Definition of personal

statement:

A reflection on the evaluation of the

links you established to the areas of
interactions, the process you
followed to prepare your final
product and the overall success of
your project in terms of your initial
goals.

A statement of purpose, or personal

statement, is a brief and focused essay about
one's career or research goals, and is
frequently required for applicants to
universities, graduate schools, and professional
schools. A statement of purpose (SoP) is a
concise essay about one's career goals,
identified means to achieve them and
accomplishments so far towards those goals. It
is a required document when applying for
admission to most professional programs in the
United States. Often, SoP is used as a yardstick
to assess the capabilities of a prospective
student in terms of critical thinking, analytical
abilities, interests, aims and aspirations. It is a
good way for an applicant to communicate with
the admissions committee. Most admissions
committees look for a short, crisp and
ideologically clear SoP.

Personal statement

It is also known as a Graduate School Essay.

Other universities sometimes call it a "Letter
of Intent", "Letter of Intention", "Statement
of Intent", "Statement of Intention",
"Statement of Interest", "Goals Statement",
"Personal Statement", "Personal Narrative"
or "Application Essay". The name can be just
a name but often it influences content and
length of the essay. Every university has its
own regulations, but most of the time it will
be 1-2 pages.

A personal statement is:

A picture. Provide a snapshot of who

you are as a person.
An invitation. Your job is to bridge the
assumed distance of strangers. Invite
your reader to get to know you.
An indication of your priorities and
judgment. Your selection of material
reveals your priorities and ability to
discern effectively.
A story, or more precisely, your story .
The personal statement allows you room
for creative, meaningful self-reflection.

A personal statement is not:

An academic paper with you as the

subject. The objective distance of
academic writing disengages the
reader from you in a personal
statement.
A resume in narrative form. Other parts
of your application, which might
include a resume, already tell readers
about your accomplishments. A
personal statement must reveal and
interpret well beyond a resume.

A personal statement is not:

A journal entry. A common mistake is

allowing your personal statement to
read like a diary. Share only relevant
material selectively, in a voice that
remains both individual and
professional.

A plea or justification. Dont beg and

dont defend the (incorrect) assertion
that you are more worthy than other
candidatesit only backfires.

Writing personal
statements

The personal statement is a very

important part of the application. It
gives candidates a chance to write
freely about themselves and their
interest in the subject, as opposed to
the rest of the application which
consists mainly of 'objective'
information. The statement can form
the basis of an interview discussion.

Personal Statement

Every applicant is required to submit a

personal statement. The personal
statement is generally 1-5 pages and is
your opportunity to share relevant
information about yourself, your goals,
and why you would make a good match
for the particular graduate program to
which you are applying. Some programs
ask that you address particular questions
as your personal statement.

Overview of the Personal

Statement

Personal statements are sometimes also

called "application essays" or "statements
of purpose.
They are essentially essays which are
written in response to a question or
questions on a graduate or professional
school application form which asks for
some sort of sustained response.
Some applications ask more specific
questions than others. There is no set
formula to follow in shaping your
response, only choices for you to make,
such as whether you should write an essay
that is more autobiographically focused or
one that is more professionally focused.

Overview of the Personal

Statement

From application to application, requested

personal statements also vary widely in
length, ranging from a couple of paragraphs
to a series of essays of a page or so each.
Personal statements are most important when
you are applying to an extremely competitive
program, where all the applicants have high
test scores and GPA's, and when you are a
marginal candidate and need the essay to
compensate for low test scores or a low GPA

How to Write
Personal Statement
for College
Admission

3 Steps to Write Personal Statement for College

Admission
The personal statement is your opportunity to give the
admissions committee a sense of the person behind all the
grades and test scores. Many of the other applicants are
likely to have similar academic credentials, but none has
your particular experience, background, or outlook. A strong
personal statement can set you apart from other
candidates. Here you are given step-by-step instructions to
find the unique yourself and finish a winning personal
statement for college admission.

Step 1: Interview yourself

Step 2: Start writing your essay
Step 3: Read it

Step 1: Interview yourself

What experiences do you like talking about the most?

What has been the most interesting, intriguing, and
exciting part of your life why, and what did you learn
from it?
Discuss an activity or experience that has helped you to
clarify your long-term academic goals.
Name a class or internship that you have taken to develop
expertise in your major field of study.
Describe a person who has shaped your values or beliefs.
In five years, where do you see yourself working and what
do you envision yourself doing?
Describe your hometown and explain its impact on your
beliefs or values.
Discuss an obstacle that youve had to overcome to
achieve your academic goals.
Write a letter, and tell me everything you do, your
personal history, and what matters to you.
What do you enjoy doing?

Step 2: Start writing your essay

Write from your gut. Youre used to writing from

your head. Dont let your head make it up. Listen
to your gut, and get it down.
You cant tell them everything. Have a few main
points you want to get across, and let them find
out the rest of your story in your resume,
interview, letters of recommendation, and other
elements of your application.
When you decide on the main points and stories
you want to tell, answer these questions: What is
the point of the story youre telling? What do you
need to include to tell it well? What isnt
necessary?
Have many others read it for objectivity and
distance, since this is the most personal topic
youll ever write about.

Step 3: Double-double-check
Get other people to read it, mainly your family, friends, teachers
and anyone else who you think will be able to give you a good
opinion. As well as checking for spelling and grammar
mistakes, they will be able to tell you if they think there is
anything you've missed out. Also show it to head of year or
career advisers, people like this will have seen a lot of
statements, and have a good idea what they should sound
like.

Dos and Donts

Do . . .
: Answer all the questions asked.
If you are applying to more than one program, you may
find that each application asks a different question or
set of questions, and that you don't really feel like
writing a bunch of different responses. However, you
should avoid the temptation to submit the same essay
for different questionsit's far better to tailor your
response to each question and each school.
If you do find yourself short on time and must tailor one
basic essay to fit a number of different questions from a
number of different schools, target your essay to your
first-choice school, and keep in mind that the less your
essay is suited to an application's particular questions,
the more you may be jeopardizing your chances of being
admitted to that school.
Be honest and confident in your statements.
Use positive emphasis. Do not try to hide, make excuses
for, or lie about your weaknesses. In some cases, a
student needs to explain a weak component of his or her
application, but in other cases it may be best not to
mention those weaknesses at all. Rather, write an essay
that focuses on your strengths.

Write a coherent and interesting essay.

Make your first paragraph the best
paragraph in your
essay.
Develop a thesis about yourself early in the
essay and argue it throughout.
Each piece of information you give about
yourself in the essay should somehow
support your thesis.
Pick two to four main topics for a one-page
essay.
Don't summarize your entire life. Don't
include needless details that take space
away from a discussion of your
professionalism, maturity, and ability to do
intellectual work in your chosen field.

Use the personal statement as a form of introduction.

Think of the essay as not only an answer to a specific
question but as an opportunity to introduce yourself,
especially if your program doesn't interview applicants.
Ask yourself the following questions as you edit for
content:
Are my goals well articulated?
: Do I explain why I have selected this school and/or
program in particular?
: Do I demonstrate knowledge of this school or
program?
: Do I include interesting details that prove my claims
about myself?
: Is my tone confident?
Make sure your essay is absolutely perfect spelling,
mechanics.
Use technical terminology where appropriate.
You should write clearly and interestingly, yet also
speak in a voice appropriate to your field.

Don't . . .
Write what you think the admissions
committee wants to hear. You are
probably wrong, and such a response is
likely to make you blend into the crowd
rather than stand out from it.
Use empty, vague, over-used words like
meaningful, beautiful, challenging,
invaluable, or rewarding
Overwrite or belabor a minor point about
yourself.
Repeat information directly from the
application form itself unless you use it to
illustrate a point or want to develop it
further.

Dont
Try to be funny. You don't want to take the risk
they won't get the joke.
Get too personal about religion, politics, or
your lack of education (avoid emotional
catharsis)
Include footnotes, quotations from dead
people, or long-winded and slow introductions.
Use statements like "I've always wanted to be
a. . ." or any other hackneyed phrases.
Use gimmickstoo big of a risk on an
application to a graduate or professional
program.
Allow any superficial errors in spelling,
mechanics, grammar, punctuation, format, or
printing to creep under your vigilant guard.

Brief Process for Writing the

Personal Statement

Analyze the question(s) asked on a specific

application.
Research the school and/or program to
which you are applying.
Take a personal inventory. Write out a 2-3
sentence response to each question.
Write your essay.
Revise your essay for form and content.
Ask someone else - preferably a faculty
member in your area - to read your essay and
make suggestions for further revision.
Revise again.

Personal Inventory Questions

What makes you unique, or at least different

from, any other applicant?
What attracts you to your chosen career? What
do you expect to get out of it?
When did you initially become interested in this
career?
How has this interest developed?
When did you become certain that this is what
you wanted to do? What solidified your decision?
What are your intellectual influences? What
writers, books, professors, concepts in college
have shaped you?
How has your undergraduate academic
experience prepared you for
graduate/professional school?
What are two or three of the academic
accomplishments which have most prepared
you?

Personal Inventory Questions

What research have you conducted? What did

you learn from it?
What non-academic experiences contributed to
your choice of school and/or career? (work,
volunteer, family)
Do you have specific career plans? How does
graduate or professional school pertain to them?
How much more education are you interested
in?
What's the most important thing the admissions
committee should know about you?
Think of a professor in your field that you've
had already and that you like and respect. If this
person were reading your application essay,
what would most impress him or her?

Tips

Consider exactly what the question asks. Then list some

relevant main ideas; use this list as an informal outline
for your essay.
Don't write a generic essay that could pass for one
that any other applicant could have written. Everything
in the essay should reveal something about YOU and
your unique situation. Any reader of your essay should
feel as if he or she knows you personally.
Remember that committee members are seeking the
applicant who fits the mission of their institution and is
worthy of their award. Tailor your college admission
essay topic with their perspective in mind, and work to
convince them that you're the right candidate.
Follow guidelines regarding such things as font size and
essay length. Sometimes a typed essay is required;
other times, you are required to hand-write it.
Sometimes it should be on the application form; other
times, it must be on a separate piece of paper. No
matter how good your college admission essay is,
failure to follow instructions will make a negative
impression and may actually disqualify you.

Tips

If you have trouble thinking of ideas, be

resourceful. Ask people who know you well
what they would say about you. If someone has
written a letter of recommendation for you, reread it. Which accomplishments listed on your
rsum might interest the committee?
Don't use long words and obscure vocabulary
simply to impress the committee; doing so will
come across as artificial and showy.
The appearance of your essay is important.
Spell all words correctly; follow grammar and
punctuation rules; and keep your paper neat.
The committee may not meet you personally;
this essay may be the sole basis for their
selection. A messy paper or an essay full of
errors will cause them to see you as uncaring
or unqualified, despite the inaccuracy of this
judgment.

Save your essay! There is nothing wrong

with using the same ideasand occasionally
even the same college admission essayfor
several applications. Each time, make
revisions so that the essay topic responds
specifically to the question(s). Although you
have used it for other applications, the
committee should not be able to tell that
this essay wasn't originally written as a
response to their question.