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!
- oInstead 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...
- oorganize your statement by chronology (time), theme, and/or goals.
- ocreate a hook at the start to grab attention.
- outilize 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!
- oexpand on the résumé and not repeat it.
- obe confident by using specific action verbs and direct sentences.
- oGraduate School: mention the professors you want to work with and why.
- oMedical Residency: focus on medical knowledge and stories.
- oleave out high school, unless completely relevant.
- oavoid 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.
Eighth, do not title it.
- 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.