Beyond Your Degree: Personal Statements Student Development Services Writing Support Centre UCC 210

Outline Purpose Content Style Examples

Personal Statement Purpose: Companion to your resume/CV/application How do you stand out? How well do you write/think? Weed out the weak

Content Emphasis on “Personal” statement Don’t write what you think they want to hear Pick your best qualities and write a well- developed statement Complement, don’t repeat, your application package

Content Read the instructions Emphasis differs among schools and disciplines Professional Schools: You as a person Graduate Schools: You as a scholar

Content Often, you answer specific questions As few as 1, as many as 7 Be as specific as possible Don’t be shy Be honest

Coming up with Content Serious soul-searching Talk to your friends and family

Content to Include The 1 or 2 aspects that you would like to showcase How you would fit into the school/program

Content to Avoid Controversial subjects (religion, politics) Praising the school Outdated information

Presenting the Content Not what you say, but how you say it Not a resume in paragraph form Pick a few examples and give details Show, don’t tell

Style Multi-paragraph essay Paragraph Organization Sentence Structure

Multi-Paragraph Essay Paragraph Organization: Intro-Body-Conclusion Roughly word distribution

Thesis Statement Directly answer the question / introduce what you will be writing about The most important part of an essay Thesis = Argument More than just the topic More than just your position

Thesis Example BAD: I feel I am a good candidate for your graduate program. BETTER: My wealth of academic experience has prepared me for your graduate program.

Introduction Two options: Thesis statement alone Motivator-Thesis

Take a few sentences to lead up to your thesis Use an anecdote, quotation (short), preamble that leads to your thesis

Thesis Statement Alone Pros: Get right to the point Save space Cons: Can seem abrupt

Motivator-Thesis Pros: Start out on a personal note Ease the reader into your essay Cons: Takes up space Not always appropriate

Body All content should come back to the thesis Follow a logical order (A-B, B-C, C-D) Cover one topic per paragraph Explain everything

Conclusion Revisit your thesis Extend beyond your topic Maybe a new point General Specific

Sentence Structure Short sentences Mix up the structure Simple, compound and complex sentences Avoid ‘I-itis’

Resources Purdue Online Writing Lab owl.english.purdue.edu How to Write a Winning Personal Statement by Richard Stelzer

Examples