Personal Statement Outline Tips
The aim of this outline is to serve as a guideline for writing a personal statement. You should mind that this outline may not correspond to all the types of a personal statement.
Personal Statement Outline
Make use of the information below and adjust it to meet your personal statement requirements. For example, if you need to write a pharmacy personal statement, you should also consider some pharmacy personal statement tips that would tell more specifically about your sort of paper.
Introduction
It can be very tempting to jump to your body and start outlining your achievements but your introduction is not a less significant part of your personal statement where you should state why you are interested in a particular educational institution and why you believe you fit the position. Your introduction should also contain your opinion of yourself as an aspiring individual who possesses all the necessary qualities to succeed in a particular area. In the first or last sentence, you should also define yourself in a concise way.
The Body Part 1: The Recent Past
In a personal statement, there is no room for modesty. However, it does not mean that it should be egotistical. When writing about your education and work experience, exemplify how it contributed to the person you have become. You can surely mention other people and events that affected you but your main focus is you. Try to give concrete examples of the value of your educational and work experience, using as maximum detailed commentary to make it more riveting and interesting to follow.
The Body Part 2: The Present
Dedicate a paragraph or more to displaying the person you are now. Highlight the qualities that testify to your personality, such as confidence, thirst for knowledge, and resolution to succeed. Once again, to persuade your reader, you should be as much concrete as possible.
The Body Part 3: The Future
In this paragraph, you need to provide a positive forecast of your future professional growth in the career you want to pursue. You can also answer the questions like: How will the educational institution you are currently studying at be a gateway to your future occupation? What do you aim to achieve in life? How do you see your development in the forthcoming years?
The Concluding Paragraph
In the conclusion, you need to sum up your past achievements, the way you feel about yourself at the moment, and your future goals. Try to make your last sentence indicative of yourself as much as possible so that the reader has a clear impression of you.
The Most Important Step
Having done with the first draft of your personal statement, shorten it so that only the essentials remain. Attentively revise your work and make your sentences more succinct and declarative. Most importantly, do not take any rejections close to heart. Your hard work and belief in yourself will undoubtedly pay off.
For Scholarships College and Applications
Basically, after a harsh elimination process, the scholarship committee will focus on personal outlines of the applicants. Thus, it is in your best interest to make it as professional as possible.
These tips will come in handy:
- Personal statements are usually typed.
- Use Times New Roman, 12 point.
- The introduction should give an insight into what you are writing about.
- Try to show yourself distinguishable from the others (tell about your unique activities or social work/volunteering, etc.)
- Present your accomplishments (sports, committees, or clubs).
- What did you derive from your involvement in different events and activities?
- Talk business.
- Be candid about yourself.
- Write about the things that matter to you.
- Answer the questions stated in a scholarship application.
- Do not state things which you mentioned in the application.
- Your sentences must be concise with precise and comprehensible wording.
- Use words expressive of actions.
- Create an error-free statement of good quality.
- Tell your story. Take pride in who you are and what you have achieved.
- Do not overdramatize.
A personal statement can encompass the following information:
- Personal and family background.
- Educational and career goals.
- Hobbies, extracurricular activities, work experience, social work.
- Challenges you have encountered when obtaining your education:
- Your motivation for applying.