Personal Statement Suggestions
Thomas J. Lindell, Ph.D.
Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Arizona
What follows is a distillation of a number of years of experience in advising students who must prepare a personal statement for application to a professional school. While most of this experience is with pre-medical students, the recommendations should suffice for other professions as well. I have another perspective that is gained from having served on the Admissions committee at the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine .
• Personal statements should be interesting and informative. You need to understand that this is your only direct connection to the Admissions Committee-- everything else is "filtered" through someone else i.e. Letters of recommendation or reports of interviews etc.
• You need to sell yourself! Your really do not have a choice. You must be proactive about advocating why you want to enter postgraduate training. The reader will want to know that you understand what you're getting into. Relevant experiences are therefore important to relate. If medical school is your goal, are you doing this for the right reason?
• You must be prepared to "tell your story". In my experience, too many young people are reluctant to tell their story. They think that they are bragging or being arrogant. Remember, if you do not tell your own story, no one else will. You cannot assume that those who will write about you will capture what you yourself want others to know about you.
• It is easier to sell the "product" (you) if you know who you are. Most students who are bound for postgraduate programs do not need to be motivated. They should, however, have a good sense of how well they fit into that career. They should also have some significant knowledge of who they are. Students, who expect to become physicians, have no business treating other people's problems unless they have attended to their own first.
• Start thinking about what you want to say early-- do not wait until the last minute. Keep notes to yourself about things that you feel are revealing about yourself. After you write your story, put it away for a few days before revising/editing it. This will give you an opportunity to get a fresh look at it, if you have the time.
Personal statements do not need to be chronological. They should be written with some "flair" and attention to who the reader is. Remember, the reader is some overworked member of an admissions committee who is doing this out of a sense of duty. Your job is to entertain them and create a story that will capture their attention. I recommend that you attempt to tell the most captivating part of your story in the first part of the essay. The reader, after reading many of these in a given review session, tends to find successive personal statements run together. Your challenge is then to make your statement unique-- just as you are unique.
As in any writing, the statement should "flow" together. The paragraphs should blend in a coherent manner.
More on: Writing Your Personal Statement
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN- The better your plan, the easier it will be to write your statement and to revise it. Have some sort of idea in mind before you start writing. Use a concept map, use an outline, do something to organize your thinking.
• Determine your purpose in writing your statement- you want to convince an admissions committee that you are the right person, you have thought about this decision, you can handle the material and have the motivation to succeed in your field.
• Determine the content of your statement.
• Determine your approach and the style of your statement. There is no set style. Your statement should be coherent and mature.
Draft #1 - When you write this draft, work to get your ideas down. Focus on giving a general impression of why you should be admitted.
Draft #2 - Begin by re-reading your first draft. Figure out what the thesis or main claim should be. Revise to form your thesis.
Draft #3 - Think about the organization of your essay. Decide the best way to support your thesis and build your argument. Is it chronological? By topic? Revise your essay focusing on organization.
Read through your essay thinking about word choice sentence structure and grammar. Revise to improve style and grammar.
Did your use clichés without explaining them? (I like to help people, rewarding, incredible, fascinating, significant, meant a lot to me?)
