When completing the requirements for your application package, you should keep in mind that one of the most substantial requirements is your admission essay. This can spell the difference between receiving the fat acceptance letter or the thin rejection notice. For this reason, you should do your best to make an excellent personal statement that is interesting, compelling, and engaging. This article will give you three helpful hints on how to develop and organize the body of your admission essay based on well-written examples of personal statements.
Examples of personal statements: Make an outline for your main ideas
The first step is to make a simple outline of your main ideas. There is no need to create a three-page outline with all of the information in there. Instead, focus on the main points that you want to get across in your essay. Perhaps a maximum of three to five points would be best to ensure that you won’t try to write about too many different things.(1)
Personal statement examples: Create sub-point for each main idea
Now that you have a good idea of what you want to write about, the next step is to make one or two sub-points for each main idea you listed down in step 1. The sub-points should delve a little deeper into the main idea by stating what you want to emphasize about the topic. For example, if one of your main ideas is a challenging time you had in high school, then your sub-point can be about how you felt while battling the challenge. The main objective in this second step is to start developing your main idea into something that you can expound on in your essay.(2)
Examples of personal statement: Elaborate on your insights and how they make you a good candidate
The final step is to start filling in your essay. Now that you already have your main ideas and sub-points, all that is left to do the writing. Elaborate on the main ideas by touching on the sub-points that you came up with. Take it one step further by doing a little reflection and writing about how your personality and character have developed, making you a good candidate for the school.(3)
(1) http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/application.html
(2) http://gradschool.about.com/od/essaywriting/f/essay2.htm
(3) http://www.conncoll.edu/admission/essays.htm