Application Advice – 4 Tips for Your Accomplishments

One component the Admissions Team uses to identify students who possess the qualities and potential that the Minerva experience demands is the Accomplishment section — a place to share the various activities that reflect your passion and commitment.

These can transcend traditional definitions of “achievement” and include activities both in and out of the classroom, such as personal projects, involvement in academic olympiads or Model UN groups, literary or artistic works, leadership of non-academic initiatives, work experience, and any other activities you are particularly proud of. We give you a unique opportunity to share up to six of your accomplishments or achievements from high school and after.

Applicants are required to submit evidence to support their claims. Evidence for Accomplishments can be submitted in different forms: pictures, videos, social media information, newspaper articles, website links, certificates, or diplomas. We also ask applicants to share any contact person that could be contacted to validate that accomplishment. Please do not share family or friends as your personal contact.

Successful applicants have used the following approaches in their Accomplishments:

Tip 1. Elaborate on each accomplishment.

Give context for each accomplishment, and quantify the impact and/or significance of your work, when relevant:

• If you won a competition, award, or election, how many competitors did you face? What was the result of your success?
• If you led an organization, how many people did you oversee, and/or how many individuals did your work impact?
• If you raised money for a cause or oversaw a budget, how much did you raise? If this was a recurring activity, how did the role or budget grow over the course of your participation?
• If you were in a performance or conducted research, what was your role? What venue or environment did this activity take place in?

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ELABORATING ON ACCOMPLISHMENTS

TIP 2. Share Personal Achievements.

Achievements can also be very personal. Minerva gives you the opportunity to share personal accomplishments that are important to you.

• Offer insight into moments in which you took great initiative, made an impact on your community, created something meaningful, overcame obstacles, or did something out of the norm for a greater purpose.

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TIP 3. Provide Evidence of Your External Achievements.

Be sure to include any documents that can help us validate your claims (e.g., money raised, club size, competition award, etc).

• Good evidence can take a variety of forms: a link to a website (e.g., Youtube, blog, e-magazine, etc.); a newspaper article that mentions your achievement; a photo of the award you won or the piece of art you created, or a letter from a reference close to the project.

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PROVIDING EVIDENCE

TIP 4. Submit at Least Four Accomplishments.

Though not required, successful applicants submit a minimum of four of their accomplishments. You should use the Accomplishments section to demonstrate the range of your interests or work you have done.

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SUBMITTING ACCOMPLISHMENTS

WHAT DOES A STRONG ACCOMPLISHMENT LOOK LIKE?

We understand that writing about an accomplishment might be challenging for some applicants. Here are some examples showing different versions of the same accomplishment to help you understand how to better illustrate them:

Example: "OK" Version

Summary: Helped with a school charity show

Detail: I was elected to my school’s student council. During that time, I helped out with Show Tunes for Shoes — a school-wide musical event that helped raise funds to buy shoes for local homeless youth. We reached our fundraising goals and even got news coverage.

Why isn’t this example strong?

This accomplishment is vague and there is not enough information on their personal contribution to the event. What was their role in putting on the show? How many funds did they help to raise? Which news coverage did they get?

Example: Great Version

Summary: Raised 33,000 rupees by organizing a school charity show

Detail: I was elected as vice-president of the student council at my school, which has 950 students. During my time as vice president, I was the lead organizer of Show Tunes for Shoes — a school-wide musical event that helped raise funds to buy shoes for local homeless youth. I oversaw a group of ten people, and in the end, the event raised 33,000 rupees and was covered in my city’s most popular newspaper, The Bangalore Times.

Why is this example strong?

Here we can see in detail the leadership experience that this applicant had, their impact on the community, and the reach that this accomplishment achieved through the high-level news coverage.

We hope that these tips were helpful. Remember, the Accomplishment section is your opportunity to show Minerva your passion, commitment, and community impact.

For any further questions, please contact the Admissions Team at admissions@minerva.edu.

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