{"id":4290,"date":"2016-09-29t20:01:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-29t20:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/?p=4290"},"modified":"2016-09-29t20:01:47","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29t20:01:47","slug":"6-tips-discussing-weaknesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/blog\/6-tips-discussing-weaknesses\/","title":{"rendered":"6 tips for discussing your weaknesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

grad schools use the \u201cweakness question\u201d to determine how well you evaluate yourself. adcoms are looking for your plan of action, implementation, and success rate. follow these six tips to help you think about and assess your weaknesses, and to prepare yourself to write about them in an essay<\/a> or talk about them in an interview.<\/p>\n

1. be honest.<\/h2>\n

if you\u2019ve been let go from a job, discuss the lessons you\u2019ve learned from that negative experience and how you overcame it. if your problem is procrastination, write about how you\u2019re working on improving your time management skills.<\/p>\n

2. stay professionally focused.<\/h2>\n

the subject here should be work-related, professional weaknesses. this is not the time to discuss your chocolate or video game addiction, no matter how successfully you overcame it.<\/p>\n

3. focus on your own weaknesses.<\/h2>\n

the committee isn\u2019t interested in the fact that your boss was a jerk, or that your messy desk was really caused by your slovenly cubicle mate. the question is about you<\/em> and your<\/em> weaknesses. don\u2019t place the attention or blame on others. take responsibility and show how you\u2019ve grown and changed.<\/p>\n

4. address the issues proactively.<\/h2>\n

if your grade in a particular class was low, take the class again and ace it. don\u2019t wait for the adcom to suggest that you retake the course. if you\u2019re extremely shy, take a public speaking class and show the interviewer that you\u2019re working to overcome that challenge. take the initiative here! that way, when you discuss your weakness, you can point to what you\u2019ve done to ameliorate it.<\/p>\n

5. avoid clich\u00e9s.<\/h2>\n

don\u2019t use your hard work as an undergrad as a weakness \u2013 \u201ci guess i work too hard at times.\u201d this is a copout, and anyone interviewing you or reading your essay will understand that you\u2019re really proud of your work ethic. turning a positive into a negative will just work against you.<\/p>\n

6. for an interview, prepare your answers in advance.<\/h2>\n

you don\u2019t want to be left silent, draw a blank, or say something absurd when the adcom asks about your weaknesses. thinking about them before you interview will allow you to give an intelligent, cohesive response.<\/p>\n

now you\u2019re prepared to discuss your weaknesses and show how you\u2019ve overcome them and used them as stepping stones to growth. own them. they\u2019ve made you the person you are today.<\/p>\n

to prevent other mistakes in your statement of purpose, download our free guide, 5 fatal flaws to avoid<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

about linda abraham:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"catherineaccepted.com<\/a> has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top universities since 1994 \u2013 they know what works and what doesn\u2019t, so follow linda abraham on google+<\/a> and contact accepted<\/a> to get started or visit accepted.com<\/a> for all your admissions consulting<\/a> needs today!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
photo at top courtesy of shutterstock.com \/ kieferpix<\/a> <\/i><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

follow these six tips to better understand how to talk about your weaknesses in your grad school application or interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":4292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[491],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n6 tips for discussing your weaknesses - magoosh 2022年足球世界杯举办地<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/blog\/6-tips-discussing-weaknesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 tips for discussing your weaknesses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"follow these six tips to better understand how to talk about your weaknesses in your grad school application or interview.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/blog\/6-tips-discussing-weaknesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh 2022年足球世界杯举办地\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-29t20:01:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/blog\/files\/2016\/09\/shutterstock_439060054-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1637\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"linda abraham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"linda abraham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/blog\/6-tips-discussing-weaknesses\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/blog\/6-tips-discussing-weaknesses\/\",\"name\":\"6 tips for discussing your weaknesses - 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