What Not To Do In A Personal Statement
The deadline for many college applications is looming right around the corner. At this point, you should be well on your way to writing your personal statement. You are probably receiving a lot of great advice on what to do. However, equally as important is knowing what not to do. Here are a few tips to help guide you:
Don’t make someone else the protagonist of your story. This is a common mistake. It’s not effective to talk about a sister’s car accident or a grandma’s battle with cancer. While these are touching stories, they don’t tell the reader much about you, which defeats the whole point of a Personal Statement. You need to use this space to demonstrate who you are as a person. It’s okay to use these types of stories as a starting off point, but they should be short and concise anecdotes, not the entire essay. If you choose to include an anecdote about someone else, you’ll have to really sell how it impacted you. What growth came from the experience? What obstacles did you have to overcome in order to achieve this growth?
Don’t use overly complicated language or syntax. Sometimes it seems like a good idea to try to make yourself seem smarter by using big words. Or you may attempt to use the syntax of an academic essay in a Personal Statement. The problem with this is that you’ll lose the message (and readers). Instead, use clear, concise language. Be direct. This way, the readers can focus on the story and not on trying to figure out what the writer is talking about.
Don’t treat your Personal Statement like a resumé. It might be tempting to use the Personal Statement to list and brag about your accomplishments, but that’s what the rest of the application is for! (There’s a way to brag in the Personal Statement. Check back here for our post on that subject!) Use this essay as a chance to show colleges who you are as a person (get it?) and what you can bring to campus. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and to show the reader the parts of your personality that can’t be seen on a transcript.
And remember, once you finish writing, make sure you proofread. Ask your parents and friends to read it as well. Look for spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors. Your 4.0 GPA will look a lot less impressive if your Personal Statement has a series of run-on sentences. Good luck!
