Examples Of Personal Statements That Secure College/University Admission

1.Importance of Personal Statements in Seeking College/University Education

2.Basics of Writing Personal Statements

3.Searching for Right Examples of Personal Statements

All over the world, getting a college education is the most essential step a family makes in guiding their children to a brighter future. Whenever you apply for a college or university, you usually earn admission if you pass its entrance exam. However, American and British colleges and universities oblige applicants to make personal statements as part of the admission process, where students who want to study in British colleges and universities must send these documents to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Personal statements are short and formal essays about a person’s career or research targets in a college, university, or a personal program. Personal statements have been required in order to cut the time for interviewing college applicants in the U.S. and Great Britain because these examples of personal statements help college admission staff know if the student is suitable to be on a course in a college or university and the institution itself.

Before knowing good examples of personal statements that secure college or university admission, you must know the fundamentals of writing these essays. Personal statements must be made in response to questions concerning their personality, interests, skills, and reasons why they want to pursue their chosen course in a chosen college or university. When writing personal statements you should know the views of the admissions committee in a targeted college or university. Proper grammar and spelling are essential in providing a professional look into your personal statements. To make personal statements easier to write, create an outline to guide you in what topics you’ll write per paragraph, where the statements should be written in a narrative form. To ensure that personal statements have a professional content, you should not write too much about your childhood decisions, goals, and experiences, and your life story must be written in a chronological order.

If you want to search for good examples of personal statements to guide you in writing these essays, the Internet is the best place to do it. Acceptional.com contains the best college admission essays used to seek admission into the Ivy League college and universities like Harvard University. However, the setback is that you have to pay to subscribe for each essay. There are other sites that display personal statement examples for free. Personal-Statement.com has free personal samples varying on courses like accounting, architecture, and business administration. Good examples of personal statements can help you achieve admission to a college or university or more. As long as you follow the basics and make your essay look original, you’ll be able to turn your essay into an instant ticket to college.

3 Common Ways Perosnal Statement Examples Can Kill Your Chances

Common misuse of personal statement examples.

The personal statement you write is a key element in your application.  This will provide the admission committee or officer a closer look to you as a person.  As such, it is only right that you write this essay as seriously as possible.  It is advised that you look at personal statement examples to give you an idea how to write yours well.  Looking at too many samples may give you more troubles if you are not too careful.

The following are ways you can misuse personal statement examples.  Doing the following may lead to a rejection.

Trying to come up with the same style as that of the sample – Writing styles are unique to an individual.  Though you may like the way it was written, imitating the style of the sample will make your essay feel forced and even strained.  At the same time, using a style that is not your own will only make writing your personal statement more difficult than it is now.

Limiting yourself to the topics samples have used – Do not think that the topics you have seen used are the only ones you can base your own personal statement. While life experiences may be somewhat similar with others, your perspective and the actions you take are different.  This sets you apart.  Limiting yourself to the topics you see used will prevent you from giving more information about yourself that may have been useful for the person reviewing your application.

Paraphrasing (or copying) the samples – Although the samples are intelligently written and you find it impressive, you should not copy them.  Personal statements should be personal and honest.  Admission committees are aware that there are many samples available in the internet.  Plagiarism is not something that they will turn a blind eye to.

Looking at personal statement examples can be helpful.  Simply use them as a guide in writing your personal statements.  The key word to this is “personal”.  The essay you write must be based on your own experience and thoughts.  Personal statements are used to flaunt your achievements and present yourself in an impressive way.

What To Do If You Picked The Wrong Personal Statement Examples

There are hundreds, if not thousands of personal statement examples that you can find in books and online. You only need to pick those that fit your own character, abilities and skills, and then make them your guide in creating your own personal statement. If you realized that you picked the wrong personal statement examples, you can immediately proceed to looking for other samples online.

When picking a personal statement sample that you want to make as your guide, you need to make sure that it is well written and does not contain errors. First, you need to determine the qualities of the sample that you will choose as your guide. The tips below will help you avoid picking the wrong personal statement examples:

1.    Wordiness—this is the most common error in many personal statement samples. Avoid samples that have blatant repetition, fillers and redundancy. Wordiness makes a personal statement sound lousy and nonsensical.

2.    Flowery language—although it may be useful at times, overuse of flowery language can make a personal statement sound less genuine. It also makes readers feel that the person is an immature writer trying too hard to impress.

3.    Grammatical errors—for employers and admission officers, grammatical errors are just unacceptable. You do not want to use a personal statement example with overflowing grammatical errors as a guide to making your own.

4.    Bad statement topic—the topic of a personal statement should not be about awkward and taboo things such as drug use, sex life, racism, time in jail and political or religious lectures. Using these topics may result in the rejection of your college application.

5.    Cliché—avoid using personal statement samples that are too familiar or those that use familiar anecdotes or quotations. The use of clichés will make a personal statement uninspiring and unoriginal.

6.    Poor outline—a personal statement should be outlined with clarity. There should be no long sentences or paragraphs that seem to go on and on. A good personal statement should consist of short, easy-to-understand paragraphs and sentences.

7.    Negative vibe—a personal statement should focus on the positive things about a person, which include his academic and social accomplishments. It should not create a negative vibe for its readers. It should be able to convince the readers that the person has qualities and characteristics that can contribute greatly to the success of a company or university.

Can The Right Examples Of Personal Statement Get You Into College?

Sadly, no, but it can definitely favor the odds.

Writing a good personal statement or an admissions essay can increase a person’s chances to be admitted to a college or university of his or her choice. However, these written works are just a part of what college admission committees look at when they consider applicants for their institution. These committees also look at other measures of academic performance, such as grades during high school and scores in entrance exams.

Applying for college

Going to college or university is considered by many people as an important part in their educational development. Students usually apply for a university or college of their choice during the last year of their stay in high school.

There is, however, no standard policy among admission committees in colleges and universities on how much weight they give to personal statements or application essays.

In the United States and the United Kingdom, educational institutions usually require these from applicants, but it never hurts to ask around or research in the Internet on whether or not this is so for the institution of their choice.

Writing personal statements

Interested (most of the time, also desperate) college applicants can look at resources in the Internet to find the right examples of personal statements, as well as tips and techniques, on which to base their application essays. Applicants can use Google or any other search engine and just type in “personal statements.”

Many of these result sites also contain examples of personal statements, either written by the site’s writers or donated by successful college applicants. Copying these examples is a no-no since many college admission committees are very particular with copying and plagiarism in the essays they go through.

What good essays look like

Most college admission committees have guidelines regarding the subject matter, the number of words, pages, or spacing for personal statements or application essays. Be sure to follow these guidelines.

In cases where there are no guidelines, college applicants may find the following tips helpful.

The essays should be at a reasonable length, about three pages long, around 750 words over all, and double spaced. Although it can be tempting to list all the achievements of a person, these lists often make for tedious reading. So applicants should keep a narrow focus or tell a clear success story to highlight some accomplishments. As examples of personal statements or application essays would show, these should tell the admission committees who the applicant is.

Interested in a college that gives a lot of weight to written essays from student applicants? Although writing a good admissions essay or personal statement does not guarantee admission, it can really help.

The 5 key elements of a quality personal statement

Whether it’s for college or professional schools, your personal statement could spell the difference between acceptance and rejection. Your write-up should enable the selection committee to see you as a person of value: someone whose goals are aligned with those of the academic institution. At the same time, it gives you an opportunity to explain areas which could otherwise be viewed as a blemish in your application, such as a disappointing score on a standardized test. Just so you know, there are no cookie-cutter methods to writing a winning statement of objectives. However, there are five key elements that you need to take into account if you want to create a quality personal statement:

Motivation is the core of a personal statement

If schools and universities only wanted to assess candidates based on intellect and skill, the admissions board wouldn’t ask you to submit a statement of objectives, but they did. They always do. Why? It’s not to give you a hard time. Rather, it’s the academic institution’s way of knowing what drives you. It gives them a preview of what will sustain you when your schedule gets too hectic and the environment becomes stressful. A good essay should address the basic “why” questions, such as: Why do you want to get into this program and not another? Why did you choose to apply to this school? It should also answer “how” questions, like, “How does this program fit into your personal and career goals?”

Excellent Grammar

It’s mandatory for anyone who wishes to get into a good school to turn in a well-written essay. It should follow basic writing conventions, such as capitalization, spelling, and proper use of punctuation marks. You don’t need to find out the hard way that there is nothing can put off the admissions board quicker than an essay with poor grammar and syntax.

Cohesive Structure

An essay that jumps from one idea to the next, and then back again, is a major turnoff (if not a major headache)! You’d want the board to remember you as a candidate who’s logical and very organized even in thought, not as someone who made them rummage through their stuff for an aspirin.

Style

Write in a style that you’re comfortable in. You don’t need to mimic a literary genius to come up with an outstanding essay. Just remember not to be too casual or too gimmicky that the board may misinterpret your sense of humor as disrespectful or irresponsible.

Integrity

Last but not least, integrity is crucial. Don’t be too caught up in standing out that you end up with an essay that isn’t true to who you are. Honesty and excellence should work together.

If you have all the key ingredients in your essay, you should be able to create a specialty that no one else can. That’s the whole point of an admissions essay.

How to spot the right graduate school personal statement examples

What makes personal statements so important that you need to find the right personal statement examples to use as a guide? For one, writing your personal statement for graduate school is the only chance you have at introducing yourself as an individual. Since other candidates are likely to have good grades and other qualifications as well, your opportunity to stand out lies in your personal statement. At the same time, this is perhaps the only admission requirement that you have control over.

So, to get started on your essay, look for good graduate school personal statement examples that will give you great ideas on what to write about. Keep in mind that there are plenty of samples you can get just from the Internet alone. So how can you tell which one is right? Consider the following before you print them all out:

Good personal statement examples TELL readers about its writer’s choices

Scholastic records and test scores SHOW why you are qualified for graduate school. However, being qualified does not necessarily mean being suitable for the program. For instance, graduate school is much more demanding than college, and while you may have the right numbers to show you’re up for grad school, these aren’t exactly precise indicators of stress tolerance or social adaptability. However, if a personal statement can explain your motivation and how you believe a graduate degree can help you achieve your personal and professional goals, then there is more weight and substance to it.

Personal statements that work explain what you are looking for in a graduate program

Still related to what has been previously discussed, your suitability to a program is also measured based on the vision, mission, and goals of the graduate school you wish to apply to. Hence, it will be to your best interests if you study the website of the specific school and see whether there are samples written by former students there. You can get plenty of information there that will help you decide whether this is really the graduate program or school that suits you best. This should also help you assess the kind of students they accept into the program.

Once you are certain that these basic considerations are addressed by the personal statement samples you have found, you’re good to go. Examine them and determine which parts you liked and why you liked them. These should give you clues as to what you need to include in your own statement.

Finding the right MBA personal statement examples

Just like how it is in the corporate world, if you want to be accepted into a graduate business program, you have to be ready for some cutthroat competition. Although there are a number of factors that the admissions board must consider when making a decision regarding your application, your personal statement could make or break it for you. Among other admission requirements that you have to comply with, it is only your personal statement that you have control over, as it does not depend on ratings and recommendations. If you read through personal statement examples written by successful candidates, you will find that many of them use their statements to explain events which could have been seen as a liability by the selection committee. Here are some good places where you’ll find good MBA personal statement examples:

Ask the right people

Do you know anyone in your family or among your close friends who has a graduate degree? It doesn’t have to be an MBA. If you do, consider asking them if they could lend you a copy of their admissions essay. Even if they didn’t get to keep a copy of their own essay, chances are that they would be willing to give you writing tips. Since they were admitted into their program of choice, they are in a good position to give you advice.

Check business school websites for personal statement examples

The best thing about living in modern times is that information is literally right at your fingertips. Use search engines to find the websites of reputable business schools. A number of schools post samples of statement of objectives and admissions essays on their sites. It just takes web navigation skills. You may find them under “Career Assistance” or the “Admissions” page. If you don’t have a lot of time to spare, skip the search engine and go directly to the website of the business school you’re applying at. Since samples are usually actual statements written by graduates or incumbent students, you can gauge the standards and preferences of the school just by reading them.

Let’s say that you have already done this, and you feel like you’re ready to get started! Do an inventory of your competencies and reconcile them with significant people or events in your life. You can start your outline from there. If you’re not quite confident with your writing, you may consider getting the services of professional editors specializing in perfecting admissions essays.

Finding the right personal statement examples for a residency program

Getting into medical school is one thing, and applying for residency is another. While med school exposes its students to a wide range of medical knowledge and skills, it is in the residency program that you need to pick the field of medicine that you want to specialize in. This also means that the selection committee will be focused on precision and aptness. Among the various academic programs and admission requirements, it’s in applying for residency that your personal statement would be most useful if not powerful. Only through your statement can you explain why you chose dermatology, for instance, who or what influenced your choice, and what you hope to accomplish through your specialization. While your scholastic records and activities may present proof of your motivation, it’s your personal statement that will introduce you as an individual with a sense of purpose. Writing a strong personal statement requires a lot of preparation and troubleshooting. To get started, stock up on personal statement examples to guide you through the task.

Personal statement examples are a dime a dozen

The trouble with having too much personal statement examples on your hands is that by the time you get done reading everything, there will be so little time left for writing. It is important to choose well the samples you should use as reference. You may want to start by visiting your med school and inquiring whether their career assistance office can furnish you a copy of personal statement samples specifically for the residency program that you are interested in. Some offices that provide such service even provide assistance in writing your statement, so this will be a plus.

Quality over quantity when using search engines

Check out medical school websites and see whether their admissions page publish samples written by successful candidates for med school and residency programs. By doing so, you will have a focused material, as this has already received a nod of approval from the admissions board. Another option is to visit medical association websites. These sites are reputable, so you can trust that the samples and writing tips they provide are really useful.

Once you’ve done these steps, you are now ready to start brainstorming for your own personal statement. If you were able to keep a copy of your admissions essay for med school, use this as one of your references, too. It should keep you rooted and true to the reasons why you wanted to be in the medical profession in the first place.

How to choose personal statement examples for college

A personal statement for college applications is a declaration of your objectives and motivations. It should answer the “why” questions, such as “Why this program?” or “Why this university?” While there are no surefire ways to guarantee your statement will work, there are effective means through which you can write an essay that tells the selection committee who you are and why they should admit you into their program. One of these means will require the use of personal statement examples. The following are some factors that you need to consider when searching for personal statements that you can use as reference:

Suitability of personal statement examples

Since there are too many samples and templates available on the Internet, it is critical to weed out those that are not appropriate to your desired field of study. For example, if you are planning to take up Psychology in college, concentrate on personal statement examples within the social sciences. However, don’t be too limited that you read only those under Psychology, as some fields are interdisciplinary. You can also measure the appropriateness of the material you find based on how well you can identify with its writer’s personal and professional goals.

Integrity and practicality

If you have older friends who are already in college, then it’s so much better for you, because you can ask to read copies of their personal statements. Since you personally know them, you can tell whether they were able to highlight their real strengths in their essay. You can also tell whether their personal statements have been too padded that they seem to have been written by a saint. Remember that you are selecting examples of personal statements because you intend to use them as a study guide before writing your own. So, you need something honest to make it work for you. Otherwise, reading padded statements may just discourage you from applying to college, especially if your accomplishments and motives are less noble than theirs. Another good thing about having friends who are already in college is that you can ask them for tips on getting accepted by the college of your choice.

Once you get hold of suitable, honest, and practical essay samples, you can compare them against each other to determine which contents, structure, and style you like best. Since your decision will be based on your personal preferences, then it should inspire you to create a personal statement that best represents you not just as a college applicant but as a real person.

How to select personal statement examples for medical school

So, you want to be a doctor! No one has ever said that getting into medical school is easy. However, preparing for the competitive selection procedure can be made easier. It all starts with your personal statement, which should introduce you to the med school’s admissions board in a way that your MCAT scores and school records can’t. Read on for some tips before planning that remarkable essay:

Why use personal statement examples

You are a traveler, and personal statement examples are your map. The medical profession is a matter that can’t be taken lightly. Sample statements can help you identify the competencies required in med school, and at the same time, you can assess what makes a personal statement effective from reading a variety of samples.

Look in the right places

While there are plenty of websites which offer personal statement examples, your best bet at finding the most suitable ones are med school websites. Usually, the school would post admissions essays written by graduates or current students, meaning that these personal statements have already worked their magic on the admissions board. It would be even better if you could get samples from the medical program that you wish to pursue. Why? As you would need to convince the admissions board that you are a good match for their program in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitude, reading these samples will help you zero in on the specific med school’s requirements. Now, what if the school’s website doesn’t have sample statements from students? Don’t fret. You can ask around whether their career assistance office can give you one.

Using your samples the right way

Bear in mind that the sample should only serve as a guide or reference material. In no way should you copy or reword it and pass it off as your own. This is an issue of integrity, and if you get caught, you will have to face severe consequences. Even if you think you can get away with it, writing an original is still worth the effort. In med school, where admission is especially competitive, you would want to stand out from hundreds or even thousands of other hopefuls. You wouldn’t want your essay to be a product of the cookie-cutter method. There is no better way to articulate your individuality than by submitting a well-written personal statement that presents you as a person and not just a concatenation of scores and ratings.