1) A written description of one's qualifications, interests, goals, etc. included as part of an application for a job, an educational program, or other opportunities (such as fellowships, scholarships, internships, graduate or professional study, etc.).

2) A very niche, weird writing format that you've likely never encountered before coming to Wellesley, and maybe not even until you're nearing graduation.

3) A really cruel exercise in writing, because no one is so boring that they could capture who they are, what they've done, and what they want to do in one or two pages.

A personal statement is typically an essay that connects your background, experiences, interests, and goals to the mission, requirements, and desired outcomes of the specific opportunity you are seeking.  It is a critical (but rarely the only) component in the selection process and gives the selection committee the best opportunity to understand your motivations, your qualifications, and your future plans. Some personal statements are more, well, personal, while others are more persuasive: it depends on the opportunity and the prompt (if there is one).  

For example:

• Personal statements for Medical School Applications are more personal in tone, whereas...

• Personal statements for many Fellowship Applications (like, for instance, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program or the Projects for Peace) are more persuasive, in that they should show how you are a good fit for a particular opportunity and how the thing you're proposing to do is feasible.

Your personal statement is likely only one piece of a larger application, which means you have a lot of ways to make your case across your whole application.  Your entire application package will include some, possibly all, of the following:

• Personal Statement(s)

• Resume/CV

• Transcripts

• Letters of recommendations

• Interviews

• Sample of written work

• Research proposal

You'll want to consider what these pieces of the application communicate (and what they don't).  Your personal statement should aim to tie things together and fill in or address any gaps.  There will likely be some overlap among your application components, but be sure not to be too repetitive.

Feeling overwhelmed?  We totally get it.  Do this, don't do that, but it all depends — confusing, right?  Like we said at the outset, personal statements are a very weird, very niche form of writing.  No one comes into the world knowing how to write one.  And we're here to help.  Remember that you have an entire team of experts in Career Education whose job it is to know which case to make for which application and how to make your case as persuasively as possible.