What Reviewers Look For in the Cornell Graduate — Personal Statement

This rubric reviews how clearly your experiences explain your decision to pursue graduate study, what you have already done that shows readiness, and how you would participate in a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect. It also checks whether the writing is clear, organized, and complete. A supplied current prompt governs what to address; you do not need to disclose hardship or identity, name faculty or clubs, or use a job, leadership, service, or success story.

What We Check

Mistakes We Flag

Listing experiences without a graduate-study connection

Background, activities, or places need to show how they changed your choice or understanding of graduate study.

Calling graduate school the “logical next step” without explaining why

The statement needs your reason for pursuing graduate study, not just a conclusion.

Naming a strength without showing what you did

Readiness is better shown through a real response or practice, such as a change in how you learned or worked with others.

Taking full credit for a group outcome

When discussing team or community work, explain your own part in the effort.

Promising inclusion without describing how you participate

For belonging, explain a grounded way you learn or work with others. Future plans can fit here, but they do not by themselves show readiness.

How this rubric reads your essay

• Built from published reader guidance — the sources are listed below.
• Scored per section against defined criteria, not general impressions.
• Calibrated for consistent scoring, so a better draft shows up in the score.

References

Frequently Asked Questions