sample personal statement essay

Books are among the things that could have a lasting impact on your life.  This is why writing about a book that changed your perspective and affected your decisions and goals can be a great way to write your personal statement for college.

About your chosen book

One of the first things that you should do is to introduce the book you have chosen.   You have to make sure that you tell the admissions committee what the book is all about. You should then make sure that you give easons why you have chosen a specific book as one of the topics in your personal statement for college.

Lessons you learned (or insights you gained) from the book

What have you learned about the book?  Why did it affect you so?  These are just some of the questions that you should answer when you write your personal statement.  You have to make sure that the insights and the lessons that you have learned from the book is closely associated to the reason why you are pursuing a specific career path.

Applying the lessons in your life

It is also important that you give instances in your life in which you have shown that you applied the lessons you have learned from the book.  If there are lots of events showing how the books influenced you, you just have to choose a specific one to talk about.  You have to remember that your essay is only short, so you have to ensure that you only include the most important ones.

How to write your own personal statement

Before you write your own personal statement, you have to read various personal statement samples first.  You should then study how these sample personal statements were developed to grab the attention of the reader.  The most important thing that you should remember is to be honest.(1)  You also have to introduce yourself as uniquely as possible.(2)  However, you should not be overly creative in doing so.(3)

(1)  http://students.berkeley.edu/apa/personalstatement/gettingstarted.html
(2)  http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:FEueqZOdYa0J:ual.stanford.edu/pdf/uar_writingstatementofpurpose.pdf+personal+statement&cd=42&hl=tl&ct=clnk&gl=ph
(3)  http://www.hamilton.edu/writing/statement.html

If you want to enroll in that prestigious dream university of yours, among the factors that could give you better chances for admissions are your achievements.  There are various areas where you can accomplish great feats.  These may include your school, family, and community.

Achievements at school

Many sample personal statement essays focus on the academic accomplishments in order to grab the attention of the admissions committee.  These academic achievements may include the honors and awards you received in the academe. The excellent academic achievements on your personal statement for college will give an impression that you are a bright student who shows interest in learning. You just have to make sure that you choose only the major accomplishments that you received for your topics since everything that the admissions personnel need would be on your resume.(1)  You also have to focus on the qualities that enable you to gain awards and also the difficulties you faced, instead of concentrating solely on the awards.

Achievements in the family

Excellent personal statement samples do not only include the accomplishments that one gains from the school.  Because the personal statement can be used as a yardstick in measuring one’s personality, achievements in the family are also highly valued in personal statements.(2)

Achievements in the community

You can talk about incidents in which you have shown how you contributed something to your community.  You don’t have to write about big social events in which you are one of the catalysts; all you have to do is to choose a specific event in which you have exhibited your accomplishments.

To guide you in writing your own essay, you can read various personal statement samples.  Take note of how sample essays are constructed. When you write your own, make sure that you read and reread it several times.(3)

(1)  http://career.berkeley.edu/Grad/GradStatement.stm
(2)  http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/degree/scholarshipstatement.html
(3)  http://www.wit.edu/prospective/admissions/homeschool.html

There are some circumstances in your life that would hinder you from taking a straight path to college.  Sometimes, you are financially broke that you really need to give up attending college right after you graduated from high school.  Aside from this, health problems can also hinder you from getting to college after high school.  Other reasons may include making preparation for the coming of a more serious phase in your life.(1)  No matter what your reason is,  you can actually use this event in your life to your own advantage.

Explaining why you needed to take a gap year

Your personal statement for college is your chance to let the admissions committee hear you out.  If you have taken a gap year, you won’t be able to explain it through your resume.  This is why you have to take advantage of your personal statement for college in order to say things that you cannot say in your other application requirements.  It is best that you make your explanation subtle and you should also try not to sound so defensive.  You have to be honest as the admissions committee has a way of knowing if you are lying or telling the truth. (2)

Writing about the productive things you did in your gap year

To make your gap year a strong point rather than a weakness, you should highlight the productive things that you did during those times in your personal statement for college.  Again, make sure that you would not exaggerate when you tell about the good deeds that you have done during your gap year.(3)

Making a case for why you’re finally ready for college after your gap year

The admissions officers would surely feel curious about why you have decided to attend school.  So you have to include in your essay the reasons why you made up your mind about attending college. You should make sure that your reasons are triggered by deep interest on pursuing a degree rather than just by pure whim.

A sample personal statement can help you structure your own essay.  You can ask your friends and teachers if they can give you a copy of a personal statement sample.

(1)  http://www.career.emory.edu/students/gap_faq.html
(2)  http://www.cis-edu.dk/studentservices/ibpersonalstatement.htm (3)  (3)  www.manchester.edu/OSD/Career/pages/docs/Applying_to_Graduate_Professional_School_Handouts.pdf

If you want to gain admissions in the college or university that you want, having a grammatically correct essay or a creative one is not enough.  To be able to pass the basic qualifications set by the admissions committee, you have to make sure that your essay has a central point that would bind together every idea and sentence of your personal statement for college.

Why having a thesis or focal point in a personal statement is a must

One of the secrets of an excellently written essay is a good thesis sentence.  This topic sentence makes a claim, controls the arguments, and provides structure for your whole argument.(1)  Your focal point is the one that would unite all the information found in your personal statement for college.

When you are merely rambling

Saying things all over again is one of the common errors applicants commit in their essay.  Some applicants run out of ideas on what to write that they end up saying the same idea all over again. In other cases, some do not know what ideas to include that they usually end up focusing on things that has nothing to do with their intention to apply.

How to avoid talking in circles

In order to avoid beating around the bush, you have to determine first the important points that you should discuss in your essay.  You also have to make sure that you have astrong thesis sentence and theme in which your every idea should revolve.(2)  Another thing that you should do is to avoid listing the information that appears in your resume or CV.(3)  These may include your accomplishments and academic achievements that already appeared in your resume.

You can find various personal statement samples from online sources.  You can use these sample personal statements to help you in brainstorming and finding a topic for your own essay.

(1)  http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/develop.shtml
(2)  http://writing2.richmond.edu/WRITING/wweb/thesis.html
(3)  http://www.smcm.edu/academicservices/healthadvising_writingpersonalstatement.html

Top 5 Tips on How to Write a Winning Essay with the Help of a Sample Personal Statement Essay

Your essay is very important to your college admission.  Many colleges stress immense importance on the admission essay.  However, you can still aim higher rather than just aiming for that college admission.  Make yourself remarkable in your first step into college by writing a winning essay.  An excellent way of starting an essay that has a high potential for winning is by using a sample personal statement essay.  Below are 5 tips that will help you come up with an award-winning piece.

1.  Choose an excellent sample essay.

If you want to write a winning essay, you must have winning material.  You can do this only by choosing from a list of winning essays in the library or on the Internet.  An award certifies that an essay is written well and has an excellent content.  Choose a sample personal statement essay that has won an award.  It is upon this essay that you will base yours.  Basing upon a poorly written work creates a poorly written essay. If you can do more work, then you may choose two sample essays. This allows you to have a wider viewpoint.

2.  Pick a single aspect of the essay that you like best.

An essay has many facets.  Choose what interests you most in a sample essay and study it.  It could be the content, outline, or style.  Study it carefully and figure out how it helps in making that essay an excellent piece.  Then, study how you can apply his writing techniques in the development of your essay.  You do not have to master everything.  Your essay only has to possess one distinctive characteristic and you already have a potentially winning essay.

3.  Be specific.

What makes an essay boring?  It is unsupported generalization.  It leads the reader nowhere.  Discover how the author of the sample essay develops his topic.  Know how he or she focuses on something very specific and concrete.  Study how he makes every detail in his essay revolve around a specific incident or idea.  Specific details make a solid piece.  Learn the writer’s technique and pattern your outline after his or hers.  A concrete essay based on specific details is more likely to earn better recognition.

4.  Your work must reflect yourself.

You must be able to reveal yourself in writing.  Even though you are using a sample essay, it does not mean that you have to exclude yourself.  Your sample essay is just a pattern, something that guides you, and stimulates your thinking.  Your essay still has to show how unique your personality is.  Showing the evaluators how distinctive you are can create an excellent impression.  It also means additional winning points.

5.  Acknowledge your sources.

You probably have lifted some information from the sample personal statement essay that you are using so be sure to cite the material in your works cited page. In any case, you must cite the author when you borrow ideas.  This means that you still have to cite the author if you changed his or her words.

Photo Credit : MShades

Using a Sample Personal Statement Essay when Writing an Essay Focusing on Your Experiences as a Research Assistant

A personal statement essay is easy to write once you start hitting your strides, that is, when you already know where to begin.  Beginning a personal statement essay is quite difficult since there are so many points where you can start.  That is why it is advisable to use a sample personal statement essay.  This allows you to have a framework which can guide you not only in beginning your essay, but in writing and concluding it as well.  Being a research assistant is a huge advantage for you.  That job allowed you to learn many things that you can use in graduate school.  However, you are not the only graduate school applicant who has experienced being a research assistant.  The challenge for you now is to make yourself stand out among the rest.  You must write an essay that shows that you are unique and distinctive.

You may choose to base on a different essay

The personal statement essay of the research assistants who have entered college ahead of you may not be interesting.  There might be an essay in the library that interests you more.  You can still use that essay even if it does not deal about the personal experiences of a research assistant.  Study how the author begins his or her essay and see if you can begin yours in a similar manner.  For example, the author began with the most remarkable experience he had as an intern.  You may also do so provided that you do not copy any of his idea.  You may pattern your style after the original writer if you do not have a hard time writing that way.  Just do not rephrase anything from his or her work.

Be careful with online sources

Should you use a sample personal statement acquired from the web, be sure that it has a verifiable author.  The web is very easy to access and posting any information, factual or not, is very easy as well.  The best thing that you can do is to get your sources from reliable websites.  Verify the author of the sample essay to make sure that it is not plagiarized.  If you cannot verify the author’s identity, you may have to skip that essay.  You cannot use it as a research material. A work that has no author has no authority.

Get the author’s point

Understand the point that the author is making.  Know where he or she wants to lead you, what his or her intents for writing are. Ask yourself what his or her aim is in writing that essay.  This allows you to have an objective so you would know where to go when you are already making your essay.  Do some self-exploration.  Know how the point the writer is making relates to you as a research assistant.

Photo Credit : Kristian D.

How to Come Up with the Perfect Thesis Statement for Your Sample Personal Statement Essay

The whole point of your sample personal statement revolves around your thesis statement.  It is the point that you are making, and it is the statement that others might dispute.  Hence, it should be interesting enough to be disputed.  You should also create it with care since it is from your thesis statement you’re your evaluator will get his first impressions on your essay.  To be able to come up with a good one, you must carefully choose which aspect of your subject matter you should dwell on.

Go against the flow

Like any other thesis statement, the statement for your sample personal essay statement must be unique.  It must be something that is challenging enough (on your part) to impress your college entrance evaluator.  The key is not really coming up with a unique subject.  There are thousands of theses that have already been written—it is very rare to come up with a new subject.  The only way you can leave an impressive mark on your evaluators is to create a new statement about an old subject.  Take a position that is unique enough to be contested. If your statement cannot create an argument, it is dead in the water.   However, you must make sure that your statement is not too unique that you will find it impossible to gather a substantial number of sources. Having very few sources in the library or online might mean that your statement is way too radical (or impossible) to talk about.

Delve deep

College entrance evaluators look for the characteristics that you possess that can contribute to their institutions.  They do not require you to have a vast yet superficial knowledge on everything.  This should reflect on the thesis statement of your personal statement essay.  You must have a specific statement that will lead your essay to deal intensively on a specific subject matter.  If you want to talk about animation, do not talk about the whole subject in general.  Choose a specific animation series or movie and make a statement about it.  For example, the theme “How ‘Happy Tree Friends’ Has Influenced Many Teens” seems to be more inclined into the morbid form of humor.  The quality of your statement counts, not the quantity of topics that it covers.

Make it relevant

Along the way, you may deviate from your original thesis statement if you feel that you’re not comfortable discussing your thesis statement anymore.  You may realize that there are other things that you want to write about.  Your thesis might be more interesting if you pursue a different topic in your essay.  Should this happen, just revise your thesis statement.  You do not really have to stick to your original statement if you feel that sticking to it is already a drag.

Photo Credit : perhapstoopink

Some of the best things in life may not come cheap.  This may also apply to your education.  Studying in a prestigious university may cost you a great deal.  However, this should not stop you from pursuing your dream of attending an excellent school and taking a course in which you are really interested in. There are scholarship grants that can help you finish college.  Along with other requirements, you have to submit an essay for the scholarship grant.  Below are some tips that could help you win a grant whether you are applying in a public or private educational institution.

Tip #1: Explain clearly why you deserve a scholarship.

There are many other people like you who are vying for a scholarship.  This is why in writing your essay, you have to make certain that you are portrayed uniquely in your scholarship essay.  At the same time, you have to ensure that you write sincerely.  You can talk about your accomplishments, but make sure that you do not sound like you’re bragging.(1)  You can also include your goals for the future.

Tip #2: Look at well-written personal statement samples.

Reading a free sample personal statement is not only helpful in writing your own personal statement for college, this can also aid you in writing an excellent scholarship essay. Just make sure that you choose a personal statement sample that is well-written and worthy to be used as a guide.  You have to pay attention to how the essay was constructed.  You also have to observe how the writer weaved the ideas to make the sentences unified and coherent.(2)

Tip #3: Draft, edit, revise, revise.

Revising and editing are characteristics of good writing.  It is important that you stop yourself from falling in love with your first draft.(3)  You have to read and reread your work several times in order to polish it.  Read your essay many times and let others take a look at your work.

(1)  https://financialaid.arizona.edu/scholarships/tips.aspx
(2)  http://www.k-state.edu/artsci/scholarship/essay.shtml
(3)  http://www3.sdstate.edu/Academics/AcademicAffairs/SDSUNationallyCompetitiveScholarships/ResourcesforProspectiveScholars/WritingScholarshipEssays/Index_Text.cfm

Law school is one of the popular destinations of those who want to pursue a graduate study.  Pursuing a career in law has several advantages.  Aside from this, if you are a graduate of law school, you would surely have a bright career ahead of you. If you decide to take law, you can have a wide range of options for the field which you are going to be concentrating on.  These include tribal law, international law, criminal law, and environmental law.(1)  To increase your chances of landing that spot in your dream school, here are some things you can highlight in your admissions essay.

Point #1: Highlight what your academic records do not show.

Although your academic records are very important, you still have to remember that these records are not the sole basis for your application. You can still have chances to be qualified for the law school that you want if you submit a notable personal statement.  As you can observe in many sample law school personal statements, interesting information about the applicants, which are not found in resumes and test results, are the topics discussed.  You have to keep in mind that your essay is your chance to introduce who you really are to the admissions committee.(2)

Point #2: Highlight your role in your family.

Giving the impression that you are responsible and dependable can help you make it to the ladder of success.  That’s why mentioning the important role you play in the family is a good topic.  You can talk about the contributions you make in order to maintain harmony in your household. Read various sample law school personal statements to guide you in writing your own.

Point #3: Highlight your mistakes and what you’ve learned from them.

Although writing your personal statement means selling yourself, it does not mean you have to portray an ideal side of yourself.  You have to remember that the admissions committee wants a sincere and honest applicant.(3)  So it is best that you also talk about your mistakes and shortcomings, but never forget to highlight the lessons you have learned from these mistakes.

Read lots of sample personal statements so you will have an idea on how to make an essay that would grab the attention of the admissions officers.  You can get personal statement samples from your friends, teachers, and from various sources online.

(1)  http://www.law.harvard.edu/index.html
(2)  www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/personal_statement.shtml
(3)  http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/FS/essays.html

There are a lot of students who are taking a double degree or a double major.  Getting this will enable you to graduate with two degrees within your regular number of years in college, though there are instances in which you have to extend one year of your stay in college.(1)  Pursuing a double degree has lots of advantages and disadvantages.  Below are some of the pros and cons that could help you in deciding whether or not to get a double degree or major.

What it entails to get a double major

Having a double major is not as easy as many think it is.  Getting one entails that you have to double your effort, time, and money spent in studying.  So if you are planning to get one, you have to make sure that you are willing to sacrifice some of the things that you enjoyed doing such as hanging out with friends very often.

Pros of having a double major

Although having a double major entails that you have to double your effort in studying, it would prove to be worth it once you have finished your schooling. For one, this could enhance your career in the future.  Many employers would probably prioritize you, knowing that you are equipped with the right skills and knowledge.(2)

When writing your personal statement for college, it’s very important that you state why you wish to pursue a double major.  Your personal statement for college allows the admissions panel to see your personality and determine if you’re ready for a double degree.  A free sample personal statement can help you write your own.  Just make sure that you use the personal statement sample as a guide and not as something you can copy ideas from.

Cons of having a double major

One of the drawbacks of a double major is that it requires a lot of time and effort.  College is about concentrating on a specific field.  And getting another degree could prove to be more difficult.  It would be very hard for you to balance your academic and personal life.  Aside from this, a double degree also means you have to be spending a lot of money for tuition and other school-related expenses.(3)

(1)  http://people.clarkson.edu/~avadikic/dual.html
(2)  http://oberwiki.net/Double_Degree_Program
(3)  http://davidhildebrand.org/teaching/doublemajor.html