Risky to get creative with a personal statement?

[whybanana]

Should I implement a narrative structure in my personal statement or is that too risky? Would it be safer to follow a more traditional format, talking about my motivations, experience etc.? 

Oh, and while you're here, would you happen to have any essential tips on writing a personal statement in biology, in general? I'm finding it incredibly difficult to avoid cliches.

[Nomad1111]

I've heard mixed message from faculty members/PIs/ADCOM members about narrative structures in personal statements. The most common "AVOID THIS" advice I received was to not hinge your narrative on emotional statements. Like "I knew I wanted to be a scientist when I watched my *insert loved one here* suffer from *insert sad disease here*..." and then carrying that as the main thread underlying your narrative. I'm sure some people are fine with this, but I think the issue is that some people really don't like this approach, so the advice is to play it safe and avoid appealing to people through these types of emotional stories. 

I structured my personal statement as kinda a timeline, beginning in the early days when my initial scientific curiosity was sparked, then moving through the experiences I gained over the years and at the end, bringing it back to that initial curiosity still being there as well as other important characteristics that developed along the way.

 

My biggest tip is to start early, write a draft, walk away from it for a few weeks. Then pull it back out, look at it again with fresh eyes. Re work it and be super open to a complete overhaul (this is why starting early is the first step!). Then start sharing it, and remain open to total overhauls. For me, starting early and walking away from it several times gave me the big picture perspective I needed to take it from decent to amazing, at least compared to the original draft  

Edited March 25, 2017 by Nomad1111

[whybanana]

Thank you! Unfortunately, I don't have as much time as I initially thought, but I'm hoping my writing skills can help me overcome my lack of time. I know that there is no replacement for stepping back and revisiting a personal statement, but I feel like if I managed to write my college application essays in a day and most of my better essays/research proposals in an extremely short amount of time, I might be able to pull this off. 

I know that I'm naive/delusional for thinking this, but I don't have much of a choice at this point. Is it possible to write a good personal statement in less than a month?

[ThousandsHardships]

Are you talking about the personal statement or statement of purpose? Those are typically different statements. The statement of purpose (SOP) would be the one that most schools require, and only some schools require a personal statement (sometimes referred to as a personal history statement).

For the statement of purpose, focus on your background and experience. This isn't a place to give anecdotes or talk about personal difficulties. Treat it as a combination of a CV and cover letter. Your interests should be grounded in experience. One technique that I found super helpful was to start with a description of a research project I did. I got the idea from a friend's SOP (said friend got into 5 out of the 6 top schools she applied to). Using her approach as a guide, I briefly summarized the most memorable research project I did, explaining the topic, my approach, my discoveries (using some jargon in the process) and how this project led me to eventually find my research interests. In the next paragraphs, I then backstepped a little to talk about my general background in the discipline, specific background in my subfield, and I wrapped up my statement with a conclusion that talks about what I'm currently doing with my life as well as my career aspirations for the future.

For the personal statement, you can talk a bit more about your personal experiences, but the general idea is that yes, clichés are bad. I've had to completely rewrite my personal statement about four times before my recommenders were satisfied with it. What ultimately got me on the right track was when my professor told me to treat it like a mini intellectual autobiography. Basically, don't include random things that have nothing to do with your academic trajectory. And make it flow nicely. If you have had any difficulties or questionable parts in your application, this is the place to talk about it. But don't make it a sob story or give excuses. Rather, it's better to focus on the steps that you've taken to address these issues, how these difficulties have helped you along the way, etc.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say you want to incorporate a narrative structure. Do what feels most natural to you. I think it's safer to make it more traditional. Honestly, though, I've discovered that the best statement is simply one that doesn't go overboard trying to prove something or hide something. Stick to the truth and the rest will come. You don't need to describe how interested you are with elaborate adjectives, nor do you need to tell the school that you believe you're competent. Show them directly by describing your projects, experiences, and insights. Oh, and don't forget to research the schools and show them why you're a good fit (e.g. faculty whose research is in your subfield, organizations and workgroups specifically dedicated to your area).

By the way, since you're talking about narrative...I should mention that I was super upset when told I'd have to overhaul my third draft of my statement. I was having such writer's block and didn't know how to start or what to say, and so I just decided, hey, why not go out on a limb and try a poetic style? Well, that lasted for about three sentences. My end result was a completely normal statement, but it helped me get over the writer's block and identify a connecting point for all the random stuff I had to say. Cool story, eh? 

Edited March 25, 2017 by ThousandsHardships

[BigThomason51]

18 minutes ago, Nomad1111 said:

I've heard mixed message from faculty members/PIs/ADCOM members about narrative structures in personal statements.

 

Solid advice. I went the creative route, but I had more than five people review it including a professional writer. I had the professional writer review it first, and she helped me avoid some pitfalls and structure it better. 

7 minutes ago, whybanana said:

Thank you! Unfortunately, I don't have as much time as I initially thought, but I'm hoping my writing skills can help me overcome my lack of time. I know that there is no replacement for stepping back and revisiting a personal statement, but I feel like if I managed to write my college application essays in a day and most of my better essays/research proposals in an extremely short amount of time, I might be able to pull this off. 

I know that I'm naive/delusional for thinking this, but I don't have much of a choice at this point. Is it possible to write a good personal statement in less than a month?

 

It's possible, but make sure you get it reviewed A LOT. So try your best to get the first draft done as soon as possible, and then have as many people as you can review it and provide feedback. The original draft of my personal statement took a complete 360 after all my reviews, so I think it's imperative you get fresh eyes to view it.  I know it's going to be harder with your one-month deadline, but you said it yourself; you're a great writer. So work extremely hard to get the first draft and then find people to look it over. 

[whybanana]

6 minutes ago, ThousandsHardships said:

Are you talking about the personal statement or statement of purpose? Those are typically different statements. The statement of purpose (SOP) would be the one that most schools require, and only some schools require a personal statement (sometimes referred to as a personal history statement).

For the statement of purpose, focus on your background and experience. This isn't a place to give anecdotes or talk about personal difficulties. Treat it as a combination of a CV and cover letter. Your interests should be grounded in experience. One technique that I found super helpful was to start with a description of a research project I did. I got the idea from a friend's SOP (said friend got into 5 out of the 6 top schools she applied to). Using her approach as a guide, I briefly summarized the most memorable research project I did, explaining the topic, my approach, my discoveries (using some jargon in the process) and how this project led me to eventually find my research interests. In the next paragraphs, I then backstepped a little to talk about my general background in the discipline, specific background in my subfield, and I wrapped up my statement with a conclusion that talks about what I'm currently doing with my life as well as my career aspirations for the future.

For the personal statement, you can talk a bit more about your personal experiences, but the general idea is that yes, clichés are bad. I've had to completely rewrite my personal statement about four times before my recommenders were satisfied with it. What ultimately got me on the right track was when my professor told me to treat it like a mini intellectual autobiography. Basically, don't include random things that have nothing to do with your academic trajectory. And make it flow nicely. If you have had any difficulties or questionable parts in your application, this is the place to talk about it. But don't make it a sob story or give excuses. Rather, it's better to focus on the steps that you've taken to address these issues, how these difficulties have helped you along the way, etc.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say you want to incorporate a narrative structure. Do what feels most natural to you. I think it's safer to make it more traditional. Honestly, though, I've discovered that the best statement is simply one that doesn't go overboard trying to prove something or hide something. Stick to the truth and the rest will come. You don't need to describe how interested you are with elaborate adjectives, nor do you need to tell the school that you believe you're competent. Show them directly by describing your projects, experiences, and insights. Oh, and don't forget to research the schools and show them why you're a good fit (e.g. faculty whose research is in your subfield, organizations and workgroups specifically dedicated to your area).

By the way, since you're talking about narrative...I should mention that I was super upset when told I'd have to overhaul my third draft of my statement. I was having such writer's block and didn't know how to start or what to say, and so I just decided, hey, why not go out on a limb and try a poetic style? Well, that lasted for about three sentences. My end result was a completely normal statement, but it helped me get over the writer's block and identify a connecting point for all the random stuff I had to say. Cool story, eh? 

 

Thank you so much! All of this is excellent advice. The program I'm applying to isn't a PhD, so they are only asking for a personal statement. I feel like I'm pushing myself to write something more creative just to stand out, but I'm way more comfortable using a traditional style, especially given my short time frame. Will potentially save myself a few drafts by adopting something more straightforward.

 

 

[whybanana]

8 minutes ago, BigThomason51 said:

It's possible, but make sure you get it reviewed A LOT. So try your best to get the first draft done as soon as possible, and then have as many people as you can review it and provide feedback. The original draft of my personal statement took a complete 360 after all my reviews, so I think it's imperative you get fresh eyes to view it.  I know it's going to be harder with your one-month deadline, but you said it yourself; you're a great writer. So work extremely hard to get the first draft and then find people to look it over. 

 

Will do! I don't think I could send it out to more than a couple professors and my research mentor (who is writing me an LOR), but I hope that'll be enough. I'm also hoping that my LOR will make me stand out if my personal statement doesn't, since I know that it should be amazing (he's also an alumnus of the university I'm applying to).

I know this is off topic, but how much do LORs matter in the grand scheme of things? Can it make or break an applicant?

[TakeruK]

I would say that yes, it is certainly more risky to submit a creative statement instead of a "traditional format". But it's not impossible. One of my friends submitted a photo essay and that didn't seem to stop them from getting in to top ranking programs. They applied to a scientific field too, nothing to do with photography. To me, that is too much of a big risk when I can go with the boring, sure thing. 

I didn't think a narrative structure would be "not traditional". I actually thought a narrative is the typical way people write these statements! To be clear, by "narrative", I don't mean telling a creative story but just telling my life story. As in, "First I did A and I learned B and achieved C. Then I chose to do Project D because of Reason E and I achieved F and learned G. etc. Finally, I want to study H at your University so that I can learn I and work in J." To me, this is a narrative because I'm telling the reader about what I did in undergrad and why I made the decisions that I had made.

To avoid cliches, I would recommend avoid embellishments and irrelevant details. Think of this as a piece of academic writing and just state the facts. Generally, you don't want to use adjectives and adverbs unless they are required to specify what you are talking about. So, you would use adjectives like "mass spectrometer" or "10-m telescope" but I wouldn't write things like "exciting project". If you find your text too dry after finishing it, then you could go back and add adjectives if you'd like. I think this is a better approach if you are worried that you will be too cliche/have too many descriptors. That said, it is okay if your statement is boring and dry, in my opinion. Profs are going to read this one after another, and they are going to scan it to look for key details. Don't spend too much time trying to create the most perfect analogy or metaphor because they are likely going to miss it. Make it easy for them to find your key qualifications by just stating them upfront.

One month is a good amount of time to work on it. I think you can actually do all of the writing you need to do in just a few days. However, the longer timeline is helpful to get feedback from other people. 

[whybanana]

18 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

I would say that yes, it is certainly more risky to submit a creative statement instead of a "traditional format". But it's not impossible. One of my friends submitted a photo essay and that didn't seem to stop them from getting in to top ranking programs. They applied to a scientific field too, nothing to do with photography. To me, that is too much of a big risk when I can go with the boring, sure thing. 

I didn't think a narrative structure would be "not traditional". I actually thought a narrative is the typical way people write these statements! To be clear, by "narrative", I don't mean telling a creative story but just telling my life story. As in, "First I did A and I learned B and achieved C. Then I chose to do Project D because of Reason E and I achieved F and learned G. etc. Finally, I want to study H at your University so that I can learn I and work in J." To me, this is a narrative because I'm telling the reader about what I did in undergrad and why I made the decisions that I had made.

To avoid cliches, I would recommend avoid embellishments and irrelevant details. Think of this as a piece of academic writing and just state the facts. Generally, you don't want to use adjectives and adverbs unless they are required to specify what you are talking about. So, you would use adjectives like "mass spectrometer" or "10-m telescope" but I wouldn't write things like "exciting project". If you find your text too dry after finishing it, then you could go back and add adjectives if you'd like. I think this is a better approach if you are worried that you will be too cliche/have too many descriptors. That said, it is okay if your statement is boring and dry, in my opinion. Profs are going to read this one after another, and they are going to scan it to look for key details. Don't spend too much time trying to create the most perfect analogy or metaphor because they are likely going to miss it. Make it easy for them to find your key qualifications by just stating them upfront.

One month is a good amount of time to work on it. I think you can actually do all of the writing you need to do in just a few days. However, the longer timeline is helpful to get feedback from other people. 

 

Thank you! I like the idea of approaching it as a piece of academic writing and then adding embellishments as needed. Yeah, following a timeline is important. By creative, I meant using anecdotes/interesting language or playing with form altogether. But I feel like the work put into a creative personal statement doesn't match the payoff if a traditional one is generally good on its own.

[Kaede]

I encourage getting creative as long as your story directly relates to your academic research. I started out with a "cliche" pre-med opening for my statement but many professors remarked that the anecdote was a refreshing start to a statement of purpose. If you have an anecdote, I would make sure it doesn't last more than a paragraph and that it relates directly to the development of your research interests.