Personal Statements

Chapter Opener

16

explain a person’s experiences and goals

explain a person’s experiences and goals

How to start

  • Feeling lost?
  • Gather your material

Personal Statements

Preparing a short personal statement has become almost a ritual among people applying for admission to college, professional school, or graduate school, or for jobs, promotions, scholarships, internships, or even elective office.

  • image An application for an internship asks for an essay in which you explain how your career goals will contribute to a more tolerant and diverse society.
  • image All candidates for the student government offices you’re interested in must file a personal statement explaining their positions. Your statement, limited to three hundred words, will be printed in the campus newspaper and posted online.
  • image You dust off the personal statement you wrote to apply to college to see what portions you can use in an essay required for admission to upper-division courses in the College of Communication.