“A personal statement is an integral component of your application package as it is a way to illustrate your achievements – intellectual, creative, community-oriented and more. Rather than just basing their decision on your grades and test scores, a university can get to know you as an individual while you can also use the personal statement as an opportunity to add context to those grades and score.”
Components of a Personal Statement
There are some key components to a personal statement that include the following basic structure over what is commonly two pages maximum in length:
- An introductory paragraph offers the hook and acknowledges what you will answer, reflecting the question provided to you by the University, and delivers the route you will take by hitting some of the main ideas that you will cover.
- The body paragraphs, which can be between two and four, are where you develop the main theme and offer examples and experiences that answer the question. You will want to use the last of these paragraphs to expand on the information that is the most dramatic and different because it will be more likely to be remembered.
- A concluding paragraph summarizes the personal statement and offers a wrap-up to the question that the essay answers.
Contents:
This guide covers:
- How to plan your personal statement
- How to write a personal statement
- Getting started
- Writing your intro
- Writing your body
- Writing your conclusion
- Proofreading
- Tips and tricks
- Excellent personal statements
- Top things to avoid
Use the links at the bottom of each page to ‘walk through’ the guide.