Personal Statements
The personal statement, your opportunity to sell yourself in the application process, generally falls into one of two categories:
The general, comprehensive personal statement
This allows you maximum freedom in terms of what you write and is the type of statement often prepared for standard medical or law school application forms.
The response to very specific questions
Often, business and specific schools within a college ask specific questions, and your statement should respond specifically to the question being asked. Some business school applications favor multiple essays, typically asking for responses to three or more questions.
General Advice
- Answer the questions that are asked
- Tell a story
- Be specific
- Find an angle
- Concentrate on your opening paragraph
- Tell what you know
- Don't include some subjects
- Do some research, if needed
- Write well and correctly
- Avoid clichés
Answer the questions that are asked
Tell a story
Be specific
Find an angle
Concentrate on your opening paragraph
Tell what you know
Don't include some subjects
Do some research, if needed
Write well and correctly
Avoid clichés
- UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON:
- WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY/EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY:
- WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- GONZAGA/SEATTLE UNIVERSITY/SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY/UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND/PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY/WHITMAN COLLEGE