State your goal concisely; what will you do with the material that you learn at a US university? How will the courses help you accomplish what you plan to do in Ukraine (establish a pediatric clinic in Cherkasy; design an anti-corruption system for the Ukrainian judiciary; advise foreign corporations in establishing branches in Ukraine about tax law, securities law, lending law and labor law; work in Ukrainian government as weapons control specialist; develop anti-smoking strategies as public health expert; work in applied chemistry; teach comparative literature or mathematics or astronomy; teach schoolchildren; reorganize specific aspects of Ukrainian public school system; advise Ukraine in its relationships with WTO and EU; protect Ukraine's environment; work as journalist).

If jobs in your chosen field already exist in Ukraine, indicate it (for example: government, hospitals or private clinics, mental health facilities, international organizations, schools, universities, libraries, museums, astronomical observatories, social agencies, mental health clinics, law firms, business companies of a specific kind in which your expertise will be useful).

Show that you know that foreign practices and systems cannot be applied in Ukraine by “cut and paste”, but must be adapted to conditions here. Show that you are ready to undertake the study in US, not only because you, like other applicants, have a good TOEFL score. Describe the courses you have taken and any experience at work, at home, or in a foreign country, which have given you the basic foundation that you need for your goal. (For example, internship or salaried employee or assistant in a business corporation, bank, hospital, NGO, Ukraine governmental agency, UN or other international organization, law school clinic; social agency; physics or chemistry laboratory. For home experience, if your project is geriatric social work or geriatric medicine, it is relevant to say that for several years you took care of your sick babushka).

Name: (a) US universities that have good programs and physical facilities for your chosen specialty, (well-equipped chemistry or physics laboratory or astronomical observatory), (b) specific courses at one or more universities that will advance your knowledge of your chosen specialty, and (c) an American professor who has written books or articles in your chosen field; say that you want to study with that professor. If Ukrainian universities do not have good programs in your field, say so.

Describe any significant circumstance in your life that turned you to this specialty. (For example: you decided to become a psychiatrist because a relative is mentally ill; you have been fascinated by insects since childhood and your project is entomology…)

Ask a native English speaker to read your draft application. If he/she is an American with experience in your field, his/her suggestions may be most helpful.