Getting Started with Personal Statements Introductory Workshop with Dr. Lexey Bartlett Nationally Competitive Scholarships Advisor, FHSU

Goals of the Personal Statement 1. To get invited to the next step (an interview, admission, whatever is next): Your aim is to pique the reader’s interest and get their attention quickly. 2. To supplement your other application materials (CV or résumé, transcripts, test scores, etc.): Your aim is to share meaning and what makes you tick as a person, not to give your CV in prose. 3. To show yourself to be a “safe and wise” investment of their resources (funds, space, time, etc.): Highlight your skills, knowledge, interest, and engagement to succeed to show why they should choose you for their opportunity.

How to Tell Your Story: 2 Models 1. Past, Present, Future 2. The Examined Life

Model 1: Past, Present, Future The past, present, future model can help you develop the content and possibly organization of your personal statement. 1. Past: This could be the hook for the reader as you describe or explain a defining event in your past. (Note: The *recent* past. Generally childhood stories won’t help your case, unless they are extraordinary.) 2. Embody the Present: Detail 1 to 3 activities or interests that define who you are today, as a reflection of that defining event but also how they show how you have carried that direction forward. Your activities or interests can provide concrete examples of knowledge or skills you are developing. 3. Future: Know where you are going and why. Research the opportunity you are applying for. Know what you can bring to it so you can explain that and why this particular program is the key to your future. (Another similar/overlapping paradigm: Interests, Motivations, Qualifications, and Goals (may be intermingled, especially the first three parts)

Model 2: The Examined Life This model focuses on self-examination using the ORID progression for writing about your topic: 1. Objective: Describe what you did in detail, with enough information that a reader can see the significance of this experience. 2. Reflective: Reflect on this activity: what was your response, how did you feel, and how did it make you grow? 3. Interpretation: What did you learn? How does it connect to the world and your career goals? 4. Decision: What will you do now? Why? How well are you prepared? Why is this course of action right for you?

Some Dos and Don’ts DO: Start early. Recognize that reflection and research take time. Be specific, even including research with citations or a literature review if relevant. Seek feedback and be open to constructive criticism. Gather a team: peers for early feedback, support, and accountability; faculty mentors for professional advice, feedback, and possibly recommendations; and maybe contacts in the program you are applying to, depending on what it is. Use campus resources: The Writing Center, Career Services, and me, if you are applying for a Nationally Competitive Scholarship. Use online resources: Websites on the organization you want to join or for the sources of funding you are applying for, and for help with personal statement writing, like Joe Schall’s classic ebook, Writing Personal Statements Online. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/writingpersonalstatementsonline/node/1984

Some Dos and Don’ts DON’T: Don’t wait until the last minute to start writing. It is tempting to procrastinate on this part of applications, but it is the hardest part to do well in a short time. Don’t use generic statements that anyone might say. Don’t use clichéd writing elements, like an inspirational quotation, or an early childhood experience, unless it is truly exceptional. Readers are generally more interested in how your adult interest has been engaged and how you have acted on it. Don’t submit a statement that has not been very carefully proofread to eliminate typos, spelling or grammar errors, or mentions of another program than the one you are applying to!

Developing Material Spend time researching your future plans—graduate or professional schools, internships or other programs, and your ultimate career. That will help you define specifically your ultimate goals, and it will help you explain why a particular opportunity is suited to your goals. Reflect on your experiences and consider the skills you have gained. How are they applicable to your next step? Did you gain an understanding of processes that you could supervise, even if you were working under someone else? (That is, can you explain your role in the bigger picture?) Examine your motivations and interests. What drives you? What problems or challenges in your field do you want to work on? Why? Consider your journey to this point. What experiences have led you here? How are they connected to your ultimate goals?

Techniques for Starting to Write Brainstorming: Set a timer for 3-5 minutes and jot down as many ideas as you can think of on your topic in a few minutes. Webbing or Mapping: Can be a standalone activity or follow on brainstorming: Use a visual chart or web to organize brainstormed ideas into relationships, or use topics to build off of each other. Freewriting: Write for 5-10 minutes on a specific topic (career goals, problems in my field, etc.) without stopping or worrying about wording, grammar, etc. Just write. Looping: Start by freewriting on a topic for 5-10 minutes. Stop, read what you have written, circling ideas that you want to say more about. Start another freewriting session (a loop) of 3-5 minutes on one of the ideas you circled. Stop, read what you have written, and circle key ideas. Start another loop of 3-5 minutes writing on an idea from what you have just written or from your initial brainstorm. Repeat as desired. (This is a great technique for drilling down into specifics and developing ideas with key details.) Use a topos to develop an idea: the five senses, the reporter’s questions (who, what, where, when, why, and how), modes of developing an idea (description, narration, definition, division and classification, comparison, analogy, cause and effect, process, problem and solution).