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Writing a Great Personal Statement


Some students struggle with any kind of writing, some don’t. However, probably all of them feel terrified when they have to write a personal statement. And it isn’t surprising at all – after all, a few written assignments affect our lives as much as a personal statement does.
What is a personal statement?
Speaking shortly, it’s your chance to get into the university of your dreams. A personal statement is a part of your application, along with your grades, test scores, and personal achievements. It has to be interesting to read, carefully considered, and thoroughly proofread in order to impress the admission board.
Why the universities require you to write a personal statement in the first place? Well, because beside this statement your application is pretty similar to everyone else’s. Sometimes it’s not only similar – it even looks exactly alike (for example, when you have the same grades and test scores). So in order to make it easier for admission board to choose between similar-looking students you have to deliver your own unique personal statement.
However, even knowing this might not help students much. Even if a student is talented in writing, they might not be as talented in self-presentation. And this skill is crucial if you do want to impress the admission board with a personal statement.
How should you write it then?
I recommend starting with looking through other students’ writing – it’s easy to find the examples online. While you shouldn’t be copying the sentences or the arguments, you still have to pay attention to the structure of these statements. The structure is very important.
Prepare thoroughly before you even start. Besides checking out the examples, come up with a plan of your statement. Writing the plan will help you structure your arguments a bit, as well as keep everything you might want to say in mind. After the plan is done, you can consider writing an outline of each point. This will make it even easier for you to write the draft later.
Don’t forget that the plan has to be written according to the structure too. It has to have a proper introduction and a conclusion. Paying attention to them would be the next step of your writing.
It’s important to start your personal statement right. Remember: the admission board has too many statements to read and won’t be able to focus on each of them for long. That’s why your goal is to create an impressive introduction, doing your best to show that your statement will be worthy of reading.
However, be careful! Your perfect opening sentence might be the one many other students considered perfect too. To prevent this from happening, take some time to read about the most common personal statement clichés.
The conclusion is equally important. It has to be as powerful as the introduction and the body of your text – otherwise, it might look like you’re lost your enthusiasm by the end.
After you think everything through, move on to writing your personal statement. And don’t forget that has to be proofread well before you submit it – or you’ll risk types ruining the impression you were trying to create so hard.
What else to remember?
That were the writing basics. However, as you know, a personal statement is not only about the perfect approach to the writing process – it’s about you and how you present yourself. The main goal of your statement is to show the admission board who you are and why you’ll be the right student for the course.
And that’s when the tricky part starts. You have to sound confident but not too confident, avoid jokes but don’t use words that might create an impression that you were writing this with a dictionary lying somewhere near. You have to be honest too and avoid exaggerations – after all, all facts written in your personal statement will be easy to check.
The important thing to remember here is that personal statement is not your bio. You shouldn’t list every fact of your life or claim that you’ve been passionate about the subject of the course since childhood. You also shouldn’t list literally every your accomplishment – the admission board knows about the most important of them already.
What you should do is use your certain skills, achievements, and facts from your life to demonstrate why you are relevant to the course. Everything that you mention in your essay you have to mention for a reason. Demonstrate your enthusiasm and focus on positive things rather than explaining why it was hard for you to do or achieve something.
Hopefully, these tips will help you come up with an amazing personal statement that will impress the admission board. I wish you good luck with your writing!

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