1. The Personal Statement: Strategies for Supporting Freshman Applicants
UC Counselor Conference 2008

2. Overview Purpose of the personal statement in UC admissions
Case study (two parts)
Instructions and questions
Writing strategies for students
Feedback strategies for educators

3. Purpose of the Personal Statement
Part of UC’s comprehensive review process
Opportunity to provide information that supports and augments the review process
Helps readers know and understand applicants

4. Purpose of the Personal Statement
Adds clarity, depth and meaning to information collected in other parts of the UC application
Completes the application for admission
An admission decision will never be based on the content of a personal statement alone

5. A Message From UC Faculty
While it is acceptable to receive feedback or helpful suggestions, applicants’ personal statements should reflect their own ideas and be written by them alone.

6. Case Study: Part I Read the personal statement in your binder.
Think about these questions:
What’s important to this applicant?
What qualities/characteristics define this applicant?
Which of these qualities/characteristics is most prominent?
Do these qualities appeal to you? Why?

7. Instructions and Prompts

8. Instructions Two questions Students respond to both questions.
A maximum of 1,000 words total
Students should stay within the word limit as closely as they can. A little over—1,012 words, for example—is fine.
Students choose length of each response.
If they choose to respond to one prompt at greater length, we suggest the shorter answer be no less than 250 words.

9. Prompt #1
[Freshman Applicants] Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.  

10. Prompt #2
[All Applicants] Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

11. Additional Comments
Use Additional Comments box for clarification, expansion on important details:
Additional names
Visa issues
Additional IB exams
Describe anything else that you have not had the opportunity to include elsewhere in your application.
500-word limit
The Additional Comments section is not required unless the student has been directed in another area of the application to provide more information in this section (such as the three items listed above)
The University of California gives priority consideration to U.S. veterans who apply for admission. Applicants are encouraged to use the personal statement to:
(1) describe how military service has been instrumental in developing their educational plans
(2) indicate if s/he is entitled to educational benefits as a result of military service or the service-connected death or disability of a parent or spouse, or
(3) indicate if applicant is affiliated with the military such as, but not limited to, the spouse or dependent of someone who is on active duty or a current participant in an ROTC-type program.

12. Writing Strategies for Students

13. Steps to Writing an Effective Personal Statement
Draft, Get Feedback, Revise
Develop Topic and Thesis
Read Critically
Gather Information

14. Personal Statement: Writing for College
Unknown audience: Students write for a community of scholars.
Writer-determined topics: Students choose the topics.
Dig deep: Analysis and reflection are key.
Personal Statement
Unknown audience
Writer-determined topics
Analytical and reflective response

15. Important Strategies
Students are encouraged to write about special circumstances that have influenced their educational experience:
Re-entry
Small or alternative learning environments
Learning and/or physical challenges
Veterans
Read critically and write analytically.
Think like an admissions reader by capitalizing on the relationship between readers and writers.
Use a writing process.
Get good feedback.

16. Think Like an Admissions Reader
All readers have expectations of writers, revealed in readers’ questions, observations and interpretations of the application.
Writers fulfill readers’ expectations by addressing these questions, observations and interpretations in the personal statement.
Writers can anticipate readers’ expectations by completing and critically reading their applications prior to writing a personal statement.

17. Critical Reading and Analytical Writing
Level one: Facts
Level two: Interpretation
Level three: Meaning and significance
Answers to L1 questions provide details in paragraphs.
Answers to L2 questions are topic sentences of paragraphs.
Answers to L3 questions are thesis statements of essays.

18. Case Study: Part II
Student Profile: Use the Levels of Questions strategy with this profile.
What data do you find?
What patterns do you see?
What questions would you ask?
What inferences would you draw?
How well does the essay align with the profile?
How would you advise this student to proceed?

19. Writing Process
Read the application critically using levels of questions.
Draft.
Get feedback — give readers at least a week to respond.
Revise for organization, clarity and meaning.
Proofread.

20. The Educator’s Role Help students:
Understand the role of the personal statement in the admissions process
Recognize the relationship between reader and writer
Understand the reading and writing tasks of the personal statement
Use a writing process
Obtain appropriate feedback

21. How to Give Feedback to Students
Request the application and the personal statement, not just the statement.
Ask students to provide you with a list of questions they would like you to answer.
Comment on ideas and the level of persuasiveness, not grammar.
Help students find readers who resemble their target audience.