A personal statement is an important part of the documents for the university. This paper helps you to express yourself and should convince the admissions office that you will be the best student. Therefore, you should try to make this document really good. And we offer you tips on how to structure and complete the statement to increase your chances of success!
What the Personal Statement Is?
So, a personal statement to the university is a crucial part of the application process. It shows your academic successes, personal achievements, namely experience and ambitions that speak of you as a proactive and enterprising person.
Personal statements can be of two types:
- The general form of personal statement. It allows you to show the imagination in terms of the information you want to tell. You write about what you think is necessary, and the points that will show you from the most attractive side.
- Answers to the University Commission’ questions. Sometimes in your personal statement, you need to answer very specific questions. There is also a mixed form in which you can write an essay, but complete it with answers to 3-4 questions. In any case, it still depends on you a lot.
What to Write About?
The personal statement means “individual.” That means there are no strict rules on how to write this document. But there are recommendations that you can take into account, especially if you don’t know what to write.
Writing a personal statement is an essay format, you structure it by paragraph. Therefore, it’s important to distribute the topics you want to highlight logically. Each section should contain a separate complete thought. The best result is when each next paragraph complements the previous one.
So, starting the work on your personal statement, you should decide what do you want to write and arrange ideas in order, for example:
- The reasons why you chose this specialty. First of all, it is worth telling what attracts you in this field. Tell how interested you are in this specialty, how your passion began. Show your enthusiasm, the reader should get the impression that this sphere is the most interesting in the world, and you can’t imagine your life differently.
- Why are you applying to this university? This is a rather formal aspect because the commission already knows how the university stands out among the rest. But this is an opportunity to show your preparation – search for unusual facts about the university, it will be great if you mention them. Be honest, if the geographic location is essential to you, you can say so.
- How are you already involved in this specialty, your experience? Even if you didn’t study this specialty before, you probably read specialized literature or follow outstanding figures of the sphere on Facebook. Perhaps you participated in school volunteer projects related to your topic. You need to show that you know what you are talking about and what do you want. Because quite often, the profession is not as romantic as it may seem at first glance.
- Your skills and achievements. Again, if you don’t have the experience directly in this field, tell what skills and knowledge you have acquired. Underline those that will be useful in your future profession.
- Why it’s you, who are suitable for studying there. In this part of the personal statement, you need to prove that this university, specialty and you are made for each other. It is difficult to advise because each student is an individual. Think about what an interesting point in your life story makes you stand out among other candidates.
- Your hobbies and interests that inspire you. At this point you can show that you are a diversified and active person, you know how to distribute free time to spend some for your hobbies.
- Your future plans. What are your goals? What heights would you like to achieve? Try to avoid clichés and common phrases. Most students of medical faculty want to save lives, and legal students want to fight for justice. Do not rush, give yourself time to think about a sincere answer.
Few more tips
- Tell a story. Write the document as you tell about your life, use literary elements, structure: beginning, body part, conclusions. Don’t overload the text of academic vocabulary. This document should be easy and interesting to read.
- Don’t rush. Is it worth mentioning the importance of this document? Start in advance, even a month before. The more time you spend on preparation and reflection, the easier it will be to write.
- Proofread your statement. Read the text yourself, read it out loud. Let your parents see it. It is essential to avoid grammatical and stylistic mistakes. It would be a great pity to spoil an impression of the great personal statement due to carelessness.
