Interview with Rachel Slutsky, Accepted admissions consultant [Show summary]

Want to know what makes for stupendous statements of purpose or impressive MBA essays? Our guest, and recent addition to Accepted’s team of consultants, is an expert at both. But, for some of you her main claim to fame may be her status as a Harvard PhD Student. In this podcast she discusses how she earned admission to Harvard for a fully funded PhD and what makes for great graduate school application essays. She has also worked with applicants coming from the military and discusses some of the challenges unique to that applicant cohort as well as how to overcome them.

Find out how to apply to grad school successfully from an admissions consultant and Harvard PhD student [Show notes]

Our guest today, Rachel Slutsky, earned her bachelors in English Lit and Jewish Studies from Yeshiva University, her masters in Judaic Studies from the University of Chicago, and is currently pursuing her PhD in Religion and Religious Studies at Harvard University. Since her days as an undergrad she has worked as a writing tutor and teacher, application essay editor and admissions consultant, and she has also edited for the prestigious Harvard Theological Review. Needless to say she knows a ton about the writing required of successful graduate school applicants and students, and she’s going to share that insight with us today.

Can you tell us about your background? Where you grew up? How did you come to pursue the academic path? [2:12]

As you mentioned, I am getting a PhD in religion. I am from the Boston area and had religious studies courses in high school, and my teacher really inspired me. I saw myself being her, and thought I would be a high school religious studies teacher, but when I was in my first year of college, I took a class with a professor who reminded me a lot of my high school teacher. I wrote to my high school teacher and wondered if this professor was at college when she was there, and in fact this professor had made HER want to teach. I switched my goal to teaching similar content but on a graduate school level.

You are in a fully funded PhD program in Religion and Religious Studies at Harvard. Getting into a Harvard PhD program is something many people would give their eye teeth for. How did you do it? [3:57]

I have to admit there is always some piece of luck to it. There is also persistence and actual skill. For persistence I applied to be a Harvard undergrad and did not get accepted. I was not too distraught about it at the time - I really felt like I could succeed there and could go there for another degree. They allow you to submit an application of any sort three times, so I decided for my masters not to apply to Harvard since I knew I wanted a PhD afterwards and wanted to try again then. The real skill thing was being able to honestly evaluate myself. Even though I look back now and think I would have been okay as a Harvard undergrad, I did not present an application that showed that at the time. I wasn’t thinking about the application in a complex way. It was only by the end of college that I felt I understood what it means to apply well somewhere.

In terms of skill, for the application specifically it involves tailoring. It cannot be a common application. You have to figure out a way to stand out. That is really important. It is a performance, and while not exaggerating, you have to put on your best outfit, your best face, and it is the time to show off.