My #1 Tip When Writing a Personal Statement
Even as I begin this post, there’s like two to three main tips I have!! Ah, I will restrain myself. Because in actuality, there really is ONE main thing I recommend you do.
While I highly recommend you read my blog post on 5 Steps When Writing a Personal Statement, as this will give you some key steps to follow, if I could give you only one piece of advice to write your personal statement it would be this:
Seek Out Someone to Edit Your Personal Statement
Yep, a million dollar question deserves a million dollar answer and there you have it.
Now, first, let me preface this by saying you do not need to pay someone a million dollars to edit it for you! Even as a personal statement editor myself, I don’t think everyone necessarily needs to pay someone to edit their essay for them.
However, I DO think everyone needs SOMEONE to edit their statement.
Someone they trust and believe in.
I of course focus on personal statement editing for Physician Assistant School, but this piece of advice remains true for any graduate schooling.
Let me tell you why finding an outside person to edit your essay is imperative:
We don’t know what we don’t know!
After writing and re-writing and re-reading and adjusting and editing a 5000 character essay, our mind literally can’t see it from a different perspective. It’s impossible.
This is why it is imperative you get an outside perspective from a family member, friend, colleague, or trusted editing gal like myself! You need someone who will read it with fresh eyes and be able to tell you if something sounds awkward, things are spelled wrong, or it just feels like something is “missing”.
I personally prefer to hear the above in a relatively gentle and kind way haha but still, it needs to get across somehow!
When you are IN the essay, drowning in the words and the paragraphs and the content, it’s simply impossible to see how to make it better, what to cut out, how to shave off hundreds of characters (my personal cross to bear), or how to elevate your writing.
Any piece of writing goes through drafts. Particularly personal statements or essays needed for grad school and higher education. These things are precious, take time, and are a very important part of your application.
It might take multiple editing sessions to get it ~just right~ but when it’s done, you’ll be so grateful you went through draft after draft.
Personally, my angel-of-a-mother did my editing. We both sat down at the kitchen table for probably a collective of 30 hours and went through literally 50 different drafts of my essay. We just kept editing it and adjusting and re-writing and cutting characters out. She was and still is the best editing pal I know. We worked well together and went through the whole process from start to final-CASPA-finish. It was exhausting but the editing was THE most important step in making a good personal statement, perfect.
Now, the editing component has a few different parts so let me break it down:
The Content:
Someone who helps edit your essay can encourage you to change the content, add different stories, or simply say “you aren’t getting your point across how I know you want to.”
I personally think content editing can be done solo (i.e. you don’t necessarily need someone to help with this), however, I’m learning more and more how many students THINK they know what they want to write about but they actually don’t know.
I have had countless sessions with students where I ask them a few deeper questions and we get to a completely different essay topic. If you want more info about this, read my blog post on 5 Questions To Ask Yourself When Writing a Personal Statement.
The Writing:
The actual writing is really a kicker. This is where you might actually consider hiring someone, or at least leaning on someone you trust that can, well, WRITE. Many friends and family members can help with number 1 and number 3 down below, but the actual writing technique… well that can be a bit more “particular”.
I’m not saying you need your English professor editing your paper (though, could you ask?….jk….) but you do need someone that you respect and trust to help with sentence structure, flow, grammar, and paragraph development. Don’t get overwhelmed, CASPA doesn’t expect PhD level writing, however, I can tell immediately from reading an essay which is “strong” and which is “weak” and it’s almost entirely based on the writing style and grammar of the essay.
The Character Count:
My arch nemesis, the thorn in my side, the cross I bear, is the dang character count of these essays. I will have this perfect essay completed tied with a bow (about to pop open some champagne I’m so proud) and then my character count is like 10,000. And we are back to square one!!!!
Quite frankly, this is not my area of expertise. I’m not gonna lie. I am, in fact, terrible at limiting character count in my own writing, but boy did my mother just wack through my personal statement with a knife cut cut cutting! I was grateful for her, but I know this can be a difficult part of the essay writing experience.
Having now read through essays, it is much easier to identify sentences, “filler” words, and just stuff that doesn’t need to be there as an outsider and editor. So, what I’m saying is this above all else almost exclusively needs an outsider’s perspective, because take it from personal experience, it’s almost impossible to do it for yourself.
Not convinced yet?
If the above hasn’t convinced you of having someone edit your essay, I’ll end with this:
I truthfully think the personal statement is the most important part of your application.
It is the thing that will push you over the edge to get the interview.
It is essentially the only thing that can make you stand out.
It is the only real “voice” of yours that you have in your application.
The personal statement is important.
With that being said, it is OK (and actually necessary) to ask for help with this. You may need help just getting a sentence on paper! That is ok.
It can feel like a lot of pressure to put your *entire identity and life* into ONE essay. Now, of course you know I am exaggerating a bit. However, the personal statement is your time to shine, and we want to make sure that piece of writing REALLY gets across what you mean for it to get across.
With patience, forethought, multiple drafts, and editing assistance, you will guarantee a strong essay. I promise.
Per usual, I am always available to help whether it is through editing your essay, or just answering random questions. DM me or Email me!
Cheers and happy writing!
Marisa
