When applying to any school, a personal statement is your one chance to show who you really are as a person. For that reason, a personal statement should be taken seriously. Even though it is just a short essay, there are techniques on how you can come up with winning personal statements. You’ll also be able to see these techniques when you read enough examples of personal statements:
Technique 1: Examples of personal statements project a tone of self-marketing
If you’ve read a lot of examples of personal statements online, you will see that the sample essays promote the personal and educational background of the applicant. There is hardly any mention of the school grades and awards that an applicant received. So, self-marketing minus the grades should be the content of your personal statement when applying for to any college, medical school, law school, MBA programs or other graduate programs.
The purpose of marketing your personal and educational background and your life and career plans is to present your individuality apart from your grades. The examples of personal statements are designed in such manner so that the readers, presumably experts in the field, can assess whether an applicant is compatible and genuinely interested in a course.
So, following the examples of personal statements, write about your extra-curricular activities, family background, interests, plans, and ways by which you put the lessons you’ve learned into practice. On top of all those details, write with an optimistic tone.
Technique 2: Examples of personal statements are well-planned and outlined
You might notice that in several examples of personal statements, planning and outlining are applied. Through careful outlining, the examples of personal statements were written clearly and understandable to readers. So, make sure to follow the examples of personal statements when writing your own.
Think about your ideas, first, then organize them. You have to make the experts reading your personal statement see that you are an organized person who writes excellently. You also have to show the experts that your personal statement is an example of how you will write your academic papers.
Technique #3: Examples of personal statements were edited objectively
“Write hot. Edit cold” is a guide practiced by many writers. They write with passion and edit with an objective eye. The examples of personal statements were written and edited in such manner so that readers like you will get to see how a winning personal statement is.
The writers of the examples of personal statements made sure that after they organized and wrote their ideas, they found the points that need correcting. In the end, the flow of the examples of personal statements are friendly to its readers.
You should do the same. After writing, you may ask someone to edit the piece for you. If there is no one available, let some time pass until you are less passionate about your essay. When you believe that you are more objective, sit down and read your essay. You many even compare it with the examples of personal statements to see if the tone and style is appropriate.
Finally, don’t hesitate to keep rewriting if your essay is quite far from the style of the examples of personal statements. Having a clear, concise and straightforward personal statement is what will get you accepted into your dream college, law school, medical school, MBA programs or other graduate programs.