<p>Does anybody have advice or tips for writing a well written personal statement? My grades aren't scaring me, it's writing the darn essay! </p>
<p>, thanks.</p>
<p>Just be yourself. Passionately explain something that shows your diversity or something you’re proud of. Go into detail and highlight why this has matured you as a person. Sell yourself.</p>
<p>And as the UW admissions team told me, profrread, prooffread, proofread!</p>
<p>Start a rough draft over the summer, that way you can revisit it later when school starts again and see it from a fresh perspective :]</p>
<p>have someone else read it. have about 10 people do it. you want 8-11 drafts by the time you send your final. that’s what my english teacher said. she also said she had it read over 30 times.</p>
<p>I would definitely revise it and review it multiple times. But for people correcting it, you shouldn’t have more than 3-4 people. After that, it just becomes people wanting to put their own influence and styles into your essay, and you will most likely lose your voice in the essay by doing so. I read my own essay more than 50+ times, maybe even a lot more :P. Yeah, but the point is limit how many people ‘correct’ your essay to preserve originality.</p>
<p>I only wrote mine once and then had someone proofread it later that night.</p>
<p>Have someone who is a good writer read it and edit it. For example, if they work for the UW Daily you don’t want them editing your paper. Maybe if you have a good relationship with your HS English teacher.</p>
<p>I wrote my essay in one sitting, edited it on the spot and only gave it to one person to read afterward (as I had already submitted it). Probably not the best way to do it, but I feel I’m a capable writer and I’ve been published professionally. (or perhaps it is more accurate to say that I’ve been paid to write, although it was not enough to do more than, say, go to the movies)</p>
<p>I’m going to have to disagree slightly with what everyone here is saying… I wrote mine in one sitting with revisions along the way and after about an hour and a half sent it in. I got accepted so I don’t think it was that big of a deal, the university isn’t going to accept or decline you based SOLELY on that one essay, your whole high school career is what they see and evaluate. Your essay is more of a supplement to that</p>
<p>@EricJPrice: They take a total look at you with each of the aspects being co-equal. Supposedly.</p>
<p>EricJPrice: Maybe your writing skills is pretty polished.</p>
<p>Anyway, I do know people who wrote essays in a sitting with a 2200/3.8UW GPA, full IB diploma after junior year, varsity sports, club leaders … who got rejected. Flat out rejected, and apparently due to the essay (that’s what admissions told the college counselors). </p>
<p>I would really emphasize putting lots of effort into the personal statement. It doesn’t hurt not to, so why not? It’s the final piece of your application that you can CHANGE (as opposed to SAT, GPA, extra curriculars for the past years…).</p>
<p>Anyway, be yourself. Talk about what you’re passionate about. Who is someone who impacted you and why? What is something unique to you? How has an event changed the outlook you have on life? </p>
<p>The nice thing about the UW’s personal statement prompts is that it’s pretty open ended. There’s something about diversity and something about a personal experience, although I think there are more than one prompt to choose from for each of your statements.</p>
<p>^^Good personal story^^</p>
<p>One of my professors prior to transferring to UW was a guy who had been a tenured faculty member at UW who took a job teaching one class just to keep his mind busy because he didn’t want to be 100% retired. Great guy.</p>
<p>I wrote my essay for his class on US policy in the Middle East and he really liked it, taught me how to better phrase my arguments and tone down wording so as to be less of a polemic. But that’s not the point, here I was at a far less regarded institution of learning writing a paper for a guy with a Ph.D from U Chicago who turns to me and says </p>
<p>“Xavier, this is a paper worthy of some of my best students at UW. You belong at UW.”</p>
<p>He helped me through my transfer application and (sadly) passed away before I was admitted. He was quite old and had a wonderful life, but I won’t ever forget the inspiring words which he uttered to me upon reading my analysis paper’s final draft.</p>
<p>I didn’t write about it in my admissions essay, but I imagine that a similar “Stand and Deliver” type of story would be valued.</p>
<p>10 drafts of a personal statement? It’s not that complex people. I think I wrote mine in about an hour and read it over a couple times. Just be yourself and be honest.</p>