I need help writing the personal statement - how do I begin the essay and how many paragraphs should it be? Anyone who has been accepted to a UC please help, there are many kids in my position right now who are stuck on this part of the application! Any tips and advice will help, thanks.
The personal statement should begin with an interesting sentence about YOU. The number one mistake you can make is not to write your statement about you.
There is no set formula for it, it just needs to be a completed narrative. Think about something you can say, a story you can tell that no other applicant can. Reflect on an event in your life that changed who you are in a definitive way. Think about a personal journey that you made in coming to the person you are today and in general avoid the sports essay, the study abroad essay and make sure that it ends on a positive note.
This essay is the only thing that is legitimately unique to only you, so make sure that it holds that value. Maybe talk about the struggles you faced in education, your role in your community or family and how you come to fill it, what are your thoughts on a major life decision? What are you most afraid of? What fears have you conquered? What was the hardest thing you have ever had to do? Dig deep! Everyone is going to talk about the AP class they barely got an A in or the volunteer work they did at church to feed the homeless. Tell them a secret. Your innermost thoughts. Your philosophy on life or your biggest shortcoming and what you did to make up for it.
DO NOT:
-mention drugs or illegal activity that pertains to your actions
-mention sex or other illicit activities
-write a whiny essay, if you’ve have overcome difficulties the emphasis should be that you overcame them, not how they were
-write an entitled essay rife with first world problems
-shift the blame for grades or other things about your app onto others, take responsibility
-fail to proofread, even the best of essays will be frowned upon with some grammar issues
-think that your incredible essay will make up for garbage academics or vice versa
-trash talk any school, school official or institution. This includes subtle criticism!
-unless you are this generations Robert Frost do not write poetry or creative fiction or anything like that
-embellish or lie, the UC’s participate in fact verification of random samples and they will give you the boot before you have the chance to whisper an explanation
The whole point is to reveal who you are. Read it. Think about it,is this you? Then substitute one of your peers? could this essay apply also to them? Could it describe them? If so, rethink it. You’re competing with thousands of kids with the same scores and GPA or higher. You win by being more than an application.