Good news for graduate school applicants: The required application essay is a great way for you to share your story and your interest in Medill’s MS in IMC Professional program.
Think about it: This is your opportunity to craft your own narrative, to put into writing the kind of professional you aspire to be, to trace the steps that have brought you to where you are and to set the stage for your next accomplishments. Follow these five tips to write a graduate school application essay that stands out from the crowd.
Respond to the prompt.
The application for the Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications Professional program directs applicants to compose an essay that describes their interest in the program while addressing these questions:
- What professional experiences have led you to pursue an IMC degree? What professional experiences and/or opportunities informed your decision to apply to the program at this time?
- How will the IMC program help you achieve your professional goals?
It may be helpful to begin composing your Medill professional statement with an outline addressing each element of the prompt. Create a bulleted list of responses for each and then expand your bullets into paragraph form.
Be specific and personal.
Your story is uniquely your own, and it deserves to be framed in a way that shows you as a strong candidate for Medill’s graduate program. Try to avoid descriptive cliches such as, “I am an ideal candidate because …,” which can make your essay feel flat. Focus instead on using active language that makes your passion and energy apparent to your reader.
Try to include examples to emphasize major points throughout your essay. This will help your reader connect your story to specific experiences and build a vibrant image of you as a person and a professional. If possible, spend some time discussing the obstacles you have overcome on your journey to this point. Admissions professionals want to see candidates who have the strength and perseverance to face any challenge they encounter. You want to make it clear that you are the type of committed individual who will be an asset to your classmates and to your program as a whole.
Highlight your goals.
The best application essays are clear about what you will bring to your graduate program to enhance the experience of those around you, and what you expect to learn from your peers’ knowledge and experience. In addition, be specific about where you hope your educational experience will take you professionally. Think about where you would like to end up and detail how Medill’s graduate education will help you get there.
Are you looking to pivot your career into a particular field? Is there a specific job title to which you aspire? Do you want to gain a concrete set of digital or other professional skills that you know would improve your performance in the workplace? Highlight each of your goals of this nature, and discuss how the Medill MS in IMC Professional program is the right choice to help you achieve them.
Focus on your audience.
Not all master’s programs are the same, and you want to make it clear to the admissions committee why Medill’s MS in IMC Professional program is the only one that can take you where you want to go. Research the program before you write your essay, and then focus on particular aspects of the program to give your professional statement the specificity it requires.
Does Medill offer elective courses that you can’t find anywhere else? Does its alumni network feature connections in organizations or industries that are high on your list of desired landing spots for future employment? Does the faculty bring specific expertise or experience that will help you on your chosen career path? If any of these apply, or if any other elements of the program are uniquely tailored to your goals, be sure to mention them in detail.
Revise and perfect.
One of the goals of a professional statement is to frame yourself as a conscientious, polished professional. A major part of this is the attention to detail you demonstrate in the quality of your writing, through your tone and word choice.
Proofread your application essay for grammar, punctuation, capitalization and word choice. Make any needed changes and then leave it for a couple of days. Come back to it after that break and give it another thorough review, this time with fresh eyes, and make the necessary edits. After that, enlist the help of a trusted friend or colleague to read it once more. A second set of eyes is often what you need to make sure any lingering typos or grammatical errors are caught.
Video Tutorial: Crafting Compelling Professional Statements
Admissions Outreach Advisor Kayelyn Smith’s insights empower applicants to forge compelling professional statements for Northwestern University's IMC Professional Program application. This succinct video tutorial simplifies this part of the application process for aspiring students.
Video Transcript
Alrighty. Welcome everybody, thanks for joining. My name is Kayelyn, I am an admissions outreach advisor on behalf of the IMC Professionals Program at Northwestern University. I'm gonna be reviewing some tips and tricks for writing your professional statement in your application to the program. The professional statement is also called the personal statement, it's also called an essay. When writing your essay or any of the above, you will be addressing two prompts in your writing, so to start this video, I'd like to show you where you can find both of these prompts. There's actually two places where you can find them, one is on the website and one is inside the application system. So on the website, which I have pulled up here, please navigate to the menu button in the top right corner, up here with three lines. The third option down is the admissions page, so please click on Admissions, and once you're on the admissions page, you'll scroll down and you'll see some deadlines here, a little bit more information, then about halfway down the page, you'll see the application requirements with a bunch of tabs on the left side. So if you scroll down, the third from the bottom is the professional statement tab, go ahead and click on that. And this shows you the two prompts for the essay, which I have highlighted right here. Please note, for the essay, you do have to answer both of these prompts throughout the course of your writing. Alright.
Now, the second place that you can find both of these prompts outside of the website is within the application system. To navigate to the application, you can click on this link up here, you might have received this link from an advisor already. I already have my application pulled up and I've logged in already. So that's what you can see here, and I'm gonna click on the review application button to get inside my application, just takes a second to load and then it shows continue to application. So please click on the continue to application button. Now, if this is your first time, you would have to select these programs and these options, I've already done that. So within the system here, you can see that I am starting to work on my application already. Now, I've already answered the program information, the applicant information and the previous education, so I'm gonna skip forward to the application documentation. All right.
So I made it to the application documentation page, and you can see the three required documents that you need to upload, which is your personal statement, that's the essay, your resume, and the transcripts. Next to the personal statement, you'll see this upload button, and if you click on the upload button, you'll be able to read the description of the professional statement, which includes both of the essay prompts that we just saw on the website, so there they are again, right there. Please note that your essay must be less than 1500 words total, and like I said earlier, it must answer both of the prompts. It's really important in your essay that you outline your long-term career goals and then clearly explain how the IMC program at Medill will help you to achieve those goals. Once you get started on writing your essay, and I should say first, I would recommend that you start your draft in a Word document, 'cause that's a good place to start. And then once you finish your first draft, send it to a friend, send it to a colleague, it's always helpful to get feedback on your writing before you submit it for review.
If you have any questions about your essay or about the application as a whole, please don't hesitate to reach out to the admissions team, we're here to help you, and we'd like to support you through the process. But most of all, good luck, you've got this, and we look forward to seeing your application soon.
Ace your application to Northwestern’s MS in IMC Professional program.
With a winning professional statement in hand, now is the time to apply to the Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications Professional program at Medill. Review our admissions requirements and application deadlines, and check out our tips for requesting letters of recommendation and refreshing your resume for your graduate school application.