- Be interesting. Interesting content trumps interesting writing style, but style is important. The best culinary dishes not only taste good, but also look good.
- Emphasize what sets you apart from your peers and makes you the ideal candidate.
- Illustrate knowledge and experience, dedication and conviction.
- Connect with your reader on an emotional level.
- Don't use a laundry list form.
- Incorporate a coherent theme. (What’s your overarching message/angle?)
- Skip "Duh" points.
- Use flattery with precision.
- Don't use grandiose statements about "life."
- Open strong, close strong.
- Be interesting - Mention activities/attributes of yours that show you're not just a flat academic type. Ex: "I love to sing. Why? Because it's one of the few activities that help me balance my work and my spiritual side."
- Set yourself apart - What makes you different? Is it just your activities, or do you have more than that? How about (real) life-altering experiences that set you on your current course and made you the best at what you want to do? Ex: "Ten years after my terrifying accident put me into a local ER, I still remember what it felt like to wait forever. As a doctor, I hope never to put others through the same."
- Illustrate - It's easy to say you're experienced and dedicated, which is why saying it isn't enough. Give real, visceral examples of how you earned your experience or showed your dedication. Ex: "My water had run out 12 hours before. My food had run out two days before. I could hardly focus. But when I got the sample, the reason I stayed became clear."
- Emotion - Without turning your personal statement into a novel, be sure to hit on the emotional chords of your audience. Doing so will make your statement much more memorable. Using a story, try to evoke empathy, sadness, joy, or triumph (but never sympathy for you). Make sure this story also illustrates other attributes about you (see above).
- Don't list - One of the best ways to make you invisible is to use a laundry list of your accolades and achievements. Everyone will do this because they believe that cramming as many accolades as possible into a single page makes them look accomplished. You might look accomplished, but you'll also look like everyone else. Choose the accolades you illustrate wisely, and make each one a solid punch that keeps your reader interested and your story in their memory. Avoid bullet lists and a series of paragraphs that are each constructed around a bragging point.
- Your theme - This is a slightly complicated point, but an important one that can really put your personal statement at the top of the pile. A theme is some characteristic about you (like a belief or attribute) that you continually come back to during the course of your statement. The strongest themes are ones that you develop early on in your statement and also close with. Ex: "I believe nothing is more important than detail; each little detail is one more reason to perfect the next one."
- Kill the "Duh" - "Duh" points are anything that you reader already knows or is obvious. Listing off superlatives or the awards the program you're applying has won falls into this category. Avoid saying things like, "Your program interests me greatly." Duh! You wouldn't be applying if you didn't feel that way.
- Precise flattery - Blanket flattery like "Your program is the greatest in the country," is meaningless and will make you look unoriginal and brown-nosed. Use flattery to illustrate why very specific aspects of the program you are applying to attracts you and why those aspects make you a good fit for the program. Remember: this is a statement about you; not a statement about the program.
- Avoid making general statements about "life" - This should be pretty self explanatory. Talking about life doesn't say much about you except that are trying hard to sound profound. Grandeur has its place, but not in a personal statement. The best way not to just sound profound is to be profound. Say something deep about you or something you've experienced.
- Open and close strong - People best remember your first and last impressions. Personal statements are no different. Open with a line that gets your reader interested in what they are about to read. Avoid lines like, "I am applying to ____ because..." at all costs. Try something like, "I had never been so frightened in my life as I was during my hour on that bus." Close with line(s) that wrap everything you've said up in a tight, punchy bundle. Briefly go over the reasons you are the best candidate for the program, and tie in your main points (even better, your theme).
Most personal statements are limited to one page, which gives you very little room to extrapolate all of your wondrous virtues. However, you can also look at it in a positive way: a one-page limitation forces you to stick with the most important points.
Once you've decided which attributes to include, you'll need some kind of loose structure that handles how your statement opens, develops, and closes. The structure I recommend is as follows:
- Open with something specific - A story, fact, or statement of belief can go here. Specifics garner much more interest than generalities.
- Develop into broader ideas - More general information elaborating on you as a person and setting up the reasons why you are the right candidate.
- Continue developing principles using specifics - Use examples or statements of belief to buttress your case.
- Close by coming full circle - In the close, bring back some story or attribute you emphasized earlier and drive it home. Think of lines in movies where the main character is told something in the beginning, goes through some kind of transformation, and that line returns to him in the end. It gives you a feeling of closure, completeness, and satisfaction. A good personal statement does all three of those things.
