Imperial College London’s School of Public Health is renowned for conducting world-class research on today’s most pressing public health issues. No matter how compelling your research findings are, it is essential to communicate them clearly in order to promote positive change.

The same principle applies to your personal statement for the Global Master of Public Health (MPH) program. This personal statement is a chance to make the case that you belong at Imperial. Making that case clearly and effectively can be as important as your academic and professional qualifications.

Many students get anxious about this portion of the application, or worry that their writing skills aren’t up to the task. Our advice? Don’t panic!

You don’t have to be an outstanding writer to craft a great personal statement. Your task is to provide Imperial’s reviewers with the information they’re looking for in 1500 words or less. Let’s break the key points down into three specific areas: your past, present, and future.

1.Past: your background in public health

Start by introducing yourself. You’ve already provided a CV with your application, so this is an opportunity to put your experience in context. Tell us how and why you became interested in public health, the skills you’ve developed, and what you’re most proud of in your studies and career. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through!  

Key points:

• Previous academic and professional experience
• Relevant exposures to public health related work and research
• Areas of interest in healthcare and why they interest you

Examples from the MPH Class of 2018-19:

“Throughout my years at University and recent postgraduate studies, I have worked in a pharmacy as a pharmacy/ dispensing assistant, in both community and hospital settings with the latter being involved with cancer clinical trials. These roles have greatly advanced my knowledge of patient care, different treatment options and health awareness strategies within the NHS and local CCGs.”

“I worked on a retrospective study to examine the trends and outcomes of aortic valve replacements performed on veterans from 2005 to 2015. Prior coursework in statistics equipped me to interpret data analyses. I co-authored two abstracts. I often considered how researchers contribute towards reducing health inequities in specific populations.”

2. Present: why you are applying to the Imperial College MPH

After you’ve introduced yourself, explain your motivation for your application. What is driving you to take your career in public health to the next level, and why is the Imperial Online MPH right for you? Make a compelling case why you are applying to this program, specifically, and why now is the right time.

Key points:

• Your motivation for your professional and/or research career in public health
• Why you are applying for the Online MPH program, specifically

Examples from MPH Class of 2018-19:

“My healthcare background has given me the drive to move my career from disease treatment to increasing awareness of disease prevention. With an increasing life expectancy and an uncertain national healthcare budget, prevention of poor health from preventable diseases has never been more imperative.”

“I am particularly interested in studying at Imperial College London due to its Public Health Policy Evaluation Unit, as the research areas of the unit match my own areas of interest for future research which include big healthcare data, healthcare access and health policy; within these areas I have an interest in mental health, cancer and primary and secondary care.”

3. Future: goals for your research at Imperial and your career beyond graduation

Finally, show that you have a specific vision for your time at Imperial and your post-MPH career. Include a short proposal (150 words or less) for a research project that you would be interested in carrying out as part of your dissertation over approximately a three month period. This gives the team more of an idea of your research interests and motivation to undertake the online Global MPH program. If you are accepted, you will not be required to carry out the proposal from your application. If you’d like to pursue the proposal from your application as part of your research portfolio, you can.

Key Points:

• Your future career goals
• Your proposed research area

Examples from MPH Class of 2018-19:

“I believe the course will be able to provide an opportunity to obtain a more in-depth knowledge within these areas, but also developing a strong theoretical understanding of health policy, epidemiology and research methods, which I will give me the underpinning knowledge to undertake a PhD in Public health evaluation and policy in the future.”

“I aim to perform research to evaluate and improve the effectiveness and accessibility of health services for chronic conditions in low-income communities.”

__________________________

One last piece of advice: write an honest statement that gets across your true character and motivations, rather than writing something you think the panel will want to hear. Imperial’s goal in requesting these personal statements is to get to know prospective applicants on a personal level. Focus on providing a clear account of who you are, why you’re applying, and what you plan to do during and after the program.

The Global MPH offers the opportunity to get a world-class graduate degree in public health from one of the top 10 universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2019). The program is affordable, flexible, and 100% online. As such, it attracts a diverse, highly-qualified group of students from across the globe. With a great personal statement, you can significantly increase your chances of joining the next cohort!  

When you think about the FBI, you might imagine stereotypical “feds” from movies busting down doors and arresting dangerous mobsters. You might also imagine agents infiltrating terrorist organizations in daring undercover operations. One thing that might not come to mind: accountants!

In truth, accountants with specialized expertise have played a central role in the FBI’s work since its inception. More than a third of the Bureau’s first employees were bank examiners, and today 15% of the FBI’s staff are forensic accountants.

Becoming a forensic accountant is an impactful and rewarding way to use your accounting skills. It’s also a demanding career path that requires higher-than-usual levels of expertise. And it’s not just the FBI that’s hiring: intelligence agencies all over the world like Britain’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, India’s CBI, and Australia’s AUSTRAC recruit qualified candidates for these jobs. If you want to make the cut, here’s what you need to know:

In recent decades, the FBI has taken on savings and loan scandals, the war on terror, and the rise of increasingly complex financial crimes. During this time, accounting experts have become increasingly important to the Bureau’s operations. Their expertise is vital to investigations of cyber-crime, organized crime, public corruption, and even counterintelligence and counterterrorism.

According to the FBI website, forensic accountants at the agency investigate a wide range of financial crimes, including corporate fraud, financial institution fraud, healthcare fraud, mortgage fraud, and securities/commodities fraud. This requires them to identify suspicious activities and package these financial facts for law enforcement and judicial counterparts. This may include providing expert testimony in a courtroom.

Forensic accountants work side by side with FBI agents on cases, and in the words of one FBI section chief, “they do everything an agent does except for executing arrest warrants and carrying a gun.” It’s an extremely important position requiring a high level of performance. It’s no surprise that the Bureau looks to hire candidates with high levels of qualification.

Due to the complex and challenging nature of the financial crimes they investigate, FBI forensic accountants are more qualified than typical accountants. At a minimum, the FBI requires a bachelor’s and/or master’s degree in accounting, or a bachelor’s degree with 24 semester hours in accounting (six of which may be in business law).

That’s just the beginning. The Bureau strongly prefers candidates to have professional certification in at least one of the following:

• Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
• Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)
• Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF)

Specialized accounting expertise can also give your application an edge. Additional preference is given to candidates with experience in fields like public accounting, government accounting, financial services, and corporate accounting.

There are also certain types of training that only the Bureau can provide. Once hired, forensic accountants take part in an intensive five-week training program at the FBI Academy to develop their investigative abilities. Skills taught include financial investigative techniques, interviewing strategies, and search warrant execution.

Forensic accountants are more important than ever, and the FBI is actively recruiting top-quality professionals. In their words, they’re hiring candidates at “all stages of career and specialized experience.”

If you’re just starting out in your accounting career, or you’re a mid-career accounting veteran looking to elevate your game to the highest possible level, forensic accounting could be a part of your future. And if you’re worried that your résumé isn’t quite FBI-ready (or MI6-ready, or AUSTRAC-ready), don’t worry! With Coursera, you can find accounting degree programs and Specializations to put you over the top. Visit Coursera to learn more about how the University of Illinois iMSA can prepare your career for the future of accounting.

With technology and global markets evolving at an unprecedented pace, today’s most successful business leaders are the ones who recognise new strategic opportunities — and seize them — before their competitors do. This is why Macquarie University is moving beyond focusing solely on traditional business metrics and financial analytics. Instead, Macquarie puts strategising at the heart of their online Global MBA alongside five other specialisations in Leading, Analysing, Influencing, Adapting, and Problem Solving.  

In tandem with the five other future-focused capabilities that structure the program, Macquarie prepares you to be the changemaker that gives your company and you an edge.

Like all of the specialisations in the Global MBA program, Strategising consists of a series of courses designed to develop the skills you need to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. Working online in live sessions with faculty and fellow learners from all over the world, you’ll hone your strategic thinking skills across four areas:

Be Competitive: To survive and thrive in a cutthroat, high-tech business world, you need to outthink the competition and orient your company in the right direction to succeed. You’ll dive deep on the latest thinking in value co-creation, strategy, and marketing, and learn how to continuously monitor, analyse, and assess your progress against the right competitive metrics.

Be Global: In a globalised trade environment, businesses with supply chains that minimise costs and maximise responsiveness to customer demand get a huge competitive advantage. This course will give you the skills needed to evaluate critical trade-offs between cost, quality, and flexibility in designing and managing global supply chains.

Be Disruptive: “Disruption” has become a buzzword for a good reason. The most successful companies of recent years, from Amazon to Uber, have all reshaped existing industries — or created entirely new ones! This course will enhance your ability to recognise the disruptive strategies and technologies you can use to take your company to the next level.

Be Sustainable: Some of the most successful CEOs in the world, including IBM’s Ginny Rommetty, are some of the most committed to considering their business’ impact on society. It’s increasingly recognised that leading a sustainably profitable company goes hand-in-hand with social and environmental sustainability. This course will expand your strategic thinking in this area and help you understand how to achieve these goals.

Ranked as one of the top 1 percent of universities globally, Macquarie is renowned for producing graduates that are some of the most sought-after business leaders in the world. The affordable, flexible, and 100% online Global MBA makes this strategic educational opportunity more accessible than ever. Learn more about the degree curriculum and admissions process by visiting the Global MBA page on Coursera.

For today’s leaders, business is personal. Whether you’re negotiating deals, mediating relationships with stakeholders, or managing an increasingly-flexible workforce, today’s business leaders need people skills as much as analytical abilities. These “soft skills” are precisely what’s most in demand for job applicants, according to LinkedIn.

With a Specialisation in Influencing, the online Global MBA from Macquarie University on Coursera has made the development of these skills a cornerstone of its curriculum. Alongside the five other future-focused capabilities, you’ll develop these skills to take management to the next level.

The Influencing specialisation builds your capabilities through a series of courses that help you to  navigate the complexities of today’s workplace. As with every specialisation in the program, you’ll learn through a combination of engaging live sessions as well as other learning activities that can be completed at your own pace.

These four courses will build the skills you need to become an influencer in your field:

Communicate with Impact: The ability to effectively communicate your vision — and influence your colleagues to get on board — is essential for any business leader. You’ll maximise your impact by tailoring your approach to different contexts.

Manage Change: Leadership roles in today’s fast-moving, globalised world demand a “change mindset” to carry you and your team through the twists and turns that your business journey will take. This course helps you tackle challenges head-on and develop the mentality needed to shape your company’s future.

Negotiate and Resolve Conflict: Office politics and power struggles are unavoidable in any business, and the ability to resolve these conflicts is crucial. You’ll learn to conceptualise power and politics in your company, develop strategies for influencing key stakeholders, and act with integrity while negotiating sensitive situations.

Engage the Board: Perhaps the most important stakeholders that executives need to influence are those at the top of the corporate governance structure: the board of directors. You’ll learn how to understand your board’s objectives and develop a leadership approach and risk management framework that ensures your team achieves its goals.

Learn about the Global MBA’s curriculum and admission process.