The personal statement follows students through much of their lives. Sometimes it comes up for middle or high school applications, especially at private and boarding schools. More famously, it’s the bane of many students’ existence during college applications (and later, for graduate and doctoral programs, too). Sometimes the personal statement is instead the 650-word Common App Essay, which, like any personal statement, gets at some core experiences or qualities of the applicant.
I’ve worked in the college application essay industry for about half a decade now, and I’ve seen some of the best, strangest, and yes, worst personal statements. Over that time, I’ve stopped believing in the perfect one. There’s no single topic or approach that guarantees a compelling, original personal statement. But there are a few things you can do to get your writing where it needs to be. And the whole process starts with you.
Step 1: Picking the right topic
Your personal statement might come in the form of different prompts, but most of them ask you to reflect on a moment or experience that felt meaningful. In my experience, students tend to choose one of two things: the worst thing that ever happened to them, or their most impressive academic achievement.
Either one could produce a strong essay, but I’d implore you to look deeper. Look at the whole of you. It helps to have some idea of what you want to study. And look, we’ve all been young. It’s fine not to have a clear picture of how the rest of your life will go. But approaching your essays with some sense of direction helps, especially if you’re applying to a specific program.
Choosing a meaningful moment that connects to your longer-term goals lets you tie your personal statement to your college experience, and to your future. A student going into computer science might write about learning to code as a kid, building something in Minecraft. A pre-med student might write about the first time they took care of someone.
Step 2: Make it a story, not a research paper
I’ve noticed, especially in our STEM legends, a pull toward fact-heavy, timeline-driven accounts of their lives. Detail matters, but every college essay is a chance to show the admissions committee that you’re more than book smart. Telling an interesting story, with yourself at the center, shows you can reflect on your experiences and draw connections between your life and what you want to pursue.
A couple of fun ways to get there in a first draft: open in the middle of a real scene and drop the reader straight into a moment you’ll go on to reflect on. I see this a lot with pre-med students, who might start in the middle of a shadowing shift in the emergency room. Others open with a line of dialogue, using something they were told in a pressing moment as a bridge to why it matters to them now.
Step 3: Get outside eyes on it
During application season especially, students can nearly drown in their own words. Constant edits and rewrites make small details slip out of sight. Don’t fret. This happens to everyone. Having someone else look at your personal statement, whether a tutor, teacher, or advisor, gives you outside input on what might be missing.
Fitting the essence of who you are into a small space is hard. Give yourself plenty of time, and don’t feel defeated if your first draft needs to change a lot. If you do, you’ll come out of it with a strong piece of writing, and maybe a better understanding of yourself.
We work with students one-on-one on personal statements and the rest of the application essays. If that sounds useful, you can learn more about our paid memberships on our website. Either way, give yourself the time to write something that sounds like you.
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