🎓 What Is a College Personal Statement?
In a nutshell, a personal statement is a document listing your achievements, academic and non-academic interests, professional objectives, and skills in a structured, readable manner.
Why may you need a college personal statement?
You may need it when applying to an educational institution or a professional one when you’re seeking a job.
How long should a personal statement be?
- A school, college, or university personal statement typically takes 1 to 2 pages, with its length ranging from 3 to 5 paragraphs.
- Job-related personal statements shouldn’t be more than 1 paragraph long. In any case, you should consider the organizational requirements to submit a personal statement with adequate length and content.
🔢 What to Include in a College Personal Statement?
The most important question troubling people who get a task to compose a personal statement is – how to write it well. It’s a relatively brief text that should cover only the essentials.
Here are some ideas for personal statement writing. The rule of thumb is to cover the following mandatory minimum:
- Your goal (educational or professional)
- Your motivations for applying (that is, the reason that has attracted you to an educational institution or employer)
This is what our personal statement generator will generally provide based on your prompt, as it’s a minimalistic tool aimed at guiding you through the gist of the task. You can use this information to start working on the broader personal statement document and get inspiration for the initial work stages.
What else can be included to impress your target audience?
Let’s review it in greater detail below.
#1 Personal Details
A personal statement is called “personal” for a reason. It means that the organization you’re applying to wants to see a personal story behind that text.
Therefore:
You should be open about your personality and share some details that will help you stand out from the crowd of other applicants. It’s your individuality that will make you memorable and help you win the desired spot, after all.
#2 Values and Philosophy
Talking about the underlying values and philosophy that have brought you to a specific program or vacancy is also essential.
Why so?
The application committee needs to see that you’re indeed fit for the position and that your life values are congruent with what they are doing.
#3 Your Ambitions
Talking about the past is good, as you introduce yourself to the committee and show what you have achieved by now.
However:
It shouldn’t be the only thing you’re discussing. It’s also necessary to show how you see the future and what you plan to achieve within and beyond the program. Such details will help the committee understand whether your future vision coincides with their plans and motivations, thus helping them assess your relevance to the offered position.
#4 Your Contribution
An important dimension in any personal statement is showing that you’re a good person and revealing how the hiring or enrolling organization will benefit from welcoming you.
- How can you become a valuable asset to their team?
- What can you contribute to their prosperity and business or educational goals?
Showing that relevance is a winning strategy, as it gives more value to your candidacy.
✍️ College Personal Statement Example
Examples are the best way to learn to write a personal statement.
Here is a brief sample of graduate personal statement writing:
Emily Watson,
Personal statement for Ph.D. program in medicine
Greendale University
Since the age of five, I knew the ugly face of disease and the toll it can take on the people we love. My grandmother was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, and that moment divided my life into two parts – the innocent, happy childhood with a utopia that everyone around me would live forever and the new understanding of mortality and suffering.
My grandmother was a fighter, and it took the disease ten years to decide the outcome of that glorious battle. All those years, I was the eyewitness of courage and, at the same time, the helplessness of people in the face of terminal, uncurable illnesses like cancer, coming out of nowhere to take people’s lives.
Through that period, we all tried to support our dear relative and relieve her suffering, but already in middle school, I knew there was a better way out – finding the cure is possible, and I would like to contribute to that journey of the modern medical community. Pursuing that aim, I started studying medicine, physiology, and anatomy in high school, working with commitment and curiosity to get distinguished grades and qualify for further medical education.
Getting into this program is a serious milestone in my medical education and the career I’ve been so passionately pursuing within the past 30 years. I am determined to commit myself to cancer research and clinical studies, holding a firm belief that we’re on the threshold of discovering the cure for cancer. Though my grandmother is long gone and can’t benefit from our progress, I am sure this discovery will change the lives of millions of people, and I want to be a part of the team that works on it.
As you can see:
This personal statement shares the applicant’s story, which determined her life path in medicine and shaped her system of values and goals in this area. The writer also clarifies her future professional goals and explains how a Ph.D. program can help her make a positive social impact.
✅ Personal Statement Maker Benefits
When using our personal statement creator, you always reap a large number of unique benefits.
The personal statement generator is:
Thank you for reading this article! Note that you can also use our free essay reducer, title generator, and paraphraser at different stages of work on your assignment.
❓ Personal Statement Maker FAQ
❓ How long should a personal statement be?
❓ How to create a personal statement?
When you start writing a personal statement, you need to compile a list of your achievements, talents, and motivations for applying to a specific organization, be it a company offering a job or a college offering an educational program of your interest. It makes sense to organize these categories of data into separate paragraphs and structure the personal statement in a way that introduces you, explains your strengths, and then talks about the potential contribution you can give to the organization’s success and development.
❓ How to start a personal statement?
A writer should pick an engaging hook, such as an interesting fact about themselves, a quote, or a rhetorical question, to start the personal statement on a good note. The introduction should attract the audience and make them read the statement until the end.
❓ How to end a personal statement?
The ending should be as powerful and memorable as the introduction; a winning strategy is to link the conclusion with the introduction and to voice an inspiring idea or a vision of the future you may have in the organization.