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
