Writing Your Personal Statement

After some initial brainstorming, the first step you should take when writing an essay is to create an outline. No matter what the topic is, and no matter what you have to say, you need to get all your ducks in a row. Creating an outline, even a rough one, can drastically improve the quality of your writing.

Stick to main topics in your outline and keep in mind how much room you have to work with. You may have more to say than you originally thought, and putting it down on paper can help you organize and cut down on less necessary topics. Remember, the point of the essay is to connect you to the university, so keep it brief and only use the details you feel are absolutely necessary.

On the other hand, if your outline seems a bit too thin, you might want to think about where you can expand. This is where you want to take a break, head outside and shoot some hoops, or relax on the porch with a glass of lemonade while you think back on your life (“What more can I talk about?”, “I know I did something last summer...”). Draw on all your experiences and include them in your outline. There’s no rush, so just make sure you cover all your bases.

Once you have an outline you’re proud of, you can go ahead and start writing your essay! Now that the hard work of planning is done, you can thank the past version of you who laid everything out for you.

Every great student, author, reporter, or other writing professional has to work with a schedule, and now it’s your time to join them. Just like with the SAT, you want to set deadlines for yourself. It’s a great motivator, and ensures you have enough time to write and revise your drafts.

Your schedule does not need to be the strictest in the world, but you should still set a goal for how long you want to work on your essays each week. You have plenty of time to write a few drafts of your personal statements this summer, but that time goes by fast if you don’t stick to your schedule.

Try to break things up into manageable chunks. Work on your essay for, say, an hour every other day, and give yourself the weekends off. That way, you don’t overexert yourself, and each time you start writing again, you can review your work with fresh eyes. That paragraph you wrote last time might not seem so important the second time around!

Life happens, so if you need to relax one week or deal with problems, that’s okay. But make sure to plan for what you can. If you don’t hold yourself accountable, those fall application deadlines will.

Despite all the advice, all the tips, tricks, know-hows, and how-tos, there’s a chance you still aren’t quite sure what to do. Maybe you have a draft and it goes off track, maybe you are still brainstorming and don’t know what to write. Maybe you’ve been working on your draft for hours and only managed to write “THE” but it’s in a cool font and that’s something to be proud of. Well, there’s no better way to get the help you need than to learn from someone who’s been there. That’s right, we’re talking about examples!

For the millions of people who have been to college, there have been millions of personal statements written. If you know someone who graduated college, you could always ask them what they wrote, but if they’re anything like the average student, they probably don’t know where that essay went. Luckily for you, plenty of other college graduates have offered to let schools use their words to inspire you!

Thanks to technology, you can Google examples to your heart’s content, or you could check out some of the examples we’ve chosen for you to check out here:

• College essay examples from Top-25 Universities

• Essay examples from the Johns Hopkins University class of 2024

• Other top college essay examples

Drawing on past experiences can help us create a better future, so check out their experiences and start creating yours!

Once you finish a draft, remember to celebrate! Pat yourself on the back, go get that ice cream you’ve been wanting, and kick back in front of the TV—you’ve earned it!

You’ll still need to go back, revise, and make edits, but in many cases, getting your ideas out on the page can be the hardest part. Make sure to relax and take some time away from a draft before you come back to polish it off. Your brain will thank you, and you’ll come back with a new perspective on what you might want to change.