THE PERSON BEHIND THE NUMBERS: CRAFTING A SUCCESSFUL PERSONAL STATEMENT
So you’ve taken your SATs, asked your favorite teachers or maybe a former supervisor for recommendations, finished your writing supplements, and studied extremely hard to help strengthen your GPA. It feels as if the toughest part of the college entrance process is behind you… until you realize that you’re still faced with writing your personal statement.
It would seem that just writing about yourself would be an incredibly simple task (after all, you are the one who knows yourself best). But for many students, condensing their personal story into a few paragraphs can feel daunting. Parsing out what to include and what not to include can feel like a maze.
While each personal statement is unique in it’s own way and thousands of students approach the task differently, one key important detail that every student ought to keep in mind when crafting their personal essay is highlighting their identity.
What exactly do we mean by identity?
Our backgrounds, our families, our belief systems, our values, the communities we belong to and other factors that are either chosen by or for us shapes who we are as people. A stellar personal essay brings in characteristics that feel most salient to the writer and explains how those features play a role in developing character.
What purpose does personal statements even serve?
Many colleges/university admissions officers want to ensure that they are creating a diverse student body in a given class. And depending on the school, diversity can be defined in a number of different ways.
Maybe an admissions office wants students from different countries, class backgrounds, or racial backgrounds. Even student bodies that may appear homogeneous at first glance (like Ivy Leagues, or HBCUs, or all women’s colleges) have a campus community that is diverse in a variety of different ways. Your personal statement is an incredible opportunity for you to share what your unique identity is, and how it can fold into the mosaic of other identities that each college is attempting to create with every incoming class.
Below are some ways to approach your personal statement in order to give the reader an authentic glimpse into who you are and your identity:
Reflection
Every great personal essay starts with reflection. When you think of yourself what are some of the first identity markers that feel most important to you? Has your racial identity shaped how you experience the world? Were you raised with a strong faith background that influenced your moral values? Have you developed a strong political stance that inspires you to take on specific issues and causes? Whether it’s your race, nationality, heritage, class, faith, sexual orientation, where/how you live (e.g. big city, small town, inner-city, etc.), being the product of a single-parent household, lived (or living) through a divorce, living (or lived) with an illness; or if you’re an independent student, adopted or foster care student, being influenced by a political ideology, or another identity, all of these elements of your personal narrative (and more!) are extremely important to who you are as an applicant.
Believe it or not, colleges do want to get to know you as a person. The first step is to throw the most significant parts of yourself as you see them down on paper. Then, organize these parts of your story in a way that tells a clear narrative of who you are and how you got to where you are now. Always be sure to briefly provide background about who you are and then delve into the specifics about what makes you unique. Is your political stance an important part of how you see yourself? Is this something that you want to bring to light in your personal statement? Perhaps you should consider telling the reader about an event you attended, a book you read, or a conversation you experienced that sparked an interest. Segue these elements into how your politics shape your sense of self. There are a number of ways to organize any personal statement, just ensure that no matter what approach you take your essay reads clearly, is engaging, and free from grammatical errors.
Personality
A huge element of a personal essay is allowing the reader to get a sense of your personality. If you consider yourself to be a funny person, share your sense humor. Or, if you are a creative storyteller, craft your essay in a way that adds thrill and suspense. While this is still a fairly formal piece of writing that should be taken seriously and written appropriately, you are allowed to have a bit more fun with it and share the more natural parts of yourself. Don’t worry about loading up with academic jargon or big vocabulary if you do not typically speak like that in real life: be genuine. Therefore, while the communities that we come from and the identities we hold are important, they are not the only things that define us or that make us different.
Connect It Back to the College/University
The purpose of a personal statement is for a college admissions team to understand who you are, separate from your test scores and GPA. Those numbers only tell a part of your story.
College/University admissions officers want to better understand how and whether you can fit into the community that already exists on their campus. Help them make that connection. Paint a picture for them. Explain what role you might play and what asset you’d be to their community if you were to be accepted.
Do your research and look into the clubs or organizations offered or even courses that are taught at each school to which you are applying. Mention a couple that you could potentially see yourself joining in your essay to demonstrate your interest. Always be sure to show how your membership in those clubs or classes relate back to the story that you’ve told about yourself throughout your statement. Is your family’s ethnic heritage an important part of your life? Maybe you would want to join a cultural affinity group on campus. Have political divides shaped your personal view on society? Perhaps political experiences inspire you to run for student government as a college student. Of course your personal statement is primarily about who you are now, but it’s more than worth it to mention a few lines about who you wish to become on campus and how you would be a good fit.
While the prospect of writing something so personal may feel overwhelming, always keep in mind that this personal statement is meant to reflect who you are as an applicant. Make it honest and realistic to who you are truly. What’s most important is allowing your full self to come through. Giving attention to your identity, even if it’s not a focal point of the essay, is a key part in letting admissions officers get to know the person behind the grades. Be authentic, be thoughtful, be reflective, and be you. With that combination you can never go wrong.
Written by Tamar Davis