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Natawie Dee

Using our ten-part series on how to write a personal statement that shines as your guide, you now have a rough draft of your personal statement written. The time has come to bring your personal statement to its final version. Part ten of the series shares how to format your statement to make sure that it’s complete and strong.

First, look at the first paragraph of your statement. Is it a strong and attention grabbing opening? Does it make the reader want to finish reading it to find out how it ends? It’s important that your opening paragraph be one of the best paragraphs in the statement. You want to make it compelling enough that it urges the admission officer to read all about you.

After you craft a strong opener, now it’s time to work on the main sections of your personal statement. The supporting paragraphs should spell out the details of the other nine items that should be included in your personal statement (See the nine previous posts if you need a refresher.). And then it’s time for your grand finale. The final paragraph should be a strong conclusion that ties the entire essay together. It’s a reminder of how everything you’ve written comes together. You’ll also want to use your final paragraph to reiterate your interest in attending the college or university to which you’re applying.

Once you work through the ten steps to putting your fabulous personal statement together, you’re ready to add it to your college application package. When you receive your college acceptance letter, it’ll be well worth all of the effort your put into writing it.

Robert Voors

The ninth important item you want to be sure to include in your personal statement is a difficulty or difficulties you’ve experienced in your life and the ways you managed to overcome this problem or issues. Again, this is about illustrating your ability to tackle challenges, to be a problem solver and most importantly to learn from what life throws your way.

Choose at least one difficulty that you have overcome and specifically what you learned from having to jump over this hurdle. It may be anything from overcoming your dyslexia through special learning techniques to dealing with the tragic loss of a parent during your teenage years.

Everyone has something in their life that is difficult to handle, so think about roadblocks you’ve run into thus far in your life and use this information to paint a picture of who you really are–using your personal statement as your canvas.

Stay tuned for the last tip on what you need to include in your personal statement to make it shine.

David Hughes

Whether it was at your part-time job or in your role as the officer of a club you’re involved with at school, there has been a time in your life when you’ve had to step up to the plate and act as a leader. This is the time to toot your own horn and include this information in your personal statement. Describe specific situations where you had to take on certain responsibilities and what you learned from them.

For example, after being at your customer service job for a few weeks, you noticed that customers were sending in questions faster than the employees could respond, so requests were piling up in the inbox of the company’s email. You suggested and implemented a Frequently Asked Questions Page for the company website where the common questions received from customers were posted along with the answers. This immediately seemed to help in reducing the number of email questions because the information was available to customers upfront. You learned to be proactive to responding to customer needs and to be a problem-solver.

It may also be that you’re the editor of the yearbook, which means you’re responsible for the overall production of the yearbook. From your responsibilities and experiences, you learned how to manage others and motivate the people on the yearbook committee to meet their deadlines. Ultimately, you learned how to take a project (putting together the yearbook) from start to finish.

No matter what type of job you have, volunteer opportunity you’ve been involved with or club you belong to, you have responsibilities associated with it. Use these responsibilities to point out how you shined and what you learned from your experiences. This information shows your motivation and drive. It illustrates that instead of going through the motions of life, you’re actively engaged in the experiences you’re involved in on a daily basis.

Hamed Saber

You’re unique. You have characteristics and attributes that make you different from all of the other students that are applying to the college you’re applying to. Use your personal statement as your opportunity to point out your prominent characteristics and the attributes that make you special.

You also need to provide supporting statements to show how these attributes are beneficial to your own personal, educational and career growth. You’ll also want to tie in how the college or university plays a role in helping you to achieve these goals.

The 10-part personal statement series is coming to an end in a few more days, so don’t miss out on the last few items you need to include in your personal statement to make it shine.

If you missed out on the previous six items every personal statement should include, be sure to check out our previous posts. Your personal statement may push you into the acceptance pile over all of the other college applications the admission officer receives.

Ario

List the skills and awards you have received. You don’t want to be like Napoleon Dynamite and have “no skills,” so it’s important that you are acquiring skills and experiences throughout your high school career.

When you achieve or exceed your goals, you tend to receive awards to celebrate your accomplishments. This too plays an important role in the college admission process. You can acquire skills and earn awards from a part-time job, volunteer opportunities and from the clubs and organizations you’re involved with in after school activities.

When you’re putting together your personal statement it is important to not only point out what your special skills and achievements are, but to also provide information on how you accomplished your achievements or why you received the awards that you have listed.