Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 11:31 am
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A personal statement can be life-changing. Often, it’s the only thing that stands between you and your dream college. You might have some competitors who have the same grades as you and the same accomplishments - but no one else cannot write a personal statement like you. So your goal is to make the most out of it.
It could be hard and frankly scary, so I would want to ease the process a bit for you. Here are 5 tips that could help you with your writing not only your personal statement, but also personal narrative essay topics !
1. Start early and take your time.
Nervousness can make students procrastinate until the deadline is close. But if you do want to craft an impressive personal statement, start as early as possible so you have more time to proofread, edit, and polish it.
At the same time, don’t rush it. A strong personal statement is important to write over an hour - or even over a day. You write the draft first, then you remember you forgot to mention something, then you think you can add something else, and so on. It’s quite a long process and sometimes you might even want to take a break from it for a couple of days. So the more time you’ll have ahead of you, the better it would be.
2. Don’t mind the character limit.
Sure, you need to stick to guidelines and make your essay fit into the limit - but this shouldn’t be your primary concern when you start writing. You should focus on what you want to say, not on how many characters it would take.
Let your thoughts flow. You’ll be able to edit the writing later but if you start limiting yourself in the process, you might forget to mention something important or fail to make a statement as impressive as it could be.
3. Your writing has to look honest and confident at the same time.
The trickiest part in statement writing is to be as mindful about it as you can. There’s no rule on whether you should mention your weaknesses or not - in some cases, it would do you good if you explain it right, in some cases, it would be best not to mention them at all, depending on the context.
Either way, you should always focus on your strengths and make the statement sound positive. Don’t lie about something and avoid overemphasizing something. Remember that it has to look real too.
4. Remember about the «personal» part.
While it doesn’t mean that you need to pour your heart out in an essay, you still need to persuade the admission board that you’re the right candidate for the course. This means your statement needs to include your experience, skills, and qualities.
This also means that asking the others what you should write about or using someone else’s statement examples as a reference isn’t always a good idea. While copying the structure of another statement won’t affect the quality of your writing, in general turning to others for help might make the statement look not as unique and you-oriented as it could be.
5. Make the most out of editing.
I won’t tell you about how important editing is as you probably know that well enough already. However, I do want to point out that editing is easier when you know exactly what to focus on.
That’s why try to ask yourself the following questions in the process:
- Do my goals look clear?
- Is the tone of my writing confident enough?
- Do I include some interesting personal details in the statement?
- Do I explain why I am the right candidate for this specific course and for this specific college?
- Do I show I know the college and the course well enough?
If the answer is «yes», then all that’s left for you is to polish your writing and eliminate the mistakes.
And remember: no matter how responsible and challenging a personal statement might look, it’s just a writing assignment. So instead of worrying too much, try treating it as another assignment. Meet the guidelines, work-hard to deliver a high-quality writing - and you will succeed.
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