how to revise a personal statement

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How to Write a Personal Statement (with Tips and Examples)

Hannah Yang

Table of Contents

What is a personal statement, 6 tips on how to write a personal statement, personal statement examples (for college and university), faqs about writing personal statements, conclusion on how to write a personal statement.

How do you tell someone who you are in just a few hundred words?

It’s certainly no easy task, but it’s one almost every college applicant must do. The personal statement is a crucial part of any college or university application.

So, how do you write a compelling personal statement?

In this article, we’ll give you all the tools, tips, and examples you need to write an effective personal statement.

A personal statement is a short essay that reveals something important about who you are. It can talk about your background, your interests, your values, your goals in life, or all of the above.

Personal statements are required by many college admission offices and scholarship selection committees. They’re a key part of your application, alongside your academic transcript, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities.

The reason application committees ask you to write a personal statement is so they can get to know who you are. 

Some personal statements have specific prompts, such as “Discuss a period of personal growth in your life” or “Tell us about a challenge or failure you’ve faced.” Others are more open-ended with prompts that essentially boil down to “Tell us about yourself.”

No matter what the prompt is, your goal is the same: to make yourself stand out to the selection committee as a strong candidate for their program.

Here are some things a personal statement can be:

It can be funny. If you have a great sense of humor, your personal statement is a great place to let that shine.  

It can be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to open up about hardships in your life or failures you’ve experienced. Showing vulnerability can make you sound more like a real person rather than just a collection of application materials.  

It can be creative. Candidates have got into top schools with personal statements that take the form of “a day in the life” descriptions, third-person short stories, and even cooking recipes.

Now we’ve talked about what a personal statement is, let’s quickly look at what a personal statement isn’t:

It isn’t a formal academic paper. You should write the personal statement in your natural voice, using first-person pronouns like “I” and “me,” not in the formal, objective language you would use to write an academic paper.

It isn’t a five-paragraph essay. You should use as many paragraphs as you need to tell your story instead of sticking to the essay structure you learned in school.

It isn’t a resumé. You should try to describe yourself by telling a clear and cohesive story rather than providing a jumbled list of all of your accomplishments and ambitions.

Here are our top six tips for writing a strong personal statement.

Tip 1: Do Some Serious Self-Reflection

The hardest part of writing a personal statement isn’t the actual process of writing it.

Before you start typing, you have to figure out what to write about. And that means taking some time to reflect on who you are and what’s important in your life.

Here are some useful questions you can use to start your self-reflection. You can either answer these on your own by writing down your answers, or you can ask a trusted friend to listen as you talk about them together.

What were the key moments that shaped your life? (e.g. an important friendship, a travel experience, an illness or injury)

What are you proud of? (e.g. you’re a good listener, you always keep your promises, you’re a talented musician)

How do you choose to spend your time? (e.g. reading, practicing soccer, spending time with your friends)

What inspires you? (e.g. your grandmother, a celebrity, your favorite song)

Doing this self-reflection is crucial for figuring out the perfect topics and anecdotes you can use to describe who you are.

Tip 2: Try to Avoid Cliché Topics

College application committees read thousands of personal statements a year. That means there are some personal statement topics they see over and over again.

Here are a few examples of common personal statement topics that have become cliché:

Winning a tournament or sports game

Volunteering in a foreign country

Moving to a new home

Becoming an older sibling

Being an immigrant or having immigrant parents

If you want to make a strong impression in the application process, you need to make your personal statement stand out from the crowd.

But if your chosen personal statement topic falls into one of these categories, that doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t use it. Just make sure to put a unique spin on it so it still delivers something the committee hasn’t seen before.

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Tip 3: Show, Don’t Tell

One common mistake you might make in your personal statement is to simply tell the reader what you want them to know about you, such as by stating “I have a fear of public speaking” or “I love to cook.”

Instead of simply stating these facts, you should show the committee what you’re talking about through a story or scene, which will make your essay much more immersive and memorable.

For example, let’s say you want the committee to know you overcame your fear of public speaking. Instead of writing “I overcame my fear of public speaking,” show them what it was like to be onstage in front of a microphone. Did your palms get clammy? Did you feel light-headed? Did you forget your words?

Or let’s say you want the committee to know you love to cook. Instead of writing “I love to cook,” show them why you love to cook. What’s your favorite dish to cook? What does the air smell like when you’re cooking it? What kitchen appliances do you use to make it?

Tip 4: Connect the Story to Why You’re Applying

Don’t forget that the purpose of your personal statement isn’t simply to tell the admissions committee who you are. That’s an important part of it, of course, but your ultimate goal is to convince them to choose you as a candidate.

That means it’s important to tie your personal story to your reasons for applying to this specific school or scholarship. Finish your essay with a strong thesis.

For example, if your story is about overcoming your fear of public speaking, you might connect that story to your ambition of becoming a politician. You can then tie that to your application by saying, “I want to apply to this school because of its fantastic politics program, which will give me a perfect opportunity to use my voice.”

Tip 5: Write in Your Own Voice

The personal statement isn’t supposed to be written in a formal tone. That’s why they’re called “personal” statements because you have to shape it to fit your own voice and style.

Don’t use complicated or overwrought language. You don’t need to fill your essay with semicolons and big words, unless that’s how you sound in real life.

One way to write in your own voice is by speaking your personal statement out loud. If it doesn’t feel natural, it may need changing. 

Tip 6: Edit, Edit, Edit!

It’s important to revise your personal statement multiple times in order to make sure it’s as close to perfect as possible.

A single typo won’t kill your application, but if your personal statement contains multiple spelling errors or egregious grammar mistakes, you won’t be putting your best foot forward.

ProWritingAid can help you make sure your personal statement is as clean as possible. In addition to catching your grammar errors, typos, and punctuation mistakes, it will also help you improve weaknesses in your writing, such as passive voice, unnecessary repetition, and more.

Let’s look at some of the best personal statements that have worked for successful candidates in the real world. 

Harvard Personal Statement Example

Love. For a word describing such a powerful emotion, it is always in the air. The word “love” has become so pervasive in everyday conversation that it hardly retains its roots in blazing passion and deep adoration. In fact, the word is thrown about so much that it becomes difficult to believe society isn’t just one huge, smitten party, with everyone holding hands and singing “Kumbaya.” In films, it’s the teenage boy’s grudging response to a doting mother. At school, it’s a habitual farewell between friends. But in my Chinese home, it’s never uttered. Watching my grandmother lie unconscious on the hospital bed, waiting for her body to shut down, was excruciatingly painful. Her final quavering breaths formed a discordant rhythm with the steady beep of hospital equipment and the unsympathetic tapping hands of the clock. That evening, I whispered—into unhearing ears—the first, and only, “I love you” I ever said to her, my rankling guilt haunting me relentlessly for weeks after her passing. My warm confession seemed anticlimactic, met with only the coldness of my surroundings—the blank room, impassive doctors, and empty silence. I struggled to understand why the “love” that so easily rolled off my tongue when bantering with friends dissipated from my vocabulary when I spoke to my family. Do Chinese people simply love less than Americans do?

This is an excerpt from a personal statement that got the applicant admitted to Harvard University. The applicant discusses her background as a Chinese-American by musing on the word “love” and what that means within her family.

The writer uses vulnerable details about her relationship with her grandmother to give the reader an understanding of where she comes from and how her family has shaped her.  

You can read the full personal statement on the Harvard Crimson website.

Tufts Personal Statement Example

My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver. I saw it in my favorite book, Richard Scarry’s “Cars and Trucks and Things That Go,” and for some reason, I was absolutely obsessed with the idea of driving a giant pickle. Much to the discontent of my younger sister, I insisted that my parents read us that book as many nights as possible so we could find goldbug, a small little golden bug, on every page. I would imagine the wonderful life I would have: being a pig driving a giant pickle truck across the country, chasing and finding goldbug. I then moved on to wanting to be a Lego Master. Then an architect. Then a surgeon. Then I discovered a real goldbug: gold nanoparticles that can reprogram macrophages to assist in killing tumors, produce clear images of them without sacrificing the subject, and heat them to obliteration. Suddenly the destination of my pickle was clear. I quickly became enveloped by the world of nanomedicine; I scoured articles about liposomes, polymeric micelles, dendrimers, targeting ligands, and self-assembling nanoparticles, all conquering cancer in some exotic way. Completely absorbed, I set out to find a mentor to dive even deeper into these topics. After several rejections, I was immensely grateful to receive an invitation to work alongside Dr. Sangeeta Ray at Johns Hopkins.

This is the beginning of a personal statement by Renner Kwittken, who was admitted into Tufts University as a pre-medical student.

Renner uses a humorous anecdote about being a pickle truck driver to describe his love for nanomedicine and how he got involved in his field. You can feel his passion for medicine throughout his personal statement.

You can find Renner’s full essay on the Tufts Admissions page.

Law School Personal Statement Essay Example

For most people, the slap on the face that turns their life around is figurative. Mine was literal. Actually, it was a punch delivered by a drill sergeant at Fort Dix, New Jersey, while I was in basic training. That day’s activity, just a few weeks into the program, included instruction in “low-crawling,” a sensible method of moving from one place to another on a battlefield. I felt rather clever for having discovered that, by looking right rather than down, I eliminated my helmet’s unfortunate tendency to dig into the ground and slow my progress. I could thus advance more easily, but I also exposed my unprotected face to hostile fire. Drill sergeants are typically very good at detecting this type of laziness, and mine was an excellent drill sergeant. So, after his repeated suggestions that I correct my performance went unheeded, he drove home his point with a fist to my face. We were both stunned. This was, after all, the New Army, and striking a trainee was a career-ending move for a drill sergeant, as we were both aware. I could have reported him; arguably, I should have. I didn’t. It didn’t seem right for this good sergeant, who had not slept for almost four days, to lose his career for losing his temper with my laziness. Choosing not to report him was the first decision I remember making that made me proud.

These are the first three paragraphs of an anonymous personal statement by a Wheaton College graduate, who used this personal statement to get into a top-25 law school.

This statement describes a time the applicant faced a challenging decision while in the army. He ended up making a decision he was proud of, and as a result, the personal statement gives us a sense of his character.

You can find the full essay on the Wheaton Academics website.

Here are some common questions about how to write a personal statement.

How Long Should a Personal Statement Be?

The length of your personal statement depends on the specific program you’re applying to. The application guidelines usually specify a maximum word count or an ideal word count.  

Most personal statements are between 500–800 words. That’s a good general range to aim for if you don’t have more specific guidelines.  

Should Personal Statements Be Different for Scholarships?

Many scholarship applications will ask for personal statements with similar prompts to those of college applications.

However, the purpose of a personal statement you’d write for a scholarship application is different from the purpose of one you’d write for a college application.

For a scholarship application, your goal is to showcase why you deserve the scholarship. To do that, you need to understand the mission of the organization offering that scholarship.

For example, some scholarships are meant to help first-generation college students get their degree, while others are meant to help women break into STEM.

Consider the following questions:

Why is this organization offering scholarships?

What would their ideal scholarship candidate look like?

How do your experiences and goals overlap with those of their ideal scholarship candidate?

You can use the same personal anecdotes you’d use for any other personal statement, but you’ll have a better chance of winning the scholarship if you tailor your essay to match their specific mission.

How to Start a Personal Statement

You should start your personal statement with a “hook” that pulls the reader in. The sooner you catch the reader’s attention, the more likely they’ll want to read the entire essay.

Here are some examples of hooks you can use:

A story (e.g. When the spotlight hit my face, I tried to remind myself to breathe. )

A setting description (e.g. My bedroom floor is covered with dirty laundry, candy wrappers, and crumpled sheet music. )

A funny anecdote (e.g. When I was a little kid, my friends nicknamed me Mowgli because of my haircut. )

A surprising fact (e.g. I've lived in 37 countries .)

There you have it—our complete guide to writing a personal statement that will make you stand out to the application committee.

Here’s a quick recap: 

A personal statement is a short essay that shows an application committee who you are

Start with a strong hook that pulls the reader in

Tell a story to engage the reader 

Write in your own voice, not in a formal tone

Good luck, and happy writing!

Hannah is a speculative fiction writer who loves all things strange and surreal. She holds a BA from Yale University and lives in Colorado. When she’s not busy writing, you can find her painting watercolors, playing her ukulele, or hiking in the Rockies. Follow her work on hannahyang.com or on Twitter at @hannahxyang.

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• A ‘Clean’ copy that is ready to use
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This allows you to check every change we make while editing your personal statement, so you’re always in complete control of the final draft.

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Powerful Personal Statements: Part 5 - How to Revise

Your page isn’t blank any more, but you may not be very happy with what you’ve written.  Basically, your room isn’t guest-ready just yet – it doesn’t look the way you really want it to and the way you may have imagined it in your head.  Most likely, your essay is also too long (5300 characters goes by quickly). You’re going to have to move stuff around and probably get rid of some beloved knick knacks and potentially even an armchair or two.

1. The quintessential tome for editing prowess is Strunk and White, Section III .   You should read it now before trying to revise your essay, and you will instantly become a better editor.

2. Read through your draft with one goal:  to get rid of “junk words.”  These are extra words or phrases that humans tend to use because -- well, we just do -- but that don’t really add anything but characters to your essay.  Not only do junk words take up precious space, but also they make writing weaker in general. Get rid of all of the following:

• Adverbs: “very,” “really,” “actually,”
• Any words that imply you’re lying: “To be honest,” “Honestly,” “in all honesty”
• Any words that specify that you are the one writing: “In my opinion,” “personally,” “I think”
• Any words that hedge: “sort of,” “kind of,” “somewhat,”

There are others, but these are the most flagrant offenders.

3. Now, read your draft aloud, making notes on anything that just doesn’t sound right or that you stumble on.  Record yourself and play it back if you want.  Particular pitfalls to look for and fix are:

• Passive voice, including “There are” and “It is” (especially for those of you with research backgrounds, because for some reason passive voice is the norm in research papers).
• Redundancy.
• Long, awkward sentences , especially those with medical or research jargon.
• Negative words and phrasing , and any sentences or stories that might make someone think you’re a jerk or judging other people (especially judging people in the medical professions, like doctors you shadowed or nurses you worked with as a volunteer).
• Paragraphs that are too long and therefore cause the reader to lose interest in the middle.
• Grammar issues in general (get out that Elements of Style book!). You might need an English major friend or teacher to help here.
• Flow: are the details and stories in the right order? Is your essay easy to follow and understand?
• Phrases that tell and don’t show (you do need SOME of these, but you will find many more that you don’t need).

4. Read it aloud again, and again, and again; every time you make changes.  Be like a chef tasting his food as he prepares it, adding a pinch of salt, thickening the sauce, deciding not to add more mushrooms. Don’t be afraid to make major changes – deleting whole paragraphs because they just don’t work, moving your conclusion to your introduction because it’s the strongest part.

5. If possible, once you’ve done a few iterations, have someone else read it aloud to you, paying special attention to words or sentences THEY stumble on or that just don’t sound like what you intended them to sound like.   But be careful, because people like to try to be helpful and will most likely give you lots of suggestions on how to change your essay, what to add, what they think is missing, how THEY would write it.  Most of the time suggestions from friends and parents (and/or any person other than an editor or has experience with editing medical school personal statements) just make the essay different, not better.  Sometimes, well-meaning feedback can even make the essay worse by inserting someone else’s writing style and point of view.  Too many chefs spoil the stew!

6. My last bit of advice on revising is to know when to put down the red pen.  You can edit a personal statement forever, changing one word here, adding a comma there.  But at some point, the soup is cooked.  Extra revisions are just that: extra.  They just make the essay different but not better.

So call it a day, know that you’ve done your best, and submit!

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A 10-Step Guide to Writing an Outstanding Personal Statement

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Applying to college can be daunting, especially when it comes to writing a personal statement. This essay showcases not just your writing skills but also your unique personality, achievements, and aspirations. Understanding that while grades are crucial, a personal statement often becomes the differentiating factor in your application. To navigate this essential component, we’ve compiled a ten-step guide, replete with examples, to ensure your personal statement leaves a lasting impression on admissions officers.

Applying to college can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to writing a personal statement. This essay not only showcases your writing skills but also highlights your unique personality, achievements, and aspirations. While it may seem unnecessary, tedious, time-consuming, and just another tick-the-box, know that as each application is processed, grades are just one of the criteria of selection, more often than not a personal statement becomes the differentiating factor.

To help you navigate this crucial component of your application, we’ve compiled a ten-step guide, complete with inspiring examples to ensure your personal statement makes a lasting impression on admissions officers.

• Start Early and Brainstorm Begin the process early to give yourself plenty of time to brainstorm. Reflect on your experiences, achievements, and motivations. Think about what makes you unique, both in terms of personality and life experiences.
• Understand the Prompt Make sure you clearly understand what the college is asking for. Each institution may have different prompts or questions. Tailor your response specifically to each prompt, ensuring you answer it fully and directly. Be comprehensive and succinct in your answers, choosing words that convey your candidature the best.
• Create an Outline Draft an outline to organize your thoughts and ensure a coherent flow of ideas. This will help you structure your statement effectively, making sure every part contributes towards presenting a compelling narrative.
• Exhibit, Don’t Tell Use specific examples to demonstrate your qualities and achievements. Instead of stating that you’re a great leader, describe a situation where you demonstrated leadership. This method makes your statement more engaging and believable.
• Focus on Your Strengths While it might be tempting to cover a wide range of subjects, focusing on a few key strengths or experiences can have a stronger impact. Depth over breadth is crucial in personal statements.
• Be Authentic Admissions officers can tell when a statement is genuine. Write honestly about your experiences and passions and let your natural voice shine through. Authenticity is key to making a personal statement stand out.
• Get Feedback After drafting your statement, seek feedback from teachers, mentors, or friends. They can provide insights on clarity, grammar, and the overall impact of your essay. They all have a perspective of you from an external viewpoint, so do not skip this step.
• Revise and Edit Use the feedback to revise your statement. Look for areas where you can clarify your points, eliminate redundancy, and correct grammatical errors. This step is crucial for polishing your final submission.
• Keep It Concise Adhere to the word limit. Being able to express your thoughts concisely and effectively is a skill appreciated by admissions officers.
• Final Review Before submitting, do a final review. Read your statement out loud to catch any remaining errors or awkward phrasing. Make sure it sounds natural and is easy to read.

Examples of Exemplary Personal Statements:

Example 1: The Innovator Jane’s personal statement begins with a vivid description of her tinkering with a broken radio at age eight, which sparked her interest in technology. She intertwines her personal journey with her academic achievements, such as leading her school’s robotics team to a national competition. Jane uses specific examples, like designing a new robot navigation system, to demonstrate her passion and skill in engineering.

Example 2: The Community Leader John opens his statement with a powerful recount of organizing community relief efforts during a local flood. Highlighting his role in mobilizing volunteers and coordinating with local authorities, he demonstrates strong leadership and commitment to his community. His narrative includes feedback from the community and the personal growth he experienced, providing a well-rounded view of his character.

Example 3: The Attentive Listener Emma’s personal statement explores her profound appreciation for music and its role in shaping her interpersonal connections. She describes an afternoon spent sharing playlists with a group of international students, which turned into a deep discussion about cultural expressions through music. This experience not only highlights her listening skills but also illustrates her ability to forge meaningful relationships through shared interests.

Example 4: The Compassionate Leader David writes about his high emotional quotient and how it spurred him to lead a community initiative focused on animal welfare. His personal statement recounts organizing local workshops to educate people about animal kindness and launching a successful campaign for a local shelter. David’s story reflects his empathy and leadership in translating compassion into actionable community improvement.

Commentary: Every life is extraordinary; it’s how you narrate your story that captures the reader’s eye. Your personal statement should reflect your unique experiences and aspirations.

Conclusion:

In crafting your personal statement, remember, you don’t have to be extraordinary in the usual sense—honesty and transparency are key. Be a dreamer of the art of the possible; dream as big as you can and let those dreams articulate themselves in your words. This approach not only reveals your true self to admissions officers but also shows your potential to contribute meaningfully to their academic community. Start your adventure today! Use these steps as your guide to find the university that best fits your future goals. Dream big and achieve even bigger.

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Smart Revision Strategies

In general, good writers love to revise. It gives them a sense of accomplishment, and they find it easier or more satisfying than composing a first draft. I once revised a short story that I wrote over a two-year period, whittling it down from 35 pages to 13, dropping a character, changing the central theme, and ultimately producing one of my most well-published pieces. Some writers even revise their work after it’s been published, just for themselves, nagged by some imperfection they perceive or based on how their readers have reacted.

Of course, when you write a personal statement or application essay, you don’t have the luxury (or curse) of endless opportunities to revise. Nevertheless, you do have to expect that your first draft of the material might require multiple re-readings and revisions to be ready for submission. My best student writers tend to report that they re-read and revise their personal essays at least seven times, even if they change only one word or two each time, and they seek feedback from professors, advisors, Writing Center tutors, Career Services staff, friends, and even their parents. As they revise, they consider how to effectively use their space, tailor their content, perfect their grammar and mechanics, and improve their tone. As the discussions that follow will show, these principles are often tightly related to one another.

Revising for Space

When revising to save space or meet a word count, the first tactic is to think in physical terms. If your essay runs just a few lines over a boundary, look carefully at your paragraphs. Often, an entire line might be taken up by just a word or two, and shortening that paragraph accordingly can save a line. Of course, in physical terms, you can also experiment slightly with font and form, but keep in mind that astute readers will be critical of anything that is physically difficult to read because of how you managed space.

More important in revising for space is for you to look at your material holistically and ask yourself if any essay part is taking up more proportional space than it should or is simply too long to justify its value. I once worked with a student who was having trouble conforming to her word count, so we looked at her first draft carefully for any weak areas, deciding that her introduction wasn’t really worth the space it took up. Here was her original introduction:

There are moments in my day when students buzz by like bees do, I take a confused pause and ask myself: oh no, where am I going? The pause is almost unnoticeable, nevertheless daunting. Of course, the quick answers are: the student union, class, work, and a never ending list of meetings. However the larger question looms over my body as I hustle to register students to vote and plan more ways to increase political awareness on campus. I used to dread the exploration of my future possibilities; this looming entity was a cloud ready to break apart and drown me in a rainstorm. Despite my love of running around in rainstorms, I found more comfort in my mother’s words: to find out where you’re going, you need to know where home is.

Upon reflection, the writer realized that not only was the opening lengthy, it was also redundant with other parts of the application. Readers would learn plenty about her energy and political activism in her resume and list of activities. And as far as the introduction’s creativity, the writer realized she was just using it to show off a bit, and in the process using clichés (“students buzz by like bees”) and providing irrelevant detail (her “love of running around in rainstorms”).

Fortunately, this writer spared her readers and hacked her introduction down to the material that was the most original—her mother’s comforting words, which were a central theme in her essay. Her revised introduction read thus:

I have always found comfort in my mother’s words: to find out where you’re going, you need to know where home is.

Much nicer—crisp, interesting, and meaningful. By revising six sentences down to one, the writer emphasized what she cared about most in her original introduction, which also turned out to be the material that was the most personal.

Revising for Content

Recognizing the audience’s need for content, especially guided by the application question criteria you’re addressing in a personal essay, you should always consider ways to revise that will provide further substance. For instance, knowing from the application question that his readers were interested in specific details about his planned master’s research, one writer changed this:

As part of my master’s research at Mythic College I am interested in the information overload issue—it can cause anxiety, poor decision-making, and reduced attention span.

. . . to this:

For my master’s thesis at Mythic College I plan to focus on cognitive architectures that allow us to make simulations of and predictions about human performance in situations such as driving vehicles or piloting fighter aircraft.

In this revision, we learn much more meaningful information about the planned research, including the practical applications of the work. Thus, we are more likely to assess that this student is indeed ready to begin his research.

As this example demonstrates, revising for content is usually about providing more concrete detail based on audience needs, keeping in mind that the content you choose reveals you as a person, as a thinker, and as a student. The more these three parts can be blended together through your content revisions, the better.

Revising for Grammar and Mechanics

Like many teachers, I sometimes urge my students to read their work aloud as a proofing tactic and so that they can literally hear how their writing might sound to others. This can be very effective, in that it helps you listen to your own sentence rhythms, sense gaps in logic, intuit where punctuation is needed, and identify words that you’re misusing or overusing. However, a curious problem surfaces with this practice. Writers who read their work aloud tend to insert words that aren’t really there on the page, or substitute correct words for incorrect ones, not even realizing they’re doing it. Cognitively, what’s happening is that they’re revising, effectively and automatically, even if someone else looking over their shoulder at the printed work has to point it out to them.

The key to revising your work for grammar (both word choice and wording) and mechanics (small but important matters such as punctuation) is to, in effect, listen to your work anew. The best writers adopt an objective “listening ear,” learning to detect their problems of grammar and mechanics both intuitively and methodically, pretending they’re encountering the work for the first time no matter how many times they’ve re-read it.

Meanwhile, you can count on two things: (1) we tend to repeat the same errors over and over in our writing, and (2) other writers make the same errors we do. If we have one comma error in an essay, we’re likely to have others; if we have a particular usage problem such as the distinction between “affect” and “effect,” we can be sure other writers have it too. Therefore, by studying the most common errors and revising accordingly, we’re likely to improve our work substantially. And when we make particularly common errors in our personal essays (such as confusing “it’s” with “its”), our audience is justified in viewing us as lazy and unthinking, in that such errors are so easy to reason through and correct.

Grammatically, writers tend to make their most obvious errors in these areas:

Subject/verb agreement , which can usually be addressed by identifying each subject and verb in your sentences, ignoring the other words mentally, and making certain that they match in number and sound. Also, remember that the word “and” linking two subjects makes them plural (“Grammar and mechanics are related”), and that when subjects are connected by the word “or” the subject closer to the verb determines the verb’s number (“Either the punctuation marks or the usage is flawed”).

Verb tense , which must be considered both for consistency and context. Writers can switch verb tenses within a paragraph as long as the context calls for it, but unnatural shifts in verb tense stand out loudly (“The sample was heated and then cool before storage”). As a general principle, the simplest verb tense should be chosen for the circumstances (avoid “has,” “have,” and “had” as helpers except when necessary), and favor the present tense when possible (it brings the material “closer” to the reader).

Runs-ons and fragments , which can again be addressed by identifying your subjects and verbs, and in some cases by assessing sentence length.

Commonly confused terms , which are easy to look up in any style handbook, and therefore a potential source of great irritation to your educated readers. Just to rehearse and briefly describe a few, “affect” is usually a verb meaning "to influence," while “effect” is usually a noun meaning "outcome" or "result." “It’s,” of course, always means "it is," while “its” always shows possession. The abbreviation “e.g.” is Latin for exempli gratia and means “for example,” while “i.e.” is Latin for id est and means “that is.” The word “imply” means "to suggest" or "to indicate," while “infer” involves a person actively applying deduction. The word “that” is used to define and limit a noun’s meaning, while “which” is used to provide descriptive information not central to the noun’s definition.

From a mechanics standpoint, writers do themselves a great favor by learning to understand punctuation conceptually and fundamentally, as follows:

A comma is a separator . Therefore, when you use one you should identify why the material is worthy of separation. Common reasons include that you used a transition word that creates a natural pause, you wrote a lengthy, complex sentence with multiple subjects and verbs, and that you supplied a list of three or more related items or phrases in a row. All three of these reasons helped me punctuate this paragraph with commas.

A colon is an arrow pointing forward . It tells us that new information, which is promised by the wording before it, is about to arrive. The colon is especially handy for introducing an announced piece of evidence, a focused example, or a list. Contrary to popular belief, the colon can be used to point us forward to a single word or to an entire sentence. My favorite example of the former is an old George Carlin joke: “Weather forecast for tonight: dark.”

A semicolon is a mark of co-dependency . This mark is so often mentally confused with the colon that I am often forced to repeat to my students: “The colon is two dots; the semicolon is a comma below a dot.” (Though it’s sad to have to say it, at least the explanation actually involves a semicolon.) As my explanation demonstrates, the semicolon is usually used to join phrases or sentences having grammatical equivalency, and it emphasizes that the joined parts are related, even co-dependent, in context.

A dash redefines what was just said. I’m amazed at how many writers simply don’t use the dash at all—except excessively in e-mails—because they’re afraid of it. But the dash is a powerful way to make an important aside, as I did above, and to tack on an additional comment of consequence—a comment that redefines. When typing the dash, be certain that you don’t type a hyphen, but two hyphens in a row or a long bar (which Word is perfectly happy to provide automatically as you juxtapose two typed hyphens or via its pull-down symbol map).

Speaking of Word, by all means do use the grammar checker to test grammar and mechanics in your personal essay, but don’t trust it blindly. To state the obvious, the grammar checker does not think, and it doesn’t know the contextual difference between, say, “mescaline” (an illegal hallucinogen) and the word “miscellaneous.” I choose this particular example because one of my students once accidentally claimed on her resume that she was in charge of “mescaline responsibilities” at her summer job. With that one slip, she could have worried and alienated both her former employer and her future one.

Revising for Tone

Put simply, tone is the writer’s attitude towards the subject. We discern the writer’s tone by both the words chosen and the content selected, and in personal statements many writers unknowingly send the wrong message about themselves because of their tone. They often do this because they feel they should explain some blemish on their record (“It took me a long time to decide on the right major”) or because they mistakenly think that arrogance might be taken as confidence (“I invented a totally new method of scientific research”). Instead, such writers are likely to be perceived as indecisive and lacking in confidence in the first case, and hubristic and naive in the second.

If I had to boil the issue of tone in personal statements down to one word, it would be this: affirmation . Your job is to affirm—what is true, what you’ve accomplished, what you value, how you think, how you see the world, what your plans are, what your research means, what program you’d like to attend, and so on. Too many writers focus on the negative, stressing their uncertainties, their doubts, and even their failures. There’s always a positive way to spin a point—watch the spin doctors and politicians on television news shows if you need a primer—and in a personal statement a positive, affirmative tone is critical.

As examples, here are some sentences taken from personal essays that I’ve read, but altered so that they’re spun as negatives:

I only completed a generalist degree in a field called earth sciences, which gives you a little bit of everything without any real specializations. Unfortunately, government red tape and bureaucracy are intertwined with how we learn about our environment in school. My long-term goals remain uncertain, but I feel very sure that I don’t want to be a professor.

Though these are altered to make a point, many personal statements do contain such negative attitudes, with writers unwisely expressing dark feelings about themselves and towards the very fields in which they plan to study. Here are the positively spun versions of the same sentences, as they originally appeared:

As a scientist, my training began in earth sciences—a bachelor’s degree combination of geography, meteorology, and geoscience. Many of our existing federal ecosystem management protocols are based on a rich tradition of physiographic study. My future plans lean more towards industry and research than academia.

As you revise personal essays, concentrate on exuding an affirmative, positive tone. Be upbeat but not overbearing. Explain but don’t equivocate. Be realistic but not pessimistic. Speak confidently but don’t brag. Be idealistic but not naive. Tell the truth about yourself and your background but don’t apologize for either.

Do all this in your tone, and your readers may pay you the simple compliment most commonly coveted by writers: “I like your style.”

For further advice on revising and proofing your personal statement, turn to these sites:

"Writing Personal Statements and Cover Letters" from Carleton College

“Where do I begin?” article on proofreading from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue

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Writing Center: Personal Statements

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FAQs About Personal Statements

What is a personal statement? 

A personal statement is a narrative essay that informs an admissions committee of who the applicant is and why they are qualified for a position. 

What is the purpose of a personal statement? 

Personal statements provide background on who the applicant is, illustrate why the applicant is interested in the position, explain why the applicant is qualified for the position, demonstrate the applicant’s writing skills, and create a story that makes the applicant memorable. 

How long is a personal statement? 

Generally, your personal statement should be a 2-3 page statement with double spacing, 1-inch margins, and a 12-point font. 

What should I write about? 

Your personal statement should be used to tell the admissions committee about you. You should answer the four questions of “Who am I?,” “Why am I interested in this career?,” What are my goals and interests for this career?,” and “Why do I need this program or job to pursue these goals?”

Can I submit the same personal statement to all the programs I apply to? 

Your personal statement should be written specifically for each program where you apply. While you can have the same general structure, each version should be modified to meet the requirements of the program and to explain why that program is right for you. 

How does the personal statement fit into the rest of my application? 

Your personal statement is an opportunity for the admissions committee to learn who you are beyond your transcript, resume, and test scores. Your personal statement democrats your character and your personality in a way that the other aspects of your application cannot. 

Steps For Writing A Personal Statement

Step 1: Brainstorm 

• What were some defining moments in my life? 
• Whom or what am I inspired by? 
• What do I spend my time doing? 
• How have my past courses, experiences, and encounters shaped me? 
• What are some of my personal accomplishments? 
• What is not on my resume but is still an important aspect of who I am? 
• What experiences, events, or individuals have motivated me to take this next step in my life? 
• When did I realize this was the career I wanted to pursue? What event, person, or experience inspired this inspiration? 
• Has an individual or organization inspired me to pursue this career? If so, why did they inspire me? 
• What areas of this career interest me? 
• How have my experiences, courses, etc. made me interested in this career? 
• What is my experience with this career?  
• Where do I hope to work in the future?
• What type of organization or venue do I hope to work in? 
• What activities do I want to do in my career?
• What impact do I hope my career will have on others? 
• Who do I hope to interact with during my career? What do I hope they will take from these interactions? 
• How does this program or job fit into and further my career goals? 
• What aspects of the program or job make it a good fit for me? 
• How does my past experience, coursework, interactions, etc. make me a good candidate for the program or job?
• What makes this program or job a better fit for my goals than other positions in the same area of study? 

Step 2: Select the content 

• After you brainstorm answers to these four questions, narrow your answers down. 
• Select the aspects of your experience, life, and beliefs that you view most important to your career development. 
• From this narrowed list, select aspects that create a cohesive theme/story about your career development. 
• A student applying to a graduate program believes that their experience going overseas on a mission trip, overcoming multiple injuries in a sport, and succeeding in school despite personal struggles are aspects that are relevant to a graduate program you want to join. After considering these three aspects of their identity, the student decides that the theme of perseverance through many trials ties these three aspects together. 

Step 3: Select a structure based on the information you plan to include

• 70-80% of your personal statement will answer the questions of “Who am I?” & “Why am I interested in this career?”
• 20-30% of your personal statement will answer the questions of “What are my goals and interests for this career?” & Why do I need this program or job to pursue these goals?”
• Introduction paragraph:  Tell a story about how your initial interest or experience in your future career occurred 
• Body paragraph 1 :  Explain how your passion for the career grew from this story
• Body paragraph 2 :  Demonstrate how you know this is the career path for you through the experiences you’ve had in the field
• Body paragraph 3:  Discuss your current passions and future goals and how the program fits in this
• Conclusion paragraph:  Bring all this information together
• Avoid generic phrases, like “I’ve always wanted to do X.” 
• Use a story about an interesting past experience
• Focus on experiences that motivated you to pursue this career
• Describe defining moments in your path to find a career 
• Explain how your choice has developed and grown over time
• Connect your past experiences to this section 
• Discuss what you plan to do in and after graduate school
• Explain why this program is a good fit 
• Mention specific aspects of the program,  such as faculty members
• Describe how you would benefit from this program and how they would benefit from you

Step 4: Outline your structure

• While keeping these tentative structures in mind, write down an outline for the structure your personal statement will follow

Step Five: Write your first draft

• Find an area where you can write without distractions, set up your workplace, set a timer for an hour, and write. 
• As you write your draft, try not to pay attention to grammar, spelling, phrasing, or writing skills. Focus on following your structure and tone.

Step 5: Revise

• Act as if you are the admissions counselor or employer who will read your final personal statement. This will allow you to read your writing from the perspective that it is intended to be read. 
• Ask someone else to revise your personal statement. The perspective of other individuals will help shape your personal statement into a well-polished shape. 
• Who am I?:  Do I successfully convey who I am and how my experiences have made me a strong candidate? 
• Why am I interested in this career?:  Do I state why I am interested in this career and what led me to this resume? 
• What are my goals and interests for this career?:  Do I mention my goals and hopes for my future career? 
• Why do I need this program or job to pursue these goals?:  Do I explain why I am interested in this program or position and why I should be selected? 
• Central theme :  Is there a story and/or central theme to the writing? Or, are many different facts about the applicant stated without a connecting theme? 
• Catchy introduction:   Does the introduction, especially the first sentence, make me want to read the rest of the writing? 
• Strong takeaway statement:   Does the conclusion end with a statement or idea that will help me remember the applicant? 
• Details :  Does the writer evaluate or just describe their experiences? 
• Personality:   Do I sound like myself? Am I using too many big words or statements that take away from my voice? 
• Polish:   Is the grammar, spelling, and format of my writing polished? 
• Tone:   Do I have a professional tone in the writing? Do I sound “ready” for this position? Do I sound like myself? 
• Spacing:   Do I include too much or too little? Is any information missing? Can I cut any information? 
• Uniqueness:   Does my writing showcase who I am? Do I stand out from the other applicants? 

Tips For Writing Personal Statements

• Make your personal statement consistent with other application materials 
• Customize your writing to match the specific program or position you are applying for 
• Pay attention to the prompt and requirements provided by the school or job 
• Ensure that your personal statement opens with a strong sentence that draws the readers in 
• Focus on one central theme throughout the entire personal statement
• Avoid writing your resume in a narrative form 
• Don’t use big words you normally would not use
• Avoid overusing quotes, taking quotes out of context, and using cliches 
• Ensure that spelling and grammar do not take away from your writing
• Personal statements can take a couple of weeks or months to complete
• Concentrate on highlighting your strengths and avoid mentioning weaknesses
• Focus on a few of the most relevant aspects about yourself to include

Tips for Writing Personal Statements

Checklist for personal statements.

• Begins with a strong opening sentence 
• Contains an engaging and interesting opening paragraph 
• Describes the nature and significance of academic experiences, work experience, skills that make you a strong candidate 
• Concrete examples are used to support claims about qualifications 
• Explains personal attributes that set you apart from other applicants
• Explains your career goals during the program and after completing the program 
• Mentions what lead you to this career choice
• Describes what lead you to the specific program you are applying to
• Mentions how the program will help you reach your career goal 
• Explains what you will offer to the program 
• Notes specific programs, tracks, research, professors that you would like to work within the program
• Describes why you are a good candidate for the program 
• The conclusion paragraph summarizes the personal statement and main idea
• Concludes with a strong takeaway statement so the committee will remember you
• A consistent theme used throughout the whole statement 
• Follows a clear narrative story
• Reflects your genuine interest in the program 
• Addresses the questions and/or prompt that the program wants to be answered
• The topic sentence included at the beginning of each paragraph 
• Avoids using “I” statements at the beginning of each sentence 
• Sentence structure is varied 
• Follows typical essay writing rules and structure 

Formatting 

• Free of grammatical and spelling errors 
• Meets the page or word requirements provided by the program 
• Formatting is similar to the other application materials 
• The statement is structured in a manner that is easy to follow and read
• Spacing and formatting is appropriate and consistent throughout the document
• Font and font size are professional and appropriate (Times New Roman, Arial, etc.)

Additional Resources For Personal Statements

• https://www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/personal-statement-examples
• https://www.healthdiversity.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/SNMAPersonalStatementsvol2_2_.pdf
• https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/their-own-words-admissions-essays-worked
• https://www.adea.org/GoDental/Application_Prep/The_Admissions_Process/Personal_statement.aspx
• https://www.mcwritingcenterblog.org/single-post/how-to-write-a-personal-statement
• https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/job_search_writing/preparing_an_application/writing_the_personal_statement/index.html
• https://career.ucsf.edu/professional/personal-statements-letters-recommendation
• https://www.capital.edu/uploadedfiles/content/academics/services_and_programs/career_development/personal%20statement%20guide.pdf?n=6524
• https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/writing/writing-resources/personal-statement
• https://resources.depaul.edu/career-center/resumes-interviews/Pages/personal-statements.aspx
• https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/advice-for-writing-personal-statements
• https://writingcenter.uconn.edu/personal-statements/
• https://knight.as.cornell.edu/writing-resource-personal-statements
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How to write a personal statement if you’re changing fields

Your personal statement must answer the crucial question of any graduate school application: Why are you a perfect fit for a program? To demonstrate that fit, many students craft an academic arc that traces their undergraduate experiences to their current application. But what if your path is more jagged? After switching from an undergraduate major in History to graduate degrees in Science and Technology Studies and now Art History, I know it’s possible to craft a compelling academic narrative, even if you’re changing fields.

To make the most of the thousand-word personal statement, keep these ideas in mind:

Tip 1: emphasize the continuities.

Think back to your previous research experiences or jobs. Is there a salient connection to your intended field of study? When I wrote applications to Art History graduate programs, I mentioned an undergraduate paper that touched on visual culture and aesthetics, two central concerns of my new field. 

If you can’t think of something this direct, try to draw a connection between the methodologies or themes between the two disciplines; maybe both areas of studies emphasize ethnographic research or quantitative reasoning. You want to show that you have engaged with the research of your new field, even before you started officially studying it.

Tip 2: Embrace the Pivot

If you spent four years dedicating your studies to a certain subject, why do you want to switch? Finding a compelling answer to this question is key. Perhaps you had a life experience that underscored the importance of your new field, or you are drawn to the specific methodology a discipline uses to answer a social question you’re passionate about. A sharp explanation about your switch should go near the top of your statement.

This is also a good place to make your essay stand out: how might a different background improve your application? If you’re applying to an Economics program as a Math major, for example, you could highlight how your training will help you adapt to new trends in mathematical economics.

Tip 3: Practice Humility

At the end of your statement, it’s ok to reference that your path was not linear. In fact, academic flexibility can translate into an asset: completing research over an extended period of time often means adapting to multiple twists and turns. As a young scholar, it’s your job to embrace this iterative process with a willingness to learn. Your statement should convey an open curiosity with the your new field and the research of faculty members in your chosen department. 

Alex earned her BA in History from Brown University, and her MA in Science and Technology Studies from Oxford University, where she was a Baker Scholar. Currently, she is a Master's student at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts.

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Writing Center

Personal statements.

How to Write a Personal Statement

We offer these examples for you to adapt to your needs and the requirements of your application(s). Don’t feel pressured to copy them exactly! Each of these examples are written by UConn students, but for different types of programs:

Undergraduate Programs

NEAG School of Education Personal Statement  (pdf)

School of Pharmacy Personal Statement  (pdf)

Graduate Programs

English Ph.D. Statement of Purpose  (pdf)

Medical School Personal Statement  (pdf)

Social Psychology Ph.D. Personal Statement  (pdf)

These various sites from other university writing centers offer additional advice on personal statements.

Indiana University

UMass Amherst Writing Center

Purdue Online Writing Lab Graduate School Application Guide

Medical School Reapplicant Personal Statement Guide

• By Med School Insiders
• January 18, 2023
• Personal Statement , Reapplicant

As a reapplicant, you’ve already gone through all of the motions of applying to medical school before, but something didn’t work the first time around. It’s now up to you to figure out what improvements you need to make to land yourself an acceptance. A reapplicant personal statement, while much the same as one for a first-time applicant, gracefully acknowledges the previous rejection.

Admissions committee members will know you are a reapplicant, and they expect you to address it by illustrating what has changed since you first applied. The personal statement is a huge opportunity to tell your story and share why you want to become a doctor. As a reapplicant, why do you feel this is still the ideal path for you?

In this post, we’ll focus on what admissions committees are looking for from a reapplicant’s personal statement. We’ll cover what’s expected of reapplicants, how to determine what changes you should make, and strategies for crafting a successful essay.

If you haven’t already, save our comprehensive personal statement guide , which includes eleven steps to writing a successful essay.

Is a Reapplicant Personal Statement Different?

Yes, your reapplicant personal statement must be different from your original personal statement. After all, your story has changed, and your new personal statement must reflect that.

This isn’t to say that you should delete your last personal statement. Keep your core reasons and motivations for wanting to become a doctor. If your reasons change from one personal statement to the next, admissions committees could easily question the validity of your story.

Admissions committees expect you to intertwine your reapplicant story with your personal statement. How have you grown? How are you a different applicant now? What have you learned during this extra time? Do you know what went wrong the first time? Have you made the necessary improvements to your application? Do you have new anecdotes or new experiences to add?

Your reapplicant personal statement must convey the notable improvements you’ve made to your qualifications as well as your continued commitment to medicine. Why are you staying the course after your initial rejection? What since your rejection has shown you that you do actually have what it takes to succeed in medical school and beyond? Admissions committees are looking for maturity and growth here.

The Purpose of the Personal Statement—What Schools Are Looking For

Your personal statement is your opportunity to tell an admissions committee who you are, what you stand for, and why you want to be a doctor. Medical schools already have your transcripts and your CV. They know your accomplishments. This is your chance to dig deeper and provide insight into your personality and values, highlighting in detail the experiences that have crystalized your ambition to commit your life to medicine.

What’s your story? What fuels your pursuit to become a physician despite the setback of not being accepted the first time? Why are you still convinced this is the path for you? What recent experiences exemplify this? You are a more mature and more qualified candidate than you were last time. Admissions committees want to see that maturity throughout your personal statement and across your entire application.

You’ve written a personal statement before, so you know you must do more than simply state qualities about yourself. It’s not enough to say you’re more mature now. Demonstrate your maturity through tangible examples from your life. How specifically have your values and dreams kept you going through this difficult time? What concrete steps have you taken to right the wrongs of your previous application?

Admissions committees want to see, with clear examples, how and why you’re a more qualified candidate this time around.

Determine What You Can Keep and What You Need to Change

In order to achieve success with your reapplicant personal statement and reapplication as a whole, it’s imperative you understand where you went wrong the first time.

Which aspect of your application held you back? Was it your personal statement that was the problem? Or was it your grades and MCAT score that kept you from gaining any interviews?

If you had a few interviews but didn’t receive any acceptances, you likely didn’t impress your interviewers, which means your application may not require as much revising. It’s your interview skills you need to improve, which means it would be wise to practice well in advance of interview season and take advantage of the unbiased feedback given in mock interviews .

If your personal statement was one of your weaker areas, you might need to scrap the whole thing. On the other hand, if your previous statement was successful, you may only need to tweak your personal statement to address being a reapplicant.

Don’t analyze your application alone. Assess your own strengths and weaknesses, but be sure to get advice from people who have actually worked on admissions committees before. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. If anything, it shows a great level of intention and maturity. It shows you understand the value of feedback and want to use your time effectively. Plus, at this point, you can’t risk another failed application attempt.

If you don’t have someone like that in your network, it may be prudent to invest in one-on-one advising to pinpoint where you went wrong. An assessment of your previous application by an unbiased expert on the application process is invaluable. It is vital to your success this time around that you make calculated, smart decisions about where you place your focus. What changes will make the greatest impact for your effort?

If you can’t determine where you went wrong with your previous application, it’s very likely you’ll make the same mistakes this time, which will result in the same lack of acceptance.

Personal Statement Strategies to Remember

Read personal statement examples.

Remember, you’re far from the only person who has written a personal statement before. As a reapplicant, it’s time to once again take a step back and look at both successful and poorly written personal statements.

What makes a great personal statement so great? How have others seamlessly weaved in their story of resilience? What makes for a bad personal statement, and did your previous essay share any common mistakes? After reading other personal statements, does yours still stand out? If you were on an admissions committee, would you find your personal statement interesting after reading 100 others?

Read these successful personal statement examples and learn from these bad personal statement examples , which include key insights into what to do instead.

Create a Cohesive Narrative

It’s critical that your personal statement tells a clear, cohesive narrative. Your reapplicant story shouldn’t feel tacked on or like an afterthought. It should naturally weave into your personal statement in a way that also complements the rest of your application.

Remember, you are trying to engage admissions committee members by telling a consistent story about why you want to pursue medicine and why you, in particular, will make an ideal fit for their medical school. The many components of your application will be viewed together to create a complete picture of who you are, including your personal statement, letters of recommendation, experiences, mini-essays, MCAT score, and grades. Each piece should complement the other, not repeat what’s already been said.

Use your personal statement to complement the other aspects of your application while bringing something new to the table that hasn’t already been covered elsewhere.

A narrative-based approach to your application will entice admissions committees and make them want to learn more about who you are. Learn How to Develop a Cohesive Narrative for Medical School Applications .

Acknowledge the Past While Looking to the Future

Tread lightly when speaking about your previous rejection to medical school. You should address it in your reapplication, including how you have improved as a candidate, but you don’t need to say harsh phrases like, “when I neglected studying for the MCAT and was rejected…” Or, “I made mistakes last time I applied…” “since I failed the last time I applied…”

For example, here’s what not to include in a reapplicant personal statement.

“ Although I failed to gain admittance to medical school, I’ve remained steadfast in pursuit of achieving my dream to be a physician. Instead of accepting failure , I continued to foster these kinds of meaningful experiences with my patients and develop the traits necessary to forge the desired relationships I hope to foster as a physician, like those my father had with his patients.”

Don’t directly call out a “failure.” Instead, look to the future and illustrate how you have improved. Acknowledge the past with a focus on the future. What have you been doing differently? What did you learn? What has your experience as a reapplicant taught you? Why are you continuing your pursuit?

Here’s an example of how to improve that personal statement paragraph.

“Directly witnessing the eternal illumination my father left on the world has shown me the incredible impact physicians can achieve in patients’ lives and their communities. My struggles with his passing forced me to further develop the resiliency necessary to not give up on this path when faced with setbacks and instead to redouble my efforts to be a pillar of luminosity as a future doctor.”

Simple word choice changes can make a big difference in how your personal statement is received. Acknowledging your rejection does not mean you have to put yourself down. Find a way to spin the situation into speaking about what has changed and what you have learned instead of drawing attention to the negative. In doing so, ensure you still sound genuine and sincere throughout your essay.

Refine, Review, Edit

Don’t let a simple mistake ruin your chances of acceptance. It only takes one error to sink an otherwise excellent personal statement. You’re going up against thousands of other medical school applicants, many of whom have very similar qualifications to your own, except you’ve already been turned down once before.

Take your time! Reflect on and brainstorm your ideas early on in the year you are applying. If you’re a reapplicant who is applying again in the immediate next cycle, prioritize writing your personal statement as soon as possible. Assess the time you have as well as what you need to accomplish in order to notably improve your application. You may have to come to the difficult but realistic decision to delay your reapplication by one year.

You absolutely must save time for the editing and refining process. Ensure you make time to receive adequate feedback from those who have been intimately involved in the application process.

Learn how to edit your personal statement to impress admissions committees.

Med School Insiders offers a range of personal statement editing packages , including in-depth editing with a physician who will be there to advise you every step of the way.

Personal Statement Resources

The Med School Insiders blog is filled with personal statement resources and how-to guides that can help you no matter where you are in the essay writing process.

If you’re stuck for ideas, begin with our Medical School Personal Statement Prompts , which will help you reflect on your past to remember the experiences, people, and setbacks that made you who you are today. Next, read The Anatomy of a Stellar Personal Statement and Personal Statement Dos and Don’ts .

As you complete the rest of your reapplicant application, here are 9 Reapplicant Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make and 6 Steps to Reapplying to Medical School .

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get our latest advice, guides, and videos sent straight to your email. We are always adding to our database of resources, and we continually update our content based on the most recent data, current deadlines, and changes to the application process.

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How to Write a CV Personal Statement [+4 Real-life Examples]

Creating an effective CV takes time and close attention to detail. You've already included your jobs and experience , and now you want to allow the recruiter or hiring manager to understand the strategic value you can add.

This is when you need to utilize a personal statement at the top of your CV.

How to Write a CV Personal Statement [+4 Real-life Examples] 

What is a Personal Statement? 

A personal statement is a few brief and direct sentences at the top of your CV. The personal statement is also referred to as a career summary or personal mission statement.

This is used to grab the attention of the recruiter or hiring manager and summarizes essential experiences or training that you can bring to this position.

Why do I Need a Personal Statement?

A recruiter or hiring manager is tasked with sorting through an enormous amount of resumes every single day. A personal statement is a way to separate yourself from the other applicants.

This statement summarizes your experience and highlights your unique talents . The CV personal statement is meant to demonstrate why you are the perfect fit for the job. 

Even med students need a medical school personal statement , as it is what differentiates them from all the other students applying. Plus, it allows them to share their personal stories and objectives.

Where do I Start? 

Always begin by reading the job description carefully and thoroughly.

Your personal statement should be tailored to each job description, so it explicitly states the value you’ll bring to the position you are applying. A generic personal statement cannot do that. 

Once you have a solid handle on the job description, you can begin writing. It’s important to keep your personal statement brief, about 50-200 words will do.

Don’t forget that you have your whole cover letter to show some personality and include engaging content.

The personal statement should be a quick summary that highlights why you are the best person for the job. 

You’ll need to decide whether you are writing your personal statement in first- or third-person. This should follow how you've written the rest of your CV.

For example, if you've already written, “I grew and developed a team of 50 salespeople,” in your CV then you will want to keep your personal statement in first-person to match the prevailing style.

No matter what you choose, make sure that you keep it consistent throughout. Do not switch between first- and third-person as that will get confusing to the hiring manager.

Writing a personal statement for your CV in first-person does not mean you need to start every sentence with “I.”

There are ways to craft your personal statement to sound snappy, concise and personal, and here are a few examples to help inspire your personal statement. 

CV Personal Statement Examples

It doesn’t matter what chose as your desired career or how much experienc e you have, use these examples to drive the creation of your own personal statement.

You can take snippets from each or write something completely different. Always remember that your personal statement is a reflection of yourself and should align with your own personal goals and experience.

If these examples don’t fit your exact career, feel free to take some pointers and write yours from scratch. 

#1: Personal Statement Example for Recent Graduate CV

“As a recent graduate from university, with an honors degree in communications, I held several internships within leading organizations, including Bertelsmann. These internships enabled me to gain experience in the field and learn how to serve up valuable contributions in a fast-paced, professional environment.”

Explanation: This example should be customized to include the university you’ve graduated from and any relevant internships. A compelling personal statement always highlights relevant skills and experiences.

In this case, a recent graduate does not have extensive experience in the workforce, so soft skills like experiencing success in a fast-paced work environment and becoming a trusted team member become even more critical.

#2: Personal Statement Example for Returning to the Workforce CV

“A highly motivated and experienced office administrator, I am currently looking to resume my professional career after an extended hiatus to raise my family. Proficient in all Microsoft Office programs, I can lead meetings and work with clients to keep your office running smoothly and efficiently. After spending several years volunteering as an administrative worker for a local charity, I am committed to resuming my professional career on a full-time basis.”

Explanation: After time off from a career, it can be hard to break back into the market. This personal statement outlines the reason for the break, the relevant qualifications and what the applicant has been doing in between jobs.

Any volunteer experience becomes highly relevant when there is no concrete professional experience to draw upon, to demonstrate the use of those skills. 

#3: Personal Statement Example for a Career Change CV

“With over 15 years as a sales manager, I have extensive experience building high-functioning sales teams that consistently achieve budget numbers. In fact, my ability to grow talent led to a 20% increase in annual renewals across the board. Now, after 15 years, I am seeking new challenges to flex my marketing muscles in a fast-paced environment.” 

Explanation: When changing careers , it's essential to highlight skills that are transferable between industries.

In this case, leadership and team-building experience can apply to any industry. Homing in on concrete numbers and percentages increases credibility when applying for a position.

The applicant ends with the reason behind the desired career change. This part is not necessary but may be appealing to some hiring managers who are wondering what the impetus for the career change.

#4: Personal Statement Example for a Experienced Professional CV

“As a friendly, professional and highly trained educator, I am passionate about teaching and have an innate ability to understand student’s needs. Creating a safe and productive environment for optimal learning is my top priority. I’ve worked as a teacher for nearly 10 years in a variety of subjects and my experience and skill set make me the perfect fit for your team.”

Explanation: With more experience comes more skills and a better idea of strengths and weaknesses. Showcasing your passion for the industry is a great way to begin a personal statement, as it shows the hiring manager your dedication to the craft. 

A personal statement can be written in many different ways, but it is ultimately up to you to determine what skills you want to highlight for your chosen position.

You can follow these examples or take learnings from each to contribute towards your personal statement. 

If you understand the job you are applying for and know the unique skill set that you bring to the table, you will have a stellar personal statement for your CV that will get you across the table from the hiring manager in no time.  

Suggested Reading:

• How to Write a CV (Curriculum Vitae) in 2024 [31+ Examples]
• 43+ Resume Tips and Tricks to Land Your Next Job
• 150+ Must-Have Skills for Any Resume  [With Tips + Tricks]
• How to Answer “Tell Me About Yourself”

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Karen Read trial live updates: Read may have had BAC more than three times limit

• Updated: May. 29, 2024, 8:53 a.m. |
• Published: May. 28, 2024, 8:42 a.m.

Karen Read listens to testimony by witness Brian Higgins during her trial in Norfolk Superior Court, Friday, May 24, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool) AP

• Tréa Lavery | [email protected]
• Luis Fieldman | [email protected]

Court adjourns until next week — 4:02 p.m.

Testimony in the trial of Karen Read , a Mansfield woman charged in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, continued Tuesday — the only day of testimony this week.

Read, 44, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe, who was found cold to the touch and unresponsive on Jan. 29, 2022, outside of a home in Canton.

• Read more: Everyone you need to know to understand the Karen Read trial
• Read more: 4 takeaways from Karen Read trial: texts, taillight damage and first witnesses
• Read more: Karen Read trial: Jennifer McCabe testifies about when John O’Keefe was found dead

The final witness of the day Tuesday was Louis Jutras, information systems manager for the town of Canton. Jutras explained that the town has a security camera system across its properties that is motion-activated and takes video, but not audio, when activated. Depending on the amount of activity of the location, footage is typically kept for a minimum of 30 days, he said.

Jutras said that in early February, he was contacted by Massachusetts State Police who asked for footage from the Canton Public Library of the intersection of Washington and Sherman Streets between 12 and 1 a.m. and between 5 and 6 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022. He said only two cameras have a view of the specified area, so he was able to export and hand over the footage.

Jutras said before he provided the footage, he did not make any edits but watched the beginning and end of the video to ensure the time frame was correct.

On cross-examination, defense attorney David Yanetti asked if Jutras knew what police had done with the video after he gave it to them, which he did not. Jutras said in April 2023, police reached out again to ask him to provide the same footage to the defense team, but because of the time that elapsed in between, he no longer had access to the video.

The court adjourned for the day just after 4 p.m. The trial will not resume until 9 a.m. Monday, June 3.

Canton DPW director explains plowing procedure — 3:39 p.m.

Canton Superintendent of Public Works Michael Trotta, the next witness to be questioned, said he received a call from Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor in early February 2022 and Proctor asked about the town’s procedure for plowing roads during a snowstorm and what plow drivers were on duty during the blizzard on Jan. 28 and 29.

Trotta said the route in the Cedarcrest neighborhood, which included Fairview Road, was being plowed by one medium-sized, town-owned truck and a smaller, one-ton dump truck operated by a private contractor. He said Brian Loughlin was the driver of the truck that plowed Fairview Road.

During cross-examination, defense attorney David Yannetti asked if Proctor had specifically asked who had plowed Fairview Road and if Trotta had given him Loughlin’s name or recommended he check with the Public Works department’s operations manager. Trotta said he believed he had given Proctor Loughlin’s name and directed him to the operations manager but couldn’t be sure.

Read could have had BAC more than three times legal limit — 3:13 p.m.

The next witness to take the stand was Nicholas Roberts, a former employee at the state toxicology lab.

Roberts explained that serum testing performed in hospitals separates the serum, or the liquid part of the blood, to test for alcohol and usually results in a slightly higher result than a “whole blood” test because alcohol “likes to stay in the liquid portion more than throughout the whole blood.”

Roberts said at the toxicology lab, they are able to perform a mathematical conversion on serum test results to estimate what the level of alcohol would be in a whole blood test and provide a range of levels to account for differences between individuals that could affect the result.

When staff at Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton drew Read’s blood for testing at 9:08 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, hospital staff measured 93 milliliters for deciliter of alcohol through a serum test.

Roberts said this level works out to a low of 0.078, a high of 0.083 and an average of 0.081 blood alcohol concentration.

Roberts also explained that it is possible to perform a “retrograde extrapolation,” or a calculation to estimate what a person’s BAC would have been at a time before their blood was drawn and tested. He said at 12:45 a.m. Jan. 29, when they estimated Read had her last drink, her BAC would have been between 0.135 and 0.292.

In Massachusetts, the legal BAC limit to be able to drive is 0.08.

Defense attorney Elizabeth Little questioned the wide range of possible BAC levels, pointing out that the unknowns in the case, most importantly when Read had her last drink of the night, meant the answer was uncertain. In addition, she said, usually the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab performs multiple tests to confirm the accuracy of their test results.

“In this case, obviously, you didn’t conduct any of the testing. You’re just assuming the accuracy of a single test,” she said.

Roberts agreed but said throughout his testimony that small variations in the time of the last drink, even of up to 30 minutes, would not significantly impact the result.

“That’s why we give a range,” he said. “You could be on the outskirts of either side.”

Before concluding Roberts’ testimony, Little asked him if the 12:45 a.m. estimate came from Read herself, and he said the time came from a police report.

Pathologist explains blood alcohol testing performed on Read — 2:33 p.m.

When court resumed after breaking for lunch, Good Samaritan Medical Center Chief Pathologist Gary Faller took the witness stand. Faller oversees testing at the hospital, where O’Keefe and Read were both brought after O’Keefe’s body was discovered on Jan. 29, 2022.

Faller said it is not standard but not abnormal for a patient’s blood to be drawn and tested for drugs or alcohol when they are brought in due to mental health concerns under the state’s Section 12 law, like Read was that day.

He explained the process for testing alcohol at the hospital is called a “serum test” and tests only the liquid part of the blood to determine alcohol levels, as medical professionals are focused on what they need to know to treat a patient and not legal alcohol levels.

Read’s blood was drawn at 9:08 a.m. on Jan. 29 and was found to contain 93 milligrams per deciliter of alcohol. Faller did not say what level this amount would work out to in a “whole blood” test, which could provide the typical blood alcohol concentration measurement used in legal settings.

Defense attorney Elizabeth Little asked Faller about ways this test may return an inaccurate result, which he said was possible in some cases, such as if the patient had elevated lipid levels. However, he said, the machine used by the hospital will flag samples that may return an inaccurate result or even not report a result at all, and this did not happen with Read’s blood sample.

“Last I looked ... of the I think 5,000 hospitals testing for alcohol, over 80% of them are using our methodology,” Faller said. “I can’t imagine why if there were any major issues with alcohol testing in that methodology, it would be that high.”

O’Keefe’s body temperature was 80.1 degrees when he arrived at the hospital — 12:53 p.m.

Dr. Justin Rice, an emergency medicine physician who was practicing at Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton at the time of John O’Keefe’s death, took the witness stand when court resumed after testimony from O’Keefe’s minor niece and nephew.

Rice was on duty when O’Keefe was brought to the hospital after being discovered on the lawn outside of 34 Fairview Road on Jan. 29, 2022. He said when O’Keefe arrived in the ambulance at 6:47 a.m. medical personnel were performing CPR and he had been fitted with a breathing tube.

According to Rice, O’Keefe’s body temperature was 80.1 degrees, indicating hypothermia. Medical staff attempted to warm him using a “bear hugger,” a blanket that pumps warm air underneath it, as well as warmed intravenous fluids, but “there was not a significant warming of his core temperature.”

O’Keefe was also in cardiac arrest and asystole when he arrived at the hospital, meaning his heart was not pumping blood and had no detectable electrical activity. He had a cut about 7 millimeters long and swelling on his right eyebrow and scratches on his right forearm.

Rice said O’Keefe was presenting at a three on the Glasgow Coma Scale, which measures the responsiveness of a patient, the lowest possible score. He was pronounced dead at 7:50 a.m.

Rice was also the attending physician that morning when Read was brought to the hospital at 7:51 a.m. for mental health concerns after her mother requested she be involuntarily detained under the state’s Section 12 rule. He said blood was drawn when she arrived and alcohol was detected in her system at 93 milligrams per deciliter.

Defense attorney Elizabeth Little began cross-examination by asking Rice if he recalled treating Read, which he disagreed with, saying that he oversaw her care but did not personally treat her. Little asked if he personally drew and packaged her blood or sent it for lab work, which he said he did not.

Little then asked if any first responders had told Rice they believed O’Keefe had been struck by a car, which he said they did not. She also pointed out that Rice had not reported any other injuries that O’Keefe had sustained, such as broken bones, which he confirmed.

Before Rice was allowed to step down from the witness stand, prosecutor Adam Lally asked if there was a reason those injuries would not be included in the medical report. Rice explained that the focus of emergency medicine is on resuscitation, not things like broken bones, which in O’Keefe’s case, would not have been pertinent to the treatment of his hypothermia.

“The mind can only focus on so much,” Rice said. “In cases like this, because the attention is on resuscitation of someone’s heartbeat, their life, there’s less focus on injuries or observations that don’t coincide with the resuscitation effort or are not pertinent to the resuscitation effort.”

Rice left the stand at 12:50 p.m., and the court went into recess for lunch. Testimony is expected to resume at 1:30 p.m.

Testimony closed for juvenile witnesses — 10:32 a.m.

There was no transmission of video and audio from the courtroom starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday as O’Keefe’s niece and nephew, both minors, were called as witnesses. O’Keefe was caring for his niece and nephew after their parents died.

A court order released May 7 instructed members of the media not to film, photograph, transmit or audio record testimony by the minor witnesses or any exhibits containing prior interviews with them, and members of the media were not allowed to use any electronic devices in the courtroom during their testimony Tuesday. The media has also been instructed not to disclose the names of the children, their town of residence or the schools they attend.

Lally told jurors during opening statements about the Aruba trip when a 20-minute screaming match took place between Read and O’Keefe in front of his nephew and niece.

In addition, Read told Brian Higgins in texts that she and O’Keefe had had arguments over the children’s care.

“It’s just a very very complicated dynamic with the four of us. He isn’t cut out for what he’s doing and the kids present constant issues ... his heart isn’t in it,” Read wrote Higgins, according to text logs he read in court on Friday. “I try very hard, but they are very spoiled, and they’re not my family. My parents keep telling me I’d feel different if they were mine or my own sister’s.”

Brian Higgins confirms destruction of cell phone — 10:09 a.m.

Defense attorney David Yannetti began Tuesday’s cross-examination of Brian Higgins where his colleague Alan Jackson left off on Friday by asking Higgins about the destruction of his cell phone in October 2022 (Jackson was not present in court Tuesday).

Through his answers to a series of yes-or-no questions from Yannetti, Higgins confirmed that he received a protection order in September of that year instructing him not to delete anything from his cell phone or destroy his phone and never received anything in writing canceling that order. However, he said he made a decision to dispose of his phone, and threw it away in a dumpster on a military base on Cape Cod.

Higgins denied doing a factory reset of the phone before throwing it away but confirmed that he did not transfer any data, including photos, videos, and text messages, off of the phone before doing so. When Yannetti asked if he had taken out the SIM card and cut or broken it before throwing away the phone, saying it was what the witness had said in previous testimony, Higgins disagreed that that was what he said.

“What I said was, that might have been the extent of it if I was to have done that,” Higgins said, later elaborating that he didn’t remember destroying the SIM card but believed it may have been what he had done to prevent someone using the card in another phone.

He also added that he had learned the protection order was denied before throwing away the phone.

Higgins confirmed that he did not save any text messages other than those he provided to police, including those with Brian, Kevin and Nicole Albert.

“It was important to you that no one see those text exchanges that you had with those three members of the Albert family,” Yannetti said.

“No sir, that’s not true,” Higgins said.

After Yannetti finished his questioning, prosecutor Adam Lally asked more questions of Higgins, starting with the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, before O’Keefe’s body was found. He asked Higgins about testimony he gave Friday that when he left 34 Fairview Road earlier that morning in his Jeep outfitted with a plow, he drove a short distance before realizing the plow was down and grinding on the ground.

Higgins said he drove about a foot before lifting up the plow to drive away.

Lally also asked if Higgins had told anyone about the flirty text messages he had exchanged with Read that month, which he said he had not, in part because he tends to keep personal issues to himself.

“I was a little embarrassed. I wasn’t really proud of [the text messages]. They maybe didn’t show me in a good light with respect to that I was John’s friend,” he said.

Lally also asked Higgins about two short phone calls that showed in his call logs at 2:22 a.m. on Jan. 29 between him and Brian Albert, which Higgins has said he does not recall. Lally pointed out that on an iPhone, when a call begins, the phone begins counting seconds for the duration of the call whether or not the other person picks up, implying that Albert and Higgins may not have actually spoken during the one- and 22-second calls.

He also provided Higgins with a log of all door access records at the Canton police station on Jan. 29, when he visited after learning O’Keefe had been found on the lawn of 34 Fairview Road. The 116-page log included 18 instances where Higgins had swiped his access card, according to Lally.

The prosecutor then turned to the cell phone that Yannetti had asked about earlier. Higgins said he was motivated to get a new phone number when he received a call from the target of an investigation he was working on July 25, 2022, and the target told him his girlfriend had found Higgins’ number on the internet.

Higgins also said he had more of a personal attachment to his work phone than his personal phone, which was why he had not transferred any data off of the phone before throwing it away.

“I’m divorced. I don’t have kids. I didn’t have the type of memories that somebody would’ve had on their phone that they wanted to preserve,” he said. “They were more like the text messages with the defendant, where it would be a drink glass at a bar, food, something along those lines.”

He also said it was common for him to throw away trash or recycling on the military base while driving through to get gas or stop at the duty-free store and that he had not gone there specifically to throw away the phone but had thrown it away along with other trash. He explained that his other home in Barnstable did not have a trash pickup, so he had to throw all the garbage away on the base or at his home in West Roxbury.

Finally, Lally asked Higgins what he would have done if he had seen O’Keefe on the lawn on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

“I’ve spent my whole life between being a firefighter, working in the profession that I work now, being a tactical medic,” Higgins said. “If I had saw John O’Keefe on the side of the road, I would’ve done something to make a difference.”

Before Higgins was allowed to step down from the witness stand, Yannetti asked a few final questions, with Higgins confirming that even though he got the call from the target of an investigation in July 2022, he did not change his phone number until September.

Yannetti also asked if Higgins had told his boss about the text messages with Read, as Higgins had testified on Friday that he told his boss about the kiss. He said Tuesday that he knew he had told her about the kiss and did not remember telling her about the texts, but said it was possible he did tell her and would not deny it.

After a short recess, the court was expected to continue with questioning of a juvenile witness, which will not be livestreamed to protect their privacy.

Karen Read trial recap — 7:30 a.m.

Norfolk County prosecutors say Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV while driving intoxicated. Read’s attorney, David Yannetti, said during the trial’s opening statements that her car never struck O’Keefe and that others are to blame for his death.

The trial is taking place in Dedham’s Norfolk County Superior Court.

On Friday, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Brian Higgins, a friend of O’Keefe’s, testified about flirtatious text conversations he had with Read in the weeks before O’Keefe’s death, as well as a moment they shared when he said Read kissed him after a party. Defense attorneys are expected to finish cross-examining Higgins Tuesday morning.

The trial resumes Tuesday after the long weekend. Tuesday will be the only day the trial is in session this week.

More about the case

• Everyone you need to know to understand the Karen Read trial
• Karen Read trial: Read kissed Brian Higgins 2 weeks before O’Keefe’s death
• New evidence could be used in ‘Turtleboy’ blogger’s trial, report says
• Karen Read trial: Witness says Read kicked car door to get out when O’Keefe was found
• Karen Read trial: Witness says defense attorney is 'spinning all of this'

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PGA TOUR winner Grayson Murray passes away at 30

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Grayson Murray, who won his second PGA TOUR title at this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii, passed away Saturday.

"We were devastated to learn – and are heartbroken to share – that PGA TOUR player Grayson Murray passed away this morning. I am at a loss for words,” PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “The PGA TOUR is a family, and when you lose a member of your family, you are never the same. We mourn Grayson and pray for comfort for his loved ones.

“I reached out to Grayson’s parents to offer our deepest condolences, and during that conversation, they asked that we continue with tournament play,” Commissioner Monahan continued. “They were adamant that Grayson would want us to do so. As difficult as it will be, we want to respect their wishes.”

Grief counselors were made available at the venues for this week’s PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour events. Commissioner Monahan, who traveled from TOUR headquarters in Florida to the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, said he was "devastated" by the loss.

Grayson's parents, Eric and Terry Murray, said in a statement Sunday that the cause of death was suicide .

"Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes," his parents wrote. "By us, his brother Cameron, his sister Erica, all of his extended family, by his friends, by his fellow players and – it seems – by many of you who are reading this. He was loved and he will be missed."

Murray, 30, was a standout golfer from his youth. He won three consecutive Callaway Junior World Championships (2006-08) and was the top-ranked golfer in his age group. He made his first cut on the Korn Ferry Tour at age 16, becoming the second-youngest player ever to do so. After stints at Wake Forest University, East Carolina University and Arizona State University, he got the break he needed in 2016 when he was given a sponsor exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour event near his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. He finished inside the top 10 at that event, the Rex Hospital Open, which qualified him for another start. When he posted another top 10 at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, his professional career took off. He concluded his season with a victory at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship to finish second on the Korn Ferry Tour money list and earn full status on the PGA TOUR for the 2016-17 season. The win came a week before his 23rd birthday.

Murray wasted little time establishing himself on golf’s biggest stage as a rookie. He won the 2017 Barbasol Championship while still just 23 years old. His final-round 68 not only secured a one-shot victory, but also solidified a two-year exemption through the 2019 PGA TOUR season. He finished 66th in the FedExCup and earned nearly $1.5 million.

Grayson struggled for the next few seasons on the PGA TOUR. In 2023, he found his game again on the Korn Ferry Tour; he notched two victories – the Advent Health Championship in Kansas City and the Simmons Bank Open outside of Nashville – to finish fourth on that tour’s points list and earn a spot back onto the PGA TOUR for the following season.

Murray opened the 2024 season with a playoff victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He made a clutch up and down on the 72nd hole for a birdie to force a playoff. Then he sank a 40-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to defeat Byeong Hun An and Keegan Bradley. He reached a career-high 46th in the Official World Golf Ranking after that victory.