Reveal Yourself Strategically: A Guide to the Personal Statement

The personal statement for college applications can be difficult, even for the best of writers.

Why? Because the personal statement involves revealing a part of yourself - a strategic part - a part that you think will make admissions officers take notice of you as an individual, for a moment realizing that you are Earl Thompson, with the hybrid vehicle or Jasmine Jenkins, future veterinarian, or Oliver Pullman, who overcame leukemia.

One of the best tips I can give you is to look at previous personal statement themselves. If you, or your teenager, decide on a group of colleges early on in high school, even during Junior year of high school (a year before it's time to apply to colleges), you can simply request college applications early.

Fact: USC offers a list of the essay topics for the upcoming year on their website. Maybe your school of choice does as well!

By reading the applications early, you can get a feel for the types of questions the schools of your choice ask. You'll likely find that many of the schools offer more than one question and that many of the questions have underlying themes that you can apply any life story to if done correctly. Therefore, you can pick 2 or 3 things about your aspirations, social issues that you are passionate about, or experiences you have gone through that you can apply to almost any prompt that you may come across when it is actually time to apply for college.

Here is an example using my own experience:

Step 1:
I pick one interesting thing about my aspirations, one social issue, and one experience to write about.

My aspirations: My desire (in high school) to be a surgeon.
Social Issue I Care About: Access to a quality education for all students.
Experience: The murder of my brother after he returned safely from war.

Step 2:
Write a small paragraph or outline about each item. I would recommend about a half page (prose) or a full page (outline) on each just so you have a strong idea of the main points.

Step 3:
Go through applications for examples of personal statement prompts. Here are a few examples of actual prompts.

How does this quote resonate in your life. "Be the change that you want to see in the world" -
Gandhi (LMU application - from when I applied)

Thomas Edison failed many times before successfully inventing the modern electric light bulb.
He said, "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged,
because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward." Reflect on an
accomplishment you achieved in an unlikely way. (USC application - current)

How have you taken advantage of the educational opportunities you have had to prepare for
college? (UC application - current)

I'm sure you can already see how I could apply my three choices to these prompts.
For LMU, I could talk about changing gun regulation in light of the experience with my brother.
For USC, I could tie in my desire to be a surgeon by cleverly talking about volunteer experiences (such as when I volunteered as a candystriper at the local hospital).
For the UCs, perhaps if I had done poorly at a certain part of high school and improved drastically, I could talk about an individual at my high school who helped me to improve thereby causing me to care deeply about education - this would explain my social cause and explain any drop in grades.

Step 4:
Let's say these three were on the same application. If you have the option of choosing, great - choose the one that most closely fits what you want to write about.

If you must write something short about each (as the UC system does), don't fret! Often, they span many aspects of your aspirations, your social cares, and your experiences. But wait! You've already picked out something for each of those, so you're ready! :)