Personal Statements

<p>Focus: Open-Ended Question</p>

<p>Rationale: This question seeks to give students the opportunity to share important aspects of their schooling or their lives - such as their personal circumstances, family experiences and opportunities that were or were not available at their school or college - that may not have been sufficiently addressed elsewhere in the application. </p>

<p>Question: Is there anything you would like us to know about you or your academic record that you have not had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in this application? *</p>

<p>For this question, what have applicants written about? Is it a free-for-all about anything (Ie: common app essays?) or should it be more directed?</p>

<p>I took it as a "free for all" and wrote about something to do with myself I wanted the Admissions people to know about that had nothing to do with achievements, GPA, test scores or EC's. </p>

<p>Good luck with it. :)</p>

<p>I agree with CA2006, you should probably talk about things that cannot come out through GPA and test scores. That's the "this is why I'm unique and important and would be valuable to Berkeley, aside from being just smart" question.</p>

<p>would it be too far out to write about personal style and how that shapes the person i am?</p>

<p>I wrote about me and my pursuit of meaning in existence. It really was a short stylistic piece about overcoming teenage angst by accepting the absurdity of it all.</p>