The Writing and Reading Center Graduate School Personal STatement

1. The Writing and Reading CenterGraduate School Personal STatement

2. What Do You Think is the purpose of a graduate school personal statement?

3. PURPOSE: To Prove You Are Qualified For Graduate School • Speak to a larger project you are engaged in • Why do you love this field? • What questions do you want to answer? • Show that you are prepared to work in the field • Show your familiarity with the area • Broadcast your experiences

4. Before writing • Read the question(s): You need to be thorough and address everything asked of you. Failing to do so won’t reflect well on you as a potential candidate – you need to show you can follow directions! • Reflect on the overall goal: Keep in mind always that your overall goal is to: a) explain how you are a great match for the department, b) describe how the qualities of the department will enable you to address the public health challenges that shape your life and career, c) elaborate on how you are likely to become a leader or mover in your field (using examples from the past)

5. Brainstorm – freely write out your thoughts and ideas: Within the context of the question and your overall goal, make a list of your interests, personal passions, past experiences, hardships, successes, etc. to give yourself some writing topic options.

6. Some questions to ask yourself: • What is distinct, special, and/or impressive about me and my life story? • Have I overcome any particular hardships or obstacles? • When did I become interested in this field and what have I learned about it since? • What are my career goals? • What personal traits, values, and skill sets do I have that might make me stand out from other applicants? • How do I “show” my fit with this program?

7. Outline • Hook • Segway to Background in the field • Academic Background • Specific, Relevant Classes • Academic activities outside of the classroom i.e. internships, etc. • Publications or Presentations • Extracurricular Activities (i.e. leadership roles, etc.) • Projects you’ve participated in • Any “unconventional” aspects of your dossier • Why this grad school? • Specific faculty/programs

8. When Writing • First Paragraph: Use this to introduce and identify yourself and your field of study, providing your reader with your overall big picture. You may want to start your essay with something you believe will immediately pique the reader’s interest, such as a critical experience that moved you to study public health or a particular health concern of importance to you. No matter how you arrange this paragraph, by the end it should be clear what your long-term career goal is and how admittance into this program would allow you to achieve this goal.

9. Middle Paragraphs: The next several paragraphs should support your decision to pursue this long-term career goal by describing the experiences and learnings that made you understand the importance of a public health (and/or other) perspective and forged your long-term career goal. If this is a personal statement, you may want to reach back into history to explain how you arrived at where you are now before moving on to detailing your future goals. • Link these paragraphs together to tell the story of how you learned and realized your goals • Writing in chronological order (from past to the present) often works best

10. End strong: End your essay with a conclusion that refers back to the intro and restates your thesis. This helps unify your essay as a whole, connecting your experiences back to the reason you are writing this essay in the first place—to detail your career goals and show your qualifications for your graduate program of choice. Return to how this doctoral program will give you the skills and tools to become a leader/mover in this field to improve the health of populations (or other goal).

11. Narrative • Have a compelling, academically oriented narrative • Tell a story about your interests and their development over your college career: What is a clear and significant moment that captures your interest in sociology, English, teaching, etc.? 2. Incorporate academics and the skills you gained in college. • Academic skills you mastered • Research you conducted • Papers you wrote and projects you completed 3. Include well-thought out areas of research • Scholars you’ve read • Social Justice issues • Absences in the discourse

12. Tips Tip #1: Ask, “Why Do I Care?” after every sentence or section of your essay that you write. Everything you write in your essay should showcase a skill or experience that will make you successful in your graduate program of choice. You should also illustrate why you will later be an illustrious alumnus who is an honorable ambassador of the program.

13. Tip #2: Reference specific aspects of the program to which you are applying and/or reference faculty members by name. This should be reasonably self-evident, but be sure to thoroughly read the website of the program to which you are applying! If you can, try to use similar language to what they have on their website when expressing yourself in your essay. If you are applying to a Masters or terminal degree program (law, medicine, PT, nursing, etc.), talk about two to three courses you are interested in taking or mention a cool program that the school offers (e.g. a specific clinical rotation program or a special internship). If you are applying to a Ph.D. program, be sure to mention specific faculty members and their research in depth and show how your interests align with theirs.

14. Tip #3: Be clear about your future and how this program will help you get there (or convincingly describe where you’re headed, if you haven’t quite narrowed it down yet). If you are applying for graduate school, you are usually doing so in order to achieve a specific career path or goal such as becoming a principal, a professor, or physical therapist. Similarly, graduate schools are looking for driven candidates who know what they want and know how this program will help them get there. Be sure to clearly state in your essay what you want to become in the future, and illustrate how this program will lead you to your goal (see Tip #2).

15. Feedback Revisit and Revise!!! • Ask professors and advisors in your field to review your personal statement and provide feedback. • Revise until the content is solid and you have met the expectations of the purpose of a purpose statement (which is to prove you are qualified for graduate school). • Proofread the paper for grammar, typos, etc.

16. Questions to Ask • Do I tell why I love and am passionate about this field? • Do I prove my familiarity with the field? • Do I incorporate academic and professional skills that make me stand out? • Do I prove that I am ready for graduate school by using well though out ideas and points? • Is all the information focused and relevant to the program to which I am applying? • Has the statement been revised to ensure proper grammar, spelling, and strong diction?

17. Sample Personal Statements & More Resources • https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/their-own-words-admissions-essays-worked • https://www.gograd.org/resources/grad-school-personal-statement/