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Writing effective personal statements and essays for admission to college, graduate, & professional schools as well as scholarships, employment, & leadership opportunities.
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The Process of Writing an Effective Personal Statement
Scott R. Furtwengler Dean, Honors Program, San Jacinto College [email protected] 281-929-4614
What is a personal statement? General advice Focus on the approach to the content of your
personal statement: Your Vision Resources Questions Handout
The general, comprehensive personal statement (a.k.a., goal statement, course-of-study proposal)
Responses to specific questions, for example: Describe a book that you’ve recently read. Did it affect you? How?
Admission Applications Scholarship Applications Internships Leadership Positions Employment Opportunities
A picture An invitation An indication of priorities and judgment Your story
An academic paper with you as the subject A résumé in narrative form A journal entry A plea or justification
Answer the questions that are asked Tell your story. Show rather than tell. Be specific. Strive for depth, not breadth Concentrate on your opening Write well and correctly. Proofread! Address setbacks, if necessary Adhere to word limits and formatting
instructions Revise. Revise. Revise.
Don’t use clichés or hyperbole Don’t list or restate information from your
résumé or other material Don’t use the same essay for each college Don’t complain or whine Don’t discuss money as a motivator Don’t submit supplemental material unless
requested (papers, letters of support, etc.) Don’t plagiarize!
In 1,000 words, explain…. Your dreams, goals, aspirations Your career goals Your educational goals Why you are applying to our program
What was? What is? What can be? What should be?
Lund & Finch, Lessons in Leadership Mostly Learned
the Hard Way (1987)
What challenges and obstacles have taught you something important about yourself?
When have you been so immersed in what you were doing that time seemed to evaporate while you were actively absorbed?
What ideas, books, theories, or movements have made a profound effect on you?
Who are the influential people in your life, why?
To what extent do your current commitments reflect your core values?
Where or how do you spend most of your time?
Under what conditions do you do your best or most creative work?
To what extent are you a typical product of your generation or culture? How might you deviate from the norm?
What is your potential within your proposed major? Within the college? Why?
In what ways will this education benefit you? What do you bring to the table?
How do your core values align with theirs? What about the institution appeals to you? Why are you choosing it from other
institutions? Address the school’s unique features that
interest you Do some research: websites; promotional
material; campus visits; and conversations with current students, alumni, faculty, and recruiters
Read it out loud Let others who will give you honest feedback
read it Craft it Revise it Proof it
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/
The Personal Statement Examples of statements Advice from admissions officers Top 10 Rules and Pitfalls
Perfect Personal Statements by Mark Alan Stewart, 1996.
How to Write a Winning Personal Statement for Graduate and Professional School by Richard Stelzer, 1989.
Scott R. Furtwengler Dean, Honors Program, SJC [email protected] 281-929-4614
