<p>So a few of the colleges to which I plan to apply require (or have an "optional," which is really required) a "personal statement." However, they don't give me very much to go on. </p>
<p>One school says "A personal statement or essay of between 250-500 words is required. Inform us of any circumstances that you would like the admission review committee to consider. Tell us about a subject that interests you, an experience or a person who has influenced you, or explain your perspective on an issue about which you feel strongly."</p>
<p>Another school simply says "If desired, use this page to tell us more about yourself. You can enter up to 2,500 characters in the box below. Instead of entering text below, you may upload an essay, personal statement, or your senior schedule using our Applicant Document system."</p>
<p>So again, not much to go on, and I'm kind of stuck as to what I should write the statement about. It is easier with the Common App because they give you the prompt. </p>
<p>Bottom line, does anyone have any tips or ways to find a topic to write about? Once I have the topic, I should be able to pretty easily come up with something. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Also, here is some more information I found from the second school I listed above: “While an essay is not required, you are invited to furnish additional information you believe to be supportive of your application. This might include an autobiographical sketch; SAT-II results; your reasons for studying engineering, science or mathematics; a description of a unique experience; or an essay about a favorite activity.”</p>
<p>So that leads to the question: which of these ideas will lead to the best personal statement?</p>
<p>The personal statement should be the essay that sums up who you are as a person and why the school should admit you. Mine is going to mention my extreme depression while I was going through a hard time but how through writing I was able to overcome it and ultimately choose my career. (It’s really in depth but don’t want this to come up in the search results if they search it so I can’t disclose everything). But that’s not my focus, rather it’s how it shaped me into who I am today. Just tell the college who you are. Show them what you can bring to their campus. </p>
<p>Great, thanks! I would probably mention how important music has been in my life, although it is probably very evident from my activities that I list. And if any colleges for the Common App ask for a personal statement (as a supplement), it will be almost redundant since I might write my Common App essay about something music related.</p>
<p>I’m hoping to only have to write one statement that I can reuse for any schools I apply to.</p>
<p>General tip - use the personal statement to either explain anything questionable on your stats, or to add something attractive about yourself not obvious from your stats. Also use it to show that the school is not a backup & you really would be happy to go there.
If the admissions officer is looking at another app with equal stats with yours, the personal statement might be the tie breaker.</p>
<p>For the personal statement, you want to say something that will make you stand out. I got into every school I applied to using the same personal statement. For me I just talked about why I wanted the major I was applying for (at that point I was applying as a psych major and talked about my love to help people because of my father) and something unique about me (I’m white and have loved Asian things since I was little, but come from a small mostly-white area). When I eventually chose my school, my freshman advisor was very entertained by my love for asian things and that I had switched to a Japanese studies major, so maybe you could find something that makes you stand out, too?</p>
<h1>5 First off, what the school asks for is most important. If they have a specific prompt or choice of prompts, you need to tailor it to that. If they are asking for a creative essay, you go with essay. If they are asking “why should we pick you” or “why do you want to study here” then you answer that, in a memorable, non-cliche way.</h1>
<p>@lang92 Thank you so much for the example! That helps a lot. I’ll most likely write about my career goals and what I plan to do during and after my engineering education. I’ll have to think of something very unique to include. Maybe elaborate more on why music is so important to me, or my life goals with music. Does that sound like it could turn into a good person statement? Thanks for the help again!</p>
<p>@scholarme Always good to pay attention to what the school wants. I’m going to wait until the Common App opens again so I can see what some of the writing supplements require, but here are the official criteria for two schools I am for sure applying to that don’t use the Common App:</p>
<p>“A personal statement or essay of between 250-500 words is required. Inform us of any circumstances that you would like the admission review committee to consider. Tell us about a subject that interests you, an experience or a person who has influenced you, or explain your perspective on an issue about which you feel strongly.”</p>
<p>“While an essay is not required, you are invited to furnish additional information you believe to be supportive of your application. This might include an autobiographical sketch; SAT-II results; your reasons for studying engineering, science or mathematics; a description of a unique experience; or an essay about a favorite activity.”</p>
<p>I think what I mentioned above (for possible topics) will fit into these criteria. Would you agree?</p>
<p>If music is very important to you it makes sense to write about it. Draft it, put it away for a few days, then look at it with fresh eyes to improve/revise.</p>
<p>Do you think it would be overdoing it to include SO much about music on application? My activities will include a lot about it, and my essay for the Common App might already include it. </p>
<p>Do you have any other favorite hobbies or things that make you unique besides music? Do you play an instrument? What about more than one? If you play more than one, it’s unique and would impress many. If you play an instrument do you also sing or dance? Having a diverse skill set makes you stand out even if it’s diverse in just one category. Talk about how long you’ve done any of these things, and I think how you see you future with music is always a good thing to mention. But if you think it’s talking about music too much, then I suggest contemplating writing about other hobbies you may have.</p>
<p>@lang92 I’m waiting until tomorrow to see what some of the Common App supplements require (if they come out). As I mentioned, there’s a chance my essay for the Common App will be about music, so I think it would be a bit much to have a bunch of activities with music, an essay about music, and a personal statement about music (although it does show dedication). </p>
<p>I’m also debating another topic for my Common App. I have another thread about it, but nobody has answered it yet If you want to check it out, here’s the link: </p>
If you want to check it out, here’s the link: </p>