Applying to the CAS Future Leaders Program: Tips for Writing the Essay

About a year ago, I heard about the CAS Future Leaders Program through an email from the awesome chemistry librarian—Donna—at Caltech. For about a month, I went back and forth on whether I would apply. My hesitation was partly due to having just defended my PhD, but mostly, I didn’t see myself as a competitive applicant. In fact, after I drafted my essay, I waited a week or so until January 12 to ask my PhD advisor for a recommendation letter. The application was due January 16.

I absolutely have loved being a CAS Future Leader, and I want to help others who are interested in the program by sharing some insights on what I think makes a strong essay. My first piece of advice? If you’re interested, just decide to apply! Don’t wait until four days before the deadline, which is January 29 for the 2023 cohort, to make that decision. That gives your letter writer plenty of time to review your application, and it also gives you the opportunity to get feedback on your essay (if you’d like to). If you want to learn more about the program, you can check out the CAS Future Leaders website.

The rest of my advice is based on my previous experience as a freelance editor, emails I’ve received from potential applicants seeking advice, and years of experimenting with my own application essays. Please note that these are my opinions and not official tips from the CAS team.

What content should you include?

The essay prompt is open-ended, and I suspect that is by design to allow applicants to express themselves in an authentic and creative way. In 500 to 1000 words, the essay should describe “your current research projects and future goals” and “the value of CAS SciFinderⁿ or other scientific information solutions to your research”. That might sound like a big task for a relatively small amount of space (at least it did to me), so you have to carefully consider what types of information you want to share.

Beyond describing the specified elements above, I think a strong essay answers the following questions.

Why is your research important or interesting? The applications are reviewed by folks at CAS, which is a division of the American Chemical Society. They come from different backgrounds and might not be familiar with your field. For example, the person who read my essay told me they weren’t familiar with astrochemistry before seeing my application. I recommend trying to tell a narrative story, rather than an academic summary, about your research to connect with the reader. The readers at CAS don’t expect you to be an expert storyteller or anything (in fact, scientific storytelling training is part of the Future Leaders Program), but you need some sort of hook to make the reader immediately take interest in who you are and what you’re doing.

I would argue that having a strong hook is the most important aspect of the essay. Not only because I truly believe that, but because I was chatting with Dr. Peter Carlton, Senior Brand Manager at CAS (official title) and super awesome leader of Future Leaders (unofficial title bestowed by all Future Leaders, probably), and he shared a little bit with me about the review process. Every year, CAS receives hundreds (my year, it was around a thousand) of applications for the Future Leaders Program. This means every reviewer has at least a handful (technical term) of applications to go over. Reviewers often start by reading the essay before looking at the CV and letter of recommendation. Thus, the essay is where you, as the applicant, make your first impression. As Peter put it, “It’s critical to submit an essay that creatively captures the reviewer’s attention early and goes beyond a standard research summary.”

 Why are information solutions such as CAS SciFinderⁿ useful to you? Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is that scientific information solutions are designed to make your research and literature searches easier or more convenient (duh). But how do they do that for you? In my work, for instance, I’m interested in chemical systems and reactions in space, but sometimes, our understanding of these systems comes from chemical fields other than astrochemistry. I’ve consulted journals that specialize in everything from physical chemistry to chemical ecology, so having a centralized place (like SciFinderⁿ) where these connections are made for me is quite helpful as someone in a heavily interdisciplinary field.

 How have you demonstrated a potential for science leadership? A lot of this will come through in your CV, but you could use your essay to highlight past leadership experiences and leadership potential. I couldn’t quite figure out a way to do this organically in my own essay, so I left out leadership positions and advocacy (they were in my CV). However, I had snippets that I think demonstrate my potential to be a scientific leader.

 What are you interested in outside of research? Since finding out my application was accepted, it’s been evident that the CAS Future Leaders Program supports people, not research. So, if there is a way you can weave in some other aspects of your identity, I think you should! For example, I wanted to show an example of one of my “laboratories”—a molecular cloud of dust and gas in space. I used this opportunity to include one of my illustrations. In the caption, I connected the illustration to the body of my essay, but I also added a few sentences about how I enjoy using art as a tool for science communication.

Should I include figures to help the reader visualize my research?

 The essay can include up to two figures, and I highly recommend taking advantage of that! Figures and references aren’t considered in the word count, so no space is lost by including them. In my essay, I included a figure from my research that illustrated the hook of my essay and summarized the problem I was trying to solve. As mentioned above, I also included an illustration of a molecular cloud to demonstrate how I incorporate art into science communication.

 Remember, the folks reviewing the CAS Future Leaders applications come from diverse backgrounds, so you should avoid overly complicated figures. If someone who isn’t in your field wouldn’t understand your axis labels, you should explain them in the caption using non-expert terminology. You might also consider changing the labels altogether for the purposes of the essay.

 Figures aren’t required, but if you choose them wisely, they can enhance your essay and even give you the chance to share something about yourself that didn’t quite fit into the essay elsewhere.

Can I see an example essay?

Yes! I am happy to share my essay with people. You can find it as a PDF here.

 In my essay, you can see how I included these different elements (starting with a strong hook), and perhaps you’ll find things you can do better (for example, I would have relabeled the axes in Figure 1 and included more concrete examples of leadership). When you write your own essay, just make sure you address the prompt (I’ve heard not all applicants do), be genuine, and feel free to be creative. Just remember to submit it by January 29, 2023!

Best wishes for your application, and happy writing!