These personal statements are frequently used in lieu of interviews. In such a scenario, the personal statement quite often plays a decisive role in the selection process.

How to Write a Good Personal Statement?

Personal statements do not follow one single universally acclaimed rule of writing. But the basic guidelines dictate that the essay should reflect individual intellectual abilities. The readers constantly search for the achievements of the student portrayed in the written word. Ultimately, admission depends on this depicted intellectual capacity.

Points to Remember While Writing

• The topic of the personal statement should first be studied and analysed. Writing should begin only after the topic has been fully understood.


• College professors evaluate plenty of essays during the admission time. Essays that begin well immediately capture their interest. Predictably, such essays are judged to be good.


• Good personal statements are reflective. The reader appreciates people who have analysed their past and are striving towards their future. This indicates the prevalence of a strong goal in life. And the achievements are understood to have won after surmounting obstacles.


• College professors are highly intelligent. They appreciate essays that avoid unnecessary explanations.


• Writers often resort to lengthy explanations to increase the word limit. They should remember that the reader is searching for quality and not quantity.


• Repetition should be avoided.

The Language of the Essay

• The essays should be clearly worded.


• Grammar and spelling mistakes are to be carefully avoided. Error-free writing creates a good impression.


• The language must be simple. Fancy writing is not much liked.


• All colleges and universities ask the students to write in a particular style. The students should strictly adhere to the instructions.


• The essay should contain crisp, short sentences. At times, long sentences might be necessary to maintain continuity. But such sentences should be sandwiched between two short sentences.

The Tone of the Essay

• The whole personal statement should indicate a positive note. No one likes reading complaints.


• The essay should depict all the positive qualities of the writer.

A Bad Personal Statement

• The reflection of negativity in the essay is the first blunder any student can commit. Describing the negativity of past acquaintances and the money and time constraints faced are the hallmarks of a bad personal statement.


• Honesty and truthfulness are necessary for a good personal statement. But essays that truthfully project the negative qualities of the writer are spontaneously rejected.

Opinion on Good Personal Statements Differ

The personal statements found good by some universities are rejected by the others. There happens to be no universally accepted good personal statement. The reason for this could be the difference in the mode of evaluation.

• Certain universities break up the essay in components like the basic subject, the grammatical part, etc. All these ratings are combined to get an overall picture.


• Some universities judge the entire topic without splitting it up under definite categories.


• An unconventional approach is also adopted by some. They evaluate the personal statements by gleaning personal and academic information of the student from it.


• A few colleges accept a personal statement to be good if the student faithfully follows all the given guidelines.


• Some institutions have a separate group that is trained to evaluate essays and rate them accordingly.


• Some colleges and universities combine the ratings of the personal statement with the ratings of the other categories.


• Some simply evaluate on the basis of style and the originality of content.

As different educational institutes adopt different means of evaluation, the student should first read the given guidelines. The essay should be structured on this given procedure.

Some students realising the need for good essays get them written elsewhere. Educational institutions are trying to prevent this. They ask students to sign a declaration that the personal statement they have submitted is self-authored. Alternately, colleges and universities ask students to mention the reference books and the guidance they sought to be listed.


James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are a UK or Overseas student applying for a place in a UK University, to stand out from the thousands of others, it is essential to have striking Personal Statement, for more information and professional guidance, seehttp://www.personal-statement.co.uk