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Writing a Personal Statement

This may be a difficult task for you if you are applying for certain engineering college programs: writing a personal statement about yourself. Let be honest here, some of us go into this field because we really don’t like to write or don’t have very good verbal skills.


But, writing a personal statement is a compulsory assignment that’s difficult to circumvent, because it can be important to applying to that college or a job position. People dread writing the personal statement, and the first thought that comes to mind is usually, “what do I say?” And, then “I really don’t want to write this.” Then they try Google to find some other personal statement examples and use those to model theirs without plagiarizing. After all that, you’re too embarrassed to let others proofread your work because – well — it’s corny and it doesn’t sound like you at all.

It’s too bad that the personal statement has become so important. The university or employer doesn’t really know anything about you, and you can’t really get to know someone through a transcript or resume. These documents can tell you about a person’s grades or accomplishments, but they can’t tell you what that person is like. Hey, maybe grades or past accomplishments aren’t everything. You can generally assume that the person is ambitious or hard working, but two different applicants who share both of those characteristics can still be very different people. So the personal statement is what these organizations thought of as a way to get a brief glimpse into your personality. Admittedly, cramming all of who you are into one essay can be a challenge.

The problem behind writing a personal statement is this how do you write what you really feel without making it not what they want to hear? And then how do you say what they want to hear without obviously sucking up? The fact is that you do have to lay the flattery part up part on a bit, but your personal statement doesn’t have to be complete sap.

So here is the answer. Make a start by getting into the right mindset. That means caring. Writing a personal statement is easiest when you actually care. You might not care too much for the personal statement, but hopefully you care about the institution that you’re trying to get into. In this case, you have to be honest with yourself and think about why you’re doing this. Write down a list of your thoughts to get them out of your head and see them in front of you. This will help you out a great deal. Now, once you have that concretely written down, you can begin to polish it so that it appeals to the reader. The process is now much easier.

When writing a personal statement, the sucking up part is not in what you say, but how you say it. “I’ve wanted to be an engineer ever since I took my first breath” is sucking up in what you say. Now, “I want to be an engineer and help society” is what you’re thinking, and then you can modify it to sound better: “I want to study at (insert institution) to develop the skills necessary to practice engineering effectively.” A good personal statement presents personal content that’s been translated into appealing language. You’re not making up words; you’re taking your own words and polishing them up. And don’t worry about being too perfect.

It’s a good idea to have other people read your draft, even if it makes you cringe. You should feel less self-conscious if you were honest and didn’t make your personal statement sound cheesy. In this way, you can see if other people understand the translation of your thoughts. Don’t underestimate this step. Go ahead and pick people who will give you good criticism. Hey, this isn’t the right time to seek an ego boost. Discerning readers are the ones who will really help. With a combination of authenticity, attractiveness and good editing, your personal statement will be the best it can be

7 Comments

  1. Janice from Dubai Jobs says:

    Writing a personal statement can be difficult sometimes. You have given some nice tips in writing a personal statement. I like the tip of telling other people to read the personal statement because we can get some good feedback.

  2. Neda from Resume says:

    A person can find writing a good personal statement challenging. I agree we have to be careful with the flattery part. I feel we can ask for help from someone who is good in writing.

  3. Kenrick from executivejobsearch says:

    I tend to write personal statements that illustrate my passion for the program but also my commitment to improving society or some other relevant extracurricular activity that illustrates I am an well-rounded candidate.

  4. Rachel from Banking Jobs says:

    You have given some good tips about writing personal statements. I feel we have to be creative when we write a personal statement and it should be unique and different.

  5. Trazim from posao oglasi says:

    Don’t know why writing a personal statement is such a problem but it sure is a difficult task for many people. I guess it’s always hard for us to say something reasonable about ourselves!

  6. Writing Jobs says:

    A personal statement is your place to shine. It’s a narrative of who you are, what you’ve done, and what you hope to accomplish. Using bits of my statement as an example, we’ll consider some points that you want to hit – and some that you totally need to miss.

  7. oliviya from human race says:

    Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you offer! I will bookmark your blog Thumbs up!

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