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Queen’s Personal Statement Workshop – January 2017

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The above tweet references a page from the Queen’s site that should be read by ALL! The page includes BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO (read the complete page):

Personal Statement of Experience (PSE) and Supplementary Essay

The PSE and Supplementary Essay requirement has changed. You may have siblings or friends who have had to do a PSE in the past and give you information that will be incorrect! Read on to learn about your PSE and how we use it.

What hasn’t changed is what we want to know about you! We still want to know how your experiences will contribute to the Queen’s community, and we’re still looking for:

Strong leadership

Time management skills

Commitment to your activities

How is the PSE used?

For Most Programs

Admission at Queen’s is very competitive and we use the Personal Statement of Experience (PSE), Supplementary Essay (SE) (where required) and your academic record to help make admission decisions. For all programs, except Commerce, completion of the PSE is optional-but recommended. While we recommend that all applicants submit a PSE, applicants who have not submitted a PSE (with the exception of Commerce) will be considered equally for admission to Queen’s. Your siblings or friends might tell you it’s mandatory. It’s now optional (unless you’ve applied to Commerce), but strongly recommended.

For applicants who fall within a critical range, we may consider your PSE, in support of your application to the program.

The recommended last date to submit the PSE is February 15.

Commerce

For the Commerce program, the PSE and Supplementary Essay are required documents and the recommended last date to submit is February 15th.

The bottom line …

The Queen’s PSE (Personal Statement of Experience) is an important part of the admissions process to the Commerce Program at Queens’.

The Personal Statement is about Personal Marketing …

In life we “market ourselves” in different ways to different people. Your application to Queen’s is an example of “academic marketing”.

Marketing is Job #1

The application file in its entirety is your interview for a seat in the college or university of your choice. Effective applicants treat the application file as a “marketing tool” which is targeted to the specific requirements and personalities of different  schools. As a good example of targeted marketing, consider the following excerpt from a recent biography of Bill Gates by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews:

“Toward the end of the year, Lakeside senior classman Bill Gates took on a different marketing project: the selling of William Henry Gates. Potential customers? College admissions officers. Bill had scored 800 on his math SAT and five achievement tests (although only in the low 700s on the verbal SAT), and he put it, “I wanted to know which personality of mine would appeal to the world at large.”

Witness the transformation! To Harvard, he was Bill Gates, son of a prominent lawyer, someone with connections, “the guy who was into politics… so my whole page experience was the central part of that application.” For Princeton, “I positioned myself as a computer nerd,” the programming magician who could hypnotize a minicomputer or mainframe into doing anything he commanded. For Yale, he was a consummate do-gooder and sensitive artist with thespian aspirations, “the guy who did drama, the guy who was a Boy Scout.” It was one of the earliest displays of his chameleon like, Thomas Crown-like ability to change his skin, to transform his persona – and eventually, his company’s – in order to “do business.”

The personal statement is controllable and affords the most opportunity for “direct applicant input.” They should be targeted to meet the requirements of specific schools.

The Queen’s Personal Statement Workshop is available either LIVE in Toronto or ONLINE from your location

The Queen’s Personal Statement LIVE Workshop …

Who: John Richardson – Author: Mastering The Personal Statement

When: Saturday January 28, 2017 – 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Where: University of Toronto Downtown

Fee: $150 (HST included)

The Queen’s Personal Statement ONLINE Workshop …

Who: John Richardson – Author: Mastering The Personal Statement

When: Sunday January 29, 2017 – 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Toronto (EST) Time

Where: University of Toronto Downtown

Fee: $150 (HST included)

The workshop fee includes a copy of “Mastering The Personal Statement“.

Pre-registration mandatory (use the following form):

Personal statement workshops Toronto

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Personal statements, admissions essays, and/or statements of intent are a fact of life. There is no way to proceed to law school, MBA programs, Medical schools or most graduate schools without including one. In the same way that you would market yourself to a job, you must learn to market yourself to a school. The Personal Statement Workshop has been designed to help you develop your personal statement.

It will be of interest to those who are required compose any of:

– Law School LSAT Application – LSAT Required

– MBA GMAT Application – GMAT Required

– Graduate School GRE Application – GRE may be required

– Medical School MCAT Application – MCAT required

– U.S. College SAT Application – SAT required

That said, we run different versions of the workshop which are targeted to the needs of specific groups.

Our Personal Statement Workshops include:

1. Personal Statement Workshop – The Law School/J.D./LL.B.  Application

2. Personal Statement Workshop – The Business School/MBA  Application

3. Personal Statement Workshop – The Graduate School  Application

4. Personal Statement Workshop – Queen’s Personal Statement of Experience

Each workshop approaches the application process from the perspective of “personal marketing.” Many applicants are qualified to enter the program of their choice. Yet some fail to gain admission and some succeed. In many cases, rejection letters are not based on the quality of the applicant. Rather they are based on the quality of the application file. This workshop will improve your “personal marketing” by enhancing every component of your application file.

This workshop includes information to help applicants systematically develop the personal statement, autobiographical sketch and other components of their application file.

Mastering The Personal StatementThe next Personal Statement Workshop is:

The Law School Application and Law School Personal Statement – Sunday Aug. 31/14  – 4:30  p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

University of Toronto – St. Michael’s College – Carr Hall – 100 St. Joseph ST. – Room 405 – $95 cash at the door

Queen’s Personal Statement of Experience Workshop – January 2013 – TBA – Note that the Queen’s PSE  is due on March 1.
University of Toronto – St. Michael’s College – Carr Hall – 100 St. Joseph ST. – Room TBA

Cost: $95.00.  (Free to Richardson LSAT, GMAT prep, MCAT prep and GRE prep course students)

We also recommend the book Mastering The Personal Statement which is available in bookstores. It is the perfect supplement to the workshop and was developed over many years by the author, and workshop facilitator, Mr. John Richardson, B.A., LL.B., J.D.  Law school applicants would also benefit from Law School Bound which includes a comprehensive law school application manual. Details at the Bookstore.

Join the “Personal Statement Discussion” on our Facebook page or Facebook group.