You’ve Taken the GRE… Now What? | A Guide to the Personal Statement

Graduate school applications are stressful, and the GRE is only one component of them.  No matter whether you’re applying for a M.S. in Economics or a Ph.D. in Psychology, nearly all graduate programs will require a personal statement. In fact, this essay is one of the most important parts of the application and sometimes even the deciding factor for admission.

Personal statements give application committees a better understanding of who you are beyond the information supplied in the “fill-in-the-blank” portion of the application. This essay is your chance to show your personality, explain any lapses in your academic or professional record, and show the university why you would be a perfect fit for their program.

In order to make a great personal statement, consider the following points:

1.) Be Yourself

Oftentimes, personal statements have a limit of 5,000 words or even less. Your application already shows where you went to school, your GPA, and your GRE scores. The committee knows about your coursework from your transcript and your published article from your CV. This essay is a chance for you to show them who you are outside of these things – they want to hear about your extracurricular activities, your talents, and your passions. Tell them about significant events in your life, books you enjoy, or the people who have helped shape who you have become. Give them an insight into who you are as a person, not just who you are on paper.

2.) Do Your Research

Every university is different and every program is different, so every personal statement should be different. While it is tempting to write one “universal” essay and use it for each application, the admissions committee will notice.

Be sure to tailor your essay to the university and the program. Explain why you would like to study at that program – talk about the professors you would like to work with, the resources you would be interested in using, and the city you would love to live in.  Describe what interests you in this university – what makes it different from the others? What would it provide you that you could not receive elsewhere?

3.) Details, Details, Details

It can be tempting to tell the admissions committee every single thing that makes you a good candidate. Remember that they do not care about your piano lessons in second grade or your Grand Champion 4-H Heifer. It is better to focus on two or three main aspects of your life and really explain them rather than writing about every single accomplishment since kindergarten. The important thing here is depth, not breadth. Identify the things that have made an impact on your life – an internship, a study-abroad experience, an extracurricular activity – and explain what makes it so important to you. Give details about your life – explain the daily activities in your internship and why it made you want to continue a career in the field. In general, it is best to stick to recent experiences and accomplishments that are relevant to the application – things that you have done since the beginning of college are usually the most pertinent to what you will experience in graduate school.

4.) Follow Directions

It seems so simple, but when filling out multiple applications, it is easy to confuse them. Be sure to read the directions carefully for each university and follow them accordingly. One of the biggest red flags for admissions committees is applicants who do not adhere to word limitations or who do not answer the questions asked. Do not give them a reason to throw out your application without looking through it.

5.) Explain Your Weaknesses

If there are reasons that your application is lacking, this is your chance to explain them.  Perhaps you had a lower GPA than your peers, but you spent your time volunteering with AmeriCorps and serving as President of Student Congress.  This is your chance to expand upon your transcript and tell the admissions committee what makes you a well-rounded applicant. Or, if you had one particularly bad semester but that was also the year that your grandmother passed away unexpectedly, this essay will allow you to explain what happened.  Be sure to take this opportunity to fill in the gaps of your application, explain the circumstances surrounding your weaknesses, and expand upon your strengths.

6.) Take Your Time and Proofread

This is not an essay that you can put off until the night before the application is due.  Treat this with the same diligence that you treated the GRE – you will need to spend hours writing it, editing it, and proofing it.  There are countless ways to tell your own story, so be sure that the essay you submit is really the best one.  And once you have it written out, it is vital that you proofread. Show it to your parents, your professors, your friends. The more people who see it, the more feedback you will receive, and the better your final version will be. Other people will be able to tell you about the important accomplishments you forgot to include and where you misspelled the word “definitely.” Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

The personal statement is scary. It can be hard to brag about yourself and really explain what makes you unique.  But this is not the time to be modest – make sure you tell the admissions committee everything that makes you the perfect fit for their school. You know you deserve a spot in their cohort… Now make sure that they know it too.  Good luck!