Free TCO Guides

Projects and research · 2 min

Intellectual curiosity becomes visible when a question changes what you do next. You do not need a laboratory, a publication or a dramatic discovery to begin.

Records and references · 2 min

Your experience becomes convincing when the reader can see your work. A prestigious title cannot do that explaining for you, and an ordinary responsibility does not need disguising.

Writing in your own voice · 2 min

Texture helps a reader understand your habits, relationships and way of seeing things beyond your academic interests.

Choosing and planning · 2 min

“Excellent faculty” could describe hundreds of universities. Useful research helps you explain what you want to learn, why a particular course makes sense and what you still need to check.

Writing in your own voice · 2 min

A strong response answers what the reader actually asked. Elegant phrasing cannot rescue an answer that spends its limited space on a different question.

Records and references · 2 min

A recommendation gives the reader another informed view of you. Choose an appropriate person and provide context, leaving the judgment and writing to them.

Writing in your own voice · 2 min

Rereading without a purpose can hide mistakes. Our three-pass method gives each review a different job: meaning, accuracy and the submitted version.

Choosing and planning · 2 min

Your application route changes the question you need to answer. An undergraduate, transfer or master’s application should not be the same story with a different university name.

Choosing and planning · 2 min

If you are choosing a US undergraduate degree because you hope to become a doctor, plan two stages: your college education and a later medical-school application. Do not treat acceptance to college as a reserved place in medicine.