What is a personal statement and what’s the purpose of it?
A personal statement is an article about the applicant’s background, academic achievements, and future research and career goals in accordance with the school’s requirements during the application process. A successful personal statement should not only be fluent in the language, rigorous in logic and well-defined but also fully display the talent of the applicant and grab the attention of the reviewers. Almost all schools require personal statements.
Personal statements also have different names, such as Personal Statement, Statement of Purpose, Statement of Intent, Statement of Objectives, Academic Statement, Study Plan, academic Objectives, etc. The personal statement should include the following:
The academic or professional interests and background of the applicant.
The direction to be studied.
Future career goals.
Benefits of a Well-written Personal Statement
If the personal statement is written properly, it can greatly improve the applicant's chances of admission and scholarship. This is an excellent opportunity for applicants. It is a pity that many applicants are exhausting their efforts on TOEFL and GRE, and they often act on their personal statements in one fell swoop, perfunctory things, lack of content, and grammatical errors.
Many universities do not only use traditional examinations to assess the qualifications of their applicants. This is not to say that their admission standards are not strict. When deciding whether you are the person they want, the professors first want to hear what you say about yourself. When you introduce yourself by applying for documents, you will find that the opportunities and challenges you face are equally great.
Make a plan before you start writing a personal statement
Don't go straight in. You need to treat your personal statement seriously like you treat your graduation thesis. So, just like the first outline of the paper, you have to brainstorm and think about the content and structure of your personal statement. Write the first draft. Do not linger on language expressions and word selection when writing the first draft so that you will lose control of the overall situation.
Choose the language and intonation of personal statements
When you have completed the plan for the content and structure of the previous step, another question you must think about is: How do I express my ideas clearly. It is a good idea to write a personal statement with which you can apply for multiple universities in the UK, so try to avoid writing personal statements for a specific course or university. That does not mean you should write overly vague statements, just try to establish a balance between going too specific or going too vague.
The next important consideration is using simple sentences. The rhetoric will not increase your learning; it may only make it harder for the admissions teacher to keep up with your thinking. In addition, make sure that you do not mention any specific universities in your personal statement. You may have a university you like very much. Still, if you single it out in your personal statement, the consequence is that the other universities you apply for (as an alternative) will simply reject it.
Write down your academic achievements
What you must write is your academic achievement. Talk about the courses you have studied before, the skills developed through learning, and how these skills are related to the course you are applying for. Or you can also mention the specific work you have done, and any academic recognition you have received, such as national or provincial awards, awards, etc.
Include your academic GPAs, rankings, schools, and grades. British schools are very fond of the GPA metric, especially for undergraduates applying for a master's degree. When the first year or the entire university period is not right, you should pay attention to tap the flashpoints. If it is a public course, you can see if the scores of some related courses in professional courses are excellent.
Write down your experience of extracurricular activities
Universities don't just want to admit smart students with excellent grades; they also want talents with full development. Such students tend to contribute to university life in different ways. Extracurricular activities include part-time work, internships, clubs, clubs, volunteer work, etc. Even if the extracurricular activities you have participated in are not directly related to the courses you apply for, it is important to prove that you have transferable skills and to show your personality, personality, and traits to the admissions teacher.
Rembert, Personal Statement is not a resume. It is not necessary to list all activities but to focus on selecting activities related to the application of a major. However, there must be a balance in the expression and emphasis of your extracurricular activities and academic credentials. Not all extracurricular activities are to be included. You can state notable previous positions like being the chairman of the student union etc. The focus is to reflect your talents in this regard and the impact they can have on others.
Pay attention to the skills you acquired from your hobbies; you may find that they are related to your course to some extent.
Extracurricular activities contribute to character development.
Be clear about your career ambitions
If your course is professional (such as teaching, medicine, social work, etc.), then you will have to show that you have acquired enough work experience or professional knowledge, such as job handover, work observation ability, and can fluently communicate with professionals Communicate, etc. If you are applying for a non-professional course, you may be able to demonstrate your career aspirations and work hard to achieve this goal. But don't worry, if your career plan has not been decided at this stage, it doesn't matter if you don't write it. After all, this is just a college application and not a job interview!
Write some occupations you are interested in, and how the degree you applied for and how the university will help you enter this occupation, to show that you have seriously considered life after college.
Show your enthusiasm for the course
Show your understanding and interest in this course. It is best to understand the content of the course. It can elaborate which points of this course attract you, explain the importance of this course of study to you, and why you must study this course. If it is because of any academic work or words from this major in the school that inspired you, please do so.
Don't wait until the last moment
Each school will set a deadline for personal statements. There may even be a deadline for submission of plans, preliminary drafts, supplemental drafts, and final drafts. So make sure you complete your personal statement writing before the deadline, check it with your teacher, and get feedback so that you can still have time to make changes and perfect your personal statement.
In addition, the admission principles of British universities are on a first-come-first-served basis, so the sooner you complete your personal statement, the better.
Again, personal statements are important, so take your time. Draft as many times as possible until you are completely satisfied with your work.
Many students have a problem in the application process, that is, how can they write a unique personal statement. The following international study abroad experts tell students how to write.
The elements of applying for a prestigious school include effective self-marketing and self-promotion. After all, a personal statement is more of a self-marketing paper or a self-advertisement, and the better you market yourself, the higher the chances of you getting the admission. Many people have unclear themes and are unclear about their own characteristics and advantages.
Intern experience
A period of beneficial practical experience, especially related to the application major, will be a bright spot in PS. In this internship experience, students do not need to list all the project experience. You only need to describe one that impresses you the most. The important point is to emphasize the difficulties you encountered in this project and how to overcome the difficulties of achieving success.
Career planning
Many students do not make this clear in their personal statements. In this regard, I would like to say that professional learning must be consistent with career aspirations. A clear plan for your future will let the teacher see your application motivation at a glance. At this point, students need to think carefully before writing.
Write in a distinctive way.
Once you have collected the information and selected the format for writing the article, you can start writing the text. The key part of the writing process is what viewpoint you will use to present your message.
It is very important that others will not evaluate your writing skills. Many writing styles are useful. The use of writing styles of short stories or magazine articles will make people look depressed and embarrassed. On the other hand, using a very casual writing style may seem too lazy for some traditional readers, there is a way to solve this problem.
Avoid Third-Person Writing
After all, it is called a “personal statement!” Why would you want to write it from a 3rd person point of view? Many applicants write in the first person, such as "I think I am qualified to apply for a legal major." This is a very useful, direct, and easy-to-understand writing style. At the same time, remember to change the sentence structure, length, and rhythm to make the writing fluent.
"What happened? We are looking at the article written by the applicant, but who wrote this article?" This reaction is what the admissions teacher will have when he/she sees a personal statement written in a robotic 3rd person tone. If you use your teacher or mentor's tone when describing your affairs, the admissions committee will think you are forging a recommendation letter.
Bonus Tip
If you have already written the personal statement but it is in the third person, and now want to change it into the first person, replace "you" with "one" in the document. The third-person narrative style (using "he" or "she" to refer to yourself) is not practical in personal statements. Usually, the first reaction to a third-person personal statement is to feel confused.
Be original and authentic.
The best way is to use your own style and not trying to find new ways to write and impress the readers. Just make sure that the article you write is clear, concise, and free of grammatical errors. Do not deliberately use exaggerated vocabulary to infect enrolled teachers, as long as there are no misspellings in the words.
Start Solid, the first paragraph is the key
The content introduced in the first paragraph is a key part of the entire article. A good introduction can attract the reader's attention. It is best to write a few more introductions and choose the one that is most attractive. If you can successfully attract readers to the following sections, the beginning paragraphs do not need to summarize the whole article.
If you are attached to the third-person effect, you can use it in the first paragraph at the beginning.
Do not use vague sentences, such as "Your esteemed school" should be replaced by the name of the school. "I will return to serve my country" should clearly state what kind of work you want to do.
Avoid using esoteric vocabulary and try to express it in simple and easy words.
Don't digress, talk about irrelevant things.
Don't plagiarize, rewrite the sample articles on the book. You should read the school ’s introduction carefully, understand its requirements, and then consider your academic background and plans to write your own style.
Check the errors in English tense, gender, and single majority.
Provide Key Information in a clear concise manner
The main part of the article should be composed of events, experiences and activities, which can be arranged in chronological order, according to the topic, or according to importance. Highlight the points that you think are worth paying attention to several times, and remember that you are selling yourself in packaging.
Don't just say that you are eligible to apply to their school, and why. Stay confident but don't be conceited. Let the enrolled teachers understand that you can add brilliance to future classes, rather than having you is their luck.
At the beginning of each paragraph, summarize a sentence to highlight the characteristics. The transitional part of the article should be smooth and smooth.
The expression "I am interested in English literature" is not clear enough, and I was concentrated on Milton and Shakespeare in college "clearly stated the applicant's interests and research scope.
The phrase "I received extensive training in physics" is not detailed, and "My training was in the area of particle physics" is more specific.
"I was very active as a student representative" It is best to explain what was done: organize activities, host lectures, communicate students and school opinions, etc.
Edit, proofread and Repeat
I cannot emphasize this part enough, perhaps the personal statement is the most important article you have written and done so much work, yet, 80% of the successful articles are edited and not written from scratch!
That is not to say, you should not write your original personal statement. All I am saying is, edit and proofread it thoroughly. Read it multiple times, try to ‘fine-tune’ the statement as much as you can.
When editing, analyze your article line by line. Take questions to see if there is a connection between each idea and whether the logical relationship between each sentence is coherent.
Check it section by section to ensure that your points of view are accurate, relevant, informative and novel. Repeating their views and topics over and over again will make the readers bored and the article lacks professionalism.
Remember what you think is very clear, it may not be clear to the reader, the other party knows nothing about you.
Make sure that every point of view is backed by strong facts and expressed, and is not just telling stories.
Fragmentation and Structure of a personal statement
All the tips and contents discussed above need to be in the personal statement in three sections which I will discuss below. To write a successful application, it is not enough to have basic writing skills (clear and concise) suitable for any type of writing. A good application document requires the applicant to show his unique personality and experience in a completely different way from other applicants.
The content of the personal statement should include the following three items:
The academic or professional interests and background of the applicant.
The direction to be studied.
Future career goals.
Question and Answer yourself
When writing, the above three points divide the article into three main parts. Don’t make a list or repeat the information already in the application form. When writing, you should silently ask yourself the following questions:
Do you have an in-depth and meticulous understanding of the schools and majors you want to apply for, so that you can keep abreast of the requirements and characteristics of the schools and majors when writing the self-report and highlight your application advantages?
What is unique and unusual in my life experience? Which people or events in my family life and social life have influenced my outlook on life and career pursuit? What makes these influences unique?
How did I initially become interested in the currently selected major? How did I deepen my understanding of this subject area in the years to come? What has been achieved in this field? What makes me confident and able to make a difference in this field?
What teaching assistants, research assistants, social practice, and summer work did I engage in during school? What has been improved through these activities (such as scientific research ability, organizational ability, and leadership ability, etc.)? What projects have been completed in the work after entering the society, what achievements have been achieved, and how talented are they?
What is my ultimate career goal?
Is there anything I need to explain in my test scores over the years? For example, my college grades have always been excellent but my GRE scores are not very satisfactory; have my grades in the upper grades improved significantly compared to the grades in the lower grades?
Do you need to overcome extraordinary difficulties in the process of self-struggle, such as poverty in family life, physical disability, etc?
Do I have outstanding qualities, such as honesty, reliability, kindness, hard work, etc., and can I provide evidence to prove it? Do I have good special working habits and attitudes worth mentioning, as well as natural advantages?
What special talents do I have, such as analytical skills, leadership skills and communication skills? Why do I have more confidence in my career success than other applicants?
Again, don’t be boring or tasteless
After having answered the above questions, it is necessary to pay attention to writing skills. The biggest taboo in writing a personal statement is that it is featureless and boring. Try to discover your excellence. Be eye-catching and grab the reader's attention.
Therefore, the first paragraph or the first two paragraphs of your statement are very important. If there are flashes in the first and second paragraphs of your content that can leave an indelible impression, then the best effect is achieved. There are two more important ways to obtain uniqueness: one is to find a unique way of thinking or to examine your own unique perspective, and the other is to use storytelling in the presentation process.
The so-called "story" is to have a vivid plot. In addition to the ideological perspective, vivid plots are another magic weapon for expressing individuality and uniqueness. Many people can have similar experiences and backgrounds, but specific experiences in their lives must have unique scenes. Appropriately depicting such a scene will make the whole text exude a vivid and fresh atmosphere.
Read the University instructions carefully
Read the school's writing instructions and understand the key points of the problem, do not repeat, omit, and complete within the required number of words. For example, if the school requires 500 words to complete then the full text should not exceed 500 words.
Summary
Although university and graduate school staff simply browse your personal statement, they can learn a lot from your personal statement. Therefore, the personal statement must be able to express your ideas clearly and effectively and prove your academic and communication skills. If there are too many grammatical and spelling errors in your personal statement, it may affect the attention of the admissions staff to your abilities and interests.
Generally speaking, personal statements should have the following aspects:
Why should you apply for this course?
Describe one of the most important emotional factors (your interest?) That affects your application for the project.
If you want to write your own academic or work experience over the years, what do you want to write most?
Describe your professional ability, especially the situation in a group (If you emphasize work experience).
Describe your academic ability, especially the situation in a group (If you emphasize learning experience).
Your most memorable work experience / academic experience.
Describe the failure you have experienced and how you responded to it.
Briefly describe your expectations for the future.
For international students, in addition to the GPA score and language score, an excellent personal statement is often an important material that shows the school what kind of person you are and why your application is worth considering.
Conclusion
The staff of the admission departments of universities and graduate schools will find out the courses you intend to apply for, your academic level, professional orientation, and post-graduation expectations when reading the personal statements of the international students. But it should be noted that for these staff members, the emotionally autobiographical descriptions in your personal statements cannot affect their judgment unless these descriptions are indeed related to the learning and professional interests you explain.
Writing a personal statement is something that not only helps you express yourself but can also be vital in getting your admission in your desired university and therefore it is recommended that you take your time and research before you grab the pen-or keyboard.
I hope the guide above will help you write an excellent personal statement. If you still have questions or need any help feel free to shoot me an email.
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