Step-by-step Approach on Writing a Personal Statement for College
1. Write a personal statement essay draft.
All great literary pieces started from scratches and the same thing goes for personal statement essays. Write down everything you want to include in your personal statement. Write about yourself, your family, your friends, your school, your interests, your hobbies, your experiences, or your dreams. Don’t mind spellings and grammars just yet. Just list down all the things you can think of.
2. Evaluate your first draft.
The next thing you have to do is to evaluate your first draft. Read your first draft carefully and determine which thoughts are relevant to the personal statement. When evaluating your first draft, you have to consider the main theme of your personal statement. Determine which points are directly relevant to the main theme of your personal statement and write them down on a different piece of paper.
3. Decide on which points to focus on.
After evaluating the personal statement draft you just wrote, decide on which points to focus on. Among the items you listed, choose one topic that will serve as the main focus of your personal statement. It may be an achievement, a struggle, a dream, or a story.
4. Come up with a good introduction.
The first part of the actual personal statement writing process is the conceptualization of the introduction. The introduction is one of the most important part of a personal statement. The only way to get the interest of the college admission evaluators is to come up with a catchy introduction. Write an introduction that nobody has ever written before but try to keep it as informative or as creative as possible.
5. Write the body.
Based on the main theme you decided on earlier, write the body of your personal statement. The body must expand the main theme, showcase your individuality, and explain the purpose of your personal statement. It also needs to be clear and concise. It may include anecdotes, quotes, or trivias, depending on your preferred writing style. You may also insert jokes if you think they are non-offensive and relevant to the main topic.
6. Make a conclusion.
The last part of your personal statement is the conclusion. The conclusion contains a brief summary of everything that you have written in the body. This is also the part where you mention any realizations that you got from the experience you just narrated or any lessons you learned from the challenges you just faced. Make sure to write a powerful last statement to leave a good impression on your reader.
7. Proofread your personal statement.
The last step in every writing process is proofreading. It is important to proofread your personal statement because you have to make sure that it is free from technical or factual errors. Check spellings, sentence constructions, punctuations, and facts. Before handing it in to the medical school evaluators, you have to make sure that your personal statement is straightforward and accurate.
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