Fairleigh Dickinson Personal Statement

[absolutelynott]

Hi all, I'm applying to Fairleigh Dickinson's clinical psych program, and wanted to see if anyone else applying has any insight on the format of the personal statement. The instructions given on PSYCAS are as follows:

" A Personal Statement [Required]. You should submit a personal statement describing why you are interested in pursuing an advanced degree in Clinical Psychology. You should describe your profession-related experiences including teaching, research and human services work, and how they relate to this interest. At the end of the personal statement tell us about yourself, your non-academic interests and hobbies."

How much of you statement did you/would you dedicate to the part about yourself? Do you think they want a full page, or just a paragraph? Thanks!

[PsyDuck90]

I would imagine just a paragraph, especially since it says "at the end." 

[Ary21]

I see that this was posted a couple of week ago, so you have likely written your statement by now but maybe a reply is still helpful! I have also applied to FD and for the "about yourself" part I wrote about half a page. This is the only school that I applied to that has asked for this type of information.. was a strange addition but hopefully the half-a-page approach was sufficient!

[absolutelynott]

On 11/28/2020 at 2:52 PM, Ary21 said:

I see that this was posted a couple of week ago, so you have likely written your statement by now but maybe a reply is still helpful! I have also applied to FD and for the "about yourself" part I wrote about half a page. This is the only school that I applied to that has asked for this type of information.. was a strange addition but hopefully the half-a-page approach was sufficient!

Thanks for your reply! Haha nope I have not yet finished my statement for FD, been flooded with coursework and other applications! Thank god for that January 1 deadline.

This is good to know - for clarification, did you integrate it into the flow of the rest of your statement, or kind of append it as its own statement at the end of your general statement? Sorry if that doesn't make sense!

[Ary21]

I originally tried to integrate it but very unsuccessfully.. I felt that it took away from the main statement and the focus of my research interests etc. I ended up doing the latter of what you described, so separating it under its own heading. Was pretty happy with it/that approach in the end

Good luck with the statement and rest of the application!

[absolutelynott]

On 11/30/2020 at 9:09 AM, Ary21 said:

I originally tried to integrate it but very unsuccessfully.. I felt that it took away from the main statement and the focus of my research interests etc. I ended up doing the latter of what you described, so separating it under its own heading. Was pretty happy with it/that approach in the end

Good luck with the statement and rest of the application!

Hi again! Sorry to bring back this old thread haha, but I'm just curious how you interpreted the "talk about yourself" section of the FD personal statement. I know they mentioned talking about non-academic interests and hobbies, but as for talking about "yourself", this always throws me. Like, my personality? My insecurities? I guess I'm just not sure what parts of "myself" are appropriate to share!

Edited December 26, 2020 by teenygreeny

[Ary21]

19 hours ago, teenygreeny said:

Hi again! Sorry to bring back this old thread haha, but I'm just curious how you interpreted the "talk about yourself" section of the FD personal statement. I know they mentioned talking about non-academic interests and hobbies, but as for talking about "yourself", this always throws me. Like, my personality? My insecurities? I guess I'm just not sure what parts of "myself" are appropriate to share!

Hey! This type of stuff always throws me too... I was dreading writing the "talk about yourself" section and I'm probably not 100% happy with it but ohhh well...

I'm currently based in Europe so I wrote a bit about that. I wrote about my experiences from being in a new place/culture, finding friends in a new place, learning a new language, etc. (while trying to relate these new experiences to my personality, i.e. a social person..). I also wrote a few lines on being an active individual (e.g. ex-lacrosse player, dog owner, kite-surfer, etc.).. I didn't touch at all on insecurities but did mention a little on the challenges relating to being in a new country. I mainly attempted to focus on how the things I touched on are part of my personality outside and inside my professional life. Hope this helps!