Writing a personal statement is required to apply to any college. You need to reflect your interest in certain studying program and show your unique abilities for that program in it. Read and learn the information about how to write a personal statement for a college and provide arguments for your entry on the particular studying program.
Part 1: An Analysis
Look through programs of colleges you would like to apply to. Study them as deeply as possible to understand which exact feature of the program makes it interesting for you.
- Come up with 5 reasons for this college or program to be chosen among others.
Before starting to write a personal statement, give answers to some questions. Here below you’ll see some useful things to do before sending out an application to a college.
- Ask yourself, which part of your life correlates with your interest in the reviewed field. Think about difficulties related to this studying program and mentors who have had an impact on your personality and its development.
- Create a list of things that stand you out from all other applicants. It can be family, health, achievements, special projects or anything that makes you different.
- Describe your career goals in details. The program should help you realize your ambitions.
- Write about projects you completed, whether they were linked to usual job activities or studying. Projects should be related to the chosen program as well. Let the committee understand that you’ve got enough skills and experience to become successful with their program.
Part 2: A Draft
Devote 5-10 minutes of time to write about yourself and your reasons to apply to the certain college in a free form. Committee officials often have to read many similar personal statements. Don’t repeat things you’ve heard or read previously.
- A writing in a free form will let you get a bit deeper into your thoughts. It will free your mind from “templated” thoughts and allow you to write about your real goals and your interest later.
- If you’ll mention that you’ve been dreaming about studying in that particular college since being a child, that won’t be something original. If things you are going to write in a personal statement can be written by anyone, your motivation won’t be interesting and convincing for committee members.
Part 3: Correction
Shape your personal statement for a college as a story. Take your draft and rewrite it as if you had to write a story about your private and student life.
- First two sentences of your personal statement should reflect your interest in the certain college program.
- After the introductory part, you need to give some grounding arguments for your interest and describe why exactly you fit the chosen program perfectly. Include the information about your qualification, experience, and goals into this part of your personal statement. Here it is good to mention your researches conducted while studying at high school, which were similar to the topic of the chosen college program.
- Add some documents that confirm your experience and qualification. It is not enough just to tell the committee that you have a great experience in the particular field. It will be more convincing to show some evidence like rewards, achievement diplomas, and grades.
- If your biography has blind spots, give them the ground, don’t skip these facts.
Check if your personal statement answers the questions the committee members are asking for. For some colleges, general answers will be enough while there are applications that require very specialized and precise answers.
- Be advised, you should write a separate personal statement for every college. Add all attachments as a CV to your application to make it look more interesting and different from other ones.
Exclude from your personal statement any facts that won’t be interesting for the application committee. Write about yourself only things that matter for the college and the studying program you chose. So, cut everything unnecessary out with no mercy.
Check if the information written in a personal statement is not repeated. Add something that can influence the officials’ decision instead of repeated answers.
Part 4: Final Check
Read your personal statement aloud to check if it contains unsuitable words and phrases.
Check your spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes. They are frequently made in application forms and become reasons to deny it. Don’t rely on the MS Word spelling checker only.
Ask your friends to check your application’s text and grammar. Correct it if necessary.
Ask any colleague or friend who knows the program to read your personal statement and to recommend something to add or correct about it.
