In today's video, I'll walk you through how to write your letter of intent or the why do you want to go here letter that all nursing and NP schools, really any schools, want you to write in order to gain admittance to their school. I feel like this is the part of the application process I always dreaded the most. So in today's video, the goal is to make it fun learning about it and a little bit less overwhelming for when you go to write one.
If you're new here, welcome. I'm Liz. I'm a family nurse practitioner.
So I've written quite a few of these throughout the years, applying to nursing and preschool, even my jobs, I kind of follow the same basic idea. I've also had the opportunity to read a lot of these letters and help other people write them. So hopefully today I can transfer some of that knowledge to you. All right.
So the basics of these letters are going to be the same, whether you're applying to nursing and preschool, med school, PA school, dental school, whatever it is, this algorithm and approach should work for all of them. That's why I didn't make separate videos for nursing and and peaks i was like that would just be a waste of time across the board the things that these schools really want to know is why do you want to do this field why do you want to do this program and why do we want you i have never seen a letter of intent that didn't include those three your letter of intent may also include some other bonus questions that they throw out there at you and i'll tell you my general approach to those as well in the end of this video all right step one before we do anything and you start writing your paper you get ready you need to do some research so that you understand where they, the school, are coming from. This will kind of give you a clue as to how you can present yourself as the best candidate that they would want. Now as we're talking about this I want you to think of this entire scenario as a date. Granted it's a super unfair date where you are going to know a ton about the person you're going on the date with, what they like, how old they are, what they're all about, and you just in this scenario are kind of desperate and you're just going to kind of mold yourself into the person that you already know they want you to be.
Side note, in real life, do not ever do this. You are perfect just the way you are. Someone will love you for exactly who you are.
Do not change for anyone. Okay, end rant. but for the sake of today's video we're going to approach this application process as a date because it's more fun and paper writing can just be very dull so i gotta spice things up a little bit and you my friend are going to rock this date all right you ready to internet stock our date let's go grab a pen and paper you will be taking notes now for this next part i'm going to walk you through what i'm talking about we're going to use my alma mater go blue hens as kind of the example but pretty much all nursing whatever kind of school you're applying to will work the same way so this is just an example number one in our what's quest for knowledge, we are going to go to the nursing school's website. This should be fairly straightforward.
Just type in the name of the university and school of nursing and it should bring you to their nursing page. If not, they have a terrible web developer and they should really, truly look into that. Number two, we're going to search for their bio.
this is their about section so usually in one of the headers one of the tabs you can pull down something is going to say about click around once you're in this about tab and just learn a little bit of the basics about the school about the program you're applying to this is more the black and white concrete info is this an online program is it a hybrid is it brick and mortar how long is it do you go through the summer how many classes do you take every semester the real nitty gritty just like details that you want to get an overview of what this program looks like and get to know it this is like scanning someone's bio where you get to see the kind of the general about info but it's all very surface level nothing very fancy you're gonna need these in your back pocket and being able to like throw them around casually makes you look like you at least researched this program now after you've clicked around for a while and you know all the basics, it's time to really get to know this program. Fortunately, they left their equivalent of their diary out and it's here and you can read it to learn all their deepest desires and what they're most attracted to. Perfect.
For this step, you're going to wanna find the nursing school handbook. You can do this either by searching around on their about page until you find it. I usually just hit control F though and find nursing handbook, nursing school handbook. And it'll bring you right to it. Open this up, and in the very beginning, usually, there is a whole section called Mission Statements and Values.
Found it? Excellent. Write them down.
I'll give you a minute. And fun fact, these are now your mission statements, ethics, and values. just in case you weren't clear on that.
Okay, so now you have stocked your date's online presence thoroughly. And now we can move on to those important questions we talked about before. Why this? Why here?
Why you? And we'll use our new knowledge because as we just learned, we already know what they really... want and are desiring in a candidate from looking at their mission statements and their values and all of that. However, you cannot just come right out and make it super obvious that you read their diary and did all this online stalking.
That's just creepy. So we're going to have you disguise this info, letting the mission statement values and ethics of the program and the school guide our answers while you share your real and genuine experiences and reasons for wanting to actually go to this program or be in this relationship or whatever. we're doing.
I'm going to give you some answers to the why me, why you, why here questions. So I'm just going to read the mission statement from my alma mater. So you get an idea of how I'm integrating the two.
So for example, we know that the mission statement of this school is to advance healthcare through education, scholarship, practice, and service by promoting excellence, creativity, inclusivity, and engagement. And all of them are like this guy. they're just like a bunch of adjectives that they just kind of throw out at you values excellence with a positive impact on health inclusivity with social justice and respect and engagement with collaboration and look if you look here you can even see they bolded the the key terms for you guys so they really must like some of this stuff they made it really easy for you thanks friend who made this website we appreciate you all right let's answer the first question why this path for this example we are going to go with np school because that's what i applied to last and it's the freshest in my brain this question is where you are going to want to reflect on your why and align it with the school's mission statement and values because we already know they like those we're trying to impress our date.
First tip here, don't lie. It's going to be so obvious if you're really fake and not genuine and you're just spouting out these random things that seem holier-than-thou. No one wants that. It's not going to be interesting to read.
They'll see right through it. So don't lie. Just emphasize your strengths and draw examples from your past experiences that are most relevant to the mission statements and values of our date, the school.
And here's an example of how I would have approached it and what I would have said. If this was my NP school application at this school. So first I would just look at what in their mission statement stands out to me and resonates with why I already know I want to be an NP. So if you haven't had the conversation with yourself, like, why do I really want to do this?
That would also be a good time to do this, like right now. Just pause. But hopefully if you're already at this step, you at least have somewhat of an idea of why you're going through this awful application process because it's grueling.
So in my case, I wanted to be a nurse practitioner because when I worked inpatient med surg, I saw a bunch of people coming. in with end stage disease. Their toes were falling off from diabetes. They were dying of COPD. And when I talked to them, there was just no knowledge that they gained in primary care about their disease processes, about how this could have been stopped sooner.
There was just a huge lack of education in primary care that I saw that led them then to our floor where... The outcomes were horrible and a lot of these patients that were in these situations were in a lower socioeconomic group and working on this floor made me realize like I want to fix that. I want to be the person that teaches these people what diabetes is, what COPD is, how you can help manage these conditions and not let them end up in the hospital where your toe fell off.
And then I would just look at my reason for wanting to be an MP and compare it with the mission statement and values and say, does any of this mesh? Can I pull out any key words here and emphasize certain parts over others? And you'll quickly see that, yes, the school emphasized diversity, inclusion, and education.
Check. So I know I'm going to kind of emphasize those when I'm writing my paper. That was just one example. You are going to want to elaborate on that.
Talk about anything that you two have in common. Use real life examples, use your experiences from your past job, from your life, whatever you have. And there you go, there's your why this.
Now let's talk about why the school. Why you wanna go on a date with this person, not Joe Schmo from down the street. The same exact idea here, guys.
I would draw some things that we did from that initial research when we just found out basic info from the program. So I would mention, you know, I want a hybrid program because I want the... flexibility of online for some of my coursework but i really want the hands-on interaction and connection i get with being on campus once a month and then we'll kind of focus more on their mission statement and values a little bit maybe talk about how you've seen improved patient outcomes on at your nursing job that are the result of decisions you've made in unit-based committees that implemented nursing research into practice and you love that this particular school places such an evidence on evidence-based medicine and being at the forefront of research in healthcare and more examples and more examples you get the point you want to kind of fluff their feathers with this while you at the same time you're giving yourself some shout outs along the way but whatever you do don't just regurgitate their brochure or their website back at them they obviously know what it says maybe they even even wrote it, they already know that they like themselves. Okay.
You're trying to convince them to like you show them that you can fit into the world and you would be a great addition. Now let's talk about maybe the most important part, which is why you, this is where you're going to want to brag and sell yourself and make yourself the ideal date in their eyes, highlight your achievements. Were you in clubs in high school?
What kind of jobs have you had? Did you train people at your job? Were you a preceptor?
Were you a charge nurse? Were you on unit-based committees? Have you helped develop education? Were you involved in research?
What have you done that kind of makes you stand out? And guys, get creative here. Everybody has skills no matter what.
If you're a parent, raising children involves insane skills. Multitasking, coordination, patience, organization. all the things if you have or if you're a second career person coming in from somewhere else find skills that you had at that job there's literally everyone has something i guarantee because you didn't spend the first 18 years of your life hopefully sitting in a chair staring at a wall you've done something you have skills use those and like we did before pair them with what we already know they kind of like and want and bam you look real great to these people all of a sudden My example would be this. Serving on my nursing unit's unit-based committee has helped me realize the importance of research in nursing practice. And through my role of a preceptor and charge nurse, I learned how to implement these changes while educating my peers and collaborating with others on my unit.
And if we look back at some of the keywords that we know they already really liked, research, education, collaboration. Now I know it can be really, really awkward. to kind of toot your own horn you're like oh my gosh am I like blowing myself up like way too much it's a little bit awkward but you're gonna have to get over that friends because it's your time they don't know you they are not your mother reading this paper your mom already knows how great you are these people have no idea how great you are you really need to be very clear and obvious and tell them and just remember everyone else is sending over the best version of themselves as well so it's not like you're bragging and everyone else is just like standing there meekly no everyone else is bragging just as much as you so get in that arena and fight for this date and there we go you're you're ready for your date. They may ask you some other random questions. Tell us about a time when all those other questions that sometimes they throw out there, you can easily answer those now based on what we've just talked about.
Combine their mission statement and values with your answer and you'll be set. Only other tips I would have for you here would be get it done early. You are going to do such a better job if you give yourself at least, I mean, honestly, give yourself at least a week before this thing is due.
And you want to turn this in as soon as possible. When applications open, turn this pop. copy it. So a week before you can possibly turn this in, you're wanting to be done.
That way you have time to read it over a few more times and give it to some other people to read. Like I said, I've read a lot of these and a lot of people read mine and it just gave you some fresh eyes on it. And they could tell you to tweak things or this sounds weird, or this isn't very clear, very helpful to get a second pair of eyes on here. And that's that. Hope this video was helpful for you guys.
As you embark on your application journey, if it was helpful, I have a whole video on how to interview for an NPR. school. It could also be applied to nursing school or really any kind of school, honestly. So I will leave that at the end of this video so that when your date calls you back for a second date, you can be well prepared because they're going to. Also, if you learned something in today's video, consider subscribing.
I would love to have you. I do content videos like these on Tuesdays and I have a vlog on Saturdays where I just share my life inside and out of work as a family nurse practitioner. I'd love to have you on this YouTube adventure. And if you have any questions or ideas for other videos, make sure to leave those down below. Also head over to Instagram where I post lots of frequently asked questions.
I have some resources for nursing and NP students and you get to see a little bit more of like what my workday looks like day to day. We always have a question of the day and today since we're talking about dating, we're just going to go with that. Have you ever done online dating?
I never did online dating. I met my husband when we worked together at Chili's and we never got to online date. We've made profiles sometimes.
We were like, we should just see who can get more like swipe rights or lefts or I don't even know what it is on Tinder. it's online dating has always kind of fascinated me, terrified me, but fascinated me. So let me know down below if you've ever done any online dating. I'm curious.
How did it go? Please tell me. All right. Hope you have a fabulous rest of your week and I'll see you again next time. Bye.