Personal Statement Tips? (NOT Statement of Purpose)

[oceanlover]

I've just finished up my SOP for UW, and the application has an optional personal statement.  I want to include a personal statement, but am having a lot of trouble finding resources/examples to help guide me in the right direction.  There is a lot of SOP advice floating around, but does anyone have any useful words about writing a personal statement?

 

The prompt states to talk about educational, cultural, and economic opportunities and disadvantages and how these experiences have affected the development of your interests, career plans, and future goals, and I'd having some problems with the latter part of the statement.   Everyone has personal experiences, but I'm not sure how to tie things into how it has affected my career goals.  Any advice would be appreciated!

[k_angie]

Hi turtle lover,

I too wrote a personal statement to apply for my masters. In that I wrote about how my personal experiences as a child in school or in my under graduation helped me gather inspirations and motivations to pursue the particular course.

Alternatively, if by chance you scored a low gpa in any semester or any minor, major, you could mention that too. Though, don't make it sound like an excuse but a proper explanation with how did you achieve to overcome it later. Or if had to face any hardships to study or something, you could mention that too. So well basically it's anything to everything from your life which you think reflects your choice of taking this course.

Does this make sense? Hope it helps.

Cheers!

[MsDarjeeling]

I'm doing a PS as well and yes it is different than the SOP.  In the PS you're talking about you as a person, not your research experience or interests or publications and what not.  Here you can address anything that has made you who you are and led you in the academic/career direction you're going in.  So for example: Did you/your family immigrate from somewhere else?  Did you study abroad or just travel a lot?  Peace Corp or AmeriCorp service?  Were you an older/nontraditional student?  Grow up impoverished?  Did you take a year off to care for a dying relative?

 

Any of those things could apply or you could also consider if you had an *aha* moment that made you realize this was the direction you wanted to go in.  Now some people use the PS to talk about extreme challenges like beating cancer or drug addiction, but I personally would not recommend that.  Of course it is up to the individual to determine what best describes who they are and what they wish to share with a bunch of strangers.