Heller Admissions Blog Articles in January, 2021

Month: January 2021

The Final Stretch: Sami’s Last Semester

Sami Rovins COEX/MS ’21

After a year and a half at Heller, I’m finally approaching my last semester as a grad student. It can feel sometimes like I have one foot in Heller and one foot out the door. I’m still focused on my assignments and school projects, while also thinking about potential jobs and what my next moves might be. Do I want to move back home to Philadelphia, or try living someplace new? What kind of work environment do I see myself thriving in? What are the next steps I should take to reach my goals?

This is an exciting place to be in my life, but it is also challenging. It can be hard to stay focused and motivated when I’m so close to being finished with my degrees. I keep myself on track in a number of ways. First, I stay as organized as possible so nothing slips through the cracks. I do this with the help of my Google calendar, a journal, and many, many sticky notes. For me, it’s much harder to forget a task if it’s written down on a list!

To keep focused, I also make sure to find the time for self-care and socially distanced time with friends. In the COVID era, it’s so easy to feel isolated, which shifts my focus away from my school work. Seeing friends and engaging in self-care is just as important to maintaining motivation as keeping organized and on schedule. Spending time chatting in a friend’s backyard leaves me feeling refreshed and provides me with a much-needed breath of fresh air. This picks my spirits up, and allows me to renew my motivation so I can get back to work.

I also make time to think about potential future jobs, moving away from Waltham, and starting a new stage of my life. I find that it’s important to set aside this time, otherwise thinking about these topics seeps into the time I need to spend on writing my Capstone paper, for instance. Setting aside time to think about the future, rather than trying to suppress these thoughts, allows me more time to concentrate on the work that still needs to get done.

I know that my last semester at Heller will be difficult for many reasons. The classes will be challenging, I’ll be worrying about future plans, and I’m sure I’ll feel nostalgic looking back on my previous semesters. But I feel prepared knowing that I have the skills and resources to take care of myself and to stay on track.

Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Writing Your Statement of Purpose Part II

January 26, 2021 / amandamiller / 0 Comments

In my head, I’ve been calling this post “What a former English teacher can teach you about writing a statement”, because the truth is, even though your statement of purpose isn’t the same as a personal statement, it is still a narrative. You are still telling a story. Your challenge will be to write an engaging and compelling story, while presenting all of your qualifications. So… how do you do that?

Any English teacher will tell you that the backbone of any good story is structure. You could have the most amazing and creative story in your head, but if your reader can’t follow it, your story is ultimately no good. The same goes for your statement of purpose: you could be the most amazing applicant in the history of Heller, but if your statement of purpose doesn’t connect the dots between your impressive resume to why you’re interested in this program, and from this program to your future career goals, it all falls apart. Today, I’m going to share what I think of as “the anatomy” of a good statement of purpose.

Section One: Hook + Introduction

In this section, you want to introduce who you are and what has inspired you to pursue a graduate-level degree. Pretty straightforward, right? Not really. Think of it this way: the committee reading your application is probably reading tens of applications a day, and hundreds over the course of a cycle. Your job in this section is to make yourself stand out. You want to share what made you seek out a graduate-level degree in an interesting and engaging way. That means avoiding cliches like, “From a young age, I have always been interested in x”; instead share a concrete story that shows your interest in x! If your interest really was sparked at a young age (and by the way, it’s okay if it wasn’t!), tell the story of when you first realized it. “I was seven when I noticed that my classmate had holes in her shoes” is a much more interesting opening line than “I have been interested in economic inequality from a young age”. The golden rule here is show, not tell.

Section Two: Why Me?

Next up, you want to begin to lay out what makes you qualified for this program. Don’t repeat your resume verbatim (we have that too!), but focus on the skills and accomplishments that you’ve obtained over the years and be specific. Rather than saying, “I worked at XYZ Organization for five years as a program manager”, say “During my time as a program manager for XYZ Organization, I was responsible for running weekly reports on X initiative and presenting these reports to shareholders, which as a result, significantly strengthened my data analysis and visualization skills”. Some questions to ask yourself while writing: What qualities and skills do you have that show that you would succeed in the program? What do you bring to the program that’s unique? What differentiates you and your viewpoint?

Section Three: Why This Program?

In the previous section, you’ve demonstrated what you already have; in this section, you want to think about what you’re missing, i.e., what you want to gain from this program. This can include what skills you want to gain, what areas you’d like to strengthen, which faculty you’d like to work with, what opportunities you want to take advantage of, and why this program is appealing to you. Again, specifics are key here, so do your research! It’s easy to say “I’m interested in working with Professor X” or “I want to take Y class”; tell us why! Much better to say, “Professor X’s research on health outcomes for rural populations is extremely relevant to my interest in opioid addiction in rural communities” or “Although I have a strong background in quantitative analysis, I am interested in taking the Applied Qualitative Research Methods course in order to develop my ability to ask complex questions about the healthcare system”.

Section Four: Conclusion + What’s Next?

So now you have what led you to graduate school and what you hope to accomplish while in graduate school. This last section is to tie it all together: With the skills that you’ve gained (enumerated in section three), what’s next for you? Ideally, this will underscore the importance of your choice to pursue graduate study.

In general, your first and last sections will probably be a little shorter than your second and third sections, and you may find that your second and third sections might work better blended together (for example, a paragraph about your research interests in the past and what you’re interested in researching while in school, or a paragraph about your professional accomplishments and what your professional skillset is missing), but these are the basic questions that will form the skeleton of your statement of purpose and help guide you as your craft your narrative of what led you to apply, what you hope to accomplish in graduate school, and what your goals are for after you finish.

Andrea’s 2021 Resolutions

January 21, 2021 / andreatyree / 0 Comments

Andrea Tyree, MPP’22

Lately, I haven’t even attempted to make a list of New Year’s resolutions. I’ve had too many years of making grand commitments on January 1^st, and by April I can’t even remember what I was supposed to do. I find starting a New Year’s resolution in March to be much more effective. Don’t ask me why. Something about March makes me want to change my life…

But for the sake of grad school (and this blog), this year I will try again! If I learned anything from my first semester, it’s that graduate school can take over your life. It’s easy to let hobbies, self-care, and even old friends fall by the wayside when you’re diving head first into academia. And if you’re one of the many graduate students who also has a job or a child (or both!), then there’s really not much time for anything else.

I’m making these resolutions with us in mind. It’s easy to let the world pass us by while trying to simultaneously get a degree and keep our lives together. Yet we have to remember (and honestly, I’m just talking to myself here) to dedicate time to activities that make us happy, relax us, and overall keep us sane. Who has time for that mid-semester mental breakdown anyway?! Here are my resolutions that (hopefully) will help prevent that:

Spend at least 1 hour every day away from the screens

What a sad goal to start with. But committing at least one consecutive hour away from the screens every day is necessary for grad students (especially for those of us in Zoom university). Although we have to stare at our computers for most of the day, we don’t have to spend every study break watching Netflix, Youtube, or scrolling through social media. It’s fun and oh so mind-numbing, but our eyes need a break. I plan to spend this hour relaxing, listening to music, cooking, spending time with my partner, or doing one of the following resolutions!

Call a friend, family member, or therapist every week

Now I’m not saying speak to the same person every week (unless you see your therapist every week… like me), but talking with someone who’s world does not revolve around endless assignments will help pull you out of whatever funk or anxiety grad school may have put you in. Plus your mother/father/old best friend from high school or college wants to hear from you. Trust me. (Note: this can also be checked off by speaking to a neighbor or coworker—about something other than work—for an extended period of time.)

Go outside every day. Even if it’s freezing. Even if it’s just for 3 minutes. Do it!

That fresh air is necessary! Taking ten deep breaths in fresh air can relieve stress that you didn’t even know you were holding onto. Spending time outside last semester brought me pure joy. But I didn’t do it as often as I could have. This semester, I have a feeling I’m going to need that joy.

Do something that makes me smile or laugh every day.

Sometimes we have to consciously bring joy into our lives. It’s easy forget about it with the responsibilities of work and school. This year I want joy to be a priority in my life. For me, most of the previous resolutions would bring my joy every day. For you it may be different and that’s okay! But trust, a good laugh a day keeps the anxiety monster away.

I hope these resolutions can help you too! Whether you’re a first-year, second-year, or newly admitted student, I think all of us could benefit from starting these habits. Happy New Year!

Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Letters of Recommendation

January 19, 2021 / amandamiller / 0 Comments

I don’t know about you, but for me, asking for letters of recommendation was the hardest part of my graduate school application. The statement of purpose was fine, because I like writing and I had a clear sense of why each program would have been a good fit for me, and I already had what I felt like was a fairly strong resume, so I only had to make a few tweaks. But reaching out to my professional and academic contacts to ask them to do something for me felt… awkward! I hate feeling like I’m inconveniencing people, and I felt certain that everyone I was asking had about a hundred and one more important things to do.

Now, after having worked as both an instructor of record and a manager, I’ve written several letters of recommendation myself and really enjoyed doing so. Especially with people I had close professional relationships with, it was always a pleasure to reflect back on my experience with that person and share what I thought would make them an asset to a program or a job position. But I’ve also realized that there are several things an applicant to do to ensure that their recommender is set up to write them the best recommendation possible.

First, and I cannot emphasize this enough; before you add a recommender to your application, check in with them first and confirm that they will be willing to write you a recommendation. In this first email, make sure you’re clear about when the deadline for the program is. These letters do take time, and the person may not be able to make that commitment depending on what else is going on in their work or personal life. It’s also just good manners!

Once your recommender has agreed, reply with a thank you note and attach your resume so they can reference specific accomplishments or timeframes. When applying to a graduate school, you can also share what appeals to you about this program, as well as letting the recommender know what you’d like them to highlight in their letter. A good thank you note could go something like this:

Dear _________,

Thank you so much for agreeing to write a letter of recommendation for my application to X Program at Y University. I have wanted to pursue a graduate degree in Z field for a long time, and I believe that your letter of recommendation gives me an advantage in this competitive field.

Your class on _______ helped to spark my insight in Z field, and I hope that in ______ class, I demonstrated an interest in A, B, and C, all of which are very relevant to this program. Something that drew me to X Program was it’s _____________, and I feel your recommendation could underscore my interest and qualifications in this area.

I am very grateful that you’ve agreed to write this letter of recommendation; I know it will be an asset to my application. I’ve attached my resume for your convenience, but please reach out to me if there’s any more information that I could provide that would be helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Just like that, you’ve not only thanked them for the time and effort they’ll be taking in writing your letter of recommendation, but you’ve also given them a clear idea of what you’re hoping their letter of recommendation will highlight and connected the dots for them between your experience and interests and this program. This can be the key to getting a great letter of recommendation versus an average one.

Doug’s New Year’s Resolutions

January 14, 2021 / douglasnevins / 0 Comments

Doug Nevins BA ’11, MPP ’21

While I’m wary at this point of setting New Year’s resolutions, and try not to make any that are too unrealistic (case in point: I actually CANCELLED my Planet Fitness membership last week), I’m tempted each January to set some goals or develop a new hobby or discipline. This year I am aspiring to read more for pleasure, and hoping that the January break gives me time to get a head start of sorts.

The impossibility of reading for pleasure, given the voluminous quantity of reading assignments for class, is a bit of a running joke in graduate school. Still, I’ve found that during the pandemic period I’ve turned increasingly to movies and TV for entertainment, and while these have their virtues I am looking to integrate some novel and short story reading into my routine (plus, I am running out of things to watch!) As a former English major, I have always enjoyed fiction and poetry, but increasingly my reading habits have turned to non-fiction. I devour news and articles about current events, but these do not offer nearly the same enjoyment as a great book.

So, I thought I’d share a few of the titles I have on my shelf at the moment.

3 by Vonnegut – as advertised, this collection includes three Kurt Vonnegut novels – Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Breakfast of Champions. While I read Slaughterhouse-Five in high school, I’m not sure I fully appreciated it, and as many friends have recommended Vonnegut to me I think it’s time to delve more deeply into his work.

Ripley novels – another collection, this one including the first three novels in Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley series. I read the excellent The Talented Mr. Ripley a long time ago (the movie is good too!) but have not followed up with subsequent titles. I think I also am missing being able to travel, so novels involving holidays in Paris and Tuscany (even when the protagonist is as evil as Ripley) are an attractive alternative.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – this one is actually not yet on my shelf, but I am planning to take it out from my local library, currently offering contactless pick-ups. While I love the fairly recent film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, I have never read any John le Carre, and given his recent passing, it seems like the time to get started. His first novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, is reputed to be a good place to start.

The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead’s alternate history novel, in which the titular railroad is a literal rail network, has been on my shelf for a while and seems like a timely read.

While there’s no guarantee how much time I’ll have once classes begin, I’m resolving (publicly!) to make an effort to read these novels and others this year. I’d welcome any recommendations! Happy reading.

Writing Your Best Statement of Purpose with Sami Rovins

January 12, 2021 / samirovins / 0 Comments

Sami Rovins COEX/MS ’21

One of the questions I get asked most as an Admissions Graduate Assistant is, “how can I write the best statement of purpose possible?” It’s a tricky question of course, because everyone’s statement of purpose will be different. But there are a few tricks and pieces of advice I can give to help you create your best statement of purpose possible.

Do your best to make sure that you are truly being reflected in what you write. This is your opportunity to showcase who you are! What do you, as an individual, bring to Heller? What can you add to our classrooms and to our community? What will your experiences, interests, and aspirations lead you to do and accomplish at Heller? Try to convey your passion and excitement for the degree you are pursuing. What specifically draws you to apply for this degree? How have your past experiences shaped you and led you to where you are now?

In my statement of purpose, as an example, I wrote about my experience working at Doctors Without Borders headquarters in NYC right after graduating college. This was an essential experience for me and to this day it contributes to my understanding of what I study here at Heller. My experience in this job was influential in both personal and professional ways. I think that writing about experiences that have shaped you in multiple ways is a great way to start your statement of purpose.

I also wrote about my professional and academic interests which I planned to pursue. I described my desire to learn more about women’s reproductive health, particularly in a South Asian context. Although I had not yet studied this topic, including it in my statement of purpose was a way of clearly outlining my goals and plans for my time at Heller. What interests you, even if you’re not already knowledgeable about it?

I also recommend writing about what drew you to apply to be a grad student at Heller specifically. You definitely don’t need to praise Heller, but I encourage you to tell us why you think you’d fit in well here, and what you can contribute to our community. Have you read about any particular courses at Heller that peaked your interest? Or any faculty whose interests mirror your own?

The greatest bit of advice I can give (at the risk of sounding corny) is to be yourself when writing your statement of purpose. This is your opportunity to show us who you are, not who you think we want you to be. We want to read about your interests and aspirations, your goals and plans. Tell us who you really are!

The Art of Waiting

January 7, 2021 / amandamiller / 0 Comments

For PhD students and master’s students applying for the first priority deadline (at Heller, it’s January 15th), the hardest part of the application process is almost upon us: the waiting time. The time between when you press that “Submit” button and when you hear back from the schools you’ve applied to can be madness-inducing.

I get it: waiting is hard. In a society geared around ultra-convenience, we don’t get a lot of opportunities to practice patience. If we’re hungry, we can order a pizza that will be delivered in thirty minutes or less, or microwave dinner in under five minutes. If we want to talk to someone, we can send them a text or give them a call with the expectation that we’ll hear back from them soon. If we want to watch a movie, there’s an endless selection just a few clicks away. And if the pizza gets to us after 40 minutes, or we don’t get a text back in a few minutes, or the movie we really wanted to watch isn’t available… we’re annoyed.

This past year has made me even more aware of how bad many of us, including me, are at waiting… but it’s also forced me to come to terms with the fact that there are many things that I will have to wait for, whether it’s for my recent COVID test results, for travel to be safe again, or for my favorite restaurant to open back up. This is what I’ve learned over the past year about the art of waiting:

Stay busy, but in a productive way. This might seem contradictory, but waiting doesn’t necessarily mean that you do absolutely nothing. If you’ve submitted your application, chances are, there’s still a lot to do! Some students will put that nervous energy into writing to admissions officers every day asking for an update, but if you can redirect that energy into productive endeavors, you’ll be a lot better off. You can write thank you letters to your recommenders, you can look up how to request official transcripts from your undergraduate institution in case you’re admitted, you can take a free course online or volunteer (even virtually!) to strengthen your resume, you can learn a new skill or develop a new hobby; the goal here should be to do something that will have a positive effect on you no matter the outcome of your admissions decision.

Trust the process. As hard as it can be to give up control, sometimes you have to surrender to the wait. If you’ve submitted your application, have faith in yourself that you’ve done your best work and that now you have to wait for the outcome. You also have to trust the process: if you’re accepted, that’s great, but if not, it may be because it wasn’t the right fit for you.. and that’s a good thing! Getting accepted to a program that isn’t right for you and your goals isn’t a good outcome, either for the school or for you. Know that whatever your decision letter says, you will be okay.

Phone a friend. Even if you do all the things I’ve listed above, you may still need assurance that everything is going to be okay. That’s completely normal! If it all starts to feel like too much, reach out to someone close to you, whether a family member, friend or colleague. You probably know other people applying to graduate school, so why not form a support group? Even if you don’t, you can find forums all over the internet where you can commiserate with people in the exact same boat as you. Find a place where you can vent all of your anxiety and worry, and then repeat steps one and two.

Waiting is built into our lives: when I was a kid, I was waiting to go to college, then I was waiting to graduate, and once I graduated, I was waiting to get a “grown-up” job. Even once you get your decision letter, you’ll then be waiting to start your time at Heller. Since it’s inescapable, why not use this time to learn how to wait well?

My First Semester: A Look Back with Andrea Tyree

January 5, 2021 / andreatyree / 0 Comments

Andrea Tyree, MPP’22

With finals season officially at a close, it feels as though I’ve just awoken from an enlightening, yet hectic, dream. My first thought was: “Wow, my apartment is a mess.” But after a thorough spring cleaning (in the middle of a literal snowstorm), I was able to genuinely reflect on my first semester at Heller and remember some key lessons learned.

Like most students, I was worried about starting graduate school in the midst of a pandemic. Because classes were completely online, I chose not to move to the Waltham area and instead, remained in West Virginia for the semester (and if you’ve ever looked at the rent in the greater Waltham area, you’d get why). Yet I worried how connected I would be to everyone.

I also worried about the workload. The idea of taking four classes didn’t seem too overwhelming, but I had been out of school for about three years—just enough time to forget what it felt like to write a 10- to 20-page paper. Other graduate students warned me that I’d need the extra hours available during the week to keep up with the workload. Was I up to the challenge?

Three and half months later I can confidently say (pending final grades) that I was, thanks to some incredible support from my classmates and professors!

Whether you find a place right in the center of Waltham or 500 miles away, you’ll find that your classmates are there for you. My MPP cohort is spread out from one coast to the other and yet we communicate nearly every day. I mean, being in a classroom is nice, but have you ever shared real-time reactions and memes with your 20-40 classmates about what’s happening in class? It can truly turn some of the slowest guest speaker lecture days into one of your favorite classes.

Pro tip: Download Slack before graduate school and use the Newly Admitted Heller Facebook page to build your cohort’s Slack channel! You’ll thank me later, trust me.

On a serious note, being able to communicate with my classmates outside of monitored spaces was a godsend when I was lost in a lecture or missed a class. The kind of people who attend Heller are the kind who are willing to go above and beyond to help their classmates. We’re truly all in this together (cue HSM earworm) and I’m constantly amazed by the things that I learn from my classmates.

The workload wasn’t the easiest adjustment, yet it didn’t take long to find a study routine that worked for me. Remember: If it works for you, stick with, don’t compare it to others. Imposter syndrome is real and will have you feeling like you’re not doing enough real quick. Don’t let it get you!

But if you feel like you’re struggling more than you should, be honest with yourself and others. Talk to your classmates to check if you’re doing too much. Are you skimming most of the five 30-page reading assignments, or are you deep reading all of them? Are you finding 50 sources for a 10 page paper or a reasonable 20? We’ve all been there! I definitely have…but being honest and speaking about it with my classmates and professors prevented endless future headaches. Heller professors want to build you up, not break you down. Don’t be afraid to meet with a professor one-on-one to talk about where you’re at. I promise they (at least MPP professors) won’t bite.

Looking back, this semester wasn’t too bad (though I may be wearing some rose-colored glasses). But I know I couldn’t have gotten through it without my cohort. To the applicants and newly-admitted students, find the people who will have your back during this experience. Trust me, it’s not as hard as it sounds!