffee my way via Venmo @krisleer.
Personal Statement vs Statement of Purpose
Writing About Identity: Diversity and Research Statement
Graduate School Application Spreadsheet Template
Choosing Your Letters Of Recommendation
How to Write an Abstract (SS/HUM)
Finding Your Voice In Your Research