Are you applying to graduate school? Working on the applications can be overwhelming but help is on the horizon! The Writing Centre can help with graduate school questions and application drafts— you can ask our experts during one-to-one appointments or drop-in hours!
All of the Writing Centre’s instructors have advanced degrees, which means at one point, they were where you were right now! They’re familiar with each step and can help you build your CV, advise on reaching out to an academic reference, draft a personal statement of interest, and anything else you need to make your application a success!
If you plan to work on larger components of your application like the personal statement of interest or your CV, we recommend booking a live appointment! That way, an instructor has enough time to thoroughly talk about your writing and suggest ways to further improve it.
For instance, as 5th-year Kinesiology student Amisha Jagpal relays,
The whole appointment felt very personalized, she noted. My instructor answered my questions and offered useful suggestions to help me convey what I wanted to say in my statement of interest.
In addition, you can also ask for feedback on email drafts you plan to send out to potential referrals. By doing this, you can ensure your tone is professional and the email is specifically tailored to the person you’re asking
Even just a 15-minute drop-in could help a lot by providing reassurance and quick feedback. Students can visit our experts in-person or virtually, depending on the scheduled day.
Plus, drop-in appointments are also a great way to get an extra set of eyes on your application and you can double-check if there’s any component that’s missing from your package.
For extra support, the Writing Centre sometimes holds graduate school writing workshops to give students an overview of the application process. Our next session will be our Graduate School Applications and Cover Letters Workshop on January 18 at 12:30-2 PM. You can attend the workshop online through our workshop calendar!
As graduate workshop facilitator Davis Vallesi says,
The ability to write clear, purposeful, and impactful personal statements is absolutely essential for success when applying to graduate programs. This workshop is a great opportunity to help students who are preparing their applications, since we’ve been able to discuss common concerns as a group and also address individual questions of a more specific nature.
After running the first iteration of this workshop, Vallesi continued, I’ve had several attendees book one-to-one appointments with me at the Writing Centre to discuss their statements more in-depth, which has been really great to see! The workshop has proven very useful even for students who are not applying to grad school because it also has a component dedicated to writing strong cover letters for academically-inclined job postings.
A recent workshop attendee, Christine Tang observed,
The workshop was really helpful because it broke down components of the application process in a more manageable manner. For example, I had no idea where to even begin with my letter of intent, but the workshop brought up important points that I should cover.
So, if you’re still working on your graduate school application, feel free to use the Centre’s writing services! And keep an eye out on our website for our graduate cover letters workshop on January 18 at 12:30-2 PM.
Learn More
To learn more about one-to-one appointments, please visit our registration page. The Writing Centre’s online resources will continue to grow all year! You can also visit the Writing Centre’s blog!