Objective
y Write an engaging and eective personal
statement capturing your strengths and career
goals.
y This is your opportunity to give admissions a
more personal look into who you are.
Purpose of a personal statement
A personal statement, also known as a statement of
purpose, demonstrates your unique qualications
to an admissions commiee. It also illustrates
your writing ability, creativity, and career goals.
Admissions commiee members look for interesting,
insightful, and non-generic personal statements that
provide concrete evidence of your competence and
motivation.
Get started
Before lling out the application, reect on and make
notes about your:
Personal History
y Prior life experiences, events, and achievements
relevant to your career choice or application to
graduate school
y Life events are experiences that are distinct or
unusual which relate to your professional goals
y People who have inuenced your decision to
pursue this eld or who have had a signicant
impact on your values as they relate to this choice
Academic Life
y Research interests and prior experience
y Academic accomplishments/recognitions
y Inuential professors
Work Experience
y Previous jobs, volunteer experience, and/or
extracurricular activities that have inuenced
your career choice or career goals
Answer these questions
1. What is special, distinctive, unique, or impressive
about you or your life story?
2. How did you learn about the eld? What
stimulated your interest in this eld?
3. What characteristics and skills do you possess
that enhance your prospects for success?
Writing a Personal Statement
Marissa Braole
4. Have you overcome any unusual obstacles or
hardships?
5. Are there any gaps in your academic record that
you want to explain?
6. What are the most compelling reasons for the
admissions commiee to be interested in you?
7. What are your short and long-term goals?
8. What is the most important thing for an
admissions commiee to know about you?
9. Why do you want to apply to this program?
10. What are the special features/values of this
program that aracted you to it and how do they
match your own values, skills, and goals?
Formaing tips
1. Read the application carefully, follow the
directions, and adhere to word or page limits!
Most personal statements are 2-3 pages.
2. Be sure to answer the question/topic(s) posed in
the application.
3. Choose a font style and size that can be easily
read by your audience.
4. Write in rst person.
5. Proofread for typos and grammatical errors.
What’s inside
Common mistakes .........................................2
Evaluating suggestions .................................2
Personal statement critiques .........................2
Personal statement evaluation chart ...........3
Sources of additional information ...............4
Personal Statements2
Common mistakes
1. Sloppiness
Avoid spelling, punctuation, formaing, and
grammatical errors. Be sure to leave yourself
adequate time to edit and revise your essay.
You do not want to send your rst draft to the
admissions commiee.
2. Writing one statement for all schools
Learn about each school’s program, including
research interests and publications of faculty.
Clearly state reasons for pursuing a degree
from that school. Be sure to mention faculty
members with whom you would like study when
necessary.
3. Boring content
Have a positive tone, vary length and structure of
sentences, and avoid clichés. Use active speech.
4. Sounding like everyone else
Identify your strengths and clearly articulate
what sets you apart from other applicants. Do not
simply state that this is your passion.
5. Dwelling on crisis
If you discuss a personal crisis, it should relate
to the purpose of your essay. Mention how it
aected your personal goals, perspective, or
academic performance.
Evaluating suggestions
Evaluating your personal statement is an important
part of the writing process. Carefully read over your
personal statement and use the Personal Statement
Evaluation Chart on page 3 to critique your statement.
Then ask at least one person whose opinion you
value, (e.g., friend, teacher, family member) to
review and evaluate your personal statement using
the Personal Statement Evaluation Chart criteria.
Personal statement critiques
You may bring your personal statement to the
Career Center to be critiqued by a career advisor.
No appointment is necessary. Career advisors are
available 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday. Bring an electronic and paper copy of your
statement. You can use the Career Center’s computer
lab to make changes as needed.
Do’s & Don’ts
Do:
y Aim for depth, not breadth.
y Write why an event is signicant to you and what
you learned from it.
y Use readable fonts, conventional spacing, and
margins.
y Focus on one or two specic themes and discuss
related experiences.
y Concentrate on capturing the reader’s interest in
the opening paragraph.
y Have specic reasons for applying to each
program.
y Mention specic faculty with whom you are
interested in working.
y Strive to make the essay unique by using concrete
examples from your life experience. This allows
you to stand out from other applicants.
y Select people whom you trust to read and provide
feedback on your personal statement, especially if
English is not your primary language.
y Create a conclusion that refers back to your
introduction and ties your points together.
y Connect life experiences to your professional goals
and career motivation.
y Articulate short- and long-term career goals
clearly.
y Be selective when choosing supplemental
materials to submit (only submit materials
requested by school).
y Comment (briey) on irregular grade trends,
discrepancies on transcripts, or circumstances that
aected test scores.
y Mention specic reasons why you are interested in
this school and program.
Don’t:
y Submit the exact same essay to multiple schools.
y Write a clichéd introduction or conclusion (e.g.,
my passion).
y Preach to the reader.
y Repeat information elsewhere in your application
to the point of redudancy.
y Discuss money as a motivating factor.
y Cram too much information into the essay.
y Exceed word and/or page limits.
y Exaggerate your qualications or experience.
y Discuss potentially controversial topics (e.g.,
politics or religion).
y Include extraneous materials (e.g., addendums
to applications, videotapes, or audiotapes) unless
specically asked.
y Remind the school of its ranking or tell them “how
good they are.”
Personal Statements
3
Personal Statement Evaluation Chart
Questions to Ask Comments N/A
1. Did my opening paragraph
capture the reader’s aention?
2. Is the statement as a whole
interesting?
3. Is it well wrien? (e.g., grammar,
tone, verb agreement)
4. Is the statement positive and
upbeat?
5. Does it reect well on me and my
qualications?
6. Is it an honest and forthright
presentation of me?
7. Does it answer key questions
posed in the application?
8. Was relevant material omied?
9. Is there inappropriate or
irrelevant material in the
statement?
10. Does the reader gain insight from
reading the statement?
11. Is it free of typos or other errors?
12. Does it explain my career
aspirations?
13. Are there any gaps or
discrepancies in my academic
record that need to be addressed?
Alternative Format Available.
Revised 9/13.
Sources of additional information
This guide was adapted from these resources, some of which are located in the Career Center Library.
Sample Personal Statements........................................................................................................................................IIIC2 P3
Real Essays For College & Grad School...................................................................................................................IIIC2 M35
Get into Graduate School..........................................................................................................................................IIIC2 K31
Essays That Worked for Business Schools.................................................................................................................IIIC2 C81
Essays That Worked for Law Schools........................................................................................................................IIIC2 C82
Law School Essays that Made a Dierence..................................................................................................................IIIC2 B7
Business Essays that Made a Dierence...................................................................................................................IIIC2 G51
Medical School Essays that Make a Dierence...........................................................................................................IIIC2 K4
Graduate Admissions Essays......................................................................................................................................IIIC2 A5
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