Not-so-ordinary Personal Statements

Your personal statement will play an important role in persuading the admissions committee to accept you into their school. In effect, your personal statement is actually a persuasive essay seeking to make the reader believe that you should be accepted into the institution/s you apply for. One of the most effective ways to persuade the reader is to find a topic or subject that is extraordinary or unique to you. Here are some rather common life experiences that you can spice up to make your personal statement more interesting and persuasive.

The ordinary life

Many people believe that they have an ordinary life. If you are one of these people, instead of trying to pinpoint extraordinary experiences in your life, you can just choose ordinary experiences and speak of them with conviction, enthusiasm and professionalism. This is a good way of making your seemingly ordinary situation have more depth and interest.

Family trips

You may feel like your family trips are quite ordinary and perhaps even rather mundane. The truth is, family trips are a good source of inspiration for personal statements. Since family trips are rather common experiences, you can try to focus on some of the values and realizations that you have come to as a result of having intimate time with your family. This can help you set up an essay that is interesting and well-integrated.

You and those around you

If you really cannot find any particular experience or topic about yourself that you would like to share in your personal statement, you could always look at those around you. You can write about any person that has helped you to change for the better (such as a counselor, mentor or relative). Focus on the attributes of these people and how they have inspired you to become a better person. Also, mention the actions that you have taken as a result of your exposure to such qualities and traits.

Looking outside of yourself

Another common life experience may be more about the situation around you than you yourself. You can make your personal statement more exciting by talking about something that you have witnessed (perhaps a person or place) that has inspired you to become a better person. These people or places do not need to have any particular connection with you, except for that short moment of inspiration that you continue to carry with you.

Transcending the ordinary

Almost every person, even those who may seem to have the most ordinary lives, have come to an important self-realization at some point in their lives. This is one of the best ways of making an ordinary situation or life experience extraordinary. Try to extract, from any of your experiences, particular insights or revelations that you have had about yourself. Try to focus on how your skills, personal qualities and personality in general have developed through this experience.

Photo Credit : Mayr

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