Personal Statment-HELP! due march 1st!

[pjones616]

Hi, I am a 23 year old African American woman in the process of finishing my M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy. I recently decided to apply for a PsyD in Counseling Psychology. I am in the process of writing my personal statement and I really want it to be excellent. I know the gist of a "good" personal statement, but I am looking for something more than that, something GREAT to make my personal statement stand out (arent we all). A story you suggest? Well, about what? A quote? "about what?" I have a GPA of 3.6, but since I am young, I feel the need to overcompensate to be on the same page as I assume the other applicants are. ANY advice would be so appreciated!!!

[zapster]

Lots of SOP threads on the forum that are helpful. My two bits...

 

What makes a good SOP can be very subjective - my personal preference is to be as direct as possible (i.e. avoid roundabout stories, quotes, etc.), highlight the positives and positives only, show don't tell (cliche alert!), talk about experiences - but link them to either why you want to pursue the degree or how they will help you during the degree and how they make you 'unique', demonstrate that you are aware of what the degree entails - ensure your language is technical enough to sound knowledgeable (i.e. you do not sound naive or are about to solve the whole world's problems), at the same time make sure that this comes across as genuine and not artificially strung together.

[uromastyx]

zapster summed it up quite nicely for the SOP.

But by "personal statement" do you mean personal statement or statement of purpose? These are quite different, indeed.

The personal statement would articulate your desires for pursuing graduate study, usually wrapped in anecdotes and outlining struggles that you've encountered, that is, that you've had to overcome.

[zapster]

oops...yes, missed the fine large print there ! ...my response was specific to the SOP....if this is a personal statement in addtion to the SOP then you may have some more creative license...if you are concerned about being younger than other applicants, perhaps you can use this opportunity to showcase your intellectual and emotional maturity - possibly weaved into your experiences / anecdotes.

 

Importantly, I would pay a lot of heed to the specific prompt provided - i.e. is this a diversity statement vs personal statement etc. and what the prompt wants you to cover.