8 Tips for Writing a Personal Statement ...

The first impression should always be a good one and this rings true for a written document as well. Your personal statement is going to be introducing you to the admission committee well before any of them ever meet you in person, if they ever do at all. They will have to read your statement and learn all about you through the details provided. Make this paragraph count.

The people in charge of reading your statement of purpose have usually read plenty of them to know when they are being fed a load of crud. You can define your purpose without having to embellish it to suit the likes of the admission committee. Make sure you stick to the word limit stated as well. Don’t give the committee an easy reason to throw your application in the trash.

An example of stating the obvious would be if you were applying to med school and put the following sentence in your personal statement: I’m very good at science and my goal is to help others. Really? That is far from an original thought. They will be able to tell if you are good at science from your grades and if you weren’t interested in helping others you probably wouldn’t be applying to med school in the first place.

You are basically persuading the admission committee to choose you to come to their university to complete the program you are interested in. Whether it’s law school, med school, graduate studies, or a larger university you are interested in transferring to, this personal statement needs to be one that will cause the committee to take notice in you and your reasons for applying.

Providing the facts while remaining truthful is important when writing your personal statement. This should be like a story about you, but make it a memorable one that will cause you to stand out from all the rest. Remember that you aren’t the only applicant. Admission committees for universities receive a large number of applicants that they have to wade through.

Questions to be answered in your personal statement could include any or all of the following: Why did you become interested in the particular field you are wishing to study? What have you done so far to better prepare yourself? What are the career goals you’ve set for yourself? Elaborate as much as possible without being boring when answering these questions.

Identify your personal strengths, any outstanding characteristics, and how you can use these to become successful in the profession you are seeking.

You don’t want to have any gaps unfilled. Explain any low scores that you had. If you had excellent grades and did poorly on a major exam, such as the LSAT, then explain how this could be possible. This works the other way too. Say you had average grades that suddenly shot up towards the end of the school year. How did this happen? Explain it so that the admission committee doesn’t have to spend time wondering or tracking you down to get answers.

Use these 8 tips for writing a personal statement and spruce up your own statement. It’s alright if you find you have to rewrite bits here and there. Make it a compelling piece of work that you will be proud of. Do you find these tips to be helpful?

Top Photo Credit: jjpacres