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Writing a Personal Statement (for an application to a graduate or professional program)
Your personal statement will be read very quickly, so make it interesting!
Functions of the personal statement:
- To round out your application package by providing the reviewers with information that is not available on the application form.
- To lift a few items out of your application form so that reviewers can understand the experiences more fully.
- To introduce yourself as a person with a unique background and voice.
- To quickly explain aspects of your application that reviewers might have concerns about. For example, you could explain why you didn’t attend college for a semester, why you are switching careers, or why your grades were strongest during your last year.
Your entire application package will be evaluated based on:
- Your intellect (demonstrated through GPA and standardized exam scores)
- Your character (demonstrated with examples of being compassionate, hard working, etc.)
- Your knowledge of and deep interest in the field you wish to enter (demonstrated through work, volunteering, and research)
- Your leadership and initiative.
- Where relevant, your experiences with diversity.
Honestly evaluate which of the above criteria you need to strengthen, and then spend the bulk of your personal statement addressing those aspects. For example, if your academics are not as competitive, supply alternative evidence of your intellect and/or provide an explanation for why your academics are not stronger. (Just be sure this does not sound like you are making excuses.)
Recommended Writing Process:
- Analyze the question and research the school/program.
- Brainstorm ideas and ask someone who knows you well what else is interesting or impressive about you.
- Write a paragraph or two about each topic that comes to mind. Next, get feedback from other people on which topics sound most interesting/impressive.
- If you feel intimidated by the prospect of writing the personal statement, talk into a tape recorder about some of your experiences. This may loosen you up.
- Write an outline that will stitch together the various topics you have decided to mention.
- Write a first draft and then revise the essay.
- Get feedback from a professor or the Writing Center and revise again.
- Proofread. Ask a good writer to do a second proofreading.
Suggestions
Be honest and genuine!
Reviewers read hundreds of personal statements, and they can tell when a student is exaggerating or being manipulative (trying to “milk” a difficult experience for all it’s worth). For example, don’t tell us that your mother’s death is what led to your goal of becoming a pharmacist if that’s not really true. That said, the reviewers would certainly want to know that your mother died when you were ten (it says a lot about what you had to overcome as a child). The solution? Slip in the information as you discuss another topic. Here’s an example: “After my mother died when I was ten, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. It is from her that I learned about the traditional herbal medicines of Mexico.”
Don’t offer excuses for the negatives in your application; instead, turn them into something positive. For example, “My academic struggles during my sophomore year taught me valuable lessons and skills.” For example, “Although my Chicago public high school did not provide me with strongest academic skills, I managed to catch up with other college students by my sophomore year. Along the way, I learned how to work hard and manage my time.”
DO the following in your essay:
- Include volunteer work and other experiences. This needn’t be limited to formal roles. For example, you could include something like caring for a sick parent every day.
- Include research or special academic projects you worked on during college. Don’t go into too much detail about the project; the focus should be on you and what you learned or accomplished through the project.
- Tell us something unusual or surprising about yourself. Perhaps you can mention a special talent you have in music or a sport (or something else). Then tie this in with your career goal. For example, you might say that the many hours you spent practicing the trumpet helped you become more disciplined.
- Tell us if you paid for all your tuition or helped support your family while you were in college. Tell us if you cared for a family member or had other significant obligations.
- If you changed majors or careers and this was a big switch (say from art to pre-med), tell us why you changed. Also tell us what positive things you brought from your prior major. For example, a woman who switched from being a legal secretary to becoming a pre-dentistry student might say that her prior work taught her how to organize a huge number of tasks and how to pay attention to details (both valuable skills in dentistry).
- If you’re stuck for ideas, think about complimentary statements that professors or supervisors have made about you or your work. Consider including one of these quotations. (This needs to be handed skillfully, so get feedback.)
- Let the reviewers know that you have an informed and sophisticated understanding of the profession. For example, a student applying to law school mentioned that as an adolescent she thought that being a lawyer involved dramatics. She later discovered through an internship that the law is mostly about painstaking research.
DON’T:
- Exceed designated limits for length; reviewers can become very annoyed by this.
- Simply summarize your entire life. Instead, choose a few topics to focus on and then find a thread that will tie them together.
- Say you’ve always wanted to pursue a particular career or fill your essay with other empty generalizations.
- Try to be funny or gimmicky or too personal (religion, politics, etc).
- Sound like a braggart. Give examples that will impress us but don’t tell us that you’re smart and compassionate.
- Be overly modest. Mention significant awards or recognition you received while in college and help us to understand the significance. For example, you might tell us that the chemistry award you received was given to only two students in your college.
A strong personal statement can increase your chance of acceptance into a graduate or professional program. It is well worth your time to write several drafts!
Written by Cecelia Downs
Academic Center for Excellence, University of Illinois at Chicago
1200 W. Harrison, Chicago, IL 60607
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