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Tailor your statement for each school you apply
to. A strong personal statement indicates that
you’ve researched the program and are applying to it
because it has particular qualities that appeal to
you. Is there someone on the faculty whose work has
inspired you? Are you interested in the prospects
for cross-disciplinary work with other schools in
the same university? Is the school located in a city
or region that makes sense for your research or
career interests? Say so! Be concise.
Length is a tricky aspect of personal statements.
When word or page limits are stated, they are often
brutal. (Many law schools limit personal statements
to about 500 words.) Your first rule is to observe
whatever limits are specified in the application. If
no limits are given, keep your statement to about
1,000 words (4 typed pages, double-spaced) at the
absolute maximum. Remember, your statement is one of
hundreds that the admissions committee will read. A
long, rambling statement will be remembered – for
all the wrong reasons.
Be focused. The length restriction on
personal statements may mean that you don’t have
room to include everything that you would like to.
Decide what points are most important to your
application and let the rest go. It’s better to
explain three points clearly and in sufficient
detail than to shoot off a bulleted list of fifteen
unrelated points.
Don’t bring up high school. Unless there
is something genuinely outstanding about your high
school achievements – say, you were part of a
science team that achieved a breakthrough in cell
research, or you led a student strike that drew
nationwide attention to unfair suspension practices
at your school – don’t refer to anything earlier
than college.
Don’t just tell ‘what’ – tell ‘so what.’
Many applicants make the mistake of simply listing
what they did in school or in their extracurricular
activities, without saying why or how that
experience influenced their thinking or life
choices. Just saying “I was a member of the pre-med
honor society” doesn’t tell an admissions committee
much about the applicant. Saying that “My active
participation in the pre-med honor society made me
realize what an extraordinary and gifted group of
people are committed to medical careers and
reinforced my desire to become part of that
community” does.
Don’t go overboard in describing your future
plans. You do want to give the admissions
committee the impression that you understand what
the degree you are applying for can lead to, and
persuade them that you are well-suited for that
career. You don’t want to give such a detailed road
map that you come across as unrealistic or
inflexible.
Don’t gloss over obvious shortcomings
in your record. There’s a piece of advice out
there that says you should never acknowledge any
weaknesses in your application because it will only
draw attention to something the admissions committee
might otherwise not have noticed. It’s bad advice.
Admissions committees will notice a weakness in your
record, with or without your help. The wiser thing
to do is to acknowledge the problem and explain why
it should not be seen as a predictor of your
performance in graduate or professional school.
Sometimes the only place to do this is in your
personal statement. It’s better to use a separate
space for this purpose, if your application provides
one. But if your only choices are either to address
a glaring weakness in your personal statement or to
say nothing about it at all, use your personal
statement. Keep your explanation short and the
overall tone of your statement confident and upbeat,
but don’t leave your readers with any reason to
assume the worst about whatever the shortcoming in
your record is.
Law School Personal Statements
Graduate School Personal Statements
Medical School Personal Statements
Personal Statement Checklist |
