Overview:

1
Overview

• Categories of Personal Statement
• Personal Inventory Questions
• DOs and DONTs
• Characteristics of GOOD Personal Statement
• Insider Scoop

2
Personal Statement Writing Tips
Personal Statement Writing Tips
3
Categories of Personal Statement

• Autobiographically Focused
• Professionally Focused

4
Personal Inventory Checklist

• Whats special, unique, distinctive about you or
  your life story?
• What details of your life (personal or family
  problems, history, people or events that have
  shaped you or influenced your goals) might help
  the committee better understand you or help set
  you apart from other applicants?
• When did you become interested in this field and
  what have you learned about it(and about
  yourself) that has further stimulated your
  interest ?
• How have you learned about field (e.g. classes,
  seminars, work or other experiences)?
• If you have worked a lot during your college
  years, what have you learned (leadership or
  managerial skills, for example), and how has that
  work contributed to your growth?

5
Personal Inventory Checklist (Cont)

• What are your career goals?
• Are there any gaps or discrepancies in your
  academic record that you should explain?
• Have you had to overcome any unusual obstacles or
  hardships (for example, economic, familial, or
  physical) in your life?
• What personal characteristics (e.g. integrity,
  compassion, persistence) do you possess that
  would improve your prospects for success in the
  field or profession?
• What skills (for example, leadership,
  communicative, analytical) do you possess?
• What are the most compelling reasons you can give
  for the admissions committee to be interested in
  you?

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DOs when writing Personal Statement

• Answer all the questions asked.
• Be honest and confident in your statements. 
• Use positive emphasis. Do not try to hide, make
  excuses for, or lie about your weaknesses.
• Write a coherent and INTERESTING essay. Make your
  first paragraph the best paragraph in your essay.
• Write to the point.
• 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.

7
DOs when writing Personal Statement

• 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 and such techniques as
  passive voice where appropriate, but only where
  appropriate. You should write clearly and
  interestingly, yet also speak in a voice
  appropriate to your field.

8
DONTs when writing Personal Statement

• Write what you think the committee wants to hear.
  
• 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.
• Emphasize the negative.
• Try to be funny - you don't want to take the risk
  they won't get the joke.

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DONTs when writing Personal Statement

• 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.

10
Characteristics of GOOD Personal Statement

• Is thoughtful and honest
• Strives for depth, not breadth
• Conforms to guidelines
• Answers the question!
• Benefits from several drafts and feedback from
  others
• Contains a catchy introduction that keeps reader
  interested
• Transforms blemishes into positives
• Demonstrates your knowledge of the major/college
• Exudes confidence--you will be successful no
  matter what

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Want some Insider Scoop?!

• Lee CunninghamDirector of Admissions and AidThe
  University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
  
• The mistake people make most often is not to
  look at what the questions are asking. Some
  people prepare generic statements because they're
  applying to more than one school and it's a lot
  of work to do a personal essay for each school.
  On the other hand, generic statements detract
  from the applicant when we realize that we're one
  of six schools and the applicant is saying the
  same thing to each and every school despite the
  fact that there are critical differences between
  the kinds of schools they may be applying to.
  They don't take the time. They underestimate the
  kind of attentions that is paid to these essays.
  Take a look at what the essay asks and deal with
  those issues articulately and honestly.

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Want some Insider Scoop?!

• Steven DeKreyDirector of Admissions and
  Financial AidJ. L. Kellogg Graduate School of
  Management (Northwestern University)
• Trying to second-guess what we are looking for
  is a common mistake--which we can sense.
• We can tell when applicants use answers to other
  schools' questions for our essays we're
  sensitive to this. Poorly written essays are a
  bad reflection on the applicant.
• Don't over-elaborate we're reading a lot of
  these kinds of essays. Also, don't be too brief
  or superficial. We like to have major ideas
  presented well.

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Want some Insider Scoop?!

• Michael D. RappaportAssistant Dean of
  AdmissionsUCLA School of Law
• Make sure the essay is grammatically and
  technically correct and well written. Avoid
  sloppy essays, coffee stained essays, or ones
  that are handwritten so you can't read them.
  You'd be amazed at what we get!

14
Want some Insider Scoop?!

• Beth O'Neil Director of Admissions and Financial
  AidUniversity of California at Berkeley School
  of Law
• Applicants also tend to state and not evaluate.
  They give a recitation of their experience but no
  evaluation of what effect that particular
  experience had on them, no assessment of what
  certain experiences or honors meant.
• They also fail to explain errors or weaknesses
  in their background. Even though we might wish to
  admit a student, sometimes we can't in view of a
  weakness that they haven't made any effort to
  explain.
• Another mistake is that everyone tries to make
  himself or herself the perfect applicant who, of
  course, does not exist and is not nearly as
  interesting as a real human being.

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Want some Insider Scoop?!

• Dr. Daniel R. AlonsoAssociate Dean for
  AdmissionsCornell University Medical College
• We look for some originality because nine out
  of ten essays leave you with a big yawn. "I like
  science, I like to help people and that's why I
  want to be a doctor."