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The Personal Statement

Get tips and guidance on writing a strong personal statement for UC Santa Cruz admissions. Includes case studies, instructions, and prompts.

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The Personal Statement

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  1. The Personal Statement Manuel Nunez UC Santa Cruz Educational Partnership Center

  2. OVERVIEW • Purpose of the personal statement • Case Study (two parts) • Instructions and Prompts • Writing Strategies for Students

  3. Purpose of the Personal Statement • Part of the UC’s Comprehensive review process • Opportunity to provide information that supports and augments the review process • Helps readers know and understand applicants • Adds clarity, depth and meaning to information in others parts of the UC application • Completes the application for admission • An admission decisions will never be based on the content of a personal statement alone

  4. Message from UC Faculty While it’s acceptable to receive feedback or helpful suggestions, applicants’ personal statement should reflect their own ideas and be written by them alone.

  5. Case Study: Part 1 • Read the personal statement • Think about these questions: • What’s important to this applicant? • What qualities/characteristics define this applicant? • Which of these qualities/characteristics is most prominent? • Do these qualities appeal to you? Why?

  6. INSTRUCTION • Two Questions • Students respond to both questions • A maximum of 1000 words total • Students should stay within the word limit as closely as they can. A little over 1012 words, for example is fine. • Students choose length of each response • If they choose to respond to one prompt at greater length, we suggest the shorter answer be no less than 250 words (1/4 of a page)

  7. Prompt #1 Describe the world you come from, for example, your family, community or school and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

  8. Prompt #2 Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contributions or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

  9. ADDITIONAL COMMENT • Use additional comments box for clarification, expansion on important details • Additional Names • Visa Issues • Additional IB Exams • Asking for admission by exception • Use this to describe anything else that you have not had the opportunity to include elsewhere in your application

  10. 4 Steps to the Personal Statement • Gather information • Read critically • Develop Topic and Thesis • Draft, Get Feedback, Revise

  11. Personal Statement: Writing For College College • Unknown Audience: students write for a community of scholars • Writer-Determined Topics: students choose the topics • Dig Deep: Analysis and reflection are key Personal Statement • Unknown audience • Writer-determined topics • Analytical and Reflective response

  12. Important Strategies • Students are encouraged to write about special circumstances that have influenced their educational experience: • Re-entry • Small or alternative learning environments, home school • Learning and/or physical challenges that have influenced who they are • Veterans • Read critically and write analytically • Use a writing process • Get good feedback

  13. Think Like an Admissions Reader • All readers have expectations of writers, revealed in readers questions, observations and interpretations of the application. • Writers fulfill readers’s expectations by addressing these questions, observations and interpretations in the personal statement. • Writers can anticipate readers’ expectations by completing and critically reading their application prior to writing a personal statement

  14. Critical Reading and Analytical Writing • Level one: Facts • Level Two: Interpretation • Level Three: Meaning and Significance • Answers to L 1 questions provide details in paragraphs • Answers to L2 questions are topic sentences of paragraphs • Answers to L3 questions are thesis statements of essays

  15. Case Study: Part II • Student Profile: Use the Levels of Questions strategy with this profile • What data do you find? • What patterns do you see? • What questions would you ask? • What inferences would you draw? • How well does the essay align with the profile? • How would you advise this student to proceed?

  16. Writing Process • Read the application critically using levels of questions • Draft • Get feedback- give readers at least a week to respond • Revise for organization, clarity and meaning • Proofread

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