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What should an ideal Ph.D. application essay include?
A good essay is an important part of the Ph.D. application. As you write your essay, you should take into consideration the following guidelines:
1) You should present a clear statement of a substantive concentration area and your reasons for selecting this area.
2) Your essay should include a statement of research interests within an area of substantive concentration (For instance, if you indicate that reading comprehension is your substantive concentration area, you might want to focus on characteristics of students with comprehension disorders, or on curriculum design, etc.). Please be as specific as possible (we understand that this focus will develop during your graduate career. Some questions that should be answered in this statement are:
Why this area is of interest to you?
What experience do you already have in this area?
What question(s) are you eager to answer?
3) You should include the names of faculty members at Michigan with whom you would like to work and explain why (please suggest a potential advisor if possible). Note: A strong Ph.D. applicant will spend some time looking into the research interests of Michigan faculty. This can be done via our faculty web sites or by a trip to a research library to seek out some of our recent publications.
4) You should also include a discussion of the career path you propose to follow after completing your Ph.D.
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