Picture this: You got straight A’s in your result sheet and now you cannot wait to apply to your dream university. You open the application form all excited that your grades will get you in. But what you realize is that there are 1000 other students with the same result as yours and now the Admissions Committee needs to choose.
This is what the university’s Admission Committee faces every year and instead of choosing the students by doing a lucky draw they want to select them on a fair basis. This brings in the role of the Personal Statements. Here is where they can dig deeper into the candidate’s long-term goals and passion for the subject than making a decision solely based on their grades. Personal Statements are academic statements that introduce the candidates to the admissions committee and tell them about their academic interests. This helps them measure the candidate’s passion regarding the course they are planning to study and thus, making it easier for the committee to distinguish the real talent from the rest of the pack.
Generally, the personal statements are of 2 types. One is where you have the freedom in terms of whatever you want to write but it should be strictly related to academics and not your personal life. Other type includes specific questions by the admissions committee that you need to answer under the listed word limit. Both the types share the same aim; however, the only difference is that you need to know where to put a full stop to your story in the Questions-based statement. When to use which type? It depends on the requirement of the university where they specify the type they require and mention the questions to be answered along with the word limit.
Have you decided the courses you want to undertake? Great, you are already done with STEP1. Now, moving forward to the STEP2.
Start researching about the course you are planning to study at the university. You can refer to the university’s website to know more about it. Make sure you are aware of the term the university is using to name the course and use that term only in your personal statement. For example, some universities name Business Administration alternately as Management Studies. Read the course description to know about what are the course’s requirements and what it offers. Link and reflect on these skills, qualities, and experiences to your personal achievements to show that you are the right candidate. Research so you can justify your choice of wanting to study the course at the university you are applying to than any other university that offers the same course. Find out a not-so-common but important fact about the university that intrigues you the most that you can use later in your Personal Statement.
PS: If you are planning to apply for more than one course, make sure you make a separate personal statement for it as each statement is specific to each course.
STEP3 is all about brainstorming. Your personal statement is where you show your commitment, dedication, and motivation for studying the course. It is your chance to show that the course is for you. So before starting to finally pen down the statement we need to organize some ideas.
- Tell your tale: So, the very first idea you need to organize is your story. Why did you choose this subject/field out of all the other subjects present out there? Since our degrees form our career paths which we follow throughout our existence, what was the background story behind this specific subject becoming your passion and making you want to pursue this for your lifetime? Avoid clichés like “I have always wanted to study this subject”, instead tell them why you have always wanted to study it and what aspect of it inspired you to further educate yourself about it. An example could be: “When my grandma was diagnosed with Diabetes and we started taking extra care of her diet. This was the time I started gaining interest in human nutrition and regulation of diet. I started studying about foods that contained vitamins and the amount of fats and carbohydrates in them and studied which ones are good for a diabetic patient. That’s when I decided to become a Dietician.”
- Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Now that you told them how you developed the interest in this particular field, tell them what steps you took to feed the thirst for knowledge. Communicate to the committee what makes you stand out from the rest of the students who are also interested in the same field as you. Here you can talk about relevant extra-curricular activities you enrolled yourself into to fuel your interests. Or talk about relevant work experience or volunteer work where you had to utilize your skills and knowledge related to the requirements of the course. Remark about what did you learn from your experience that made you want to delve into details of the subject. Do not forget to include all the classes you took, internships you worked at, conversations you had with people from this field, books you have read, and the seminars you attended and how that facilitated in your understanding of the field better.
- Mr./Ms. Know-it-all: Next, show the committee that you know your field really well. Tell them what you understand of this subject and what aspect of it intrigued you the most. Display your understanding of it instead of just using the dictionary definition which the university already knows. Be specific in using the course language and the technical words in conveying the information. When you make a claim of possessing a skill or knowledge make sure to back it up with evidence that will be in the form of work experience and academic projects including thesis reports, or lectures in college.
- University’s contribution: Now that you have convinced the committee that you literally love the subject and have enough knowledge about it, tell them what do you hope to learn at the university. How will enrolling in their university further assist in your learning and growth in this field? Here, mention about university’s strengths for example ‘I believe enrolling at your university will give me an opportunity to utilize the research facilities you have where I can dig out the potential in me’
- Personal circumstances: Address any concerns that you think would impact your admission. This is your chance to inform the Admissions Committee about any personal situation that you think they should consider before making a decision regarding your acceptance to the university. It can be something that affected your academic performance such as a mental or physical health problem that occurred to you or your family which caused you to miss your school or take a gap year. Or if you have faced a financial problem to cover your cost of education, you can address that here too asking for the committee to take your hardships into consideration and provide you with financial aid or examine you for merit scholarships. Other than this, if you are planning to change the direction of your study from a different field in your undergraduate you can discuss it here. Explaining to them the reason behind wanting to switch the field.
STEP4 is finally starting to write our first draft. Please keep in mind that your personal statement is never done in the first go. You will have to write and re-write it again and again until it becomes perfect. This might take you several months before you reach the point of finding zero errors and your personal statement is the perfect version of your writing. This is why it is a good idea to start ahead of your time and not leave it for the last minute which will make your statement seemed rushed and may result in leaving out the important information. You will have to produce several drafts before you reach the final one, make sure you have on hand the updated version and gave it a read before you go for the interview.
DISCLAIMER: stop reading the statement after you have sent it, it will be of no use instead will make you more anxious about the changes you could have made before sending. Just remember, that you have sent in the best version you could write and any changes would not result in a difference in the university’s decision.
However, before finally sending in your statement you need to proofread it several times to ensure your statement is perfectly structured with zero grammatical errors and does not exceed the word limit which usually is of about 400-600 words. Create clear paragraphs in the font ‘Arial’ or ‘Times New Roman’ with a maximum size of 12. If you wish, you can give heading to each paragraph to break up the content and make it easier for the committee to read such as ‘why this university?’, ‘Career Aspirations’, ‘Personal Experience’. Refrain from exaggerating the statement because you will ultimately get caught in the interview. And we know you will surely be called for an interview if you follow our guidelines and write an amazing piece of writing. Happy writing from us!
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