Personal Statement for College: Writing about Life-changing Mistakes Made in High School

Your success is not the only thing that matters in your personal statement for college.  The admissions committee will also give due consideration to your failures and mistakes as part of who you really are.  Admissions officers also note how you deal with disappointments to assess if you can really make it through college.  After all, college life is not all about opportunities, it also has its own share of difficulties.  Your failure can be an interesting detail in your life that made you learn a valuable lesson.(1)  This is why including the mistakes that you made in high school in your personal statement for college can also be a good way to tell the admissions committee what you can do and endure to be successful.  There is no need for you to write about every mistake you committed in high school, but you only have to choose one that you think changed you a great deal.

Stating what you did to correct the mistake

“To err is human,” and so failures can be considered as part of the experiences in life that will help you grow into a better individual.  If you write your story well, the admissions panel will give credit for your willingness to admit your shortcomings and talk about yourself more openly, aside from bragging what an ideal candidate you are.  Writing about your shortcomings can also work to your advantage.(2)  All that’s needed for you to do is to highlight the things that you’ve done to make up for these.  Just be sincere in stating certain experiences and how these events in your life changed you.(3)

Applying what you have learned from your mistake

A well-written sample personal statement can be your guide on how to make past mistakes seem like a life-changing moment for you.  Remember not to dwell on the negative but to concentrate on the positive aspects of this experience.  A personal statement sample can be your guide to see how authors made an exceptional piece based on this theme.

(1)  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/
(2)  http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/writinglab/writers/includes/doug_cutchins.pdf
(3)  http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/FS/essays.html

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