Writing Personal
Statements
UAB Graduate School & University Writing Center
Jennifer Greer & Jaclyn Wells
Today’s Agenda
Thank you for joining us! Today’s workshop will provide
strategies and practice for writing personal statements for
graduate school applications.
Today, we will:
• Discuss the personal statement genre
• Look at examples
• Brainstorm ideas
• Perform two writing activities: one to help you write a
good “hook” and one to help you organize your ideas.
Dissecting the Instructions
In this process, it is crucial to slow down and make sure you
really understand what you’re being asked to do. Let’s begin,
then, by simply looking at the instructions.
Below are UAB Grad School’s general instructions for the
personal statement. [Note: You have around 600 words—
roughly two double-spaced pages—to write.]
Please write a brief summary of your academic interests,
career goals, and relevant background experience.
What key words stand out?
Dissecting the Instructions
As you considered the instructions, you may have noticed
the following:
• “Academic interests” are listed first. This is significant:
Most importantly, this document should help the reader
gain insight into your academic interests.
• And next? Career goals. This document should help the
reader understand your career goals.
• Finally, relevant background experience. You have lots of
experiences that you bring to this document. You want to
present the background experiences that are most
relevant to your academic interests and career goals.
Sample Personal Statement
Let’s look at an example. The example we’ll look at is a
before-and-after: Sample Essay B is the first version, and
Sample Essay A is the improved second version.
As you read through both essays, think about what is
working well and what is not working well.
As you read through Sample A, make checkmarks where
you see the writer describing her:
• relevant background experiences
• academic interests
• career goals
Past, Present, Future
Just for the sake of brainstorming, it can be useful to think
about these three areas as past, present, and future.
• Your background experiences are your past.
• Your academic interests are your present.
• Your career goals are your future.
Let’s brainstorm for a few minutes. On notebook paper or in
a Word document, create three columns for these
categories. Spend a few minutes listing in each category—
don’t filter yourself at this point!
Brainstorming
On a piece of paper or in a Word document, create three
columns (see below). Spend a few minutes listing ideas
for each area. Don’t filter yourself at this point!
Past: Background
Experiences
Present:
Academic
Interests
Future: Career
Goals
Brainstorming: Personal Statement
Consider the following questions to add to your list of ideas.
Again, don’t filter yourself—this is only pre-writing.
• What details of your life have shaped it most? People? Places?
•
•
•
•
•
Events? Circumstances?
What obstacles have you had to overcome?
What educational, professional, or cultural opportunities have you
experienced?
What have been your life’s “turning points”?
What are your perspectives or philosophies?
What are your major goals?
Finding Your Larger Theme
Now that you have a list of ideas, give yourself a few
minutes now to think about how it all fits together.
• What in your lists seems most important?
• How do the background experiences (past), academic
interests (present), and career goals (future) fit
together?
• Can you think of any stories to show your experiences,
interests, and goals?
• Do you see a larger themes emerging?
General Style Tips
For specific help with editing, see a UWC tutor. Because
everyone struggles with different issues of style and
correctness, one-on-one help is always best.
You probably don’t need to hear that you need to proofread
carefully before submitting your application: Your essays
should be error-free. Some less obvious style tips include:
• Avoid clichés.
• Use strong actors (nouns) and actions (verbs).
• Consider using the paramedic method to eliminate wordiness,
particularly for the statement of grant purpose.
Tips and Other Resources
• The Purdue OWL offers many resources on writing
personal statements. Their “Top 10 Rules and Pitfalls”
might be particularly useful.
• A number of websites offer sample personal statements.
Look at samples from universities instead of commercial
or personal websites—universities will offer the best
samples. You can also find samples that are specific to
your area of study and/or level.
How the UWC Can Help
The University Writing Center provides free writing
consultations. For personal statements, getting feedback
can be very useful. We can help you:
• Brainstorm ideas
• Develop an outline
• Begin drafting
• Revise and edit
The UWC will reopen for the fall on Monday, August 26 at
9:00 a.m. Please see our website to make an appointment:
www.uab.edu/writingcenter
Thank you!
Thank you for attending today’s workshop! Best of luck in
drafting your personal statements.
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