If you are into politics and you have strong feelings regarding your political beliefs, you may find it a good idea to write about a politics-related topic on your personal statement. Some of the personal statement writing guides that you have read may say that politics isn’t necessarily a good topic for your essay, because politics is a very sensitive subject. In truth, though, you can write a compelling, interesting, and meaningful personal statement based on your political beliefs. Read on to learn how to use your political beliefs to write a successful personal statement.
How your political beliefs can help you with your essay
When you are faced with the task of finding a topic for your personal statement, your political beliefs may not be the first topic that comes to mind. If you think about it, though, politics and political beliefs can make a good topic, especially if you want to major in a plan of study that is related to politics or government. Your political beliefs are more than just what influence your votes in an election, but they also reflect your perspective of world issues, legal matters, and the relationship between politics and society. Furthermore, your political beliefs may also give a hint on your personality, character traits, and who you are as a whole. In other words, your political beliefs can reveal more personal information, which is exactly what the purpose of the personal statement is: to introduce you, as a person, to the admissions committee.
How to discuss your political beliefs in the essay
When it comes to writing your personal statement, it’s essential that you relate your political beliefs as to who you are and how you have developed as a person. Basically, you want to reflect on your political beliefs and understand how they have shaped your character traits, personality qualities, virtues, and values. Your aim is to use your political beliefs as a vehicle to convey more pertinent information about you. In other words, the focus of your personal statement should still be about you and not on your political beliefs per se. Here are some suggestions for using politics and political beliefs as your personsal statement topic:
– Write about how your political beliefs are a manifestation of your admirable qualities.
– Write about how politics have shaped your perspective of profound topics, like justice, equality, or freedom.
– Write about politics-related experiences that have influenced your decisions, personality, or outlook on life.
What not to include when tackling political beliefs in the essay
When using politics or political beliefs for your personal statement topic, it’s essential to know what topics to avoid writing about. In most cases, it would be best to avoid controversial and sensitive topics, because most schools try to avoid the controversy involved in such topics. Likewise, it would also be irrelevant to write about what you know about politics or about your stand on current political issues. Avoid discussing politics in a manner that takes the focus away from you and why you are a good candidate for the school you are applying to.