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What is a personal statement?
What is a personal statement?
It's all about you!
It's all about you!
This may seem self-explanatory, but your personal statement is your statement! This short essay is your chance to tell colleges, universities, and scholarships why they should choose you. This is where you write about who you are, what your strengths are, and what has motivated you to push this far and keep going. It’s that simple!.
Whether you’re going to a 2-year college, a trade school, or the most competitive university in the world, these institutions want to know who they’re bringing onto their campus.
This is your time to shine, so here are a few quick tips to get your essay sparkling!
tell your story
tell your story
The hardest thing about this essay is talking about your experiences. Some things seem too common to write about, and some seem too tragic. It’s up to you what to include, but you want to make sure you talk about what you’ve done and what you’ve been through.
This comes in handy when you want to show how you’ve overcome adversity and struggle in your life, or how you balance multiple things at once. This is extremely important if you have some blemishes on your record you want to clear up, like if your grades dropped when grandma passed away unexpectedly, or you had to take care of siblings and didn’t have time to study, or you started working and it changed your behavior at school.
Ultimately, your personal statement doesn’t have to show that you’re a perfect student, but a reflective one who’s grown from their mistakes and challenges.
why should you care about writing a good personal statement?
why should you care about writing a good personal statement?
For this reason, we want to ask: Which of these options best describes your plans right now?
I think I’m going to apply for a 4-year college.
I think I’m going to apply for a 2-year college or trade school.
I think I’m going to join the workforce or just not attend college.
4-year
4-year
If your goal right now is to go to a 4-year college, then a personal statement is the main way you get to bring your personality to an application.
There will be many students who do the same sports, attend the same clubs, and work the same jobs you do. They might even share your same passions. But you’re the only one who’s lived your life, had your experiences, and felt your feelings like you. Since an application reader might not ever get to meet you in person, treat this like your one chance to show them who you are.
Even if a college doesn’t require a personal statement, if you can submit one, do it! They can be a useful way for your application reader to argue for your acceptance, especially if your grades aren’t as high as you want them to be.
2-year
2-year
If your goal right now is to go to a 2-year school or trade program, learning how to write a personal statement is still just as important.
If you decide down the line that you want to transfer and continue your education to a 4-year university, knowing how to write one now will save you plenty of time and hassle. Also, many of the larger scholarships that people tend to miss out on require a personal statement. You could be one of the lucky few who applies and gets more money!
workforce
workforce
Should you decide school isn’t for you right now, and you want to go right into working, writing a personal statement will be as important for you as anybody else.
A personal statement is essentially the first draft of a cover letter. As you move up the food chain, you’ll need cover letters along with your resume to boost your profile and land that bigger job. If you start now, you have a head start on the competition, putting you one step closer to management.
do i need to finish my personal statement by november 1?
do i need to finish my personal statement by november 1?
You’re probably someone who’s got an application due on November 1, which means it’s pretty important and there’s not a lot of time left before you have to submit it. Read our tips below for what you can do these next few weeks to polish it off.
START NOW! If you’ve made it this far through our message and haven’t at least pulled out a sheet of paper to jot down ideas, what are you waiting for?! You only have a few weeks left to write this out.
Ask for help: You are on a time constraint here, and you’ll need all the help you can get, especially if you have no experience writing a personal statement or if you struggle with writing in general. Ask a teacher you trust (preferably an English teacher) or your adviser to give you feedback on your writing. They can help you if you are just starting out, or if you just need help ironing out a few details.
Don’t forget about it: The worst thing you can do is overestimate the amount of time you have and forget to work on your personal statement. Time flies when you’re having fun, and it’ll be Halloween before you know it. Take the time to get this done, and make sure it’s done right.
put in the work now, not later
put in the work now, not later
The great thing about writing a personal statement is that once you’ve done it, you can usually use it over and over, depending on the situation. You may have to tweak it a little here and there, but for the most part, you now have a functioning essay, written by you, for you, about you, that you can use to get into the school of your dreams, and then fund it.
Put in the work now and you’re going to be ready to take on whatever other essays you need to write this year, whether it’s a scholarship application or even a cover letter for your next job!
Don’t be scared to get personal—just start writing!
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