Video: Top Tips To Ace Your Masters Application

Rosie Crawford is our current Student Ambassador and the recipient of the 2020-21 FindAMasters Scholarship. Take a look at her hints and tips to help you ace your Masters application.

It's hard to know where to start when it comes to writing your Masters application. In my latest video I share what i've learned and my top tips and tricks to help you make sure your application is the best it can be!

Hey everyone my name is Rosie and I'm your FindAMasters ambassador this year!

Today I'm going to be talking to you all about my Masters application process- some of the things that I've learned that I can tell you to help you with yours including the personal statement, the CV and getting an academic reference.

For my application to Cranfield University, the personal statement was by far the most important part of my application. We had to prove that we really wanted to be on the course. That we were suited to the course, that we had experience relevant for the course and most importantly that we suited that department, you know, we would work well with those staff. For this reason, I had to tailor my statement specifically to Cranfield. Now, if you're applying to multiple different universities for Masters you're going to be wanting to write a different statement for each one. These could be completely different or just slightly different but make sure that you tailor it well so pick out some modules on each course that actually make you really want to apply there, maybe read some of the work of the tutors that are going to be teaching there or find out their research interests. See if there's a potential proposal for a research project that you could even write in your application.

There's no obligation to do it moving forward but for them to see that you're thinking about it shows that you're keen and really engaged with the subject. When I was writing my personal statement, I used this technique where I basically thought about all the ways in which I relate to my course and experiences that I've done which relate to my course.

So as you can see from this mind map this is exactly how I planned it. I put a bubble in the middle and then had links off about all the different things that I've done related to my course so they could be reading articles, papers, books. They could be different modules that I've taken at undergraduate or online courses that I've done for free, for example on futurelearn.com. Just all different academic ways of proving that I'm interested in the course that I'm applying for.

I also put quite a focus on my undergraduate dissertation because I knew that a very big part of my grade at Masters level was also going to be a dissertation like project so I was trying to express how I learned skills for that dissertation to apply to the next one and why I enjoyed it, why I want to continue with the research. Just basically summing up all the different skills that I'd already learned that I could apply to this degree. I found when writing it that sticking to a sort of chronological format worked best for me.

It might not work best for you but in terms of keeping a structure that was really succinct and flowed well, doing it in order of maybe where I first decided to apply to Cranfield or first decided to do the subject, then what I did at uni, what I've done after uni, you know, keeping it in time order just so that it flows easier in your brain. It is very likely that this won't be done on the first attempt. My first draft was very disjointed I got various family members to read over it and give me feedback and then from that, I worked out a structure. As a process, it definitely wasn't an immediate thing.

As well as the personal statement we had to submit a CV so I made sure that my CV was up to date, succinct, in a maximum of two pages, potentially one but sometimes that's quite difficult if you also need to put on all of your qualifications for an actual job post Masters or post-uni you might not need to add all of your GCSEs or anything but because this was still education I wanted to leave them on. I made sure that any work experience or volunteering I put on was tailored to the course as well you know, what skills I learned and if I'd got extra experience. I didn't necessarily put it on if it wasn't directly related, then I prioritised which things to put on my CV. A good section to have on your CV that I've learned since being at Cranfield is a key achievement section. Four points that you've done. Maybe a prize you've won, an essay competition you entered, a nomination you've had or just something you're really proud of that relates to the course in some way. Put these at the top so that they're eye-catching and that your tutors reading it see it immediately. Now I didn't actually need an academic reference for this application but I have used them for other things I've applied to including summer schools and work experience so I can give you some tips on that from my experience and from talking to other people on my course.

The best people to ask for an academic reference is your previous dissertation supervisors. They know you so well. If you've done any form of long writing thesis project or undergraduate or maybe you've submitted reports to a job if you haven't necessarily done an undergraduate degree in a while. If someone knows your writing style, they know how you work, they know how you concentrate, work with others, they're a good person to choose. This might not be your diss supervisor, it could just be a personal tutor from undergraduate or one of your lecturers that you might know better than the others. Just make sure they know who you are, where your strengths lie, some of the things you've done and you know, a bit about what you're actually applying to do. Finally, make sure someone checks over your whole application, not just the personal statement because you might have put in something a bit wrong here and there. Get someone to check your grades with the transcripts, get someone to check your addresses, just make sure it's all right and then you don't have to send an embarrassing email later explaining that you spelt your own street name wrong!

I know this was a really quick video but I hope it gave you some tips and some insight into the Masters application process. If you have any questions then do contact FindAMasters, they might have already answered your question in a blog post on the website or in a previous video so just check it all out. Thank you for watching, I hope this was helpful, goodbye!

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