Part A: What Are Your Reasons For Pursuing Graduate Studies?

Graduate School Bootcamp Workbook
Name: Date:
Part A: What are Your Reasons for Pursuing Graduate Studies?

What are my expectations for today and how can I make the best of this session?
WHY do I want to pursue graduate studies?
1
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Activity: What are my reasons for pursuing graduate studies?
Why do you want to pursue graduate studies? My ranking
1) It’s the next thing to do after my undergraduate degree
2) Career switch
3) I finished with a low grade in undergrad and I want to upgrade my

qualifications
4) My parents want to pay for it
5) More career options
6) I want to join a community of knowledge in a particular field
7) I want to experience better education
8) I want my children and family to have a better life and education

that I had
9) I don’t want to waste my good grades
10) Learning more about a specific field
11) Gaining access to a network of like-minded people
12) Increased pay
13) I want the prestige of a certain graduate school on my CV
14) Everyone has advised me to go to graduate school
15) Immigration
16) Others
2
My two (2) highest ranked colors are:
Activity: Based on my rankings, WHERE is it logical to pursue my graduate studies?
Ask yourself: Who, within my network, can I consult about this decision?
3
Activity: What is my answer to the Bill Gates question?
Ask yourself: What are the top three (3) career prospects in my chosen course?
4
What are my strategies for finding opportunities and getting funding?
5
PART B – Your CV & Application Essays

What parts of my CV do I need to work on?
What are my concerns about my graduate school essays?
6
Who am I submitting my graduate school essays to? Build a persona for a member of the admissions
committee and let it guide you. What areas do I need to be mindful about when I am writing my
essays?
In no more than 50 words, describe who you want the selection committee to see you as. What 3
facts/ pieces of evidence supports this position? What information in your documents can cause
confusion? How do you intend to rectify this?
7
List 5 places, people or causes that you are associated with that will enhance your story. Remember
you need to be able to contextualize these associations. Don’t overthink this! Write what comes to
mind. If nothing that comes to mind, what associations would you like to develop? List them and
start working towards making connections.
List 3 places/platforms where you have been recognized.
8
List 5 receipts you can exhibit in your documents. Don’t overthink it. Remember to make them
connect to your story. Use contextualization and association to demonstrate!
Activity: Let’s Build Your Persona & Essays Using the PR Strategy!
Building your persona My answer.
YOU MUST WRITE BETWEEN 50 - 60 WORDS PER

QUESTION. NO MORE NO LESS! WRITE FROM YOUR
HEART!
1. Why are you pursuing this degree/

scholarship?
2. What is your pain point/ what is
the problem you hope to fix once
you are empowered with this
degree/ scholarship?
3. What experience made you
passionate about the problem in
question 2?
4. How does your story/ history and
present understanding make you
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the best person to propose
solutions to this problem?
5. What have you actually done to
solve the problem in question 2?
(no matter how small)
6. What’s your most outstanding
leadership experience
7. Who is the most important person
in your life/what is the most
important thing in your career and
why is it so? How does this
connect to your degree?
8. What have you been awarded or
recognized for?
9. What makes you excited about
your proposed degree? Is your
excitement connected to any SDG?
10. Who is your career model or
motivation (a person you look up
to in your field) and why?
11. What are you most proud of?
12. What is the one change you wish

you could make if you had the
power?
13. What do people say you are good
at?
Key:
Green= Purpose
Blue= Receipts
10
Write a persona in 50-100 words. If someone reads your persona, they should know what you
stand for/ trying to achieve and how you are equipped to achieve that goal.
Which stories can you use to begin your essays? Remember it should be short but relatable and
should be in context. List 3 possible introduction ideas. Don’t develop the idea. Just list.
11
Time to DECODE! List all your essay questions and decode them!
Write a goal that scares you a little bit. Do your receipts show you can achieve that goal? If not,
moderate the goal or get stronger receipts.
12
PART C – Supporting Documentation

Based on our discussion, identify three (3) potential referees and three (3) back up referees.
How can I build a relationship with the registry of my undergraduate university with regards getting
my transcript?
Do I need a research proposal? What is my research interest and my research question?
13
Do I need to submit a writing sample and what do I submit?
Do my selected schools require me to write any tests?
S/N School Required tests Results /cut off

mark
14
What application fees do I need to pay?
S/N School Application fees Can I request a

waiver? (Yes/No)
Do I have any additional information/mitigating circumstances to add to my application?
NOTES
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Part A: What Are Your Reasons For Pursuing Graduate Studies?

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Graduate School Bootcamp Workbook

Part A: What are Your Reasons for Pursuing Graduate Studies?

WHY do I want to pursue graduate studies?

Activity: What are my reasons for pursuing graduate studies?

Why do you want to pursue graduate studies? My ranking

1) It’s the next thing to do after my undergraduate degree

3) I finished with a low grade in undergrad and I want to upgrade my

4) My parents want to pay for it

5) More career options

6) I want to join a community of knowledge in a particular field

7) I want to experience better education

8) I want my children and family to have a better life and education

9) I don’t want to waste my good grades

10) Learning more about a specific field

11) Gaining access to a network of like-minded people

12) Increased pay

13) I want the prestige of a certain graduate school on my CV

14) Everyone has advised me to go to graduate school

My two (2) highest ranked colors are:

Activity: Based on my rankings, WHERE is it logical to pursue my graduate studies?

Activity: What is my answer to the Bill Gates question?

What are my strategies for finding opportunities and getting funding?

PART B – Your CV & Application Essays

What are my concerns about my graduate school essays?

List 3 places/platforms where you have been recognized.

Building your persona My answer.

YOU MUST WRITE BETWEEN 50 - 60 WORDS PER

1. Why are you pursuing this degree/

11. What are you most proud of?

12. What is the one change you wish

PART C – Supporting Documentation

Do I need a research proposal? What is my research interest and my research question?

Do I need to submit a writing sample and what do I submit?

Do my selected schools require me to write any tests?

S/N School Required tests Results /cut off

What application fees do I need to pay?

S/N School Application fees Can I request a

Do I have any additional information/mitigating circumstances to add to my application?

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