How to Start a Personal Statement
Tips on How to Start a Personal Statement from Our Experts
When learning how to write a personal statement, it can be difficult just figuring out how to start the statement off in the first place! Learning how to start any kind of personal statement, mental health personal statement can be among them, is important because the first few sentences of your statement will be what keep your reader interested in your application. If you don’t start off your statement on the right foot, it can leave the reader bored, even before they get to the rest of your application! If you find yourself spending too much time thinking about how to start a personal statement, take a few of our suggestions and you will be writing in no time.
Write Bullets First
Before even thinking about how to write a personal statement, you want to summarize exactly what you are going to put in the statement itself. Write a number of bullet points that outline what you are going to write about, and then all you have to do is turn those bullet points into sentences. Additionally, it’s easy to see how to structure the beginning of a personal statement when you are simply looking at bullet points, much less so when you are staring at a block of text and trying to decipher how to organize it.
Talk about What Excites You
Chances are that if you are applying to a particular program, you are excited to be there. Most likely, many of the reasons that you are excited will also translate to the reader if you talk about them. As an example, if you are apply to law school and are really interested in a particular type of law, starting off your personal statement by talking about that will make for a much more interesting read.
Hook Your Reader, without Coming across Too Strong
Having an introduction that begins with something interesting is essential when planning how to start a personal statement. This doesn’t mean that you are going to want to come off too strong. Writing a sweeping statement like ‘I am going to be the best lawyer in the country’ will just leave the reader annoyed, and uninterested in whatever else that you have to say. To avoid these mistakes, you can use help of medical school personal statement and your result can be much better. Starting off by saying ‘One unusual fact about my childhood is the fact that I have been reading legal books since the age of 8’ is an interesting (if true) fact that will cause the reader to want to continue looking through your application.
Conclusions on How to Write a Personal Statement
When thinking about how to write a personal statement, especially the beginning, make sure that you summarize your points first, talk about what excites you, and do whatever you can to (honestly) hook your reader into reading further into your application. These tips will set you up for success from your first sentence onward.