Personal statement

　　Reflect – personality and intellect

　　2 categories

　　1. General, comprehensive (medical, law school)

　　2. Response to specific questions (business school)

　　Read each question carefully

　　Take a thorough, probing and analytical look at yourself.

　　Interesting, insightful, revealing and non-generic.

　　Non-generic:

　　1. personal: include information rarely shared with others.

　　2. Analytical: assess your life critically

　　Before writing, as yourself the following questions:

　　1. What’s special, unique, distinctive, or impressive about you or your life story? What details of your life (personal or family problems/history, any genuinely notable accomplishments, people or events that have shaped you or influenced your goals) might help the committee better understand you or help set you apart from other applicants?

　　2. When did you originally become interested in this field and what have you since learned about it – and about yourself – that has further stimulated your interest and reinforced your conviction that you are well suited to this field? What insights have you gained?

　　3. How have you learned about this field – through classes, readings, seminars, work or other experiences, or conversations with people already in the field?

　　4. If work experiences have consumed significant periods of time during your college years, what have you learned (leadership or management skills, for example), and how has the work contributed to your personal growth?

　　5. What are your career goals?

　　6. Are there any gaps or discrepancies in your academic record that you should explain (great grades and mediocre LSAT scores, for example, or a distinct improvement in your GPA if it was only average in the beginning)?

　　7. Have you had to overcome any unusual obstacles or hardships (e.g. economic, familial, physical) in your life?

　　8. What personal characteristics (integrity, compassion, persistence, for example) do you possess that would enhance your prospects for success in the field or profession? Is there a way to demonstrate or document that you have these characteristics?

　　9. What sills (leadership, communicative, analytical, for example) do you possess?

　　10. Why might you be a stronger candidate for graduate school – and more successful and effective in the profession or field – than other applicants?

　　11. What are the most compelling reasons you can give for the admissions committee to be interested in you?

　　Don’t fabricate or invent, be truthful.

　　Distinguish, memorable, but don’t be inappropriate.

　　Preferably memorably dramatic

　　Find an angle in experience is vital (从自己特别之处着手)

　　Opening paragraph most important – outline, attention-catching

　　Beyond first paragraph or two, elaborate on materials introduced earlier, or further distinguish information relating to your background and experiences

　　Later in your personal statement – detail some of your interest in or exposure to your particular field. Show realistic perception of what this field or profession entails. Career you want and why you’re suited to it.

　　Be selective, carefully choose what to write

　　Review your life very carefully for facets or experiences that reveal an unusual dimension, relate to your professional goals, or could serve as evidence of your suitability for a certain career. (Use preparatory questionnaire)

　　1. What do you think is most important for the admissions committee to know about me?

　　2. What do you regard as most unusual, distinctive, unique, and/or impressive about me (based on our association)?

　　3. Are you aware of any events or experiences in my background that might be of particular interest to those considering my application to graduate school?

　　4. Are there any special qualities or skills that possess that tend to make you think I would be successful in graduate school and/or the profession to which I aspire?

　　NOT TO INCLUDE:

　　1. Reference to experiences or accomplishments during high school or earlier (earlier mentioning events that had SIGNIFICANT impact on you)

　　2. Subjects that are potentially controversial. E.g. religion, politics

　　3. Things not related to what you choose to say. Be SELECTIVE

　　Don’t make the mistake of trying to guess what the admissions committee is looking for, and don't just write what you think the committee wants to hear.

　　Try to maintain a positive and unbeat tone.

　　Think about what you are saying:

　　o Interesting

　　o Relevant

　　o Different

　　o Memorable

　　o Are you providing sth. More than a recitation of information available in the application?

　　o Are you avoiding obvious clichés?

　　o If someone had never known me before, would they really know me after reading these essays?

　　o Allow a full week away from the essays, then go back and look at them again before sending

　　For question-type essays:

　　Communicate information in a very clear, concise, powerful manner that is immediately accessible to anyone, even without knowledge of the applicant’s field.

　　Don’t do:

　　1. Not noticing nuances that make a difference and affect the way the question must be answered.

　　2. Sending identical essays to different schools despite the fact that their questions are not actually exactly alike.

　　Candid and real sense of the person.

　　Answer questions as you would to close colleague.

　　Good self-awareness and a good sense of career awareness.

　　Don’t focus too much on extraneous things, e.g. individual work experience; do not let what you do become more of a focus than who you are. But on: e.g. why they choose to do what they do, why they chose to go to school where they did, what they value about those individual experiences and the impact of these experiences on their development as people.

　　No grammar or spelling mistakes.

　　Don’t infuse essay with humor if that’s not your usual way of communication.

　　“how is the student going to contribute here, how is he going to make us stronger or make an imprint on the classroom and the out-of-classroom experiences?”

　　Don’t use resume data to distinguish yourself, tell about the impact of the experiences and the choices behind them and you will distinguish yourself.

　　What do you hope to gain from the experience (learning), where do you see this experience taking you, what are the shore- and long-term goals, why choose to go through this intense, very expensive process?

　　You want to come alive off the page and write the story that only you can write.

　　Well thought-out ideas, express in an articulate, concise way.

　　If you’re going to write a winning personal statement, you can’t do it in two or three hours; it requires a lot of thought.

　　“It doesn’t help me to know the applicant has won 3,000 awards (that can be indicated elsewhere in the application); I want to see something about how the applicant thinks.”

　　Evaluate questionnaire

　　1. Did my opening paragraph capture your attention?

　　2. Did you find the statement as a whole to be interesting?

　　3. Did you find it to be well written?

　　4. Did it seem positive, upbeat?

　　5. Did it sound like me?

　　6. Do you regard it as an honest and forthright presentation of who I am?

　　7. Did it seem to answer the questions?

　　8. Can you think of anything relevant that I might have inadvertently omitted?

　　9. Is there material within the statement that seems inappropriate?

　　10. Did you gain any insight about me from reading this?

　　11. Did you notice any typos or other errors?

　　12. Do you think the statement has in any way distinguished me from other applicants?

　　13. Do you think my application to __________ is logical?