Free and Correct Undergraduate Personal Statement Samples
Selectivity of college is directly correlated to graduation rates. Only 36% of students at the highest-acceptin
Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement
How can you write a good personal statement with a blank page staring you in the face? Here’s some step by step instructions to help you bust that fear.
- Start with brainstorming: Jot down a few notes about what questions you’re answering, without forcing yourself to get formal.
- Make an outline: Take your notes and convert them to a structure. Again, feel free to keep this informal, as long as you understand it.
- Use your own unique style: Write like yourself! Don’t use other people’s words.
- Expect multiple drafts: The first draft can be terrible – it’s all right. Fix it later.
- Get some help: Ask someone else to look over your work and catch any typos you’ve missed.
Keep/Don’t Keep: Undergraduate Personal Statement Edition
What should stay and go in undergraduate personal statements? Here’s two quick lists to clue you in.
Keep these:
- Why you’re qualified to study where you want to
- Any transferrable skills you’ve acquired
- Elaboration on the most relevant skills
- Long-term goals that show you’re thinking about your future
- Your own personal story
Don’t keep these:
- Quotes, which just take up space without saying anything new
- Clichés like “when I was a kid”
- The word “passion”
- Untruths – don’t exaggerate!
- Plagiarism – it’s never a good idea
Hot Keywords and Trends in Personal Statements
Want to know how to succeed with your personal statement? Pay attention to the trends. They are:
- Keywords focusing specifically on your program, which you can find by checking out your program’s website
- Tweaking your personal statement to better fit each school to which you apply
- Listing concrete accomplishments to avoid the threat of empty boasting
- Using action words that show what you’ve done, not just what you were responsible for
- Only discussing the accomplishments and skills most directly relevant to your program of study
Personal Statement Undergraduate Examples
These personal statement examples of an undergraduate personal statement outline can help you craft your own in no time.
- Intro: The question to answer is “why do you want to study this field/at this school”? Talk about your own past and experiences.
- Body 1: The question to answer is “Why are you qualified to study here?” Show off your qualifications.
- Body 2: The question to answer is “What are your plans for the future?” Show you have long-term goals.
- Conclusion: No question to answer here: summarize what you’ve said, and discuss a little bit about what you’ll contribute to the program. Consider this your bow on the finished product.
Personal Statement Examples for University Undergraduate
Personal statements are your first chance to show a school that you’re really qualified to study at the undergraduate program of your choice. You deserve a chance to show off what a great student you are, so take the time to make your PS perfect with the help of our personal statement for residency samples. You’ll be amazed at how many acceptances you get.