How to Write a Superb Personal Statement for Graduate School
The personal statement, or statement of purpose, is one of the most misunderstood elements of the graduate school application. But if you understand the genre and the features of an effective personal statement, this need not be a stressful part of your application.
Understand Your Genre
The first thing to keep in mind is how the graduate personal statement differs from college application essays. Many students assume that the personal statement or statement of purpose they write for graduate school applications is essentially a more sophisticated version of the essay they wrote for their college applications, reflecting the experience, education, and maturity they’ve gained since applying for college.
However, this approach is misguided, and to treat the graduate personal statement as simply an advanced version of the college application essay is a grave mistake. The two essays are actually quite different, so understanding the role the personal statement plays in graduate admissions is critical to crafting a compelling version that will help you present yourself as a strong candidate for admissions.
Undergraduate admissions is run by an office completely separate from any academic departments, staffed by full-time admissions personnel, not formally connected to faculty, and typically not carried out in conjunction with faculty. On the other hand, graduate admissions is by and large an ongoing, informal conversation among departmental faculty. Even at the master's level, programs are fielding dozens, maybe hundreds of applications, whereas undergrad admissions departments are fielding tens of thousands. This means more personal attention is likely to be devoted to your graduate school application, but it also means your audience for the personal statement is very niche and concrete. Appealing to them will involve understanding what their research interests and departmental priorities are.
View the graduate personal statement as your opportunity to make a persuasive case that your background, experiences, and goals represent a coherent academic career trajectory that fits with their departmental resources and priorities. It's important to tailor your personal statement to the specific program you are applying to. Do your research, understand the program's mission, values, and priorities, and make sure to demonstrate how yours aligns with theirs.
How Should I Approach the Personal Statement?
While some programs might require multiple essays, sometimes with fairly specific prompts, you can generally expect to be writing a personal statement that achieves three objectives, each conveyed within a single act in the narrative you’re telling about your academic journey. (Kudos to Roman Feiman at Brown University for this analogy!)
Act One: A compelling description of the intellectual issues or social problems you hope to wrestle with. It is wise to begin here with a “hook,” something that will capture the reader’s attention and lead seamlessly into your description of how the studies you intend to pursue at the graduate level will advance your own engagement with these issues. Here, one goal is to subtly demonstrate your familiarity with the broad shape of your field, and that you are a budding expert in that field, while still remaining “teachable.” Avoid seeming like a know-it-all. After all, the reason you’re going to graduate school is to be trained by the experts. But you should also avoid seeming ignorant of the basic contours of your field.
Act Two: Evidence that you have the experience necessary to be successful conducting such work. Whereas in Act One, your goal was to implicitly demonstrate your budding expertise in your field, in Act Two, you’ll want to explicitly marshal evidence for this expertise.
Act Three: Why this specific department program would be a good fit for your interests and goals. Generally, speaking, what you write in the first two acts of your personal statement will be generic – that is, you can submit essentially the same paragraphs to all the programs to which you’re applying. With Act Three, however, what you write will need to be carefully and specifically tailored for each program. Your goal here is twofold. First, to demonstrate your familiarity with the program and department, its faculty, resources, and general orientation within the field. Second, to explicitly spell out how you would fit into the specific program to which you’re applying. Although it might seem duplicitous, you want to write every statement as if that program is your top choice.
What are Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Your Personal Statement?
Failing to link your diverse interests/activities together. Perhaps you majored in Sociology but spent the summer before your senior year doing a high-profile internship at the World Bank. You’ll need to do some work narrating for your audience how you envision these disparate interests and pursuits intersecting in your dream career, and how the graduate studies you’re pursuing ultimately relate to them. Because it can be easy to get lost in the weeds here, this is one case where working with a tutor might be especially helpful in helping you craft a more compelling and cohesive narrative of your journey towards your graduate studies.
Failing to research the program or department. One way to address this concern is to contact faculty in the department before you begin applying to learn more about the curriculum, research opportunities, and other aspects of the program that might not be apparent from the program's website or other materials. Doing so can not only give you a sense for the particularities of the program. It can also be a good way to introduce yourself to the program's faculty and staff. This can potentially foster a relationship with the faculty member and demonstrate your interest in the program.
Failing to nab their attention in the first paragraph. Even if an admissions committee is evaluating only a dozen applications, their time is valuable, so you want to convince them right away that what you have to say is worth reading closely, and that you’re the sort of colleague they want to have as a student in their department.
Contact a North Avenue Writing Coach Today to Ensure You Stand Out
Whether you’re struggling to start a first draft or find yourself with a dozen disjointed pages, you may find it useful to work with our expert tutors, who can help as you seek to craft an effective personal statement for graduate application. Get in touch to discuss our personalized approach to graduate personal statements and make a plan for success in your graduate school applications.
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