Crafting the Letter of Intent and the Academic CV for successful admittance to a doctoral program.

1. Applying to Doctoral Programs:
Crafting your Letter of Intent &
Academic CV
by Laurie Prange-Martin
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2. Agenda
• What else could be considered a letter where
you outline your intent to pursue doctoral
research?
• How is a Letter of Intent like a job interview?
• How can you make your Letter of Intent
unique?
• What guidelines can you adapt from advice on
writing Cover Letters for academic job
applications?
• What is an Academic CV?
• How are Academic CVs organized?
• What must you do or include in your letter and
CV?
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3. What else could be considered a letter
where you outline your intent to pursue
doctoral research?
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4. This document may also be a Cover
Letter or a Statement of Purpose
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5. In the business world, such a letter would
be called an Agreement to Negotiate or a
Memorandum of Understanding.
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6. Like interviewing for a new job, the Letter of Intent is
the institution’s way of asking you to explain why you
think you should be accepted into the program.
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7. How is a Letter of Intent like a job interview?
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8. You want to let your personality and unique life path
shine as valuable contributions to the program, the
discipline of study, and to the institution as a whole.
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9. It is also expected that your Letter will
explain any anomalies elsewhere in your
application package.
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10. How can you make your Letter of Intent unique?
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11. A short, memorable sentence to
engage their interest at the beginning.
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12. A tone of respectful familiarity.
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13. Share how you came to the conclusion
that pursuing doctoral studies was right
for you.
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14. If you are too modest in an early draft,
have someone help you craft sentences
that sell you well.
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15. If you sound too much of a braggart in an early draft, have
someone help you reframe stories where you demonstrate
what you mean without having turning off the reader.
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16. Use specific and unique statements describing
where you see yourself going and how that
makes you stand out from the crowd.
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17. Without being dramatic, share a story where
you learned an important lesson while working
on a project or in the workplace.
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18. Give interesting examples where you
demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities
to achieve a goal that benefited academia.
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19. What guidelines can you adapt from
advice on writing Cover Letters for
academic job applications?
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20. When describing an example of a project
you successfully completed, show how
you were leader.
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21. Do not include stories of how you were a boss, which is
different from being a leader. Nor, do you use stories of you
as an activist with no followers.
The committee is looking for evidence of collegiality.
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22. Collegiality is the ability to
engage actively and respectfully
in discussions, and share equally
in the decision-making process.
Source: http://bit.ly/2eP7Zgd
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23. Show (don’t tell) in your Letter how you
have operated in a collegial manner to
meet goals.
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24. Keep in mind that you have already
proven your mastery of the subject area
by completing a masters degree.
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25. Instead, the reviewing committee is
considering your admittance to a doctoral
program and to their professional practice!
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26. What is an Academic CV?
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27. An academic CV is not a resume.
The length of a typical one will indicate
that right away!
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28. There are very few books out there that will help you craft
your academic CV.
I recommend Kelsey, K. (2015). The professor is in: Turning
your PhD into a job. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.
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29. There is also a detailed website for The
Professor Is In
http://theprofessorisin.com/
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30. Find a detailed set of formatting rules here:
http://theprofessorisin.com/2016/08/19/dr-
karens-rules-of-the-academic-cv/
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31. How are Academic CVs organized?
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32. There is a very specific order that the
committee will be looking for in your CV.
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33. 1. Education.
2. Employment
3. Evidence
4. Experience
5. Other
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34. 1. Education: By degree, not institution, in
descending order and with a little bit of
detail
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35. 2. Employment: Emphasis your
professional work experience, particularly
if you are a mature student (over 25).
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36. Keep this information brief. You will
include details about those jobs later
under the 3 pillars of being faculty.
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37. If you have part-time work elsewhere or student-like work,
such as T.A. experience, include this in a section separate
from the main employment experience.
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38. Unfortunately for younger applicants,
T.A.-type work is not considered
professional experience.
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39. Having T.A.-type experience will still help applicants
to a doctoral program, but it is often not weighted as
heavily as some people expect.
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40. 3. Evidence: This evidence of scholarship, such
as journal articles, books, conference
presentations, editorials, creative works, etc.
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41. Be very specific about the publication status of items and
never exaggerate the value of the publication (e.g. making it
seem an article was peer-reviewed when it wasn’t).
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42. Don’t have much evidence to show your
potential for scholarship?
There are still ways to present yourself.
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43. Emphasize instead where you have been active. For
example, my CV is heavy on two areas: community
development and conference presentations.
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44. In my CV, I emphasize and explain the relevance of
community development work and conference
presentations to my career path and research agenda;
thereby, tailoring it to my specific discipline.
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45. There are other options too. For example, show you have
writing and publishing experience in other ways, such years
of experienceproducing a departmental newsletter.
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46. What the committee is looking for is someone who has
experience putting their work out there for constructive
criticism because this is an important skill to have as a
doctoral student and future professor.
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47. 4. Experience: This is where you articulate the work
experience you have under the 3 pillars of faculty
work – scholarship, teaching, and service.
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48. If applicable, you can include one section outlining
your work supervisory experience or a section
outlining your experience in the creative arts.
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49. 5. Other: This is anything unique to your
background that shows your suitability to
doctoral research.
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50. For example, any evidence of your
experience and ability to innovate in the
workplace.
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51. There is also a growing understanding how important it is to
admit people who can include evidence of having worked
with Indigenous peoples and experience supporting equity
groups.
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52. Also, include any relevant professional
affiliations, awards, honours, etc.
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53. And if you have it, where you have online profiles,
such as on the CapU website, on LinkedIn, or a
professional website with your portfolio.
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54. What must you do or include
in your letter and CV?
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55. Make sure to use letterhead on your cover letter.
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56. In the finer details of the letter,
follow the rules of business letters
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57. Your letter needs to be 2
pages, no more and no less.
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58. In both the letter and CV, show, don’t
tell, what you have done and can do.
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59. Describe your dissertation
project in one brief paragraph.
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60. When discussing your teaching
experience, keep in mind that we all love
teaching. Say something more.
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61. In both documents, stress how you are a
colleague and no longer a graduate
student.
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62. Be specific in the publication
status of all works.
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63. Include a secondary research project you
are working on. A work-based one is fine.
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64. Show how you’ve reviewed the
department and program thoroughly.
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65. Be organized and specific in your
writing, no ramblings please.
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66. Keep in mind that many people only apply to one or two
doctoral programs and the reviewing committee have come
to expect a very high level of tailoring specific to their
program.
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67. Regularly updating your CV every 6
months is now generally considered best
practice in academia.
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68. If you haven’t already, now is the
time to set-up a LinkedIn profile.
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69. Take some time to look at how your fellow colleagues have
set-up their LinkedIn profiles to see how effective these
profiles can be for long-term career success.
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70. https://ca.linkedin.com/in/laurieprangemartin
As an example, here’s mine
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71. In conclusion, your Letter of Intent and Academic CV
introduce you to the admitting committee.
So, don’t delay and start drafting it today!
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72. Questions? Comments?
Feedback?
Contact me at the Learning &
Teaching Centre at Capilano
University
laurieprangemartin@capilanou.ca