Beyond Your Degree:Personal Statements

Student Development ServicesWriting Support Centre

UCC 210www.sds.uwo.ca/writing

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Outdated information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 10-80-10 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

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