How to Write a Personal Statement for Graduate School

Writing a personal statement for your graduate school applications can be a scary prospect. How specific do you need to be? What information should you include? Just how personal is it? Here's a guide to help you think about your strengths and goals and how to put that into a statement.

What is a personal statement?
For graduate programs, the personal statement is an extension of your CV. It's a chance for you to provide more detail about yourself and explain why you would be a good fit for their program.

Writing the personal statement can seem like you're trying to justify your entire life in 500 words--you're not! The personal statement is a chance for you to summarize who you are and who you hope to be as a professional in this field. Because of that, the most relevant "personal" aspects are those that talk about your professional interests and goals, as well as the experiences that have brought you to those interests and goals.

There are two kinds of personal statements: one about your professional background, and one about your personal background.

The Professional Personal Statement
Example: "This should be a concise, well-written statement about your academic and research background, your career goals, and how [the university's] graduate program will help you meet your career and educational objectives."

Key Points:

• Concise
• Well-written
• Academic and research background
• Career goals
• How program will help you meet your objectives

The Personal Personal Statement
Example: "This should be a concise, well-written statement about how your personal background and life experiences, including social, cultural, familial, educational, or other opportunities or challenges, motivated your decision to pursue a graduate degree at the [university]. This is not an Academic Statement of Purpose, but a discussion of the personal journey that has led to your decision to seek a graduate degree."

Key Points:

• Concise
• Well-written
• About your personal background
• Opportunities and challenges in your life
• Motivation for going to grad school
• "Your personal journey"

This type of statement is about how your experiences have led you to want to go to graduate school. Even though this is more personal than the professional version, it's important that all the experiences you share are relevant and appropriate. Your future mentors and colleagues are not interested in your family dramas, but if, for example, a family member's mental illness influenced your decision to get a degree in clinical psychology, you can include that. However, don't feel pressured to share personal details if you feel uncomfortable about it.

What goes into a personal statement?

• Educational background
• Research experience
• Conference presentations
• Publications
• Honors or awards
• Academic societies
• Teaching experience
• Research-related community/extracurricular activities

It's important to emphasize anything in your background related to research. You may have twenty different extracurricular activities, but talk about the ones that relate to your current interests. Also emphasize the activities and achievements where you showed leadership or made a significant impact.

Steps to writing your statement:
1. Make a list. Here are some questions to get you thinking about what to include in your statement. Take the time to answer them and use the answers when you start writing.

List:

• Your educational background/activities
• Your research experiences
• Your honors and awards
• Your career goals
• Why you want to go to graduate school
• Why you want to go to this school
• Faculty you want to work with (and why)
• One or two (relevant) personal stories that can be a frame or an anecdote. For example, a class or event that sparked your interest in the field

Think about:

• What are some connecting threads in your interests and activities?
• What skills have you gained from them? What are your strengths?
• How have your academic and personal experiences prepared you for graduate school?
• What doesn't your transcript say about you? What makes you unique?

2. Write a draft. Here are some writing tips:

• Start early. Lots of time means more chances to refine your statement.
• Don't make a list, tell a story! Even if your interests have changed over the years, the statement is a chance to make it seem like your entire life has been leading up to a graduate career.
• Put the most relevant and important points first.
• Provide lots of details. Go for depth instead of breadth.
• Explain the relevance and significance of your experiences. If you did research in undergrad, describe the skills you learned.
• Be specific in your research interests, but not overly narrow. Have an idea of the topic, but you don't have to know specific questions you want to answer right now.
• Cite research if applicable. If you know something about a topic already, go ahead and cite an article that applies to what you're interested in.
• Focus on the positives. They may want you to talk about challenges, but keep the focus on how you overcame them.
• Have a strong opening and conclusion. This will help you be memorable.
• Find a balance between formal and informal language. The statement should reflect your personality, but not sound like you're talking to a friend.
• Use humor carefully, or not at all. Only use humor if it reflects your personality and keep the jokes PC.
• Include everything asked for.
• Mention specific faculty that you want to work with, at least 1 or 2.
• Take a break. Once you have your draft, leave it alone for a few days or a few weeks. You'll be able to come back to it with fresh eyes.
• Write multiple drafts. If something's not working, don't be afraid to start over completely.

3. Have multiple people read your statement. Start with friends and parents who can read early drafts and comment on the tone and whether it's clear. Take the later drafts to more expert readers like your TA's or professors who can tell you if your professional identity is shining through.

The most important thing to remember for a personal statement is that it's the story of why you want to go to grad school, and how your experiences, both personal and professional, have put you on that path. Good luck!