THE PERSONAL STATEMENT
How to Write a Personal Statement
I. INTRODUCE YOURSELF
The process of applying for jobs, internships, and admission to a four-year university often requires a personal statement. This type of writing asks writers to outline their strengths confidently and concisely, which can be challenging.
Though the requirements differ from application to application, the purpose of this type of writing is to represent your goals, experiences and qualifications in the best possible light, and to demonstrate your writing ability. Your personal statement introduces you to an admissions committee or program director, so it is essential that you allow yourself enough time to craft a polished piece of writing. Remember that this is the first time you expose yourself to your future university. Through a personal statement, you are introducing the university to the way you think and express yourself. It is serving as a reflection of your personality and intellect.
There are two types of personal statements or essays, general and specific questions. It is important that you read each question carefully and make every effort to understand it and respond to it. All essays should be well-considered and composed in a persuasive manner to hold the reader’s interest.
One of the main problems when writing is that applicants fail to take a very thorough, probing, and analytical look at themselves and their objectives. Admission committee members are looking for interesting, insightful, revealing, and non-generic essays that suggest you have successfully gone through a process of careful reflection and self-examination.
A personal statement must be written by ONLY you; you want your work to be original. The committees are looking for PERSONAL and ANALYTICAL essays. This means you should share information you rarely share with others and assess your life more critically than usual. This approach is key to a successful personal statement.
II. PREPARE YOUR MATERIALS
Before you sit down to write, do some preparation in order to avoid frustration during the actual writing process. Make a list of important information, in particular specific experiences, family situations, achievements, challenges, etc.. In this way, you will be able to refer to these materials while writing in order to include as much specific detail as possible.
III. WRITE A FIRST DRAFT
After you have collected and reviewed these materials, it is time to start writing. The following is a list of concerns that writers should keep in mind when writing a personal statement/application letter.
Answer the Question: A major problem for all writers can be the issue of actually answering the question being asked. For example, an application might want you to discuss the reason you are applying to a particular university. If you spend your entire essay detailing your qualifications with no mention of what attracted you to the university, your statement will probably not be successful. To avoid this problem, read the question or assignment carefully both as you prepare and again just prior to writing. Keep the question in front of you as you write, and refer to it often.
Consider The “I” Problem: This is a personal statement; using the first person pronoun “I” is acceptable. Writers often feel rather self-conscious about using first person excessively, either because they are modest or because they have learned to avoid first and second person (“you”) in any type of formal writing. Yet, in this type of writing, using first person is essential because it makes your prose more lively. Using third person can result in a vague and overly wordy essay. While starting every sentence with “I” is not advisable, remember that you and your experiences are the subject of the essay.
Make Your Statement Distinctive: Many writers want to make their personal statements unique or distinctive in some way as a means of distinguishing their application from the many others received by the university. One way to do this is to include at least one detailed example or anecdote that is specific to your own experience—perhaps a description of an important family member or personal moment that influenced your life. This strategy makes your statement distinctive and memorable.
Keep It Brief: Usually, personal statements are limited to 250–500 words or one typed page, so write concisely while still being detailed. Making sure that each paragraph is tightly focused on a single idea helps keep the essay from becoming too long. Also, spending a little time working on word choice by utilizing a dictionary and a thesaurus and by including adjectives should result in less repetition and more precise writing. Finally, use active verbs ("The student read the book"). Passive verbs ("The book was read by the student" ) adds words and sounds even wordier than it is.
Tell a Story: Be truthful and stick to the facts; yet, think of your personal statement in the terms of writing a story. You want to write as fresh, lively, different – not to mention articulately – as you can to put yourself ahead of the other applicants. A personal statement MUST be MEMORABLE. One of the worst things you can do with your personal statement is to bore the admissions committee, yet that is exactly what most applicants do.
Find an Angle: If you're like most people, however, your life story might well lack significant drama, so figuring out a way to make it interesting becomes the big challenge. Finding an angle is vital. Brainstorm for ideas which emphasize your exceptional qualities, goals, past performances.
Concentrate on Your Opening Paragraph: Keep in mind when composing your statement that the lead or OPENING PARAGRAPH IS generally the MOST IMPORTANT. Here you either GRAB the readers attention or lose it. If you are telling a story, you will use this first paragraph to introduce the elements most relevant to that story – and the ones that will hold greatest interest for the reader.
Tell Who You Are: The committee needs to get a sense of who you are, what makes you tick, and how you are different from other applicants. They should be interested in you by now, eager to hear more, impressed that what you’re saying to them -- the story you’re relating – is not simply what they’ve read a thousand times before.
Sometimes a personal statement can be perfectly well written in terms of language and grammar, but disastrous in lacking punch or impact and in being totally off the mark concerning what it chooses to present about the applicant. Remember, what is most important about your personal statement is what you say and how you say it! Be selective about what you tell the admissions committee.
What you choose to say in your statement is, again, very much a reflection of you because it shows the committees what your priorities are, what you consider to be important. The personal statement is often an indication, too, of your judgment, so be careful and give a great deal of thought to what you write. Think about yourself, your background, experiences and abilities and develop a strategy.
Review Your Personal History: Review your life very carefully (get help from family or friends if necessary) for facets or experiences that reveal an unusual dimension, related to your professional goals, or could serve as evidence of your suitability for the challenges of college.
What NOT to Include: Do not mention subjects that are potentially controversial; it is impossible for you to know the biases of members of various admissions committees. Religion and politics normally don’t belong in these statements, although, again, there may be exceptions. Any views that might be interpreted as strange or highly unconventional should also be omitted because you want to avoid the possibility of offending any of the individuals who will be reading your application.
Sometimes there will be things you want to mention because you are proud of those achievements and experiences; however, they may not belong in your statement. You are being selective. The information you give must support your story and/or case. You will not want to talk about every achievement. Be Selective.
Reviewing What’s Been Said (Plus a Few New Points)
- Remember that, in a general sense, what is most important is what you say and how you say it.
- Make sure you answer the question(s) being asked of you.
- Determine what you would tell an admission committee member if you had five minutes to answer the question “What is most important for us to know about you?” This exercise will force you to do the type of thinking that must precede the preparation of an effective personal statement. For help, refer to the list of questions you should ask yourself.
- Don’t make the mistake of trying to guess what the admissions committee is looking for, and don’t just write what you think the committee wants to hear. Such ploys are highly obvious to admissions people and can be detrimental to your cause.
- When appropriate, find an angle and tell a story about yourself. If your life story has drama, use it.
- You are preparing a personal statement. Often it is appropriate and useful to include material that is quite personal in nature.
- Grab the reader’s attention in your opening paragraph.
- Review your life carefully with outside help, if necessary, to make certain you are including all relevant information.
- Be selective. Don’t introduce inappropriate material or get into so much detail that your judgment can be called into question.
- Try to maintain a positive and upbeat tone. While it is often useful to deal candidly with aspects of your history that might be perceived negatively, overall you still want to project confidence and enthusiasm.
- Be specific when appropriate
- Avoid potentially controversial subjects.
- Express yourself clearly and concisely.
- Adhere to stated word limits.
- Be meticulous (type and proof read your essay carefully).
- If a school wants to know why you’re applying to it rather than another school, do a bit of research if necessary to find out what sets your choice apart from other universities or programs. If the school setting would provide an important geographical or cultural change for you, this might be a factor to mention.
- Think about what you’re saying. (Is it interesting, relevant, different, memorable?)
- Be honest. Are you being yourself and revealing yourself? In many instances, admissions people are interested in finding out about who you are, and they appreciate honesty.
- Are you providing something more than a recitation of information available elsewhere in the application? If no, revise!!!
- Are you avoiding obvious clichés? For example, a student planning to major in pre-med who writes that he is good at science and wants to help other people is not exactly expressing an original thought.
Personal Statement Format
As mentioned before, the requirements for personal statements differ, but generally a personal statement includes certain information and can follow this format (see following model).
Introduction
Many personal statements begin with a catchy opening, often the distinctive personal example mentioned earlier, as a way of gaining the reader’s attention. From there you can connect the example to the thesis (an experience that greatly influenced you, etc.)
- Detailed Supporting Paragraphs
Subsequent paragraphs should provide a detailed explanation of your thesis.
Conclusion
Re-state your thesis, but in different words, focusing on a reflection of the situation you have described; where are you now?
Assignment: Writing the personal statement. Choose one of the following prompts on which to complete a formal, MLA- formatted personal statement. Your essay must be saved as a Microsoft Word document and attached to an e-mail sent to me. The e-mail must be received by class time on the date due. If for some reason you do not have access to either Microsoft Word or the internet, you must submit a hard copy of the essay at the beginning of class on the day due. PLEASE NOTE: IT IS PREFERRED THAT YOUR ASSIGNMENT BE SUBMITTED VIA E-MAIL.
Questions: