Understanding Personal Statement

Have you attended any interviews? Or, has your teacher ever asked you to say a few lines about yourself? Well, you must have observed that it is often easier to talk about a friend or your hometown than to say a few lines about ourselves. During interviews, most candidates often falter at the very first question: ‘Can you tell me something about yourself?’

Once you understand the complexity of the question, you will realise that personal statements act as the most important essay based on which the university judges your entry into their programs. Therefore, it becomes important to structure your Personal Statements in the best manner possible. 

Let’s watch the next video to understand what a personal statement is, why it is required and how to approach it to woo the selection committee. 

As you learnt in the above video, there are precisely two types of essays, which are as follows:

Undergraduate programs require a personal statement (PS), while graduate programs require a statement of purpose (SOP). Sometimes, universities may ask for both along with a CV, as some universities use these terms interchangeably.

Personal Statements can be rightly considered as a story about yourself. A personal statement should include the following:

• Experiences that played a pivotal role in shaping you 
• Experiences that inspired and motivated you to apply for college
• A PS is less formal and more personal. 

While writing a personal statement, you must include the following pointers:

• Your personal experience
• Your professional experience
• Your volunteering experience
• Your major accomplishments
• Challenges

All these pointers will give your personal statement a flair that is often missing.

Personal Statements are important due to the following reasons:

• A personal statement supports or enhances your application. 
• It showcases your motivation for pursuing the chosen course. 
• It tells your story in terms of the values and interests that make you the person you are. 
• It is used by the admissions office to determine whether you will fit in their student community or student body. 

In this segment, you learnt about the personal statement, what to include in it and its importance in the admission process. In the next segment, you will learn about some essentials that must be included in the personal statement.