It's Personal Statement time

[BeingThere]

How is everyone doing with their personal statements?

 

I have never been at a loss for (written) words.  But this puppy is a truly challenging thing to write.  I'd be interested in hearing how others are doing with it.  I'd also really appreciate any suggestions, experiences, or words of wisdom from those who've gone through this.

 

How did you elaborate on the items listed in your CV without simply repeating them?

 

Did you feel like you had to have a completely captivating and original story for how you got interested in the field?

 

How targeted were each of your statements to each school you applied to? (Completely separate statements or just one statement adapted for each program?)

 

 

[Lisa44201]

Tips from someone who's done this (twice):

 

Avoid talking about line-items on your CV, if you can. They can read your CV; use your SOP to explain how that research gave you experience in __________________ (statistical software, working with clients, a certain research methodology, etc.).

 

The first time I applied, I included a story about how I got into psychology. I took that out the second time I applied. Too much looking back, no enough looking forward. YMMV. 

 

I had one SOP for Quant, and one for Clinical. The tone was decidedly different, and there was a paragraph in each devoted to how I would be a perfect fit for Professor Awesome's lab because _____________, changing that part dependent on the POI in question.

[fishasaurus]

When I was preparing to write my statements, I did a ton of research. I looked up example statements online (even if they were for a different field, similar rules apply). I had applied for the NSF fellowship so I already had some text written, which made it easier to dive into personal statements. 

 

Long story short: 

 

Open up with a hook. Something that can be summed up into two sentences that kick the reader in the pants and makes them think "Wow! I want to read  the rest of this!" Generally it's related to what got you interested in your field, but it can relate to anything. My first paragraph lead the reader through a quick summary of why I was interested in science and research and explained it was a lifelong passion of mine.

 

The next two paragraphs described my research interests, the experience I earned in my undergraduate work and how it prepared me for graduate school, why I wanted to go to graduate school, and what I wanted to do after graduate school. The goal is to show that you have a plan, that you know exactly what you want and a graduate degree is what you need to get it.

 

For all my statements, the first few paragraphs were the same, and I rewrote the last paragraph for every school. I would say why I was interested in that program, how my research interests fit into the program, which professors I could see myself working with and why. This involved doing a little bit of research each time, going through professor profiles and looking over their recent publications. Generally, this paragraph was 6 lines long, and the whole statement was never more than one page (a professor told me nobody will read over one page so don't bother going over that limit).

 

Other advice I would give: have professors read over your statements! Preferably profs who are writing your letters of recommendation. Hopefully at least one of these profs has experience reviewing graduate applications and can give you specific pointers on what will make your application stand out.

[SportPsych30]

I just did my initial draft today! I did it for my number one choice school, so I can tailor it from here. Luckily this was just a rough draft because mine ended up a little over 2 pages, single spaced

I just have so much to say and talk about, all of it feels necessary to include.

 

. Generally, this paragraph was 6 lines long, and the whole statement was never more than one page (a professor told me nobody will read over one page so don't bother going over that limit).

 

This doesn't make me feel any better.. How can they make a decision on you if they don't even read the whole Personal Statement??

Sounds Iike I have some serious shortening to do

[BeingThere]

One of my programs states, "up to 5 pages."  Another says, "2 to 3 pages."  None of my programs say that the Personal Statement should just be one page.  The most restrictive says "500 words."

 

Two of my programs don't even want a personal statement; they have a form to complete (which is basically asking you questions that you would have answered in a personal statement.)

 

I do understand the value of brevity.  And I'm not disagreeing with Fishasaurus about how much of it they will read.  It is probably wise to state the most important things on that first page - if you've interested them they made read the rest? 

 

However, I suggest you check your individual program's application requirements.  All but one of mine clearly stated the desired length of the Personal Statement.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Bren2014

[fishasaurus]

Most of the programs I applied to didn't have a length requirement on the personal statement, but the professor who told me to stick to one page is on the graduate admissions committee so I figured one page was standard in my discipline. Depending on the type of application package, a longer personal statement may be more appropriate. My familiarity is within engineering only, so things are likely to be different in psychology. 

It's tough fitting everything onto one page, but concise writing is a valuable skill and the statement is great practice! Especially if you're going to apply for an NSF Fellowship.

[SportPsych30]

Is anyone else struggling to get their personal statements into 500 words or less? Any tips? If the limit was 1000 words I'd be golden. Help me...

 

[PsychGirl1]

500 words!!!!!!

 

I had only had one school that was that low- surprisingly, it's the one I ended up at :-D. It was a pain in the butt to write, though. Good luck!

[BeingThere]

Is anyone else struggling to get their personal statements into 500 words or less? Any tips? If the limit was 1000 words I'd be golden. Help me...

 

I feel your pain, SportPsych,

 

I'm not looking forward to writing my 500 word statement. 

Mind you, this is not advice, just sharing my plan of attack on it:

 

I am first writing the longest statement.  Then I will take that, paragraph by paragraph and summarize each pertinent paragraph in fewer sentences for my 2-to-3 pagers.  Then for my 500-word statement, I'll summarize in a couple/three sentences each pertinent paragraph from the 3-pager.

 

The only way I can write 500 words is by editing and re-editing a longer statement.  Of course each program gives a slightly different prompt, but my bio is my bio; that part is not going to change.

 

I'll let ya know if my plan works!  I hope to have all these done by the end of Oct!

Edited October 2, 2013 by Bren2014

[SportPsych30]

Bren, thanks for sharing!

Well I finally did it, with help from all three of my letter writers. I actually think I benefitted from just writing. Putting all my thoughts to paper and going from there. I started at 1400, went down to 600, then let my letter writers tack a whack at it. Finally down to 470, though I expect this number to fluctuate as a play with it over the next month.

My question now is whether or not I should add more stuff back in for letters that are allowed to be longer? As Fishasauras said, if its over a page, they may not read it. I know as a general rule that more concise is preferrable. That being said, I don't want to give off the vibe that I can't even write a full two page letter on myself.. Any thoughts on this?

 

[PsychGirl1]

Yes, definitely have statements longer than 500 words. Mine were on average just over 1000 words, unless the directions stated otherwise. And I got interviews at about half of the clinical psych programs I applied to. I just feel like there is no way you can communicate enough in 500 words- it's not enough space to talk about your experiences, passions, and why you'd be a good fit.

[BeingThere]

Something to keep in mind is that if they ask for more than one page then they are probably willing to read more than one page. If they were only willing to read one page, why would they ask for two-to-three?

I also pay close attention to their prompts. If they want a narrative of major life events (as one school does) then they probably wouldn't expect that in 500 words - and they don't. If they want simply my career goals and why I chose School X, then yeah, I could manage to do that in 500 words.

I trust that schools have experience on what the necessary length is for applicants to communicate the info they want to know. I'm going to go by their standards.

Edited October 2, 2013 by Bren2014

[gellert]

Question: How much time did y'all put into explaining how your research interests developed from whatever they were when you first became interested in your field of study to what you want to study in grad school?  Or did you skip that bit and just focus primarily on what interests you now, fit, and where you'd like to go in the future?

[psychgurl]

Question: How much time did y'all put into explaining how your research interests developed from whatever they were when you first became interested in your field of study to what you want to study in grad school?  Or did you skip that bit and just focus primarily on what interests you now, fit, and where you'd like to go in the future?

 

I only talked briefly about past interests to demonstrate breadth of research experience. I would focus mostly on what you want to do now/fit....

 

[SportPsych30]

Wouldn't it be nice if we only had to write one statement, like those applying to Law School, as opposed to tailoring ours for each school and their unique requirements...

[SportPsych30]

I promised those around me that I wouldn't chronically complain about this whole process, so here I am venting to you fine folks.

I think that if and when I become a big-wig professor, one of my first projects will be to develop a more uniform and universal application process. My roommate who is applying to Law Schools has shown me how easy it can be. Basically he fills out one application, with every piece of supplemental information, including transcripts, statements, LOR's etc..  and then goes through a list and clicks on each school he would like his application packet sent to. Easy as that.

I understand why it can't be that easy for us, although I wish it were.  Luckily I just had midterms in all of my classes, so I can use this weekend to finalyl get ahead on this application process. Feeling burnt out and exhausted by the redundancies.

Thanks for listening

SP30

[PsychGirl1]

I'm pretty sure that type of common app will never happen in psychology :-D. But I won't stop you from trying!

[BeingThere]

To Sportpsych's desire for a more standardized measure, I think that's what the GRE and GPA are for.

As for the labyrinthine and idiosyncratic application processes each school has, well, I'm sure it sorts out who is good at following directions and who is not so good at it.

Warning, insufferable optimist post follows: I am finding that each personal statement is helping me further clarify my thoughts about each program and giving me an opportunity to get better at "talking" about my interests and my area. I think it's been a good process for me. In writing about my choices and my intended direction I have also clarified (for myself) what exactly it is that I want from my doctoral studies beyond the degree. In a funny way, I feel a little more mentally prepared for grad school after writing the personal statements.

Edited October 22, 2013 by Bren2014

[windypoplars]

I promised those around me that I wouldn't chronically complain about this whole process, so here I am venting to you fine folks.

I think that if and when I become a big-wig professor, one of my first projects will be to develop a more uniform and universal application process. My roommate who is applying to Law Schools has shown me how easy it can be. Basically he fills out one application, with every piece of supplemental information, including transcripts, statements, LOR's etc..  and then goes through a list and clicks on each school he would like his application packet sent to. Easy as that.

I understand why it can't be that easy for us, although I wish it were.  Luckily I just had midterms in all of my classes, so I can use this weekend to finalyl get ahead on this application process. Feeling burnt out and exhausted by the redundancies.

Thanks for listening

SP30

 

On top of it, some schools want transcripts scanned in b&w with xxx dpi, some schools want them sent directly from the school, some schools want it all in one envelope..... it doesn't matter if you're applying to 3-4 ... it gets very confusing when you're applying to 10+... it took me 12 hrs to get these straight and order transcripts :-S 

[DiVitaJ]

To Sportpsych's desire for a more standardized measure, I think that's what the GRE and GPA are for.

As for the labyrinthine and idiosyncratic application processes each school has, well, I'm sure it sorts out who is good at following directions and who is not so good at it.

Warning, insufferable optimist post follows: I am finding that each personal statement is helping me further clarify my thoughts about each program and giving me an opportunity to get better at "talking" about my interests and my area. I think it's been a good process for me. In writing about my choices and my intended direction I have also clarified (for myself) what exactly it is that I want from my doctoral studies beyond the degree. In a funny way, I feel a little more mentally prepared for grad school after writing the personal statements.

I feel exactly the same way. I have some very concrete research ideas now that I honestly feel like I could pursue. Before I wrote my statements my ideas were much more vague and hard to verbalize. I had the knowledge to do it but I hadn't put it all down in a clear way and so it wasn't really organized in my own mind, either. Now it is! SOPs are miserable, though. I understand that each letter needs to be personalized to the program, but can't they at least agree on some standard prompts? 

[Socrates1]

I hate writing this.

[windypoplars]

I hate writing this.

ditto (note, brevity of this post…) 

Edited October 31, 2013 by windypoplars

[Socrates1]

Your personal statement of purpose will aid the Admissions Committee in evaluating your application. Please compose a succinct statement of 500-1000 words concerning your past work and preparation related to your intended field of study, your academic plans for graduate study at Yale, and your subsequent career objectives.

Please compose your personal statement offline in a word processor and click the Upload Document button below to attach it to your application.

Do not upload any other document than your personal statement.

 

Anyone have any advice for getting over terminal writers block?

[BeingThere]

Here's an exercise that might help:

 

Play a little game of mad libs with yourself.  Write out a few sentences that look like this:  

 

"From my course in _________________, I found that I was interested in _________________." 

"Assisting in the ______________ lab, I learned how to _________________."  

"During grad school, the three things I want most to learn are ____________,___________, and ______________."

"From working in ____________, I developed an interest in ________________."

"The thing(s) I enjoyed most about __________________(course, lab, research), was ___________________."

 

You can make more sentences like this and then fill them in.  Of course this is NOT how your statement will look or read.  This is just to get words on paper.  (You can even copy and paste these sentences into a text editor if you really are afraid of the blank page.)

 

Don't worry about the grammar and writing eloquently.  That will come in your next drafts.  Just put nouns and verbs together now.

 

Another huge thing that helped me break the ice with that first statement of purpose was to NOT start with the first paragraph or the first sentence of the statement.  I just wrote things down and re-ordered them later.  I didn't have my opening sentence until I had written a draft for a couple of different statements.

 

And a third idea is to print out your prompt and go and talk to a friend about your interest in grad school and the Yale program and how your experience relates.  When you say something brilliant or cogent, make a note of it.  Then when you are alone at your laptop, take those notes to begin your statement with.  (I also did this and it helped quite a lot.)

Edited November 8, 2013 by Bren2014

[Socrates1]

Here's an exercise that might help:

 

Play a little game of mad libs with yourself.  Write out a few sentences that look like this:  

 

"From my course in _________________, I found that I was interested in _________________." 

"Assisting in the ______________ lab, I learned how to _________________."  

"During grad school, the three things I want most to learn are ____________,___________, and ______________."

"From working in ____________, I developed an interest in ________________."

"The thing(s) I enjoyed most about __________________(course, lab, research), was ___________________."

 

You can make more sentences like this and then fill them in.  Of course this is NOT how your statement will look or read.  This is just to get words on paper.  (You can even copy and paste these sentences into a text editor if you really are afraid of the blank page.)

 

Don't worry about the grammar and writing eloquently.  That will come in your next drafts.  Just put nouns and verbs together now.

 

Another huge thing that helped me break the ice with that first statement of purpose was to NOT start with the first paragraph or the first sentence of the statement.  I just wrote things down and re-ordered them later.  I didn't have my opening sentence until I had written a draft for a couple of different statements.

 

And a third idea is to print out your prompt and go and talk to a friend about your interest in grad school and the Yale program and how your experience relates.  When you say something brilliant or cogent, make a note of it.  Then when you are alone at your laptop, take those notes to begin your statement with.  (I also did this and it helped quite a lot.)

 

Time to play mad libs then, and go with those suggestions, thanks.