what should you not write in a personal statement

What Not To Write In A Personal Statement: Expert Advice

Hopefully, you’re surrounded by people who can help you with exactly what to write about when you’re putting together your application, but sometimes you need to know what not to write in a personal statement , in order to make it as successful as possible.

So, what should you not write in your personal statement?

Do not write content in your personal statement that is factually inaccurate, grammatically incorrect, or that does not fully evidence your suitability.

Do not include exaggerated or overly academic vocabulary in an attempt to impress or write at length about your childhood or the work of others.

Sound like a lot of things you can’t include?

Don’t worry, I’ve broken the three main points down in detail below. Once you know what not to write in a personal statement, you’ll be able to write a compelling and successful application…

What Should you not put in a Personal Statement?

Before we break down these three key areas in a lot more detail, here’s a quick and helpful list of the top ten things you should not put in a personal statement:

• Unresearched claims or inaccurate information
• Lies, exaggeration or unoriginal content
• Errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar
• Irrelevant material or unnecessary filler
• Hobbies and interests that do not add value
• Stories from your childhood
• Content that is not focused on your suitability
• Commonly used vocabulary or quotes
• Description rather than evaluation
• Lists of any kind, especially qualifications

Check out my in-depth post on what to avoid in a personal statement here , or if you’ve already got started and want to check your statement for errors, this guide to how to check your personal statement is a great place to start .

If you’re ever in any doubt about what to include, just remember to check your ABC’s. If whatever you want to include fits the model, go for it…

Do Not Write About Your Childhood or Your Passions

When it comes to what not to write in a personal statement, your childhood and your passions come right at the top of the list.

It’s not that you can’t write about them at all, but you must make sure that if you do, you keep the reference brief and highly relevant.

Your Childhood is not Important to the Reader

Admissions tutors do not want to read about your childhood in a personal statement. They want to know about the person you are today, not the person you were a decade ago. It is also a signal that you do not have enough relevant material to include and that your application may lack real ambition.

Look at the examples below. The first is a paragraph from a personal statement that places much too much focus on the applicant’s childhood. The second example gets the balance right.

Although the second example doesn’t outline the countries the applicant visited, the depth of their connection with Modern Foreign Languages shines through, as does their knowledge and opinion.

You Can’t Be Passionate About Everything!

If there is one word that frustrates admissions officers more than any other, it is when applicants use the word ‘passionate’ in their personal statements…

• “I am passionate about Engineering”
• “My volunteering experience shows how passionate I am about Events Management”
• “I am dedicated to my true passion, which is molecular Biology”

The basic dictionary definition of ‘passionate’ is “having very strong feelings or emotions”, and whilst you might well enjoy Archaeology, being passionate about it has become the shorthand of cliché . The problem is that when everybody uses the same word, it loses its meaning.

‘Passionate’ has moved from meaning ‘consumed by’ to signalling that the writer has a limited vocabulary and an unrealistic level of connection with their field of study.

Why not use these alternatives to ‘passionate’ in your personal statement:

Check out my post here and learn how to improve your personal statement , or think about using Grammarly to help your writing reach a greater level of accuracy and readability. You can check out the free version of Grammarly here or hit the banner.

Do Not Write Content if you Can’t Evidence Value

Ironically, making unqualified statements in a personal statement just doesn’t work. Every point you make must be targeted to add value to your application.

If you can’t evidence the value of an experience, qualification, skill or piece of knowledge, you should not be including it.

Without evidence to develop the context of the comment and, subsequently, the understanding of the reader, a descriptive statement will just take up space in your application and have a negative impact overall.

Here’s a three-point example. The first sentence does not include any evidence to develop the point made by the writer. The second attempts to analyse why the experience was of value, whilst the last point evidences the value with context.

Check your personal statement for moments that resemble the first point, and change these to more closely match the last example where possible.

• I enjoy sports and am the captain of the basketball team at school.
• My engagement with sports has helped me develop my teamwork skills. As captain of the basketball team, I have to motivate and support my teammates when we play.
• As captain of the school basketball team, I am an accomplished team player. The experience has developed my communication and active listening skills, and I am used to taking responsibility for making decisions under pressure. Additionally, I have become adept at balancing my academic work with my sports commitments in order to meet deadlines, preparing me well for the demands of higher education.

Check out the skills you should include in a personal statement here , or read my post about outstanding personal statement examples to get even more inspiration!

Do Not Write About the Achievements of Others

Your personal statement should be all about you.

It isn’t an opportunity to reference as many other people as possible in an attempt to appear well-read or educated.

Writing about the achievements of others can be valuable if you take a sentence to convey their contribution and use the rest of the paragraph to give your informed thoughts and show how that piece of knowledge is of value to your application.

However, writing the equivalent of an academic essay instead of a personal statement might show that you have read a book or understood a topic, but it does not illustrate your opinions, ambitions, suitability or value to the reader.

Have a look at this example…

On the surface, it looks compelling – three different sources and a sense of argument. But what does this example actually tell you about the writer?

What are their thoughts on the topic?

How has the knowledge gained propelled them to act?

How will their experiences inform their next step in terms of study or make them a suitable candidate for the course they are applying for?

If you don’t make the connections, you can’t expect the reader to, so always prioritise writing about yourself but from an informed and relevant perspective.

If you’d like to, you can check out my post on even more powerful personal statement strategies here .

Good luck with your personal statement, and don’t forget to contact me if you’d like some 1-1 support. You’ve got this! D

Research and content verified by Personal Statement Planet.

David Hallen

I've worked in the Further Education and University Admissions sector for nearly 20 years as a teacher, department head, Head of Sixth Form, UCAS Admissions Advisor, UK Centre Lead and freelance personal statement advisor, editor and writer. And now I'm here for you...

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Home › University › How To Write A Personal Statement? 10 Tips + Student Questions Answered › What Not To Put In A Personal Statement

What Not To Put In A Personal Statement

• Published October 19, 2021

Table of Contents

Are you wondering what not to put in a personal statement ? If you are then this is the guide for you!

A personal statement can be thought of as an essay that you write to describe who you are. The content of a personal statement is one of the most critical factors in determining if you have a chance to be accepted to your chosen university.

It’s no secret that there are wordings and styles of writing you should avoid putting in your personal statement . A single sentence written out of context can potentially ruin your personal statement!

So if you want to avoid that from happening, you need to go over this list, discussing what not to put in your personal statement.

Let’s crack on!

Claims With No Evidence

You might be thinking, “What could possibly go wrong with listing down what I’m good at?” Well, for one, listing down your strengths without evidence is a fatal mistake.

Related Read : How To Write A Personal Statement?

If you say you have good leadership skills, why not write down the awards you received to back up your claim? Mentioning prominent positions you’ve had in your organisations is also an excellent way to prove your skills.

Listing down your strengths without evidence shows poor credibility on your part. Remember this when you’re thinking of what not to put in a personal statement!

Skills Or Extracurricular Activities Irrelevant For Your Course

You’ve listed down your strengths with sufficient evidence to back up your claim. Now ask yourself the question: how do your strengths relate to your course?

Sure, you have outstanding leadership skills, but how will you use that in the field of chemistry? Say you’re an excellent debater; will that give you an edge when applying for engineering?

Make sure you tie your strengths back to the course you’re applying for. If you don’t, you might as well not put them in. You only have 4,000 characters to convince the panel that you are worth accepting. 

Make each word count!

Poor Grammar And Spelling

Poor grammar and spelling are essential criteria when talking about what not to put in a personal statement. Spelling and grammatical errors can ruin decent content for a personal statement. 

They show that you didn’t care enough to go over your personal statement and improve the quality.

Are you a budding medic? Here’s how to write a medical personal statement .

If you want to prove that you are a worthy applicant for your course, demonstrate your careful attention to detail by eliminating spelling and grammatical errors. Make it easy and pleasant for the admissions committee to read.

Doing so increases your chances of admittance by a hundredfold!

Failures And Regrets

Failures and regrets are some of the biggest things to remember on what not to put in a personal statement.

Why? Because your personal statement is a personal essay that sells you to universities for acceptance. Not an autobiography for you to inspire somebody like self-help books often do.

Mentioning how you failed Statistics or regret not trying out for the football team doesn’t accomplish very much when convincing the admissions committee that you’re potential student material.

But there is an exception to this rule. If your failure contributed significantly to developing your relevant skill, you may go ahead and write it down. As long as you make the connection explicit, you’re good to go!

Keep this progression in your mind: failure, skill development, then tie it back to your course. This narration structure demonstrates your grit and determination to try harder.

Sentences That Lead Nowhere

Avoid one-liners or sentences that don’t fit the context of your personal statement. If you’re writing about what inspired you to study engineering, don’t just mention inspirations and leave them hanging. Did a particular invention spark your interest?

Discuss why it sparked your interest. Could it be that the invention helped lift thousands of people from energy shortage? Perhaps it has helped alleviate global warming?

If so, how is that invention relevant in the 21st century? Then, if given the opportunity, what improvements would you make to enhance its usefulness in society? Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity for you to discuss technology ideas you have in mind. You may want to pursue it if the universities accept you.

From the universities’ point of view, they’ll be thrilled to accept a student who plans to invent a potentially groundbreaking tech. Do you see where this is going?

Each sentence in your personal statement has to build upon one another to come across as coherent. One sentence that leads nowhere will leave your reader hanging and perplexed. You can quickly lose the momentum you’ve worked so hard to gain.

So “sentences that lead nowhere” should be in your “what not to put in a personal statement” list!

Quotes That Don’t Fit

Quotes are powerful, authoritative, and timeless. They can easily lift your personal statement to a higher level. But you need to know how to use them to their fullest potential. Or they may end up ruining your personal statement!

So if you want to use quotes, make sure they fit the context of your personal statement. You cannot drop in a random quote by Theodore Roosevelt with no connection to your story and how your experience relates to your determination to study the course.

One of the best ways to make quotes work is to interweave them throughout your personal statement. Explain how the quote inspired you to be a volunteer in the local kitchen soup. Then explain how your experience in the kitchen soup motivated you to apply for the course.

For a full-blast ending, mention your quote again in your conclusion.

Related Read: How To Conclude Your Personal Statement?

Facts With No Context

By now, you have substantial know-how on what not to put in a personal statement. But there’s more – facts with no context.

You don’t have to demonstrate your knowledge by discussing facts or histories. Chances are, the admissions already know what you’re talking about. They probably know more than you do!

So steer clear of textbook-type explanations. Your personal statement is not a research paper! It’s a personal essay aimed at showing the reader why you should be admitted as their student. That’s why you need to nail your facts or histories in context by explaining how these helped you in your personal development. What realisations did you have that urged you to hone your skills? 

Don’t forget to tie your skills in with your course, writing why they’re essential for you to succeed in the field. 

Made Up Stories

Making up stories is an absolute red line you must never cross. But it’s not easy to resist when you feel the pressure to impress and stand out. When you do feel the pressure, think of the effects down the road.

How would you prepare for a university interview if they were to ask you a question about the made-up story? Slight exaggerations, no matter how believable, can still knock you out cold when caught off-guard!

Say you mentioned that you read a particular journal article. Here comes an up-to-date professor who knows the latest research papers like the back of their hand. They ask you a question about it, but your poor answers reveal the truth that you made the story up.

Do you feel the chills crawling down your spine at the very thought? Good! Please don’t do it! It’s not worth it.

Not only can it ruin your chances of being admitted. But it can also potentially damage your career options years later!

Childhood Aspirations

Childhood aspirations carry little weight in personal statements. Why? Because you didn’t have the knowledge, experience, or skills yet to make an informed choice of your course.

The admissions committee is not looking to know your whole life story. What they want to know is if you’re a great fit as a student of your course.

Do you have the necessary experience and skills to succeed in your chosen field of study? What’s your purpose? What are your long-term plans?

Mentioning your childhood aspirations will only waste much-needed space in your personal statement. Replace what’s not needed with what’s necessary. Choose only the best and most relevant of your experience and strengths and put them on your personal statement.

If you want to avoid writing what not to put in your personal statement, this list should be a great starting point.

The main idea is to nail down each sentence in context. Every line should support the whole point of your personal statement. That is, to convince the admissions committee that you are qualified to be their student.

So keep your personal statement clear of these common errors, and you’ll have greater chances of succeeding!

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13 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Personal Statement

Without question, your grades and test scores are the most important part of your grad school application. But stellar grades and a high GRE score are not enough to make you stand out from the thousands of other applicants with similar scores.

So how can you distinguish yourself? The answer: A unique and thoughtfully crafted personal statement.

Think about all the study sessions, missed parties and hard work you’ve put into maintaining good grades and achieving a score that made your mother cry tears of joy. Don’t throw all that away by writing a weak personal statement. This is a valuable opportunity for you to show the admissions department why they would be remiss not to accept you.

On the other hand, it’s important to not get too creative. I’m sorry, but you should probably save your Quentin Tarantino-style statement for another time. Trust me on that one.

Instead, it’s time to channel your inner Goldilocks and express who you are in a way that’s not too much and not too little, but is “just right” to catch the admission department’s attention.

To help you navigate through the writing process, we’ve compiled a list of 13 mistakes you should avoid when writing your personal statement.

Cliches can be hard to avoid. They’ve been lodged in our memory since the dawn of time. (See what I did there?) But they’re uninspiring, tired, and show a lack of creativity. Instead, come up with your own metaphors and similes to say in your unique way that you “have a thirst for knowledge,” and avoid clichés like they’re going out of style.

2. Redundancy

Don’t include your GPA in your personal statement. Let me say that again. Don’t include your GPA in your personal statement. In fact, avoid including any information – such as awards you’ve received, etc. – that can be found elsewhere in your application. It’s redundant. Think of your personal statement as valuable real estate and there’s only enough space for the best, most unique information.

3. Spelling or Grammatical Errors

This cannot be overstated. Admissions directors won’t be able to fully appreciate your powerful personal statement if they have to keep stumbling over spelling and grammar errors. Avoid errors by asking a friend or family member to help you proofread your statement. Another pair of eyes is more likely to catch if you misspelled “conscientious,” for example.

4. Profanity or Slang

This should go without saying, but some students forget to leave out certain inappropriate four-letter words. Just. Don’t. Do. It.

Quotes can be very inspirational, especially when they come from great writers and charismatic people like Martin Luther King, Jr. or E.E. Cummings. But they’re not YOUR words, and they don’t tell the admissions director who you are. Leave them out of your personal statement and post them on your Instagram instead.

6. Hyperboles

You want to show enthusiasm in your statement, but it’s not necessary to say that if you don’t get into grad school your “mother will kill you.” The admissions director will also likely not be impressed if you tell them you have studied no less than a million hours to get into their school. In fact, avoid any and all exaggerations.

7. Plagiarism

These days, it’s easy to find examples of great personal statements online. However, keep in mind that universities will be able to identify if you have copied any material from another source. It’s not worth the risk and, again, it doesn’t let the school see your uniqueness.

8. Other People

Remember, keep the focus of your statement on you and what makes you stand out. Avoid too much mention of mentors, family members, or other people who may have inspired your academic goals. Keep it all about you.

9. Negativity

Keep your personal statement upbeat and positive. Avoid talking about any past educational experiences. You should also avoid mentioning any personal circumstances that have caused you difficulty – unless you are able to highlight how you overcame the circumstances and what you learned from them.

Although you may be trying to secure a financial award from the school, you should leave out any mention of money in your essay. Period.

11. Arrogance

Of course you want to highlight what differentiates you from other students, but be sure to do so in a humbling way. Boasting about how awesome or great you are may be off-putting to those reviewing your application. Also, you should show , rather than tell how wonderful you are by describing certain unique experiences rather than listing superficial adjectives to describe yourself.

Often times, we immediately try to use humor to showcase what makes us unique. Being quirky, though, can be risky in an admissions essay. So proceed with caution. Keep in mind that those in the admissions department may not share your sense of humor, so it’s best to keep your weird jokes between you and your friends.

13. Confessions

This is an opportunity to describe your educational and professional goals in an intentional way. It is not an opportunity to reveal the deepest, darkest corners of your mind, so stay on point and avoid any irrelevant information.

  About the Author:

Jennifer is here to help you navigate college and grad school while still maintaining your sanity. She is a graduate of the University of Florida (Go Gators!), with a major in Journalism and Communications and a minor in Psychology. She’s also a certified Montessori instructor and once witnessed a four-year-old correctly label all 54 countries on a map of Africa. She prefers to sing when not in the shower, and she’s not afraid of heights as long as she’s standing on something that is less than 15-feet tall.

Image Sources:

• https://tessatypt.wordpress.com/author/tessaotten/
• http://thumbpress.com/10-funny-spelling-and-grammar-mistakes/
• https://www.pinterest.com/pin/533113674616215339/
• http://tnova.fr/notes/refonder-l-aide-aux-eleves-en-grande-difficulte-scolaire

Jennifer is here to help you navigate college and grad school while still maintaining your sanity. She is a graduate of the University of Florida (Go Gators!), with a major in Journalism and Communications and a minor in Psychology. She’s also a certified Montessori instructor and once witnessed a four-year-old correctly label all 54 countries on a map of Africa. She prefers to sing when not in the shower, and she’s not afraid of heights as long as she’s standing on something that is less than 15-feet tall.

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Writing the Personal Statement

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The personal statement, your opportunity to sell yourself in the application process, generally falls into one of two categories:

1. The general, comprehensive personal statement:

This allows you maximum freedom in terms of what you write and is the type of statement often prepared for standard medical or law school application forms.

2. The response to very specific questions:

Often, business and graduate school applications ask specific questions, and your statement should respond specifically to the question being asked. Some business school applications favor multiple essays, typically asking for responses to three or more questions.

Questions to ask yourself before you write:

• What's special, unique, distinctive, and/or impressive about you or your life story?
• What details of your life (personal or family problems, history, people or events that have shaped you or influenced your goals) might help the committee better understand you or help set you apart from other applicants?
• When did you become interested in this field and what have you learned about it (and about yourself) that has further stimulated your interest and reinforced your conviction that you are well suited to this field? What insights have you gained?
• How have you learned about this field—through classes, readings, seminars, work or other experiences, or conversations with people already in the field?
• If you have worked a lot during your college years, what have you learned (leadership or managerial skills, for example), and how has that work contributed to your growth?
• What are your career goals?
• Are there any gaps or discrepancies in your academic record that you should explain (great grades but mediocre LSAT or GRE scores, for example, or a distinct upward pattern to your GPA if it was only average in the beginning)?
• Have you had to overcome any unusual obstacles or hardships (for example, economic, familial, or physical) in your life?
• What personal characteristics (for example, integrity, compassion, and/or persistence) do you possess that would improve your prospects for success in the field or profession? Is there a way to demonstrate or document that you have these characteristics?
• What skills (for example, leadership, communicative, analytical) do you possess?
• Why might you be a stronger candidate for graduate school—and more successful and effective in the profession or field than other applicants?
• What are the most compelling reasons you can give for the admissions committee to be interested in you?

General advice

Answer the questions that are asked

• If you are applying to several schools, you may find questions in each application that are somewhat similar.
• Don't be tempted to use the same statement for all applications. It is important to answer each question being asked, and if slightly different answers are needed, you should write separate statements. In every case, be sure your answer fits the question being asked.

Tell a story

• Think in terms of showing or demonstrating through concrete experience. One of the worst things you can do is to bore the admissions committee. If your statement is fresh, lively, and different, you'll be putting yourself ahead of the pack. If you distinguish yourself through your story, you will make yourself memorable.

Be specific

• Don't, for example, state that you would make an excellent doctor unless you can back it up with specific reasons. Your desire to become a lawyer, engineer, or whatever should be logical, the result of specific experience that is described in your statement. Your application should emerge as the logical conclusion to your story.

Find an angle

• If you're like most people, your life story lacks drama, so figuring out a way to make it interesting becomes the big challenge. Finding an angle or a "hook" is vital.

Concentrate on your opening paragraph

• The lead or opening paragraph is generally the most important. It is here that you grab the reader's attention or lose it. This paragraph becomes the framework for the rest of the statement.

Tell what you know

• The middle section of your essay might detail your interest and experience in your particular field, as well as some of your knowledge of the field. Too many people graduate with little or no knowledge of the nuts and bolts of the profession or field they hope to enter. Be as specific as you can in relating what you know about the field and use the language professionals use in conveying this information. Refer to experiences (work, research, etc.), classes, conversations with people in the field, books you've read, seminars you've attended, or any other source of specific information about the career you want and why you're suited to it. Since you will have to select what you include in your statement, the choices you make are often an indication of your judgment.

Don't include some subjects

• There are certain things best left out of personal statements. For example, references to experiences or accomplishments in high school or earlier are generally not a good idea. Don't mention potentially controversial subjects (for example, controversial religious or political issues).

Do some research, if needed

• If a school wants to know why you're applying to it rather than another school, do some research to find out what sets your choice apart from other universities or programs. If the school setting would provide an important geographical or cultural change for you, this might be a factor to mention.

Write well and correctly

• Be meticulous. Type and proofread your essay very carefully. Many admissions officers say that good written skills and command of correct use of language are important to them as they read these statements. Express yourself clearly and concisely. Adhere to stated word limits.

Avoid clichés

• A medical school applicant who writes that he is good at science and wants to help other people is not exactly expressing an original thought. Stay away from often-repeated or tired statements.

For more information on writing a personal statement, see the personal statement vidcast .

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

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How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges

← What Is an Application Theme and Why Is It Important?

10 Personal Statement Examples That Work →

  Most of the college applications process is fairly cut and dry. You’ll submit information about your classes and grades, standardized test scores, and various other accomplishments and honors. On much of the application, your accomplishments must speak for themselves. 

The personal statement is different though, and it’s your chance to let your voice be heard. To learn more about the personal statement, how to choose a topic, and how to write one that wows colleges, don’t miss this post.

What is the Personal Statement?

Personal statements are used in both undergraduate and graduate admissions. For undergrad admissions, personal statements are any essays students must write to submit their main application. For example, the Common App Essay and Coalition Application Essay are examples of personal statements. Similarly, the ApplyTexas Essays and University of California Essays are also good examples .

Personal statements in college admissions are generally not school-specific (those are called “supplemental essays”). Instead, they’re sent to a wide range of schools, usually every school you apply to. 

What is the Purpose of the Personal Statement?

The personal statement is generally your opportunity to speak to your unique experiences, qualities, or beliefs that aren’t elsewhere represented on the application. It is a chance to break away from the data that defines you on paper, and provide a glimpse into who you really are. In short, it’s the admissions committee’s chance to get to know the real you.

So, what are colleges looking for in your personal statement? They are looking for something that sets you apart. They are asking themselves: do you write about something truly unique? Do you write about something common, in a new and interesting way? Do you write about an aspect of your application that needed further explanation? All of these are great ways to impress with your personal statement.

Beyond getting to know you, admissions committees are also evaluating your writing skills. Are you able to write clearly and succinctly? Can you tell an engaging story? Writing effectively is an important skill in both college and life, so be sure to also fine-tune your actual writing (grammar and syntax), not just the content of your essay.

Is your personal statement strong enough? Get a free review of your personal statement with CollegeVine’s Peer Essay Review.

How To a Choose A Topic For Your Personal Statement

Most of the time, you’re given a handful of prompts to choose from. Common personal statement prompts include:

• Central aspect of your identity (activity, interest, talent, background)
• Overcoming a failure
• Time you rose to a challenge or showed leadership
• Experience that changed your beliefs
• Problem you’d like to solve
• Subject or idea that captivates you

One of the questions that we hear most often about the personal statement is, “How do I choose what to write about?” For some students, the personal statement prompt triggers an immediate and strong idea. For many more, there is at least initially some uncertainty.

We often encourage students to think less about the exact prompt and more about what aspects of themselves they think are most worthy of highlighting. This is especially helpful if you’re offered a “topic of your choice” prompt, as the best essay topic for you might actually be one you make up!

For students with an interesting story or a defining background, these can serve as the perfect catalyst to shape your approach. For students with a unique voice or different perspective, simple topics written in a new way can be engaging and insightful.

Finally, you need to consider the rest of your application when you choose a topic for your personal statement. If you are returning from a gap year, failed a single class during sophomore year, or participated extensively in something you’re passionate about that isn’t elsewhere on your application, you might attempt to address one of these topics in your statement. After all, the admissions committee wants to get to know you and understand who you really are, and these are all things that will give them a deeper understanding of that.

Still, tons of students have a decent amount of writer’s block when it comes to choosing a topic. This is understandable since the personal statement tends to be considered rather high stakes. To help you get the ball rolling, we recommend the post What If I Don’t Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?

Tips for Writing a Personal Statement for College

1. approach this as a creative writing assignment..

Personal statements are difficult for many students because they’ve never had to do this type of writing. High schoolers are used to writing academic reports or analytical papers, but not creative storytelling pieces.

The point of creative writing is to have fun with it, and to share a meaningful story. Choose a topic that inspires you so that you’ll enjoy writing your essay. It doesn’t have to be intellectual or impressive at all. You have your transcript and test scores to prove your academic skills, so the point of the personal statement is to give you free rein to showcase your personality. This will result in a more engaging essay and reading experience for admissions officers. 

As you’re writing, there’s no need to follow the traditional five-paragraph format with an explicit thesis. Your story should have an overarching message, but it doesn’t need to be explicitly stated—it should shine through organically. 

Your writing should also feel natural. While it will be more refined than a conversation with your best friend, it shouldn’t feel stuffy or contrived when it comes off your tongue. This balance can be difficult to strike, but a tone that would feel natural when talking with an admired teacher or a longtime mentor is usually a good fit.

2. Show, don’t tell.

One of the biggest mistakes students make is to simply state everything that happened, instead of actually bringing the reader to the moment it happened, and telling a story. It’s boring to read: “I was overjoyed and felt empowered when I finished my first half marathon.” It’s much more interesting when the writing actually shows you what happened and what the writer felt in that moment: “As I rounded the final bend before the finish line, my heart fluttered in excitement. The adrenaline drowned out my burning legs and gasping lungs. I was going to finish my first half marathon! This was almost incomprehensible to me, as someone who could barely run a mile just a year ago.”

If you find yourself starting to write your essay like a report, and are having trouble going beyond “telling,” envision yourself in the moment you want to write about. What did you feel, emotionally and physically? Why was this moment meaningful? What did you see or hear? What were your thoughts?

For inspiration, read some memoirs or personal essays, like The New York Times Modern Love Column . You could also listen to podcasts of personal stories, like The Moth . What do these writers and storytellers do that make their stories engaging? If you didn’t enjoy a particular story, what was it that you didn’t like? Analyzing real stories can help you identify techniques that you personally resonate with.

3. Use dialogue.

A great way to keep your writing engaging is to include some dialogue. Instead of writing: “My brothers taunted me,” consider sharing what they actually said. It’s more powerful to read something like:

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

Having dialogue can break up longer paragraphs of text, and bring some action and immediacy to your story. That being said, don’t overdo it. It’s important to strike a balance between relying too much on dialogue, and using it occasionally as an effective writing tool. You don’t want your essay to read like a script for a movie (unless, of course, that’s intentional and you want to showcase your screenwriting skills!).

Want free essay feedback? Submit your essay to CollegeVine’s Peer Essay Review and get fast, actionable edits on your essay. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Personal Statements

1. giving a recap or report of all the events..

Your essay isn’t a play-by-play of everything that happened in that time frame. Only include relevant details that enrich the story, instead of making your personal statement a report of the events. Remember that the goal is to share your voice, what’s important to you, and who you are. 

2. Writing about too many events or experiences. 

Similarly, another common mistake is to make your personal statement a resume or recap of all your high school accomplishments. The Activities Section of the Common App is the place for listing out your achievements, not your personal statement. Focus on one specific experience or a few related experiences, and go into detail on those. 

3. Using cliche language.

Try to avoid overdone quotes from famous people like Gandhi or Thoreau. Better yet, try to avoid quotes from other people in general, unless it’s a message from someone you personally know. Adding these famous quotes won’t make your essay unique, and it takes up valuable space for you to share your voice.

You should also steer away from broad language or lavish claims like “It was the best day of my life.” Since they’re so cliche, these statements also obscure your message, and it’s hard to understand what you actually mean. If it was actually the best day of your life, show us why, rather than just telling us.

If you want to learn more about personal statements, see our post of 11 Common App Essay Examples .

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

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Personal Statements: Examples, Do's and Don'ts

As the name suggests, a personal statement is unique to everyone, but that does not mean there are not specific personal statement rules and guidelines to follow. Being able to quickly showcase your skills, personality and job fit can be challenging, so we are here to shed some light on structuring a personal statement that’ll make you stand out from the crowd. 

In this guide, we will be looking at how to write a personal statement and the do’s and don’ts. By the end, you should have a better idea of how to structure a personal statement and impress your potential new employers.

💡 Note: We will be covering professional personal statements and not personal statements for University admissions in this article.

What is a personal statement?

Often confused with a cover letter or supporting statement, a personal statement is a small section on various forms of CVs. A personal statement is often no more than a few sentences where you can quickly summarise your skills, experience and job fit into a bitesize paragraph. 

A personal statement gives you the opportunity to briefly sell yourself to your potential employer and showcase why you are the best candidate for the role. It is important to note that not all employers will require a personal statement, but if done correctly they can help set you apart from other applicants. 

What makes a good personal statement? 

As a personal statement is essentially a summary of the rest of your CV and you as a person, you want to ensure you list all the most important things from your CV that are the most relevant to the job you are applying for. You should never use the same personal statement, when applying for multiple jobs you can use a similar statement for each, but it should be tailored to each individual role if possible. 

How to start a personal statement 

Start your personal statement by introducing yourself and set the tone for the rest of your personal statement.

You want to capture the employer’s interest and summarise exactly why you are a perfect fit for the role. Most personal statement examples start with saying the role you are currently in, how much industry experience you have and key achievements or relevant skills and statistics. 

How to finish a personal statement 

A good way to finish your personal statement is to summarise your overall goal or aim when moving forwards towards this job and your career.  This means you have spoken about the past, present and future, in just a few lines and gives the employer a good idea of you and your potential. 

How to finish a personal statement can vary from role to role, but this is a good rule of thumb and will stand you in good stead, as with any application, tailor it to the job, some may call for this, some may not.

Personal statement do’s

• Tailor your personal statement - utilise the job description to help you highlight exactly what the employer is looking for, highlight the skills and experience it calls for. The job description is the blueprint to your personal statement for that role, so try and signpost your abilities from the exact things the employer is looking for.
• Be concise - ensure that you keep your personal statement short and relevant, aim for the maximum of a few lines or around 200 words at most. Find the most important and relevant things that you can say within that word count.
• Highlight you - candidates have a habit of being too generic and not showcasing themselves, it is called a personal statement, so keep it personal to you. Personal does not mean talking about your dog though, but how you personally can succeed at this job.
• Include tangibles - always try to give additional details that add value to your application, for instance, quantifying something always makes it sound better. ‘Increased sales by 35%’ sounds better than just saying ‘increased sales’.
• Hit key points - a good personal statement will be able to give the employer a quick summary of you and entice them to read more or move you forward to the interview stage.
• Get a second opinion - having someone else read over your personal statement can be a real help, they may spot something you haven’t or not understand something the way you had intended. This will help improve your finished personal statement.  

Personal statement don’ts

• Use the same wording - you can actually hurt your own chances if you use an overly generic personal statement. You want to show that you have put effort into your application and impress the employer.
• Make it too long - candidates will often confuse their personal statement with a cover letter, this is a short rundown of you, focus on skills, successes, and statistics, things that can be quickly digested. Grab their attention with your personal statement, but do not bore them with an essay.
• Go too personal - this may sound strange, but remember you are writing a professional application, and not setting up a dating profile. Focus on what you can bring to the company, and how your skills would be perfect for the role.
• Send off your first draft - always read over your personal statement a few times to make sure it flows right and rolls off the tongue. Having a spelling or grammar mistake can ruin your chances of getting the job.
• Be too broad - showing that you understood the job description and are a good candidate for the role can be evident if you have a good personal statement, but being too broad will make you look like you copy and pasted the same response to 20 applications.

What next? 

Now you have a better understanding on how to structure your personal statement to increase your chances of getting your new role, you want to start your job search . Currently at Michael Page, we have over 10,000 live jobs on the site so submit your CV today to become discoverable for new roles added in your industry. 

For more CV and cover letter advice , read through our collective library of articles that’ll help you create a winning CV. 

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• Knowledge Base
• Applying to graduate school
• How to Write Your Personal Statement | Strategies & Examples

How to Write Your Personal Statement | Strategies & Examples

Published on February 12, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 3, 2023.

A personal statement is a short essay of around 500–1,000 words, in which you tell a compelling story about who you are, what drives you, and why you’re applying.

To write a successful personal statement for a graduate school application , don’t just summarize your experience; instead, craft a focused narrative in your own voice. Aim to demonstrate three things:

• Your personality: what are your interests, values, and motivations?
• Your talents: what can you bring to the program?
• Your goals: what do you hope the program will do for you?

This article guides you through some winning strategies to build a strong, well-structured personal statement for a master’s or PhD application. You can download the full examples below.

Urban Planning Psychology History

Table of contents

Getting started with your personal statement, the introduction: start with an attention-grabbing opening, the main body: craft your narrative, the conclusion: look ahead, revising, editing, and proofreading your personal statement, frequently asked questions, other interesting articles.

Before you start writing, the first step is to understand exactly what’s expected of you. If the application gives you a question or prompt for your personal statement, the most important thing is to respond to it directly.

For example, you might be asked to focus on the development of your personal identity; challenges you have faced in your life; or your career motivations. This will shape your focus and emphasis—but you still need to find your own unique approach to answering it.

There’s no universal template for a personal statement; it’s your chance to be creative and let your own voice shine through. But there are strategies you can use to build a compelling, well-structured story.

The first paragraph of your personal statement should set the tone and lead smoothly into the story you want to tell.

Strategy 1: Open with a concrete scene

An effective way to catch the reader’s attention is to set up a scene that illustrates something about your character and interests. If you’re stuck, try thinking about:

• A personal experience that changed your perspective
• A story from your family’s history
• A memorable teacher or learning experience
• An unusual or unexpected encounter

To write an effective scene, try to go beyond straightforward description; start with an intriguing sentence that pulls the reader in, and give concrete details to create a convincing atmosphere.

Strategy 2: Open with your motivations

To emphasize your enthusiasm and commitment, you can start by explaining your interest in the subject you want to study or the career path you want to follow.

Just stating that it interests you isn’t enough: first, you need to figure out why you’re interested in this field:

• Is it a longstanding passion or a recent discovery?
• Does it come naturally or have you had to work hard at it?
• How does it fit into the rest of your life?
• What do you think it contributes to society?

Tips for the introduction

• Don’t start on a cliche: avoid phrases like “Ever since I was a child…” or “For as long as I can remember…”
• Do save the introduction for last. If you’re struggling to come up with a strong opening, leave it aside, and note down any interesting ideas that occur to you as you write the rest of the personal statement.

Once you’ve set up the main themes of your personal statement, you’ll delve into more detail about your experiences and motivations.

To structure the body of your personal statement, there are various strategies you can use.

Strategy 1: Describe your development over time

One of the simplest strategies is to give a chronological overview of key experiences that have led you to apply for graduate school.

• What first sparked your interest in the field?
• Which classes, assignments, classmates, internships, or other activities helped you develop your knowledge and skills?
• Where do you want to go next? How does this program fit into your future plans?

Don’t try to include absolutely everything you’ve done—pick out highlights that are relevant to your application. Aim to craft a compelling narrative that shows how you’ve changed and actively developed yourself.

My interest in psychology was first sparked early in my high school career. Though somewhat scientifically inclined, I found that what interested me most was not the equations we learned about in physics and chemistry, but the motivations and perceptions of my fellow students, and the subtle social dynamics that I observed inside and outside the classroom. I wanted to learn how our identities, beliefs, and behaviours are shaped through our interactions with others, so I decided to major in Social Psychology. My undergraduate studies deepened my understanding of, and fascination with, the interplay between an individual mind and its social context.During my studies, I acquired a solid foundation of knowledge about concepts like social influence and group dynamics, but I also took classes on various topics not strictly related to my major. I was particularly interested in how other fields intersect with psychology—the classes I took on media studies, biology, and literature all enhanced my understanding of psychological concepts by providing different lenses through which to look at the issues involved.

Strategy 2: Own your challenges and obstacles

If your path to graduate school hasn’t been easy or straightforward, you can turn this into a strength, and structure your personal statement as a story of overcoming obstacles.

• Is your social, cultural or economic background underrepresented in the field? Show how your experiences will contribute a unique perspective.
• Do you have gaps in your resume or lower-than-ideal grades? Explain the challenges you faced and how you dealt with them.

Don’t focus too heavily on negatives, but use them to highlight your positive qualities. Resilience, resourcefulness and perseverance make you a promising graduate school candidate.

Growing up working class, urban decay becomes depressingly familiar. The sight of a row of abandoned houses does not surprise me, but it continues to bother me. Since high school, I have been determined to pursue a career in urban planning. While people of my background experience the consequences of urban planning decisions first-hand, we are underrepresented in the field itself. Ironically, given my motivation, my economic background has made my studies challenging. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship for my undergraduate studies, but after graduation I took jobs in unrelated fields to help support my parents. In the three years since, I have not lost my ambition. Now I am keen to resume my studies, and I believe I can bring an invaluable perspective to the table: that of the people most impacted by the decisions of urban planners.

Strategy 3: Demonstrate your knowledge of the field

Especially if you’re applying for a PhD or another research-focused program, it’s a good idea to show your familiarity with the subject and the department. Your personal statement can focus on the area you want to specialize in and reflect on why it matters to you.

• Reflect on the topics or themes that you’ve focused on in your studies. What draws you to them?
• Discuss any academic achievements, influential teachers, or other highlights of your education.
• Talk about the questions you’d like to explore in your research and why you think they’re important.

The personal statement isn’t a research proposal , so don’t go overboard on detail—but it’s a great opportunity to show your enthusiasm for the field and your capacity for original thinking.

In applying for this research program, my intention is to build on the multidisciplinary approach I have taken in my studies so far, combining knowledge from disparate fields of study to better understand psychological concepts and issues. The Media Psychology program stands out to me as the perfect environment for this kind of research, given its researchers’ openness to collaboration across diverse fields. I am impressed by the department’s innovative interdisciplinary projects that focus on the shifting landscape of media and technology, and I hope that my own work can follow a similarly trailblazing approach. More specifically, I want to develop my understanding of the intersection of psychology and media studies, and explore how media psychology theories and methods might be applied to neurodivergent minds. I am interested not only in media psychology but also in psychological disorders, and how the two interact. This is something I touched on during my undergraduate studies and that I’m excited to delve into further.

Strategy 4: Discuss your professional ambitions

Especially if you’re applying for a more professionally-oriented program (such as an MBA), it’s a good idea to focus on concrete goals and how the program will help you achieve them.

• If your career is just getting started, show how your character is suited to the field, and explain how graduate school will help you develop your talents.
• If you have already worked in the profession, show what you’ve achieved so far, and explain how the program will allow you to take the next step.
• If you are planning a career change, explain what has driven this decision and how your existing experience will help you succeed.

Don’t just state the position you want to achieve. You should demonstrate that you’ve put plenty of thought into your career plans and show why you’re well-suited to this profession.

One thing that fascinated me about the field during my undergraduate studies was the sheer number of different elements whose interactions constitute a person’s experience of an urban environment. Any number of factors could transform the scene I described at the beginning: What if there were no bus route? Better community outreach in the neighborhood? Worse law enforcement? More or fewer jobs available in the area? Some of these factors are out of the hands of an urban planner, but without taking them all into consideration, the planner has an incomplete picture of their task. Through further study I hope to develop my understanding of how these disparate elements combine and interact to create the urban environment. I am interested in the social, psychological and political effects our surroundings have on our lives. My studies will allow me to work on projects directly affecting the kinds of working-class urban communities I know well. I believe I can bring my own experiences, as well as my education, to bear upon the problem of improving infrastructure and quality of life in these communities.

Tips for the main body

• Don’t rehash your resume by trying to summarize everything you’ve done so far; the personal statement isn’t about listing your academic or professional experience, but about reflecting, evaluating, and relating it to broader themes.
• Do make your statements into stories: Instead of saying you’re hard-working and self-motivated, write about your internship where you took the initiative to start a new project. Instead of saying you’ve always loved reading, reflect on a novel or poem that changed your perspective.

Your conclusion should bring the focus back to the program and what you hope to get out of it, whether that’s developing practical skills, exploring intellectual questions, or both.

Emphasize the fit with your specific interests, showing why this program would be the best way to achieve your aims.

Strategy 1: What do you want to know?

If you’re applying for a more academic or research-focused program, end on a note of curiosity: what do you hope to learn, and why do you think this is the best place to learn it?

If there are specific classes or faculty members that you’re excited to learn from, this is the place to express your enthusiasm.

Strategy 2: What do you want to do?

If you’re applying for a program that focuses more on professional training, your conclusion can look to your career aspirations: what role do you want to play in society, and why is this program the best choice to help you get there?

Tips for the conclusion

• Don’t summarize what you’ve already said. You have limited space in a personal statement, so use it wisely!
• Do think bigger than yourself: try to express how your individual aspirations relate to your local community, your academic field, or society more broadly. It’s not just about what you’ll get out of graduate school, but about what you’ll be able to give back.

You’ll be expected to do a lot of writing in graduate school, so make a good first impression: leave yourself plenty of time to revise and polish the text.

Your style doesn’t have to be as formal as other kinds of academic writing, but it should be clear, direct and coherent. Make sure that each paragraph flows smoothly from the last, using topic sentences and transitions to create clear connections between each part.

Don’t be afraid to rewrite and restructure as much as necessary. Since you have a lot of freedom in the structure of a personal statement, you can experiment and move information around to see what works best.

Finally, it’s essential to carefully proofread your personal statement and fix any language errors. Before you submit your application, consider investing in professional personal statement editing . For $150, you have the peace of mind that your personal statement is grammatically correct, strong in term of your arguments, and free of awkward mistakes.

A statement of purpose is usually more formal, focusing on your academic or professional goals. It shouldn’t include anything that isn’t directly relevant to the application.

A personal statement can often be more creative. It might tell a story that isn’t directly related to the application, but that shows something about your personality, values, and motivations.

However, both types of document have the same overall goal: to demonstrate your potential as a graduate student and s how why you’re a great match for the program.

The typical length of a personal statement for graduate school applications is between 500 and 1,000 words.

Different programs have different requirements, so always check if there’s a minimum or maximum length and stick to the guidelines. If there is no recommended word count, aim for no more than 1-2 pages.

If you’re applying to multiple graduate school programs, you should tailor your personal statement to each application.

Some applications provide a prompt or question. In this case, you might have to write a new personal statement from scratch: the most important task is to respond to what you have been asked.

If there’s no prompt or guidelines, you can re-use the same idea for your personal statement – but change the details wherever relevant, making sure to emphasize why you’re applying to this specific program.

If the application also includes other essays, such as a statement of purpose , you might have to revise your personal statement to avoid repeating the same information.

If you want to know more about college essays , academic writing , and AI tools , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.

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By Nik Taylor (Editor, The Uni Guide) | 18 August 2023 | 22 min read

How to write an excellent personal statement in 10 steps

Stand out from the crowd: here's how to write a good personal statement that will get you noticed

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Your personal statement forms a core part of your university application, and the sooner you get going, the better you can make it. You may think that your personal statement won’t matter as much to unis as your grades and experience but a great personal statement could make all the difference between you and a candidate with the same grades. Sure, your application might not reach that deal breaker stage. But is it something you want to leave to chance?  Here we’ll take you through the process of planning, writing and checking a good personal statement, so you end up with something you can submit with confidence. And to make sure the advice we're giving you is sound, we’ve spoken to admissions staff at loads of UK universities to get their view. Look out for video interviews and advice on applying for specific subjects throughout this piece or watch our personal statement playlist on YouTube .

• Are you looking for personal statement examples? Check our library of hundreds of real personal statements, on The Student Room

Personal statement deadlines

You'll need to make sure you've got your personal statement written well in advance of your application deadline. Below are the main university application deadline dates for 2024 entry.

2024 entry deadlines

16 October 2023: Deadline for applications to Oxford and Cambridge universities, along with most medicine, dentistry, and veterinary courses.   31 January 2024: Deadline for applications to the majority of undergraduate courses. After this date, universities will start allocating places on these courses –   but you can still apply after the 31 January deadline , as this article explains . 30 June 2024:  Students who apply after this date will be entered into Clearing .

• Read more: Ucas deadlines and key application dates

What is a personal statement?

A personal statement is a central part of your Ucas application, where you explain why you’ve chosen a particular course and why you’ll be good at it. It's your chance to stand out against other candidates and hopefully get that all-important offer. You only write one personal statement which is then read by each university you apply to, so if you are applying for more than one subject (or it's a combined course) it's crucial that you include common themes or reference the overall skills needed for all subjects. Personal statements are especially important if you’re trying to get on a very competitive course, where you need to do anything you can to stand out to admissions tutors. Courteney Sheppard, senior customer experience manager at Ucas, advises that your personal statement is "the only part of the application that you have direct control over. Do lots of research to demonstrate your passion, curiosity and drive to pursue your chosen subject." There’s a limit on how much you can write: your personal statement can be up to 4,000 characters (including spaces) or 47 lines of 95 characters (including spaces); whichever is shorter. This may appear generous (read: long) but once you've got going you may find yourself having to edit heavily.

• Read more: teacher secrets for writing a great personal statement

1. Plan what you want to cover

The first thing you need to do is make a plan. Writing a personal statement off the top of your head is difficult. Start by making some notes, answering the following questions:

• What do you want to study?
• Why do you want to study it?
• What is there about you that shows you’re suited to studying this subject at university? Think about your personality, as well as your experiences.
• What are your other interests and skills?

These few points are going to form the spine of your personal statement, so write them in a way that makes sense to you. You might want to make a simple bulleted list or you might want to get all arty and use a mindmap. Whatever you choose, your aim is the same. You want to get it clear in your own head why a university should offer you a place on its course. Getting those details down isn't always easy, and some people find it helpful to make notes over time. You might try carrying a notebook with you or set up a memo on your phone. Whenever you think of something useful for your personal statement, jot it down. Inspiration sometimes comes more easily when you’re thinking about something else entirely. It might help to take a look at The Student Room for some sample personal statements by university and sample personal statements by subjects , to give you an idea of the kind of thing you want to include. 

• Read more: personal statement FAQs

2. Show off your experience

Some things are worth adding to your personal statement, some things are not. Firmly in the second camp are your qualifications. You don’t need to mention these as there’s a whole other section of your personal statement where you get to detail them very precisely. Don’t waste a single character going on about how great your GCSE grades are – it’s not what the admissions tutor wants to read. What they do want to see is: what have you done? OK, so you’ve got some good grades, but so do a lot of other applicants. What have you done that’s different, that shows you off as someone who really loves the subject you’re applying for? Spend some time thinking about all the experience you have in that subject. If you’re lucky, this might be direct work experience. That’s going to be particularly appropriate if you’re applying for one of the more vocational subjects such as medicine or journalism . But uni staff realise getting plum work experience placements is easier for some people than others, so cast your net wider when you’re thinking about what you’ve done. How about after-school clubs? Debating societies? Are you running a blog or vlog? What key skills and experience have you picked up elsewhere (eg from hobbies) that could be tied in with your course choice? Remember, you’re looking for experience that shows why you want to study your chosen subject. You’re not just writing an essay about what you're doing in your A-level syllabus. Use this checklist as a guide for what to include:

• Your interest in the course. Why do you want to spend three years studying this subject at university?
• What have you done outside school or college that demonstrates this interest? Think about things like fairs/exhibitions, public lectures or voluntary work that is relevant to your subject.
• Relevant work experience (essential for the likes of medicine, not required for non-vocational courses such as English )
• Skills and qualities required for that career if appropriate (medicine, nursing and law as obvious examples)
• Interest in your current studies – what particular topics have made an impression on you?
• Any other interests/hobbies/experiences you wish to mention that are relevant either to the subject or 'going to uni'. Don't just list your hobbies, you need to be very selective and state clearly what difference doing these things has made to you.
• Plans for a gap year if you’re deferring entry.

Read more: 6 steps you need to take to apply to university

3. Be bold about your achievements

Don't be bashful about your achievements; that’s not going to help you get into uni. It's time to unleash your inner Muhammed Ali and get all “I am the greatest” with your writing. Do keep it focused and accurate. Do keep your language professional. But don’t hide your qualities beneath a layer of false modesty. Your personal statement is a sell – you are selling yourself as a brilliant student and you need to show the reader why that is true. This doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and if you’re finding it difficult to write about how great you are it’s time to enlist some help. Round up a friend or two, a family member, a teacher, whoever and get them to write down your qualities. Getting someone else’s view here can help you get some perspective. Don’t be shy. You are selling your skills, your experience and your enthusiasm – make sure they all leap off the screen with the way you have described them.

• Read more: the ten biggest mistakes when writing your personal statement  

4. How to start your personal statement

Type your personal statement in a cloud-based word processing program, such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word and don’t copy and paste it into Ucas Hub until it’s finished.  One of the benefits of doing it this way is that you can run spell check easily. (Please note, though, that Word adds "curly" quotation marks and other characters (like é or ü) that won't show up on your Ucas form, so do proofread it on Ucas Hub before submitting it to ensure it is how you typed it.)  Another big benefit is that you'll always have a backup of what you've written. If you're being super careful, you could always save your statement in another place as well. Bear in mind that extra spaces (eg adding spaces to the beginnings of paragraphs as indentation) are removed on Ucas. In your first sentence, cut to the chase. Why do you want to do the course? Don’t waste any time rambling on about the daydreams you had when you were five. Just be clear and concise – describe in one line why this course is so important to you. Then, in the rest of your intro, go into more detail in demonstrating your enthusiasm for the course and explaining how you decided this is what you want to do for the next three or more years. However you choose to start your statement, just avoid the following hoary old chestnuts. These have been some of the most used lines in personal statements over the years – they are beyond cliche, so don’t even think about it.

• From a young age I have (always) been [interested in/fascinated by]…
• For as long as I can remember, I have…
• I am applying for this course because… 
• I have always been interested in… 
• Throughout my life I have always enjoyed… 
• Reflecting on my educational experiences… 
• [Subject] is a very challenging and demanding [career/profession/course]… 
• Academically, I have always been… 
• I have always wanted to pursue a career in… 
• I have always been passionate about…   

5. Focus your writing on why you've chosen that subject

So you’ve got your intro done – time to nail the rest of it. Bear in mind that you’ve got to be a little bit careful when following a personal statement template. It’s easy to fall into the trap of copying someone else’s style, and in the process lose all of your own voice and personality from your writing. But there is a rough order that you can follow, which should help keep you in your flow. After your opening paragraph or two, get into any work experience (if you’ve got it). Talk about extracurriculars: anything you've done which is relevant to the subject can go here – hobbies, interests, volunteering. Touch on your career aspirations – where do you want this course to take you? Next, show your enthusiasm for your current studies. Cite some specific examples of current work that you enjoyed. Show off your relevant skills and qualities by explaining how you’ve used these in the past. Make sure you’re giving real-world examples here, not just vague assertions like “I’m really organised and motivated”. Try to use examples that are relevant.   Follow this up with something about you as a person. Talk about non-academic stuff that you like to do, but link it in some way with the course, or with how it shows your maturity for dealing with uni life. Round it all off by bringing your main points together, including a final emphasis of your commitment to studying this particular course.

• Read more: how to write your personal statement in an evening  

6. How long should a personal statement be?

You've got to work to a very specific limit when writing your personal statement. In theory you could use up to 4,000 characters – but you’re probably more likely to be limited by the line count. That's because it's a good idea to put line breaks in between your paragraphs (to make it more readable) and you only get a maximum of 47 lines. With this in mind, 3,500 characters is a more realistic limit. But when you’re getting started you should ignore these limits completely. At first, you just want to get down everything that you feel is important. You'll probably end up with something that is far too long, but that's fine. This is where you get to do some polishing and pruning. Keep the focus of your piece on the course you’re applying for, why you want to do it and why you’re perfectly suited to it. Look through what you’ve written so far – have you got the balance right? Chop out anything that goes on a bit, as you want each point to be snappy and succinct.

• Read more: universities reveal all about personal statements  

7. Keep it simple

8. Smart ways to end your personal statement

Writing a closing line that you’re happy with can feel as tricky as coming up with your opener. What you’re looking for here is a sign-off that is bold and memorable. The final couple of sentences in your statement give you the opportunity to emphasise all the good stuff you’ve already covered. Use this space to leave the reader in no doubt as to what an excellent addition you would be to their university. Pull together all your key points and – most importantly – address the central question that your personal statement should answer: why should you get a place on the course?

• Read more: universities explain how to end your personal statement with a bang  

9. Make sure your personal statement has no mistakes

Now you’ve got a personal statement you’re happy with, you need to make sure there are no mistakes. Check it, check it a second time, then check it again. Once you’ve done that, get someone else to check it, too. You will be doing yourself a massive disservice if you send through a personal statement with spelling and/or grammatical errors. You’ve got months to put this together so there really is no excuse for sending through something that looks like a rush job. Ask your teachers to look at it, and be prepared to accept their feedback without getting defensive. They will have seen many personal statements before; use what they tell you to make yours even better. You’ve also got another chance here to look through the content of your personal statement, so you can make sure the balance is right. Make sure your focus is very clearly on the subject you are applying for and why you want to study it. Don’t post your personal statement on the internet or social media where anyone can see it. You will get picked up by the Ucas plagiarism checker. Similarly, don't copy any that you find online. Instead, now is a good time to make your parents feel useful. Read your personal statement out to them and get them to give you feedback. Or try printing it out and mixing it up with a few others (you can find sample personal statements on The Student Room). Get them to read them all and then try to pick yours out. If they can't, perhaps there's not enough of your personality in there.  

10. Don't think about your personal statement for a whole week

If you followed the advice at the very start of this guide, you’ve started your personal statement early. Good job! There are months before you need to submit it. Use one of these weeks to forget about your personal statement completely. Get on with other things – anything you like. Just don’t go near your statement. Give it a whole week and then open up the document again and read through it with fresh eyes. You’ll gain a whole new perspective on what you’ve written and will be well placed to make more changes, if needed.

• Read more: how to write your personal statement when you have nothing interesting to say  

10 steps to your ideal personal statement

In summary, here are the ten steps you should follow to create the perfect personal statement.  

Personal statement dos and don'ts

• Remember that your personal statement is your personal statement, not an article written about your intended field of study. It should tell the reader about you, not about the subject.
• Only put in things that you’re prepared to talk about at the interviews.
• Give convincing reasons for why you want to study the course – more than just "enjoying the subject" (this should be a given).
• For very competitive courses, find out as much as you can about the nature of the course and try to make your personal statement relevant to this.
• Be reflective. If you make a point like 'I like reading', 'I travelled abroad', say what you got from it.
• Go through the whole thing checking your grammar and your spelling. Do this at least twice. It doesn’t matter if you’re not applying to an essay-based course – a personal statement riddled with spelling mistakes is just going to irritate the reader, which is the last thing you want to do. If this is something you find difficult then have someone look over it for you.
• Leave blank lines between your paragraphs. It’s easier for the reader to get through your personal statement when it’s broken into easily digestible chunks. Remember that they’re going to be reading a lot of these! Make yours easy to get through.
• Get someone else's opinion on your statement. Read it out to family or friends. Share it with your teacher. Look for feedback wherever you can find it, then act upon it.
• Don’t write it like a letter. Kicking off with a greeting such as "Dear Sir/Madam" not only looks weird, it also wastes precious space.
• Don’t make jokes. This is simply not the time – save them for your first night in the union.
• Don’t criticise your current school or college or try to blame teachers for any disappointing grades you might have got.
• Be afraid of details – if you want your PS to be personal to you that means explaining exactly which bits of work or topics or activities you've taken part in/enjoyed. It's much more compelling to read about one or two detailed examples than a paragraph that brushes over five or six.
• Just list what you're doing now. You should pull out the experiences that are relevant to the courses which you're applying to.
• Mention skills and activities without giving examples of when they have been demonstrated by you or what you learnt from them. Anyone can write "I have great leadership skills" in a PS, actually using a sentence to explain when you demonstrated good leadership skills is much rarer and more valuable.
• Refer to experiences that took place before your GCSEs (or equivalent).
• Give explanations about medical or mental health problems. These should be explained in your reference, not your PS.
• Apply for too many different courses, making it difficult to write a convincing personal statement which supports the application.
• Write a statement specific to just one institution, unless you're only applying to that one choice.
• Copy and paste the statement from somewhere else! This means do not plagiarise. All statements are automatically checked for plagiarism by Ucas. Those that are highlighted by the computer system are checked manually by Ucas staff. If you’re found to have plagiarised parts of your statement, the universities you apply to will be informed and it could jeopardise your applications.
• Use ChatGPT or another AI program to write your personal statement for you. Or, if you do, make sure you thoroughly edit and personalise the text so it's truly yours. Otherwise you're very much at risk of the plagiarism point above.

You may want to look at these...

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, what is a personal statement everything you need to know about the college essay.

College Admissions , College Essays

In addition to standardized test scores and transcripts, a personal statement or essay is a required part of many college applications. The personal statement can be one of the most stressful parts of the application process because it's the most open ended.

In this guide, I'll answer the question, "What is a personal statement?" I'll talk through common college essay topics and what makes for an effective personal statement.

College Essay Glossary

Even the terminology can be confusing if you aren't familiar with it, so let's start by defining some terms:

Personal statement —an essay you write to show a college admissions committee who you are and why you deserve to be admitted to their school. It's worth noting that, unlike "college essay," this term is used for application essays for graduate school as well.

College essay —basically the same as a personal statement (I'll be using the terms interchangeably).

Essay prompt —a question or statement that your college essay is meant to respond to.

Supplemental essay —an extra school or program-specific essay beyond the basic personal statement.

Many colleges ask for only one essay. However, some schools do ask you to respond to multiple prompts or to provide supplemental essays in addition to a primary personal statement.

Either way, don't let it stress you out! This guide will cover everything you need to know about the different types of college essays and get you started thinking about how to write a great one:

• Why colleges ask for an essay
• What kinds of essay questions you'll see
• What sets great essays apart
• Tips for writing your own essay

Why Do Colleges Ask For an Essay?

There are a couple of reasons that colleges ask applicants to submit an essay, but the basic idea is that it gives them more information about you, especially who you are beyond grades and test scores.

#1: Insight Into Your Personality

The most important role of the essay is to give admissions committees a sense of your personality and what kind of addition you'd be to their school's community . Are you inquisitive? Ambitious? Caring? These kinds of qualities will have a profound impact on your college experience, but they're hard to determine based on a high school transcript.

Basically, the essay contextualizes your application and shows what kind of person you are outside of your grades and test scores . Imagine two students, Jane and Tim: they both have 3.5 GPAs and 1200s on the SAT. Jane lives in Colorado and is the captain of her track team; Tim lives in Vermont and regularly contributes to the school paper. They both want to be doctors, and they both volunteer at the local hospital.

As similar as Jane and Tim seem on paper, in reality, they're actually quite different, and their unique perspectives come through in their essays. Jane writes about how looking into her family history for a school project made her realize how the discovery of modern medical treatments like antibiotics and vaccines had changed the world and drove her to pursue a career as a medical researcher. Tim, meanwhile, recounts a story about how a kind doctor helped him overcome his fear of needles, an interaction that reminded him of the value of empathy and inspired him to become a family practitioner. These two students may seem outwardly similar but their motivations and personalities are very different.

Without an essay, your application is essentially a series of numbers: a GPA, SAT scores, the number of hours spent preparing for quiz bowl competitions. The personal statement is your chance to stand out as an individual.

#2: Evidence of Writing Skills

A secondary purpose of the essay is to serve as a writing sample and help colleges see that you have the skills needed to succeed in college classes. The personal statement is your best chance to show off your writing , so take the time to craft a piece you're really proud of.

That said, don't panic if you aren't a strong writer. Admissions officers aren't expecting you to write like Joan Didion; they just want to see that you can express your ideas clearly.

No matter what, your essay should absolutely not include any errors or typos .

#3: Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances

For some students, the essay is also a chance to explain factors affecting their high school record. Did your grades drop sophomore year because you were dealing with a family emergency? Did you miss out on extracurriculars junior year because of an extended medical absence? Colleges want to know if you struggled with a serious issue that affected your high school record , so make sure to indicate any relevant circumstances on your application.

Keep in mind that in some cases there will be a separate section for you to address these types of issues, as well as any black marks on your record like expulsions or criminal charges.

#4: Your Reasons for Applying to the School

Many colleges ask you to write an essay or paragraph about why you're applying to their school specifically . In asking these questions, admissions officers are trying to determine if you're genuinely excited about the school and whether you're likely to attend if accepted .

I'll talk more about this type of essay below.

What Kind of Questions Do Colleges Ask?

Thankfully, applications don't simply say, "Please include an essay about yourself"; they include a question or prompt that you're asked to respond to . These prompts are generally pretty open-ended and can be approached in a lot of different ways .

Nonetheless, most questions fall into a few main categories. Let's go through each common type of prompt, with examples from the Common Application, the University of California application, and a few individual schools.

Prompt Type 1: Your Personal History

This sort of question asks you to write about a formative experience, important event, or key relationship from your life . Admissions officers want to understand what is important to you and how your background has shaped you as a person.

These questions are both common and tricky. The most common pit students fall into is trying to tell their entire life stories. It's better to focus in on a very specific point in time and explain why it was meaningful to you.

Common App 1

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Common App 5

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

University of California 2

Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

University of California 6

Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

Prompt Type 2: Facing a Problem

A lot of prompts deal with how you solve problems, how you cope with failure, and how you respond to conflict. College can be difficult, both personally and academically, and admissions committees want to see that you're equipped to face those challenges .

The key to these types of questions is to identify a real problem, failure, or conflict ( not a success in disguise) and show how you adapted and grew from addressing the issue.

Common App 2

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Harvard University 7

The Harvard College Honor Code declares that we “hold honesty as the foundation of our community.” As you consider entering this community that is committed to honesty, please reflect on a time when you or someone you observed had to make a choice about whether to act with integrity and honesty.

Prompt Type 3: Diversity

Most colleges are pretty diverse, with students from a wide range of backgrounds. Essay questions about diversity are designed to help admissions committees understand how you interact with people who are different from you .

In addressing these prompts, you want to show that you're capable of engaging with new ideas and relating to people who may have different beliefs than you.

Common App 3

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Johns Hopkins University

Tell us about an aspect of your identity (e.g., race, gender, sexuality, religion, community) or a life experience that has shaped you as an individual and how that influenced what you’d like to pursue in college at Hopkins.  This can be a future goal or experience that is either [sic] academic, extracurricular, or social.

Duke University Optional 1

We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community. 

Prompt Type 4: Your Future Goals

This type of prompt asks about what you want to do in the future: sometimes simply what you'd like to study, sometimes longer-term career goals. Colleges want to understand what you're interested in and how you plan to work towards your goals.

You'll mostly see these prompts if you're applying for a specialized program (like pre-med or engineering) or applying as a transfer student. Some schools also ask for supplementary essays along these lines. 

University of Southern California (Architecture)

Princeton Supplement 1

Prompt Type 5: Why This School

The most common style of supplemental essay is the "why us?" essay, although a few schools with their own application use this type of question as their main prompt. In these essays, you're meant to address the specific reasons you want to go to the school you're applying to .

Whatever you do, don't ever recycle these essays for more than one school.

Chapman University

There are thousands of universities and colleges. Why are you interested in attending Chapman?

Columbia University

Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia.

Rice University

Based upon your exploration of Rice University, what elements of the Rice experience appeal to you?

Princeton University

Princeton has a longstanding commitment to understanding our responsibility to society through service and civic engagement. How does your own story intersect with these ideals?

Prompt Type 6: Creative Prompts

More selective schools often have supplemental essays with stranger or more unique questions. University of Chicago is notorious for its weird prompts, but it's not the only school that will ask you to think outside the box in addressing its questions.

University of Chicago

“Vlog,” “Labradoodle,” and “Fauxmage.” Language is filled with portmanteaus. Create a new portmanteau and explain why those two things are a “patch” (perfect match).

University of Vermont

Established in Burlington, VT, Ben & Jerry’s is synonymous with both ice cream and social change. The “Save Our Swirled” flavor raises awareness of climate change, and “I Dough, I Dough” celebrates marriage equality. If you worked alongside Ben & Jerry, what charitable flavor would you develop and why?

What Makes a Strong Personal Statement?

OK , so you're clear on what a college essay is, but you're still not sure how to write a good one . To help you get started, I'm going to explain the main things admissions officers look for in students' essays: an engaging perspective, genuine moments, and lively writing .

I've touched on these ideas already, but here, I'll go into more depth about how the best essays stand out from the pack.

Showing Who You Are

A lot of students panic about finding a unique topic, and certainly writing about something unusual like a successful dating app you developed with your friends or your time working as a mall Santa can't hurt you. But what's really important isn't so much what you write about as how you write about it . You need to use your subject to show something deeper about yourself.

Look at the prompts above: you'll notice that they almost all ask you what you learned or how the experience affected you. Whatever topic you pick, you must be able to specifically address how or why it matters to you .

Say a student, Will, was writing about the mall Santa in response to Common App prompt number 2 (the one about failure): Will was a terrible mall Santa. He was way too skinny to be convincing and the kids would always step on his feet. He could easily write 600 very entertaining words describing this experience, but they wouldn't necessarily add up to an effective college essay.

To do that, he'll need to talk about his motivations and his feelings: why he took such a job in the first place and what he did (and didn't) get out of it. Maybe Will took the job because he needed to make some money to go on a school trip and it was the only one he could find. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for screaming children, he kept doing it because he knew if he persevered through the whole holiday season he would have enough money for his trip. Would you rather read "I failed at being a mall Santa" or "Failing as a mall Santa taught me how to persevere no matter what"? Admissions officers definitely prefer the latter.

Ultimately, the best topics are ones that allow you to explain something surprising about yourself .

Since the main point of the essay is to give schools a sense of who you are, you have to open up enough to let them see your personality . Writing a good college essay means being honest about your feelings and experiences even when they aren't entirely positive.

In this context, honesty doesn't mean going on at length about the time you broke into the local pool at night and nearly got arrested, but it does mean acknowledging when something was difficult or upsetting for you. Think about the mall Santa example above. The essay won't work unless the writer genuinely acknowledges that he was a bad Santa and explains why.

Eloquent Writing

As I mentioned above, colleges want to know that you are a strong enough writer to survive in college classes . Can you express your ideas clearly and concisely? Can you employ specific details appropriately and avoid clichés and generalizations? These kinds of skills will serve you well in college (and in life!).

Nonetheless, admissions officers recognize that different students have different strengths. They aren't looking for a poetic magnum opus from someone who wants to be a math major. (Honestly, they aren't expecting a masterwork from anyone , but the basic point stands.) Focus on making sure that your thoughts and personality come through, and don't worry about using fancy vocabulary or complex rhetorical devices.

Above all, make sure that you have zero grammar or spelling errors . Typos indicate carelessness, which will hurt your cause with admissions officers.

Top Five Essay-Writing Tips

Now that you have a sense of what colleges are looking for, let's talk about how you can put this new knowledge into practice as you approach your own essay. Below, I've collected my five best tips from years as a college essay counselor.

#1: Start Early!

No matter how much you want to avoid writing your essay, don't leave it until the last minute . One of the most important parts of the essay writing process is editing, and editing takes a lot of time. You want to be able to put your draft in a drawer for a week and come back to it with fresh eyes. You don't want to be stuck with an essay you don't really like because you have to submit your application tomorrow.

You need plenty of time to experiment and rewrite, so I would recommend starting your essays at least two months before the application deadline . For most students, that means starting around Halloween, but if you're applying early, you'll need to get going closer to Labor Day.

Of course, it's even better to get a head start and begin your planning earlier. Many students like to work on their essays over the summer, when they have more free time, but you should keep in mind that each year's application isn't usually released until August or September. Essay questions often stay the same from year to year, however. If you are looking to get a jump on writing, you can try to confirm with the school (or the Common App) whether the essay questions will be the same as the previous year's.

#2: Pick a Topic You're Genuinely Excited About

One of the biggest mistakes students make is trying to write what they think the committee wants to hear. The truth is that there's no "right answer" when it comes to college essays . T he best topics aren't limited to specific categories like volunteer experiences or winning a tournament. Instead, they're topics that actually matter to the writer .

"OK," you're thinking, "but what does she mean by 'a topic that matters to you'? Because to be perfectly honest, right now, what really matters to me is that fall TV starts up this week, and I have a feeling I shouldn't write about that."

You're not wrong (although some great essays have been written about television ). A great topic isn't just something that you're excited about or that you talk to your friends about; it's something that has had a real, describable effect on your perspective .

This doesn't mean that you should overemphasize how something absolutely changed your life , especially if it really didn't. Instead, try to be as specific and honest as you can about how the experience affected you, what it taught you, or what you got out of it.

Let's go back to the TV idea. Sure, writing an essay about how excited you are for the new season of Stranger Things  probably isn't the quickest way to get yourself into college, but you could write a solid essay (in response to the first type of prompt) about how SpongeBob SquarePants was an integral part of your childhood. However, it's not enough to just explain how much you loved SpongeBob—you must also explain why and how watching the show every day after school affected your life. For example, maybe it was a ritual you shared with your brother, which showed you how even seemingly silly pieces of pop culture can bring people together. Dig beneath the surface to show who you are and how you see the world.

When you write about something you don't really care about, your writing will come out clichéd and uninteresting, and you'll likely struggle to motivate yourself. When you instead write about something that is genuinely important to you, you can make even the most ordinary experiences—learning to swim, eating a meal, or watching TV—engaging .

#3: Focus on Specifics

But how do you write an interesting essay? Focus.

Don't try to tell your entire life story or even the story of an entire weekend; 500–650 words may seem like a lot, but you'll reach that limit quickly if you try to pack every single thing that has happened to you into your essay. If, however, you just touch on a wide range of topics, you'll end up with an essay that reads more like a résumé.

Instead, narrow in on one specific event or idea, and talk about it in more depth . The narrower your topic, the better. For example, writing about your role as Mercutio in your school's production of Romeo and Juliet is too general, but writing about opening night, when everything went wrong, could be a great topic.

Whatever your topic, use details to help draw the reader in and express your unique perspective. But keep in mind that you don't have to include every detail of what you did or thought; stick to the important and illustrative ones.

#4: Use Your Own Voice

College essays aren't academic assignments; you don't need to be super formal. Instead, try to be yourself. The best writing sounds like a more eloquent version of the way you talk .

Focus on using clear, simple language that effectively explains a point or evokes a feeling. To do so, avoid the urge to use fancy-sounding synonyms when you don't really know what they mean. Contractions are fine; slang, generally, is not. Don't hesitate to write in the first person.

A final note: you don't need to be relentlessly positive. It's OK to acknowledge that sometimes things don't go how you want—just show how you grew from that.

#5: Be Ruthless

Many students want to call it a day after writing a first draft, but editing is a key part of writing a truly great essay. To be clear, editing doesn't mean just making a few minor wording tweaks and cleaning up typos; it means reading your essay carefully and objectively and thinking about how you could improve it .

Ask yourself questions as you read: is the progression of the essay clear? Do you make a lot of vague, sweeping statements that could be replaced with more interesting specifics? Do your sentences flow together nicely? Do you show something about yourself beyond the surface level?

You will have to delete and rewrite (potentially large) parts of your essay, and no matter how attached you feel to something you wrote, you might have to let it go . If you've ever heard the phrase "kill your darlings," know that it is 100% applicable to college essay writing.

At some point, you might even need to rewrite the whole essay. Even though it's annoying, starting over is sometimes the best way to get an essay that you're really proud of.

What's Next?

Make sure to check out our other posts on college essays , including our step-by-step guide to how to write your college essay , our analysis of the Common App Prompts , and our collection of example essays .

If you're in need of guidance on other parts of the application process , take a look at our guides to choosing the right college for you , writing about extracurriculars , deciding to double major , and requesting teacher recommendations .

Last but not least, if you're planning on taking the SAT one last time , check out our ultimate guide to studying for the SAT and make sure you're as prepared as possible.

Alex is an experienced tutor and writer. Over the past five years, she has worked with almost a hundred students and written about pop culture for a wide range of publications. She graduated with honors from University of Chicago, receiving a BA in English and Anthropology, and then went on to earn an MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In high school, she was a National Merit Scholar, took 12 AP tests and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT.

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How to Write a Strong Personal Statement

• Ruth Gotian
• Ushma S. Neill

A few adjustments can get your application noticed.

Whether applying for a summer internship, a professional development opportunity, such as a Fulbright, an executive MBA program, or a senior leadership development course, a personal statement threads the ideas of your CV, and is longer and has a different tone and purpose than a traditional cover letter. A few adjustments to your personal statement can get your application noticed by the reviewer.

• Make sure you’re writing what they want to hear. Most organizations that offer a fellowship or internship are using the experience as a pipeline: It’s smart to spend 10 weeks and $15,000 on someone before committing five years and $300,000. Rarely are the organizations being charitable or altruistic, so align your stated goals with theirs
• Know when to bury the lead, and when to get to the point. It’s hard to paint a picture and explain your motivations in 200 words, but if you have two pages, give the reader a story arc or ease into your point by setting the scene.
• Recognize that the reviewer will be reading your statement subjectively, meaning you’re being assessed on unknowable criteria. Most people on evaluation committees are reading for whether or not you’re interesting. Stated differently, do they want to go out to dinner with you to hear more? Write it so that the person reading it wants to hear more.
• Address the elephant in the room (if there is one). Maybe your grades weren’t great in core courses, or perhaps you’ve never worked in the field you’re applying to. Make sure to address the deficiency rather than hoping the reader ignores it because they won’t. A few sentences suffice. Deficiencies do not need to be the cornerstone of the application.

At multiple points in your life, you will need to take action to transition from where you are to where you want to be. This process is layered and time-consuming, and getting yourself to stand out among the masses is an arduous but not impossible task. Having a polished resume that explains what you’ve done is the common first step. But, when an application asks for it, a personal statement can add color and depth to your list of accomplishments. It moves you from a one-dimensional indistinguishable candidate to someone with drive, interest, and nuance.

• Ruth Gotian is the chief learning officer and associate professor of education in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and the author of The Success Factor and Financial Times Guide to Mentoring . She was named the #1 emerging management thinker by Thinkers50. You can access her free list of conversation starters and test your mentoring impact . RuthGotian
• Ushma S. Neill is the Vice President, Scientific Education & Training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She runs several summer internships and is involved with the NYC Marshall Scholar Selection Committee. ushmaneill

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Writing Your Personal Statements

Your personal statement must demonstrate to the admissions committee that you have considered graduate school and their specific program seriously. It’s your opportunity to summarize your academic and research experiences. You must also communicate how your experiences are relevant to preparing you for the graduate degree that you will be pursuing and explain why a given program is the right one for you.

The personal statement is where you highlight your strengths. Make your strengths absolutely clear to the reviewers, because they will often be reading many other statements. Your self-assessments and honest conversations with peers and advisors should have also revealed your strengths. But you must also address (not blame others for) weaknesses or unusual aspects of your application or academic background.

Your personal statement should focus on two main aspects: your competence and commitment.

1. Identify your strengths in terms of competence that indicate that you will succeed in the grad program and provide examples to support your claims. Start your statement by describing your strengths immediately. Because faculty will be reading many statements, it’s important to start off with your strengths and not “bury your lede.” Consider traits of successful graduate students from your informational interviews, and identify which of these traits you have. These traits could involve research skills and experiences, expertise in working with techniques or instruments, familiarity with professional networks and resources in your field, etc.

• Check your responses from the exercises in the self-assessment section. You may wish to consult notes from your informational interviews and your Seven Stories . Write concise summaries and stories that demonstrate your strengths, e.g. how your strengths helped you to achieve certain goals or overcome obstacles.
• Summarize your research experience(s). What were the main project goals and the “big picture” questions? What was your role in this project? What did you accomplish? What did you learn, and how did you grow as a result of the experience(s)?

My research examines the interplay between U.S. domestic politics and foreign policy during the Cold War. As a native New Yorker, I saw firsthand how dramatically my city changed after 9/11, which prompted my early interest in U.S. policy at home and abroad. As an undergraduate at the City College of New York, I planned to study international relations with a focus on U.S. foreign affairs. I also quickly became involved in student activist groups that focused on raising awareness about a wide range of human rights issues, from the Syrian refugee crisis to asylum seekers from Central America.

The more I learned about the crises in the present, the more I realized that I needed a deeper understanding of the past to fully grasp them. I decided to pursue a PhD in history in order to gain a clearer understanding of human rights issues in the present and to empower young student-activists like myself.

— Vannessa Velez, PhD candidate in History

Addressing weaknesses or unusual aspects

• Identify weaknesses or unusual aspects in your application—e.g., a significant drop in your GPA during a term; weak GRE scores; changes in your academic trajectory, etc. Don’t ignore them, because ignoring them might be interpreted as blind spots for you. If you’re unsure if a particular issue is significant enough to address, seek advice from faculty mentors.
• Explain how you’ll improve and strengthen those areas or work around your weakness. Determine how you will address them in a positive light, e.g., by discussing how you overcame obstacles through persistence, what you learned from challenges, and how you grew from failures. Focusing on a growth mindset  or grit  and this blog on weaknesses might also help.
• Deal with any significant unusual aspects later in the statement to allow a positive impression to develop first.
• Explain, rather than provide excuses—i.e., address the issue directly and don’t blame others (even if you believe someone else is responsible). Draft it and get feedback from others to see if the explanation is working as you want it to.
• Provide supporting empirical evidence if possible. For example, “Adjusting to college was a major step for me, coming from a small high school and as a first-generation college student. My freshman GPA was not up to par with my typical achievements, as demonstrated by my improved  GPA of 3.8 during my second and third years in college."
• Be concise (don’t dwell on the issues), but also be complete (don’t lead to other potentially unanswered questions). For example, if a drop in grades during a term was due to a health issue, explain whether the health issue is recurring, managed now with medication, resolved, etc.

2. Explain your commitment to research and their graduate program, including your motivation for why you are applying to this graduate program at this university. Be as specific as possible. Identify several faculty members with whom you are interested in working, and explain why their research interests you.

• Descriptions of your commitment should explain why you’re passionate about this particular academic field and provide demonstrations of your commitment with stories (e.g., working long hours to solve a problem, overcoming challenges in research, resilience in pursuing problems). Don’t merely assert your commitment.
• Explain why you are applying to graduate school, as opposed to seeking a professional degree or a job. Discuss your interest and motivation for grad school, along with your future career aspirations.

I am definitely not your traditional graduate student. As a biracial (Native American and white), first-generation PhD student from a military family, I had very limited guidance on how best to pursue my education, especially when I decided that graduate school was a good idea. I ended up coming to this PhD in a very circuitous manner, stopping first to get a JD and, later, an MFA in Young Adult Literature. With each degree, I took time to work and apply what I’d learned, as a lawyer and as an educator. Each time, I realized that I was circling around questions that I couldn’t let go of—not just because I found them to be fascinating, but because I did (and still do!) feel that my research could help to bridge a gap that desperately needs bridging. Because my work is quite interdisciplinary, I strongly feel that I wouldn’t have been able to pursue this line of research without the degrees and life experience I gained before coming to this program.

— Jamie Fine, PhD candidate in Modern Thought and Literature

Statement of Purpose: subtle aspects

• Think in terms of engaging faculty in a conversation rather than pleading with them that you should be admitted. Ask reviewers to read drafts with this concern in mind.
• With later drafts, try developing an overall narrative theme. See if one emerges as you work.
• Write at least 10 drafts and expect your thinking and the essay to change quite a bit over time.
• Read drafts out loud to help you catch errors.
• Expect the "you' that emerges in your essay to be incomplete. . . that’s OK.
• You’re sharing a professional/scholarly slice of "you."
• Avoid humor (do you really know what senior academics find funny?) and flashy openings and closings. Think of pitching the essay to an educated person in the field, but not necessarily in your specialty. Avoid emotionally laden words (such as "love" or "passion"). Remember, your audience is a group of professors! Overly emotional appeals might make them uncomfortable. They are looking for scholarly colleagues.

© Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

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Personal Statement

7 Things to Avoid in Your Personal Statement

🚫 make sure you're not doing anything from this list..

If you're still writing your essay, start with this guide on writing a personal statement . But if you have a first draft, then go through this checklist and make sure you're NOT doing any of these 7 things.

1. Whining. Don't whine in your essay! Definitely talk about challenges you've faced in your life, and how you've grown, but don't spend too much time talking about how tough you've had it. You're not looking for pity; you're looking for respect. Take a look at this paragraph:

"Every time he cries, no matter what the reason is, my parents always blame me for making him cry. I have tasted the injustice, but I cannot do anything to it. Since the birth of my brother, half of my time has been spent on him instead of hanging out with friends after school. My mom has stopped attending anything related to my education. I feel like I am not only the foreigner to this country, but also to this family that I belong to. My family always tells me that it is my responsibility to care about my brother, meaning I need to fill out every form for him, everything!"

See how it just feels like a list of complaints? Avoid doing this.

2. Someone else is the hero. Your essay might talk about someone else in your life who has had a positive or negative influence on you. But, make sure you're still the hero of the story! If you have more than 1-2 paragraphs talking about someone else, you might need to rewrite your essay. Take a look at this paragraph:

"Ultimately, my sister did a lot of seemingly spontaneous and irrational things. But, I realized these moments were some of the most satisfying and transformative moments growing up. I realized that my sister’s humor worked its way into my heart and loosened the constraints I put myself through previously. Progressively, I went from somebody who, in their frantic, stressed life, became discouraged when not getting what they expect to someone who finds value in every moment."

Tbh, the sister in this story seems the most interesting - as a reader, I want to know more about her. She seems pretty cool. On the flip side, we haven't learned much about the narrator.

3. Reads like a resume. Your resume is like the polished, fancy version of you. Your essay is your chance to be honest, personal, and vulnerable. Don't list off your accomplishments and only focus on all the shiny, good parts of your life. Give the reader a chance to connect with you.

Don't fake smile - be your true, authentic self.

4. Lack of focus. This is the most common issue we see. Don't throw in details that aren't relevant to the story you're telling. Every sentence you write should contribute to the overall story you're telling. Take a look at this paragraph:

"After exams, my father took us out to dinner. I cherished every single dish, licking my plate clean while my mother chided me on how improper that is. Back home, she scolded me about tiny stains of food on my shirt, all the while trying to hide a smile. I studied for these moments too. She suffers from depression, so it is rare to see her smile. On an oddly cold Tuesday morning, I got a call from the British Council; I had scored the highest marks in Economics in Pakistan."

See how there are too many distracting details? It's like, each sentence gives us something that we want to know more about, but then just moves on. Why does the narrator cherish each dish? How has his mother's depression affected him? Unless you're planning to dig deep into details like these, don't include them.

Stay focused! Don't try to do too many things at once.

5. Leaves out personal growth. If your essay is about overcoming a challenge or changing as a person, make sure you focus the bulk of your essay on how you grew and changed. Don't just brush over it. Check out these paragraphs:

"After a male teacher directly asked if synchronized swimming took any effort, I vowed never to tell another soul about my sport. My floral swim cap, which once stood proudly on my dresser like a brightly colored flag, slowly inched its way deeper into my dresser. Now at sixteen, I have accepted my existence in floral swim caps."

See how we're set up to learn how the narrator changed? She talks about how she was hiding herself and her passions. But, then she never actually talks about the process of accepting herself. What happened? Did she find support from her friends? Did winning a competition change her perspective? But she never addresses it, and just says that she accepts herself now.

Don't hide the tough moments or challenges - overcoming obstacles in your life make you who you are, and this essay is about sharing who you are.

6. Overcomplicated language. Don't overcomplicate your sentences. Don't use super long sentences - limit it to 2 independent clauses per sentence unless you have a REALLY good reason for something longer.

And try not to sound like a thesaurus. Don't say things like "I was already being informed about the divergent underlying notions encompassing gender." Just say "I was already learning about the different expectations for different genders."

Be you, don't be pretentious.

7. Incorrect grammar or spelling. Check your grammar! Use spellcheck or grammarly to make sure you don't have any grammar issues in your essay.

Now, make sure you also know the 5 things you SHOULD do in your personal statement.

MORE GUIDES

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15 Tips for Writing a Strong Personal Statement

This is a bit late, but for those of you who are still working on your personal statements or don't plan to apply until next year, hope these tips will help you!

1) Answer the prompt

The AMCAS prompt reads “Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to medical school.” This is, hands down, the shortcoming I’ve seen the most of. I’ve read quite a few essays where the applicant's way of answering the prompt was by retelling a patient encounter that really inspired them. While that’s great, that doesn’t quite answer the prompt.

You can be inspired by a patient as a medical assistant or a scribe, and you can love working with patients, but that explains why you want to go into healthcare. After all, you can continue working with patients in your current position. If you love helping people and making fulfilling connections, you can do that as a psychologist or a social worker. You don’t need to explicitly say why you don’t want to go into other fields, but it does need to be clear why you specifically want to be a physician . The question you want to address is this: “What can’t you do right now that a doctor can do? How would going to medical school allow you to benefit others?”

2) Start early

When you first start shadowing and/or taking care of patients, write down any patient encounter that stands out to you or made an impact on you. This way, you’ll hopefully have a good variety of anecdotes to draw from for not just when you write your personal statement, but also when you go to medical school interviews.By accruing anecdotes early on, when it’s time to write your personal statement, you can see which experiences would be most powerful and would be more likely to tell your story to medical schools. Additionally, because our memories tend to falter over time, you’ll be able to draw from specific details because you’ve already written them down rather than trying to remember what happened a few months or years later

3) Addressing writer’s block

Your goal isn’t to write well, it’s to think well - Admissions committees understand that you’re not a journalist or an author. The goal here is to persuade and to express, and you can do that without delving in the complexities and formalities of writing.Write down your reasons for wanting to pursue medicine, and set up an outline. Then, forget all the formal rules and just let the words flow out. You’re not going to write a perfect personal statement the first time you set pen to paper, and that’s okay. That’s what revisions and edits are for.

4) Organize

General format of an essay The general format of an essay starts off with the intro paragraph, followed by two or three body paragraphs, and ending with a concluding paragraph. It’s up to you how you want to organize the order of your paragraphs. A common one is through chronological order, but you can always write your experiences from least impact to most impactful or in some other order, so long as the ideas flow well from one to the next.If you do choose to write chronologically, there’s no need to write an origin story of what got you initially interested in medicine if that story isn’t a compelling one. There’s nothing wrong with jumping into the middle of your journey and writing from there--we won’t know the difference.

Have a compelling hook - In the intro, you start off with the hook, which is the starting sentence that’s written to engage the viewer. As the name implies, the hook should hook the viewer’s attention and make them want to keep reading. A good way to write a hook is to describe a specific scenario rather than jump into why you want to pursue medicine.

Intro paragraph - This generally includes the thesis, the main idea of your personal statement. Without needing to go into details yet, the reader should have an idea of why you want to pursue medicine within the first paragraph.

Body paragraph - Start off with the topic sentence that touches upon the point you’ll be discussing through the rest of the paragraph. Then you have the body of the paragraph, which is essentially the middle section where you go into details. And then you end with a concluding sentence, wrapping up the ideas that you wrote about in the paragraph.

Concluding paragraph The conclusion should briefly summarize your reasons for wanting to go into medicine. A nice way to tie it up would be to connect your conclusion back to some other part of your essay, or to expand upon an idea--but doing so without bringing up any new ideas.

5) Ensure fluidity - With each new paragraph or idea, you want to make sure that you have a proper transition. For example, common ones are “Furthermore,” “On the other hand,” etc. Just something to indicate that you’re either elaborating on a topic or going into another topic.You can also use chronological transitions, such as “Once I moved away for college,” “When I first started working as a CNA,” etc. Regardless of what transition you use, the idea here is to connect different topics so that you’re not jumping from one to the next and confusing the reader.Furthermore, another way to ensure fluidity is to write in the same tense. So you don’t want to jump from past tense to present tense and back again. And of course, once you’re done writing, you want to get rid of any grammatical errors because that can undermine the reading experience as well.

6) Be aware of your audience

Avoid controversial topics - Just as people are advised not to bring politics into the workplace, you have to be wary of the topics you choose to discuss in your personal statement. For instance, abortion is a hotly debated topic in healthcare. Regardless of where you stand on it, writing about an abortion case may upset some readers.Think about how your personal statement would read from the perspective of an admissions committee. Since you don’t know who’ll be reading your essay, it’s best to err on the side of caution.

Don’t use medical jargon - Yes, there will be some admissions committee members that are physicians, but there are others that are researchers or other faculty. Don’t use medical jargon unless you explain what those terms mean. Along the same lines, unless it’s clear that the majority of readers would understand what you’re saying, make sure you elaborate on any complex ideas or words.

If using acronyms, write them out first - Not everyone will know what a PA or an MA or a CNA is. So it’s best to first write out a physician assistant, medical assistant, certified nursing assistant, etc. After writing out the full title, then you can add parentheses afterwards to denote the use of abbreviations from now on. This will ensure you don’t confuse any readers.

7) Show rather than tell, and be specific

As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Any applicant can say they’re kind and compassionate in a personal statement, but not everyone has experiences showing that they embody these qualities. Describe your actions and allow the readers to understand the positive qualities you possess without explicitly saying them. Oftentimes, the stronger message lies in between the lines.

Furthermore, by being specific and retelling a patient encounter, you add a unique story to your personal statement. Many students have similar experiences. The problem is that many of the lessons they learned will be the same: they learned about the value of connecting with patients, the importance of teamwork, etc. By telling the reader what you learned or why you’re passionate, you risk losing yourself amidst the mass of other applicants who can say the exact same thing.

By writing about a specific patient encounter, you’re able to describe an experience that is solely unique to you and let the lessons speak for themselves. After all, a million people can work as a medical assistant, but each one will have a different experience. The way you write about and show this experience will be how you make your personal statement stand out from the rest.Tips on how to show rather than tell:

Focus on objective statements - Avoid talking about emotions explicitly, like saying something was done “with excitement,” “with sadness,” etc. With excitement or with sadness doesn’t paint a clear picture because people show emotions in different ways. Instead, use commonly known actions that are used to express emotions to show these emotions rather than explicitly describing them.

Avoid adverbs; instead, use strong verbs - For instance, instead of saying “He angrily took back the paper.” You can say “He ripped the paper out of my hands.” Use different verbs to denote positive or negative emotions rather than explicitly saying what you or someone else felt.

Elaborate on relevant descriptions - Describe the scene so that the reader can get a clear sense of what’s going on. One way to do this is to include sensory details--what did the environment look like? Smell like? Taste like? Feel like? Sound like? You don’t need to include descriptions for all of the senses, but if you’re struggling to think about what details you can include, answering those questions in your writing can help you describe a scenario.

However, you only want to elaborate on relevant descriptions. Just writing about the color of the wall or whether someone smelled nice without relating it to the story you’re trying to tell doesn’t exactly strengthen any points. And when every word counts, you want to make sure that you’re either using your words to answer the prompt or strengthen your story. Otherwise, revise it.

8) Incorporate variety

Sentence variety - Many of the personal statements that I’ve read are riddled with run-on sentences. I understand that you have many ideas that you want to elaborate upon, but you can still do that by using appropriate semicolons and commas, and dividing long sentences into two or more shorter ones. This is especially true when describing a patient encounter or a scenario that’s filled with action.

Experience variety - Taking care of patients is a major component of medicine, but there are other components as well. If you’ve already discussed clinical experience in one paragraph, don’t be afraid to talk about research experience, volunteer experience, or other experiences so long as they relate back to the prompt. They give you the opportunity to display other facets of your personality and your reasons for wanting to pursue medicine, as well as add more diverse and interesting components to your personal statement.

9) Don’t be repetitive - I often read essays where the author writes about their job duties or that they learned about the different parts of the heart in their anatomy class. Don’t tell me about anything that can be found in your resume, your activities section, or any other part of the medical school application. Each individual section of your application is an opportunity to showcase a different side of you. Don’t waste that opportunity by reiterating the same information that can be found elsewhere. By doing that, you’ll also bore your reader.

10) Don’t speak negatively

Don’t speak negatively of any healthcare provider A common example I see of why someone wants to go into healthcare is that they were a patient themselves or knew someone who was a patient, and the physician in charge of their care didn’t treat them well. So then they’re like I want to go into medicine because I was upset about my lack of proper care, and I want to become a doctor so that I can do better and ensure everyone gets treated well.By writing this as your reason, you’ve just implicitly revealed yourself to be petty and/or resentful. No one wants a doctor who chose to enter this profession just so that they could show they were better than other people.

If that truly is your reason for wanting to pursuing medicine, think of something that that physician did well that may have also inspired you. For example, maybe you thought they were impatient and had a short temper with you (don't mention this part though), but you were impressed with how quickly they were able to diagnose and treat you. Or maybe there was another physician you admired.

Focus on what they did well, and how that made a difference in your life and set you on the path to recovery. Concentrate on what was done properly and what positive emotions that doctor’s actions elicited, and use those reasons to explain why you want to be a doctor who can do the same for future patients.

Don’t speak negatively of yourself Another common introduction I see is how the applicant didn’t know what they wanted to do for the majority of their life or that they hadn’t always wanted to be a doctor unlike their pre-med peers or that their parents forced them into it but they eventually grew to be passionate about it.

The prompt asks why you want to be a doctor, not why you didn’t want to be a doctor and then changed your mind. Giving admissions the idea that you were pressured into this profession and don’t actually care about patients but instead just want to make money, you’re painting yourself in a negative light as an applicant. Remember, you want the reader to like you and to think you would become a good doctor. Be honest about your mistakes and shortcomings, but don’t focus on your negative traits.

Expanding upon the notion of not speaking negatively of yourself, you want to lead with positive phrases. For example, you would lead with the negative by saying “I was sad, but my resolve strengthened over time.” Instead, you can say “My resolve strengthened to replace my distress.” It’s a slight difference, but it shines a better light on you by highlighting the positive aspects first. Take any chance you can to emphasize your positive qualities and encourage the reader to think of you as someone they would want to accept to their school.

Don’t speak negatively of others - Don’t write about patients as though you’re above them. As a healthcare professional, you have the opportunity to help others in need, but that doesn’t make you superior in any way. This particularly applies to talking about those with different physical / mental abilities.

11) Discussing challenges

Don’t make it a sob story - Whatever negative experience you had, write about it in a sentence or two. Don’t make it a sob story. Everyone has failed or struggled sometime in their life. You writing about a terrible experience doesn’t set you out from anyone else. Instead, write about what you learned from that experience, and what you consequently did as a result of that lesson.

If, however, the hardship you experienced was related to medicine, then you can write more about it. For instance, I’ve read quite a few essays of applicants who struggled financially or lived in underprivileged communities. Because of that, they were able to get a better understanding of how healthcare tends to be of poorer quality in those communities, and that understanding subsequently inspired them to want to be a doctor so that they can provide quality care to their own communities. You still want it to be rather short and concise when you describe your own challenges so that it doesn’t become a sob story, but you can elaborate more on what you learned and how that made you a more empathetic person or how that inspired you to want to pursue medicine.

Don’t write about anything you wouldn’t be willing to discuss in interviews - Anything that you include in your personal statement and med school application is fair game for interviews. If an interviewer has taken the time to read through your entire application, then it’s only fair that they get to ask you for clarification on any part of that application. So if talking about a certain challenge will bring back too many negative emotions and make it hard for you to maintain your composure during the interview, don’t mention that challenge in your personal statement or application.

12) Be concise and deliberate

Make the word limit count. Everybody has enough life experience to write more than the word limit allows while still remaining concise. With every sentence that you write, ask yourself: “Does this answer the prompt or is it at least relevant to the prompt? Does this strengthen my story?” If the answer is no for either of those two questions, then delete or rewrite that sentence or paragraph.

Don’t rewrite the same thing - For example, don’t write “In my opinion, I think.” You’re using different words to essentially say the same thing, and as a result, you’re not being resourceful with your word count. On that note, don’t even include phrases like “In my opinion” or “I think.” Instead of saying “I think it’s important that all patients are taken care of,” you can say “It’s important that all patients are taken care of.” Something being important is a matter of opinion and clearly not a fact. So the “I think” is implied and you don’t need to explicitly say it.

Be aware of your word choice - You can use different words to say similar things, but even words that are synonyms can be different in regards to the tone they set. For example, “I crashed into his car” implies a more severe accident than “I hit his car” or “I bumped into his car.” Even though they all tell the reader that one car drove into another car, the tone of each description is different.

Don’t use flowery language - Admissions committees can tell when you’ve essentially just puked up Thesaurus.com all over your personal statement. Don’t use any complex terms when simpler ones will do just fine. It’s not your expansive vocabulary that will impress them, but rather, how you choose to write.

Include patient names - For privacy reasons, you may want to change a patient’s name. However, you don’t want to say Patient X. People connect with names, not by being called “some guy” or “some girl,” but by the name that they’ve had their whole life.Similarly, you don’t want to say “the patient” or “Patient X” because that takes away any personal connection that the reader may feel with this patient. And remember, humans are, at the end of the day, emotional creatures. Readers will be more likely to remember a personal statement that resonated on a personal level with them.

Furthermore, going back to being concise, you can just write quotations around the patient name to indicate that that’s not their real name. You don’t need to say “The patient, who we’ll call Annie.” Just write “Annie” in quotations the first time you write her name.

13) Make logical conclusions

Creativity vs cohesion - There’s nothing wrong with creativity. When done right, it can really make a personal statement more unique and interesting to read. However, you want to avoid creativity for the sake of creativity--remember that regardless of what you write about or how you write about it, your words should always relate back to medicine and why you want to get into medical school.

Make connections for the reader rather than expecting them to do this themselves

Don’t write about an example or a patient encounter and assume the lesson or what you gained from that experience is evident to the reader. It’s important that you explain the lessons you learned or the impact you made, especially if you’re making bold claims for either of these components.

Don’t be the hero

Small interactions with other people can make a really big impact on their lives, but this is often rare. When you think about the day-to-day interactions in your life, chances are there aren’t many moments that stand out to you. And that’s the nature of how our brain works--if everything was important, nothing would be important because that would take too much cognitive effort to compute. So don’t write about your interactions as if you completely changed a patient’s life.

14) Rewrite and recheck

Get feedback from various people Get feedback from friends, family, etc. It may not be a bad idea to ask a willing acquaintance for their opinion as well as they’d be less biased. If you know someone in the healthcare field or someone who majors in English or writing, that may be beneficial as either of those parties will have had experience with this.

You want to be receptive to their criticism and always express your gratitude, but also be aware of the source and the value of the criticism. Just because a suggestion is made doesn’t mean that it’ll be beneficial for you to implement that suggestion, so take time to ponder others’ advice with a grain of salt.

Recheck everything And I do mean everything. Check for grammar, fluidity, organization, etc. Does each sentence make sense? Does each sentence have a purpose? And going back to the most important question you can ask yourself: does it relate back to the prompt?

Take some time away from your personal statement. Similar to how if you spend enough time with another person, you don’t really notice how they change over time. But if you visit a relative who you haven’t seen in awhile, they’ll be like oh my, you’ve gotten fat. Along the same line, when you take time away from your personal statement, you can look at what you’ve written with a fresh perspective and have a better idea of what you can change to improve your essay.

15) If you have space, talk about what you can offer

Medical schools want to admit students that they believe will become good physicians. What positive qualities can you contribute to not only the medical school, but to the medical field as a whole? What lessons can you teach? What ideas and qualities do you want to see more in the field of healthcare?

Alright, those are my tips for writing a strong personal statement. Remember, your personal statement is your chance to highlight your strengths as an individual. Don't give them reason to doubt your desire and/or ability to become a physician.

Best of luck :)

• What to include in a personal statement

Applying to university

• Getting started
• UCAS Tariff points
• Calculate your UCAS Tariff points
• Amendments to the Tariff consultation
• Offer rate calculator
• How to use the offer rate calculator
• Understanding historical entry grades data
• Admissions tests
• Deferred entry
• Personal statement advice and example: computer science
• Personal statement advice: English
• Personal statement advice: Midwifery
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• Personal statement advice: biology
• Personal statement advice: business and management
• Personal statement advice: chemistry
• Personal statement advice: dance
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• Personal statement advice: law
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• Personal statement advice: media studies and journalism
• Personal statement advice: medicine
• Personal statement advice: modern languages
• Personal statement advice: music
• Personal statement advice: nursing
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• Personal statement advice: physiotherapy
• Personal statement advice: politics
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• Personal statement advice: social work
• Personal statement advice: sociology
• Personal statement advice: sports science
• Personal statement advice: statistics
• Personal statement advice: teacher training and education
• Personal statement advice: veterinary medicine
• Personal statement: finance and accounting
• Filling in your application
• Staying safe online
• How to write a personal statement that works for multiple courses
• How To Write Your Undergraduate Personal Statement
• Fraud and similarity
• How to start a personal statement: The attention grabber
• How to end your personal statement
• Introducing the personal statement tool
• Personal statement dos and don'ts
• Using AI and ChatGPT to help you with your personal statement
• Using your personal statement beyond a university application
• Carers, estranged students, refugees, asylum seekers, and those with limited leave to remain
• Personal statement guides
• References for mature students

How to stand out

With admissions tutors reading hundreds of personal statements, how can you make sure you stand out and are remembered? 

Here, we’re going to share with you the five things every personal statement should include. We’ve spoken to advisors from many universities and colleges, so the information is coming directly from those who read them.

Liz Bryan, HE Coordinator and Careers Adviser Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington

Can i include quotes in my personal statement.

Joseph Bolton, Second Year History and Politics, University of Liverpool

Be uniquely you, show not tell, unapologetic passion, humble confidence, should i talk about my qualifications.

Kate McBurnie, First Year student in French, Italian and Theatre

Apprentice_studying.jpg, more advice.

Use the UCAS’ personal statement tool alongside this guide to help you structure your ideas. Read our full guide on How to write an undergraduate personal statement . Read out full guide on How to write a postgraduate personal statement . Check out our full list of Personal Statement Dos and Don’ts . Get advice on How to start a personal statement: the attention grabber . Read our full guide on How to finish your statement the right way.

Sponsored articles UCAS Media Service

Apprenticeships – the facts, three reasons you should attend a ucas exhibition, degrees focusing on your employability.

Undergraduate Admission

Application requirements & enhancements.

Our admission counselors review each application carefully, taking into consideration your academic background, life experiences and interests. We don’t have a minimum test score or GPA range to gauge your potential for admission, but there are some things that can make you a stronger candidate.

Required for admission consideration

We look for students who have been successful in a variety of challenging courses, especially those that are above and beyond what’s required for graduation. And we understand every school is different, so we evaluate your transcript specifically against your high school's curriculum.

Prior to high school graduation, we require you to complete a minimum of:

• English: 4 years
• Math: 3 years
• Science: 3 years (2 must be laboratory science)
• Social studies: 3 years
• Foreign language: 2 years

If you're interested in engineering or the sciences, we recommend an additional year of math and laboratory science. Leaning more toward the liberal arts? We’d suggest another year of social studies and foreign language.

Application essay

All first-year students must complete an essay via the Common App or Coalition with Scoir. What you share in your essay is completely up to you—it should be about conveying who you are to the admission staff. No matter the topic, personalize it. Add a part of you into the piece, and make it genuine.

Arts Supplement Required for music majors and those who are pursing a Arts Achievement Scholarship in either music or art studio

Applicants who are required to submit an Arts Supplement will see this required checklist item on their applicant status portal. Students must upload their portfolio materials using the portfolio updater prior to completing the Arts Supplement. You can access the portfolio uploader by logging into your applicant portal using your CWRU Network ID and clicking Edit Portfolio.

The Arts Supplement is optional for all other applicants. (More on that below.)

Opportunities to enhance your application

We understand there may be more you want to share with us than can fit neatly on the Common App or Coalition with Scoir. Though not required as part of their application, some students choose to share additional information that may possibly strengthen their application and help us get to know them better. We welcome you to share such information with us.

Optional ways to enhance your application include the following:

Test-optional policy

Case Western Reserve University is test-optional.  Read about our test-optional policy .

We “superscore” our students’ test results, which means we take your best scores on each section of the SAT and ACT. If you took a test more than once, you will be evaluated on the highest score you received in each individual section of the exam.

Here’s a look at admitted student statistics for the Class of 2025:

Middle 50% 

• SAT Total: 1420-1510
• ACT Composite: 32-35
• Unweighted GPA: 3.6–4.0
• Test optional: 42%

Ordinarily, scores for standardized tests taken in November of your senior year arrive in time for Early Action or Early Decision I deadlines, and scores for tests taken in January arrive in time for Early Decision II or Regular Decision consideration.

To ensure your application can be fully reviewed in time for your chosen decision plan, you should take tests by the following dates:

• Nov. 30 : Early Action, Early Decision I and Pre-Professional Scholars Program applicants
• Dec. 31 : Early Decision II and Regular Decision applicants

Share your talents

Arts Supplements are required for music and music education majors and available to all applicants. If you intend to submit an arts supplement, be sure to indicate this on your application.

The arts supplement is due 15 days after the application deadline and can be completed via your applicant portal .  For detailed information:

Scholarship Audition and Portfolio Requirements

• Prepare two contrasting monologues, one Shakespeare and one contemporary, not to exceed a total time of four minutes. You may also prepare 16 bars of any song, but this is not required. If possible, please present a headshot and resume at the audition.

A portfolio presentation is needed for the directing concentration. Your portfolio should consist of the following:

• A one-page resume documenting your theater experience (directing, acting, playwriting, design, stage management, etc.).
• A one- to two- page director’s concept for a published play or musical that you would be interested in directing, detailing your vision for the show (characters, moods and tones, visual aspects) in addition to what you would want the audience to take away from the production in terms of its central themes and ideas.
• Production photos from previous projects you have directed (if applicable, not required).
• You should be prepared to speak about your interest and passion for directing as well as your previous directing and/or theater experience.

Dramatic Writing/Playwriting

• Submit a 20-page sample of your work in either playwriting or screenwriting (or both) at least one week before the interview date. This can include either an excerpt from a full-length work or a combination of shorter pieces, such as 10-minute plays or short-film scripts. While dramatic writing is preferred, you may also submit other examples of your creative writing, such as short stories, poetry, essays, etc.

Stage Management

• Bring your stage management binders, copies of scripts you have worked on (with cues written in), paperwork related to the show, and any other evidence of skills related to stage management such as organization, managing/coordinating large groups of people, multitasking and communication.
• A one-page resume of experience in theater is required. You may also include experience in a related field, such as art, architecture, graphics or photography. Additionally, a statement of intent—even if that statement is exploratory—should be provided. Other materials may include a portfolio demonstrating skills in theater (renderings, sketches, paperwork, scale drawings, production photos, etc.) and related areas (artwork, photography, drawing, drafting, computer graphics, etc.). The portfolio may be in scrapbook format. Art projects or model-making could substitute or be included with the other requirements. The material should be organized into some kind of cohesive presentation, with identifying labels for references. The interviewer will retain a copy of your resume but will not keep your portfolio. Portfolio is for presentation purposes only.
• Submit a video and complete an online questionnaire for pre-screening by dance department faculty. The video submission should be 90 seconds to three minutes in length, and you should be clearly visible. Do not submit ensemble footage. Video may be from technique class or performance.
• Submit a portfolio PowerPoint consisting of 24 pieces of your work. Each image credit line should include the name of the piece, the dimensions, the material, media and the date completed. (For example: Self-Portrait, 18” x 24”, media soft pastel on paper, fall 2021.) If you are showing three-dimensional work, i.e. sculpture or pottery, you may want to show two different views, front and side, etc. You may also want to choose to photograph a specific detail.
• Autobiography : A short (250-word) essay, citing your course of study in the visual arts. Include any special out-of-school activities, i.e., art camp, working as a teaching assistant doing creative activities, or private art lessons. Describe both your junior high and high school art experiences, courses that you took, and subjects that you studied.
• Program of study : A separate, short (250-word) essay of what you hope to gain participating in our program in Art History and Art. You may want to consult the Art History and Art website for courses that are available for you to take.

Tell us more about yourself

Additional materials can be shared through a form on your applicant portal. You can use this opportunity to share videos, web links, PDFs, documents, photos and more.

Some students use this as an opportunity to add additional context to their application with materials like:

• Additional letters of recommendation
• Research abstracts
• ACT writing tests
• Schoolhouse.world tutor transcripts
• Predicted IB results
• Though not all may be eligible for college credit at CWRU, these test scores can still enhance your application. You can send scores directly to us or self-report them via your portal.

Anything you have that can help us know you better and understand the contributions you can make to our campus are welcome and appreciated.  

Negotiating NYC rent wasn’t as hard as I thought

Can ai help you negotiate with your landlord, always try negotiating these things, too, i found the secret to negotiating my nyc rent. write an email.

Yes, my landlord actually lowered the proposed rent increase on our Brooklyn apartment.

Katherine Watt

Katherine Watt is a CNET Money writer focusing on mortgages, home equity and banking. She previously wrote about personal finance for NextAdvisor. Based in New York, Katherine graduated summa cum laude from Colgate University with a bachelor's degree in English literature.

Laura Michelle Davis

Laura is a professional nitpicker and good-humored troubleshooter with over 10 years of experience in print and digital publishing. Before becoming an editor with CNET, she worked as an English teacher, Spanish medical interpreter, copy editor and proofreader. She is a fearless but flexible defender of both grammar and weightlifting, and firmly believes that technology should serve the people. Her first computer was a Macintosh Plus.

CNET staff -- not advertisers, partners or business interests -- determine how we review the products and services we cover. If you buy through our links, we may get paid.

Though I write about the housing market and mortgages for a living, I’m a Gen Zer renting my first New York City apartment. I’m also new to the workforce and living in a Brooklyn neighborhood where the median rent is above $4,000. 

Housing is unaffordable right now, for both renters and buyers. Personal finance experts often recommend that you avoid spending more than 30% of your pretax income on housing. But that’s usually out of our control. And when you don’t live in a rent-stabilized property in NYC, your housing expenses could increase hundreds of dollars with each lease renewal. 

I learned that the hard way. 

When our lease was up in April, my roommate and I saw that our landlord was proposing a 4.5% annual increase, raising our rent by $200 a month, and costing us each an additional $1,200 over the next year. 

We could’ve easily accepted the increase, but all it took was a bit of research, a well-written email and a quick phone call to get our landlord to budge.

Read more: How an Unaffordable Housing Market Leaves the Next Generation Out in the Cold

Since our apartment doesn’t have rent-stabilized protections, there’s no legal limit on how much our landlord can increase our rent. Still, the proposed 4.5% bump was much higher than we expected. 

I knew we’d be leaving money on the table if we didn’t at least try to negotiate. Landlords can often appear superhuman, impervious to normal business haggling. But that’s not always true. Here’s what we did to negotiate our rent.

I did research on average rent increases

I started by researching how much average rents had increased in our Brooklyn neighborhood over the last year. I found that average rental prices went up by less than 3% during that time, giving us pretty good leverage to negotiate. I also noted in my email that a 4.5% increase was above the current pace of inflation , which was at 3.4%.

I built my case as a responsible tenant

In many cases, it’s more convenient for a landlord to renew a lease with a responsible tenant than to deal with a vacancy. My roommate and I always pay our rent on time and in full. We alert management to any issues, like a leaking faucet, to prevent further damage or costs to the building. So we had that going for us. 

I figured it was also worth noting recent issues with the apartment. For instance, last fall, there was some pretty major flooding in our bathroom. We’d been disappointed by how long it took the building super to reply to our requests and follow through on the repairs. 

I was prepared to make concessions 

I knew we wouldn’t be able to avoid a rent increase entirely. So I suggested an increase that I felt was in line with the local rental market, the pace of inflation and our reliable rental history.

Instead of 4.5%, I proposed a 2% increase as our starting point. That left us with some wiggle room in our budgets in case our landlord came back with a higher number.

I wrote a professional email 

After we sent the email, the building’s management took about a week to respond. They asked if we could hop on a brief phone call to discuss the terms of our renewal. Our landlord offered an increase of just above 2%, meaning our rent would be going up only $100 a month as opposed to $200. 

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We didn’t use AI to draft the email to our landlord, but in hindsight, we definitely could have.

When putting together this article, I decided to give Gemini , Google’s AI service, a prompt to see if it could help someone write an email to negotiate rent. The result wasn’t too different from the actual email my roommate and I sent.

Here’s something you can use as a template to negotiate with your landlord if you’re in a similar situation.

Dear [landlord name], 

I hope this email finds you well. 

I am writing to you regarding the upcoming lease renewal for my apartment [your apartment number]. I have been a resident here for [number] years and have always enjoyed living in the building. 

I received the notice of the proposed rent increase to [new rent amount]. Though I understand that rent increases are sometimes necessary, I was hoping we could discuss the possibility of a lower adjustment.

Here are a few reasons for my request:

[State your reason(s) for the negotiation. Here are some options:]

• Market research : I have researched comparable apartments in the area and found that the average rent for similar units is [average rent amount].
• Good tenant history : Throughout my tenancy, I have consistently paid rent on time and in full, taken good care of the apartment, and maintained a positive relationship with you and other residents.
• Financial hardship : [optional -- if applicable, you can briefly explain any financial hardship that makes the increase difficult]
• Alternative : [optional] I would be happy to sign a longer lease term of [number] years in exchange for a smaller rent increase.

I am committed to staying here at [apartment complex name] and believe that a mutually beneficial agreement can be reached. I am open to discussing different options. Thank you for your time and consideration. Please let me know your availability to discuss this further.

You’ll still need to fill in some details, like information about your specific rental market as well as your experience as a tenant. But it’s a great starting point, especially if writing and sending emails gives you anxiety.

The rising cost of living --  for housing, medical expenses and other essentials -- isn’t something we can control. But there are small measures we can take to save money and make informed financial decisions that benefit us in the long run.

You’re allowed to ask questions about the bills you receive and advocate for yourself. It won’t eliminate high costs altogether, but it could help you keep more money in your pocket.  

Here are some other costs that are worth negotiating: 

Medical bills and health care costs

You can contact your health care provider, insurer or hospital to negotiate medical costs . Your provider may lower your bill, offer a payment plan or provide financial assistance if you’re a low-income patient or uninsured. Always carefully review your medical bills and look for mistakes, and if you have any questions about the charges, ask your provider. 

Credit card fees and interest

You may be able to get a better interest rate or reduced fees by simply calling your credit card issuer . Before you hop on the phone, though, be sure to research your account’s history and terms, in addition to competing credit card offers, so you can make a strong argument. 

Cable, internet and phone 

Cable , internet and phone providers often lure you in with a low introductory rate. But after a year, your price goes up. You can either contact your provider to see if it has any deals available, or mention you’re considering canceling your service. Your provider would rather keep you as a customer for a lower price than lose your business altogether. 

Self-advocacy is an underrated personal finance tool. I avoided spending an extra $1,200 this year by speaking up for myself. And I won’t be afraid to do it again when my internet provider’s promotional offer expires this summer.

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This Father's Day, share a touching message with these 30 dad quotes

No matter the date, it's important to express appreciation and gratitude toward loved ones. But sometimes, the calendar reminds us of an extra special day to honor certain people in our lives.

The third Sunday of June is when we celebrate dads and father figures. Father's Day dates back to 1910 and was created by Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, according to the History Channel. Today, the holiday continues Dodd's mission to honor the " loving service " of fathers.

So if you're looking for kind and thoughtful words to share, or write on a card, here are some for this Father's Day.

Father's Day, fatherhood quotes

• "When my father didn't have my hand, he had my back." – Linda Poindexter
• "My mother gave me my drive, but my father gave me my dreams. Thanks to him, I could see a future." – Liza Minnelli
• "Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad, and that’s why I call you dad, because you are so special to me." – Wade Boggs
• "When you’re young, you think your dad is Superman. Then you grow up, and you realize he’s just a regular guy who wears a cape." – Dave Attell
• "I feel that the greatest gift that I can give my children is the freedom to be who they are." – Will Smith
• "To her, the name of father was another name for love." – Fanny Fern
• "My father was an amazing man. The older I got, the smarter he got." – Mark Twain
• "I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom." – Umberto Eco , "Foucault’s Pendulum"
• "Dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn’t teach me everything he knows." – Al Unser
• "My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." – Clarence B. Kelland
• "I realized being a father is the greatest job I have ever had and the greatest job I will ever have." – Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
• "Great fathers don't find fault. Great fathers find solutions." – Reed Markham
• "What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child - it's the courage to raise one." – President Barack Obama
• "The imprint of a father remains forever on the life of the child." – Roy Lessin
• "The power of dad in a child's life is unmatched." – Justin Ricklefs
• "Fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man." – Frank Pittman
• "The nature of fatherhood is that you’re doing something that you’re unqualified to do, and then you become qualified when you do it." – John Green
• "Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventures, story-tellers, and singers of songs." – Pam Brown
• "There's nothing more contagious than the dignity of a father." – Amit Ray , "World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird"
• "What makes a good father? A good father sets an example that his children want to follow. A good father provides for the needs of his children – both material and non-material. A good father demonstrates his love in both words and actions. A good father provides guidance in a positive fashion." –  Rob Kozak , "Finding Fatherhood"
• "The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature." – Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles
• "Being a great father is like shaving. No matter how good you shaved today, you have to do it again tomorrow." –  Reed B. Markham
• "My father had taught me – mostly by example – that if a man wanted to be in charge of his life, he had to be in charge of his problems." – Stephen King , "Joyland"
• "Life doesn't come with an instruction book; that's why we have fathers." – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
• "A father is the one friend upon whom we can always rely." –   Émile Gaboriau
• "The best fathers have the softest, sweetest hearts. In other words, great dads are real marshmallows." – Richelle E. Goodrich , "Slaying Dragons"
• "There's something beautiful about a mothers embrace. And there's something magical about a fathers affirmations." – Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr.
• "My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me." – Jim Valvano
• "Lately all my friends are worried they're turning into their fathers. I'm worried I'm not." – Dan Zevin
• "Of all the titles that I've been privileged to have, the title of 'dad' has always been the best." – Ken Norton

Looking for more? 50 positive life quotes to inspire, and lift your spirit each day

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Free Mission Statement Template (With Examples)

Published: Jun 14, 2024, 12:00pm

Table of Contents

What is a mission statement, why a mission statement is important, mission vs. vision statement, mission statement examples, key components of a mission statement, mission statement template, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Crafting a compelling mission statement is a critical task for any business or organization, as it defines the core of what they stand for and aim to achieve. With the right guidance and a clear mission statement template, you can easily create one that resonates with your values and aspirations.

In this article, you will learn the essential elements that make up a powerful mission statement. We will also look at some real-world examples to inspire and guide your mission statement creation. And we will also be sharing a straightforward template to get you started quickly.

Let’s dive in.

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A mission statement describes the purpose and fundamental objectives of an organization. It’s a declaration of the company’s core values and goals, serving as a guidepost for its actions and decisions. Unlike a vision statement, which outlines a future aspiration, a mission statement focuses on the present—the here and now of what an organization does, for whom and why.

A mission statement clearly communicates to stakeholders, employees and customers what the organization stands for and aims to achieve. This clarity can help align internal culture and can be a compelling tool in marketing and branding.

A well-crafted mission statement is more than just a statement of intent; it’s a strategic tool that shapes every aspect of an organization, from internal culture to external communications. It acts as a compass that guides the organization through its journey, ensuring consistency and purpose in all actions. Here are a few major benefits of having a mission statement.

• Defines Purpose and Direction: A mission statement clearly articulates the organization’s core purpose and direction, guiding day-to-day operations and decision-making processes. It ensures that every action aligns with the overarching goals of the organization.
• Enhances Organizational Cohesion: By clearly stating what the organization stands for, a mission statement helps unite team members under a common purpose and set of values. This enhances team cohesion and fosters a strong organizational culture.
• Facilitates Better Decision Making: With a clear mission, organizations can make decisions more effectively. It serves as a criterion to evaluate opportunities and challenges, ensuring that responses align with the organization’s core objectives.
• Improves Transparency and Communication: A mission statement communicates the organization’s purpose and values to all stakeholders, including employees, customers and investors. This transparency can build trust and improve external relationships.
• Increases Employee Engagement and Motivation: Employees are more likely to feel connected and committed to their work when they understand how their efforts contribute to the organization’s larger purpose. A mission statement can boost employee motivation and job satisfaction.
• Guides Marketing and Branding Efforts: The mission statement is a tool in shaping the organization’s brand identity. It helps in creating marketing strategies that reflect the organization’s values and attract customers who share similar beliefs.

While a mission statement describes the organization’s current identity, goals and approach, a vision statement outlines its future aspirations and ultimate goal. Both are essential in providing direction and inspiration, but serve different purposes.

A mission statement defines what an organization does, whom it serves and why it exists. It is a to-the-point declaration of the organization’s core purpose and primary objectives. A mission statement is action-oriented and focuses on how an organization operates in the present. It is grounded in the reality of what the organization is currently doing and is often used as a guide for making decisions and setting the organization’s course. For example, a mission statement might say, “We provide innovative healthcare solutions to improve the quality of life in our community.”

On the other hand, a vision statement is future-oriented. It describes where the organization aspires to be in the future. It’s a source of inspiration and motivation, providing a long-term goal for the organization’s aspirations. Vision statements are about the “next”—they paint a picture of what the future looks like once the organization’s goals are achieved. A vision statement might say, “We aim to be the world leader in healthcare innovation, transforming the everyday health of communities globally.”

Analyzing real-world examples can provide valuable insights into crafting a compelling mission statement. By examining some examples, you can see how each component—purpose, values, goals, target audience and strategy—plays a crucial role in forming a comprehensive and impactful mission statement.

Google: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

This mission statement is a powerful reflection of Google’s expansive role in information technology, highlighting its focus on organizing information and making it accessible.

Nike: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”

Nike’s mission statement is broad yet focused, encapsulating its commitment to inspiration and innovation in sports. It also subtly includes everyone as an athlete, broadening its audience.

Starbucks: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”

Starbucks goes beyond coffee to emphasize community and individual experiences, aligning with its values of connection and quality.

As Google, Nike and Starbucks are fairly popular companies, you can observe how their mission statement encapsulates their essence, ambition and unique approach simultaneously.

Creating an impactful mission statement involves careful consideration of several key elements. These components not only define the essence of an organization but also guide its decision-making processes and strategies. Here are the crucial elements to include:

• Purpose: This is the heart of your mission statement. It answers the fundamental question, “Why does our organization exist?” The purpose should reflect the core reason for the company’s existence beyond just making a profit.
• Values: These are the principles and beliefs that guide an organization’s internal conduct as well as its relationship with the external world. Values are the ethical compass of the company, shaping its culture and public persona.
• Goals: While goals in a mission statement are generally broad and long term, they provide a clear direction for the organization. These objectives should be achievable and reflect the aspirations of the company.
• Target Audience: Identifying the primary stakeholders or audience is crucial. It could be clients, a specific demographic or the community at large. Understanding who you serve helps focus your mission statement.
• Strategy or Approach: This element addresses how the organization plans to achieve its goals and fulfill its purpose. It gives a glimpse into the methods and practices the organization adopts.

Remember, an effective mission statement is concise, clear and inspiring. It should resonate with both internal stakeholders and the external audience.

Here’s a mission statement template structured to help you think through each important aspect of your mission statement, ensuring that the final product is both comprehensive and reflective of your organization’s unique values and objectives.

Purpose (Why We Exist)

[Your Organization’s Name] exists to:

[Briefly describe the core reason for your organization’s existence.] Values (What We Believe In)

Our core values include:

[List two to three key principles or beliefs that guide your organization.] Goals (What We Aim To Achieve)

Our primary goals are:

[List two to three broad objectives your organization is working towards.] Target Audience (Who We Serve)

We are dedicated to serving:

[Describe the specific group(s) or community your organization focuses on.] Strategy/Approach (How We Achieve Our Goals)

To achieve these goals, our approach involves:

[Outline the methods or practices your organization will use to achieve its objectives.] Refinement (Making It Resonate)

[Revise and refine the above components to ensure clarity and cohesion. Aim for a concise, impactful statement that encapsulates the essence of your organization.]

Final Mission Statement:

[Combine the above elements into a final, polished mission statement. It should be a clear, concise statement that reflects the unique identity and direction of your organization.]

Bottom Line

Crafting a mission statement is a vital step in defining the identity and direction of your organization. Using the template provided, you can start working at it right away. But remember to avoid vagueness and over-complication; a mission statement should be clear, specific and easy to understand. Also ensure it aligns with your organization’s actual values and goals, and is realistic and achievable.

Involving various stakeholders in its creation ensures wider acceptance and relevance, so take inputs from stakeholders, clients, employees and customers.

What are the three parts of a mission statement?

A mission statement typically has three key elements: the organization’s purpose , which explains why it exists; its values , representing the core principles guiding its actions and decisions; and its goals , outlining the primary objectives it aims to achieve.

What is a good mission statement format?

A good mission statement format should be clear, concise and inspiring. It should start by stating the organization’s purpose—the core reason for its existence—then articulate its key values or principles and conclude with its primary goals or objectives.

What is a simple mission statement?

A simple mission statement is a brief and clear declaration that outlines an organization’s core purpose, its fundamental values and its primary goals. It succinctly communicates the essence of what the organization stands for and aims to achieve, often in just one or two sentences. For example, a simple mission statement could be, “To provide high-quality, affordable educational resources for lifelong learners worldwide.”

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A seasoned small business and technology writer and educator with more than 20 years of experience, Shweta excels in demystifying complex tech tools and concepts for small businesses. Her work has been featured in NewsWeek, Huffington Post and more. Her postgraduate degree in computer management fuels her comprehensive analysis and exploration of tech topics.