Criteria 

Exceptional Character

We are looking for integrity, honesty, humility, empathy, resilience, an unwavering commitment to the pursuit of excellence and to hard work and service, continual learning and self-awareness, long attention-span, perseverance, and a willingness to take meaningful risks and learn from failures. 

Community Engagement

We are looking for a track record of service: thoughtful, committed experience working for and with others to address challenges that face communities large and small. We are looking for a breadth and depth of interests, evidenced by sustained involvement in extra-curricular or other activities. These activities may include mastery in the arts, athletics, or other pursuits. 

Leadership Potential

We are looking for experience working with and leading others towards a common goal, of taking on tough leadership roles to advance meaningful change. We are looking for those with a collaborative spirit who seek to improve the lot of others and develop the potential of those they lead. 

Entrepreneurial Spirit

We are looking for those who can identify needs and gaps and to motivate others in developing and implementing creative and effective solutions to address them. We are looking for people who are not afraid to forge new paths and are not held back by fear of failure. 

Academic Strength & Intellectual Curiosity 

We are looking for those with a deep interest in and curiosity about people, ideas, and the world around them. They will have an interest in and experience working with others with perspectives different from their own. We are looking for a good fit between the proposed graduate program(s), the candidate’s qualifications, and their plans for the future. 

At the start of the application, we ask for personal information about you and your family members.

We’re asking because we want to understand more about you. We recognize that everyone’s journey to graduate school is different, and this information will help us understand some of the influences that helped shape who you are today.

Activities, Work Experience, and Breaks

You’ll be asked to share your community activities, extra-curricular activities, work history, and any breaks you’ve taken. We want to understand more about how you spend your time outside of the classroom.

Remember, there is no one right set of activities. We want to know about your responsibilities, accomplishments, and motivations. Similar to other parts of the application, we’ll be looking for evidence of the selection criteria in some of the experiences you share with us.

Short Essays

You’ll submit several short essays of 250-300 words each.

Think of these essays as opportunities to reflect on who you are. Tell us about your goals, influences, meaningful experiences, and a significant “course correction”. You can expand on activities you listed elsewhere in your application or provide new examples.

Make sure to tell us what happened. We want to know what your role was, what you actually did, who else was involved, and more.

Transcripts

You’ll be asked to upload all transcripts (PDF files) from your university studies. We accept both official and unofficial transcripts.

Keep in mind that we are not solely focusing on your GPA. While GPA is important, we are interested in the fit with your proposed graduate program, as well as the breadth and difficulty of the courses taken alongside your other commitments. Of course, we recognize that some programs offer more opportunity for breadth than others.

You can always provide context for your university transcripts, if needed.

Resumé

You’ll upload a one-page resumé. Your resumé must be a PDF file with a minimum font size of 10. Please do not include photos.

Your resumé provides a one-page summary of what you’ve shared in other sections of the application, such as your academic, professional, and community experiences. You can use this single page to highlight what is most important to you in your experiences, and to share other information that may not have been included in the rest of your application.

If you are returning to school after being in the workforce, this section allows you to provide a more in-depth version of your work history.

References

You must have two reference forms completed before the application deadline: an academic* reference from someone who knows your academic work well and a community reference from someone who knows your community involvement well.

*If the program you’re applying to doesn’t require an academic reference, you can provide a professional (work) reference instead of an academic one. If your program requires at least one academic reference, then this reference must also be an academic one.

When you submit a reference request, the reference writer will receive an email with a private link to fill out an online form. See the questions we’ll ask them.

Please ask people who know you well. A good reference provides concrete examples to help us better understand you, how you meet the selection criteria, current areas of improvement, and how your proposed studies might benefit your continued growth.

Do not choose family members, fellow students, or friends.

Supports at Laurier

If you are endorsed, you will receive support from our campus partners to ensure that your package is as strong as possible.

• Writing support from Teaching & Learning regarding your personal statement.​
• Career and Co-op provide feedback to strengthen your resume.
• A faculty mentor will support the preparation of your package and provide feedback to your references.

Career Centre

The Career Centre can provide you with resources to research potential programs including what questions you should be asking as well as assisting you with the preparation of your applications. Applying to further education programs can be overwhelming and the Career Centre is here to help you with this process.

• Book an appointment for individual advising about grad school applications and tests, information about professional programs including teacher education and law, preparing personal statements or applying to college programs. 

• Attend a workshop about teacher education, grad school, law school, college programs or rehabilitation sciences.

• Check the event calendar as educational institutions host information sessions regularly for Laurier students.