Application Intervention® Case Study: International Applicant to MPA/ID Passionate about Equity in Education
Our client Clarissa is an international applicant who found us while preparing her application for the MPA/ID program. With an impressive goal of becoming the Minister of Education in her home country, Clarissa is passionate about making education in her home country more equitable and accessible.
Clarissa had already prepared her resume and drafted her essays when she came to us, but wanted to take her materials to the next level. She signed up for a 90-minute Application Intervention®, an excellent choice for applicants looking for specific feedback or who are pretty far along in their application process.
Clarissa had some specific concerns. She shared, “I’m applying at the same time as a colleague. She works with me, we have a very similar background and I’m kind of afraid that my application may not be good enough.”
In a 90-minute working session, our founder, Kaneisha, sat down with Clarissa to offer some actionable advice. In particular, Clarissa wanted to review her resume and essays. She and Kaneisha spent about half the session editing her resume to make it as strong as possible. Kaneisha shared notes on how to make the resume more impactful, easier to understand and how to improve the formatting. Now, Clarissa’s resume will focus on the impact of the work she’s done instead of listing out a series of tasks.
After working through Clarissa’s resume, Kaneisha live-edited 3 of her essays. The editing covered everything from rewording for clarity and directness to making sure the pieces addressed the prompts as clearly and effectively as possible. Kaneisha talked through some options for how Clarissa could reduce certain parts of her essays and strengthen others to help her tell a holistic story.
Grades were another trouble area for Clarissa. She said, “For my grades…they’re not bad, but they’re not excellent. For an MPA/ID, I think [good grades are] what they are looking for.” To help with this, Kaneisha walked Clarissa through a former client’s optional essay. Optional essays present an opportunity to explain anything the admissions committee may be worried about. The example Kaneisha shared was from a client who had the same goals and concerns and followed a simple formula Clarissa can now easily adopt.
Clarissa was a strong applicant in her own right, and we helped her add some polish and articulate her story. After her Application Intervention® session, Clarissa shared that the session surprised her, “It’s been intensive…For example, I thought the CV was going to be much faster, but I have seen that there is a lot of space to improve. I appreciate that.”
