Unsure of My Personal Statement

[jarrodthomas]

Hey, everyone!

I have a quick question. For my personal statement, I mentioned pretty much a background of my life and how it's shaped me into wanting to go into social work. In my statement, I have my high school years. Would it be best to leave out anything before undergrad and just focus on what I've done in my undergraduate?

[Tigla]

11 hours ago, jarrodthomas said:

Hey, everyone!

I have a quick question. For my personal statement, I mentioned pretty much a background of my life and how it's shaped me into wanting to go into social work. In my statement, I have my high school years. Would it be best to leave out anything before undergrad and just focus on what I've done in my undergraduate?

 

My experience (second time through the cycle) is to leave out anything that is irrelevant. You have about a page or two to explain your life/academic career and why a graduate degree is the next step for you. Personally, I would leave out anything from high school, unless it truly shaped you and changed your career path. If not, then it is fine to make a passing remark (no more than a sentence) and move into your time as an undergraduate. Ultimately, it is your decision and you need to tell your story in your own special and creative way.

[avflinsch]

his is what worked for me - note that I am a very nontraditional student (finished my undergrad @52, masters @55), and I took a somewhat risky approach to the personal statements.

For my master's application it was a brief description of how my varied academic and professional paths let me to point where I was applying for admission. At most there was a single sentence relating to my first exposure to the subject of interest 35 years earlier. This was followed by a detailed description, of how my professional life related to area of study that I was applying to. The final section referenced how my future goals were changing and slowly changing towards education others.

The intro to the PhD application statement stated the trigger for applying to the program by referencing a conversation with a trusted friend (who does hold a PhD) stating that there were only 3 reasons for doing so, the final reason being that I can't get enough school, and that I still had questions - questions that did not yet have answers. This was followed by how my professional and educational experience would be a great asset to the program. The next section referenced the work 2 of the current researchers in the department, and how my intended area of research ran parallel to and overlapped theirs. The final section was somewhat risky - I specifically mentioned that while I might be older than other applicants, the age difference combined with real-world experience is a significant advantage in some respects. The last section also mentioned the same future goals I had towards educating others.