The personal statement is a challenging genre. You’re tasked with packing years of experience into just a few pages. You want to sound smart and unique–but there are only so many ways to explain that you won an award or researched in a lab. How many times can you say “It was a great experience” in one document? Do you sound too confident? Not confident enough?
I’m going to share a method that I think leads to great personal statements–and it’s deceptively simple.
Personal statements aren’t a trick
First, though, it’s important to remember that the admissions committeethe group of faculty that agree to advise a student’s rese... More wants you to succeed.
- They want to get to know you.
- They want to recruit awesome students.
- They want to build the careers of future leaders in the field.
Don’t let the personal statement become an obstacle! It doesn’t have to be perfect.
What is it really about?
Graduate schools are excited to hear what you have to say and are looking for reasons to confirm that you can be successful in their program. Over many years of admissions, faculty generally learn that there are many ways to predict success and they look for reasons to admit a student rather than reasons NOT to admit them.
At Emory, we are particularly interested in your experience of and interest in research. If you’ve been in a lab, we want to hear about that–particularly the things you really enjoyed or the challenges you overcame. If you don’t have a lot of research experience, tell us WHY you want to spend more time in the lab! We are not as concerned with the quantity of research you’ve conducted as we are with understanding your genuine interest in research so we know what will drive you to progress if you join our program and what resources you might expect or need along the way.
But…there is a secret.
Now, about that method.
There is no magic bullet–nothing will work perfectly for everyone.
But a common mistake students make in crafting a personal statement is to focus too much on making things sound good and not enough on sharing their own voice. Answer any prompt that is provided, but don’t put too much focus on trying to guess exactly what the admissions committeethe group of faculty that agree to advise a student’s rese... More wants to hear. It’s better to write a different statement than the committeethe group of faculty that agree to advise a student’s rese... More might have expected that is interesting and genuine than to write a stilted, careful statement that doesn’t reveal anything real.
Simply put, your statement should be honest. The secret is: tell the truth.
How to tell the truth
Don’t tell us that everything has always been bright and shiny and perfect. It’s helpful to know what you’ve experienced that didn’t go right. We’d rather hear that you were professional and capable in a difficult situation than be told that you “loved” your laboratory experience even though you spent all your time washing test tubes and waiting on an experiment that never. seemed. to. work.
One way to make sure you do this is to look for the questions your statement leaves open and to consider answering them. As an example, you might say something like: “Chemistry has always interested me because it’s like a puzzle.” Okay, here are some questions:
- Do you like puzzles? Why?
- What does it mean when you say something “interests” you? It it casual interest? Obsession?
- What do you do when you’re interested in something?
- Have you ever found Chemistry boring? How did you deal with that?
- What does “always” mean? Were you reading Chemistry textbooks at age four? If not, when did you really get interested? Why? Who encouraged you? What held you back?
You won’t have room to answer every question. But a statement that answers on any of the questions above is likely to be more interesting than one that simply reports on your interest in Chemistry. Who, what, why, how, and when are details that help the committeethe group of faculty that agree to advise a student’s rese... More get to know you, remember you, and invest in you as a potential student.
How much honesty is too much?
Okay, there is such a thing as too much truth-telling in a personal statement. Don’t tell us your deepest, darkest secrets (unless they are clearly chemistry related.) Relationships, family matters, roommate troubles–they probably don’t belong in your statement, except where addressing them is key to your personal academic journey. Use your judgement–if you wouldn’t tell a professor at your current school, probably don’t tell us. (There’s always Post Secret.)
You don’t owe anyone your secrets.
Saying a little bit more about what not to include in a statement might help you to see the truthful space that is key to success. Being asked to write a personal statement can seem like being asked to commodify your personal experience – give me your story and maybe, if it’s good enough, I’ll give you a place in a graduate program.
There is some truth to that. You do have to reveal something about your motivations and that can feel very vulnerable. That said, the kind of heart-rending truth-telling that can be encouraged in college applications doesn’t really suit the genre for graduate schoola school that offers advanced degrees. Important! Some schoo... More. The focus is more narrow; your statement should address the question of why you want to pursue graduate schoola school that offers advanced degrees. Important! Some schoo... More in Chemistry and details should relate back to that most of the time.
Content Warning: The next paragraph discusses how someone might experience the death of a family member.
Here’s an example of the difference between college applications and grad school applications. The loss of a close family member during your childhood is something you would almost certainly share in a college application. Losing a family member at any age is really hard, but it’s particularly difficult when you are developing your sense of self as a child or adolescent. This context frames how you will show up for the broad, liberal artsacademic subjects, including traditional humanities subjects... More journey ahead of you. It will speak to your motivations, your maturity, and your unique challenges and capacities because it is part of what shaped you. In a graduate schoola school that offers advanced degrees. Important! Some schoo... More statement, this kind of history is no less important to you, but it may be less relevant. If you are studying antibiotic resistance because this was the cause of your loss, it might be something to share. If your loss is not directly related to your research and if you can describe your motivation with closer attention to your professional goals and research interests, that’s the right focus for grad school. The loss you experienced still matters. But the grad school statement is more narrowly focused.
Another way to think about telling the truth in the genre? Be specific.
Example 1: Does chemistry love you back?
- Not specific: I love chemistry.
- A little more specific: I’ve loved chemistry since I was five.
- Much more specific: I love chemistry because of what it has taught me about problem solving.
Example 2: Has anyone really wanted to be a chemist since birth?
- Not specific: I’ve always wanted to be a chemist.
- A little more specific: I’ve wanted to be a chemist since my first exposure to bench work.
- Much more specific: My first experience using a high-throughput laser convinced me that I wanted to be a chemist.
Example 3: Why should we care?
- Not specific: I was really fortunate to win the Super Special Undergraduate Award at my university.
- A little more specific: I received the Super Special Undergraduate Award at [University] in spring 2022 for my work in the Jones Lab.
- Much more specific: I received the Super Special Undergraduate Award in spring 2022 for my work on heterocycles in the Jones Lab. The award is given to only one student at [University] each year.
Example 4: What’s your interest?
- Not specific: I would be honored to work on the highly impactful research in the Khanna Lab.
- A little more specific: I am interested in the computational chemistry work in the Khanna Lab.
- Much more specific: I am interested in the work the Khanna Lab is doing to design new software to automate the process of computing molecular properties in the solution phase, clearing new pathways for artificial-intelligence design and discovery in chemistry and beyond.
- Much more specific, different angle: I am seeking a graduate experience where I can apply my knowledge of chemistry to machine learning. I am interested in the work the Khanna Lab is doing to design new software to automate the process of computing molecular properties in the solution phase and the work of the Smith Group to extrapolate insights from big data.
- Much more specific, yet another angle: I am interested in the work the Khanna Lab is doing to design new software to automate the process of computing molecular properties in the solution phase and the work of the Smith Group to extrapolate insights from big data. While my undergraduate work was in a wet lab, I am deeply interested in theoretical chemistry as a tool for advancing knowledge in chemistry and have taught myself to code.
Real Example: The Truth About Tutoring
The examples above are my own. Below, I’m sharing a real example from a revision of a personal statement by a former graduate scholar at Emory, Anthony Sementilli. Anthony wrote this statement to apply for the NSF GRFPAn acronym for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduat... More. He received an Honorable Mention for this highly competitive fellowshipa monetary award provided to support a student’s education... More!
Personal statement draft one:
The students I tutored in the academic retention program were usually the most driven and enthusiastic students I’ve had, and as someone who also depended on financial aid, I was sympathetic to my tutees’ struggles.
Personal statement revision:
Understandably, students sometimes became upset after having the academic dean insist they seek extra help on top of recovering from tragedy. However, as someone who also depended on scholarships, I was sympathetic to my tutees’ struggles. I’m grateful that I could help my tutees pick up the pieces because it taught me the greatest lesson I’ve learned as a teacher so far: the most important students aren’t always the ones that come to your office bearing an apple with your name it. Over three years, I’m proud to say that I helped almost 20 students keep their scholarships.
What changed?
Anthony is a great writer. In both drafts, the information is clear and persuasive. However, in the second version, Anthony makes the story a little bit less cheerful. It was challenging to provide mandatory tutoring! He had to build empathy with the students he worked with and also learn the lesson that student interactions can be rewarding and important even if they are not overwhelmingly positive. The specific facts–3 years and 20 scholarships saved–really makes Anthony’s point. In the first version, Anthony felt like he has to be positive and that made it hard to tell a truthful and compelling story.
Good luck with your personal statement! Share your story and tell the truth!