Fourth, create a theme or angle with your stories and keywords.
Develop a thoughtful theme that follows the requirements.
Graduate School: Focus on your academic journey and your reason/s for wanting to continue.
Medical Residency: Focus on your journey through the medical field and your reason/s for wanting to continue.
Fifth, outline a rough draft. Feel free to find online examples and templates.
Committees read hundreds of statements, so focus on clarity and specificity.
Show, do not tell!
Instead of writing that you are passionate, do you have a story that shows how much you care about others and your career?
For the outline, make sure to...
organize your statement by chronology (time), theme, and/or goals.
create a hook at the start to grab attention.
utilize your keywords and research from the second step.
Do not mention everything word for word. Expand on it with synonyms, stories, experiences, leadership, and accomplishments!
expand on the résumé and not repeat it.
be confident by using specific action verbs and direct sentences.
Graduate School: mention the professors you want to work with and why.
Medical Residency: focus on medical knowledge and stories.
leave out high school, unless completely relevant.
avoid clichés.
Sixth, draft the personal statement. Start as early as possible.
Default to professional 11 or 12 pt. fonts, indented paragraphs, and double-spaced.
At first, just try to get words on the page.
Seventh, prepare to revise as much as you can.
Reach out to professors, peers, and the Writing Center to receive diverse feedback.
You may center “Personal Statement” and your name at the top if it looks professional and does not interfere with the character, word, or page limit.
Ninth, before submission, edit, proofread, edit, and proofread again.
Review the grammar and sentence variety to ensure that your paper feels professional, lively, and engaging.
Read your paper backwards to catch spelling errors.