A Helpful Grad School Essay Writing Source

"The Grad School Handbook: An Insider’s Guide to Getting In and Succeeding, by Richard Jerrard and Margot Jerrard."

Reviewed by Carole S. Appel 

In this really helpful review, Appel explores the never ending questions about how tutors can help tackle graduate school cover letters or essays. Since I've experienced at least two of these in the time that I've worked in the writing center and since I plan to write a few of these myself, I figured this article would provide useful for other tutors as well. 

Appel's review begins with the questions: 
"What do we do about an essay that is original but quirky, that amuses us but may lack the substance the graduate school faculty is seeking? How does a student who dropped out for a few years and resume school in his late twenties account for the gap in his academic chronology? What kind of mental checklist can we use in scanning a draft to see whether it includes the essential information the student should be providing? Where should we start with a student who has not begun to write yet?"

In seeking the answers to these questions, she found that the book, The Grad School Handbook, Richard and Margot Jerrard, provides help. She reviews the book and finds a chapter on the personal essay which provides great advice on writing an essay or cover letter for graduate school applications. 

"The chapter deals with how to explain the occasional poor semester or account for gaps, and it provides examples of both good and bad paragraphs from actual essays, including anonymous quotations from “two whose essays wrecked their chances.”