Personal Statement Writing: How To Structure the Essay

I think a big question, and a common “hiccup” I find with my students who are writing personal statements is the structure of the essay itself. People get a little confused with everything; from how many paragraphs to the way in which the paragraphs should be ordered and everything in between. 

This is a post in a long series of posts solely dedicated to writing personal statements. As a pre-med or pre-PA student, your personal statement is one of the most important parts of your application and the ONLY part of your application that allows you to get your “voice” across. It can be an extremely compelling essay or something that hits flat. My goal with all of these posts is to help you write an articulate and dynamic personal statement that leaves admissions committees hungry to hear more (and ultimately give you an interview)!

If you are interested in more posts about preparing for, writing, and editing personal statements start with this post and this post.

I am going to go over a few common ways personal statement essays are ordered, and end with what my favorite method of organization is.

1. Experiences

This is one of the most common organization techniques I see from students. They have identified 3-4 experiences that are important to them, and each paragraph is centered around each experience and what they learned from it.

Pros: You get to, very clearly, discuss your experiences and why they have made you into they person you are today.

Cons: Sometimes people forget to connect these experiences to WHY the experiences will make them a good PA.

2. Personality Characteristics

The next personal statement structure I run across often is structuring your personal statement based off of characteristics of a Physician Assistant. This structure requires each paragraph to have an overarching characteristic of the PA profession that is intriguing to the student. They then use personal stories to describe why they identify with that characteristic.

Pros: I think this structure form really tells the admission committee why you will be a good PA and proves to them that you have identified what a good PA needs to have.

Cons: Many students fall into the danger zone of describing in detail a PA they have shadowed, and how they love the characteristics of that PA. But, you slowly find that the essay tells the audience more about the random PA he or she shadowed than his or herself.

3. Timeline of Events

This is one of the most common types of structuring. Many students start by saying how they were introduced to healthcare at a young age, then slowly gained exposure in high school, narrowed down a focus in college, and now here they are! Ready to be a PA! I do think a thread of chronology is important and certainly has a time and a place, I don’t think it should be the foundation and structure of your entire essay.

Pros: As you can expect, this is the easiest structure to follow, as it brings us right in chronological order of life events.

Cons: I find this structure to be a bit elementary. It is an “obvious” and very guttural way to structure an essay, but it isn’t usually the most effective or relevant way to structure it.

4. One Singe Experience

Finally, many people see a personal statement as an essay that is your chance to say that “one” story about your life that is important to you. Some people base their entire essay on one big, foundational experience in their life, and show the admissions committee that they have extracted various personality traits from this one experience that will make them a strong candidate for PA school.

Pros: I do love this way of writing, as it allows for a very dynamic and detailed explanation of a big event (that likely seeps into all areas of your life). If done well, it can be a very moving story.

Cons: It can be a bit narrow focus and if done poorly, it may not give admissions committees a full view of your story, life, and why you want to be a PA.

So, which way of personal statement structuring is my favorite?

CHARACTERISTICS!

I think all types of structure can be strong if done well, however, the personal statement question asks: “Why do you want to be a Physician Assistant?” Your answer to that should be “because I love healthcare, because PAs work in a team, because XYZ”. The natural answer is a list of CHARACTERISTICS. If someone on the street asked you that question, you wouldn’t say “Well, when I was little I grew up XYZ, then in high school I discovered XYZ”. You get what I mean? The answer to the question inherently is asking for characteristics of the profession. So, I believe the strongest way to structure your personal statement is based on characteristics, then back up those characteristics with stories and events and activities that are meaningful to you that SHOW the admissions committee you have those specific characteristics!

I hope this is helpful, and gives you a good way to structure your essay. Remember, all can be done well. However, I think sorting your essay by PA traits is a very strong way to write and is EXACTLY what I did when I wrote my own personal statement! It ensures you answer the question asked of you AND allows you to discuss all of the important parts of your life without losing sight of the main question.

Happy Writing! Cheers!