Graduate School Series: Personal Statement

Hello readers! One of the most important documents for Grad school is the Personal Statement. Why is it important? It allows for potentiat schools to see what kind of person you are. Many graduate schools will require this document. Some programs will list specific directions to follow when writing this document. It is important that you follow their instructions. For the personal statement, I recommend writing several drafts and making multiple edits. Checking for grammar and incorrect spelling is very important. It is very helpful to get feedback from professors or anyone who has been through this experience/ who is talented in writing. I formatted my personal statement per APA guidelines because my area of study uses APA style. Some programs may prefer MLA style.



This is how I structured my personal statement:

• First paragraph: I explained a little about myself and what program that I’m applying to. I talked about why I am applying to the program and I wrote about my research interests ( how my research interests relates to the program).
• Second paragraph: I explained why I am interested in my research topic.
• Third paragraph: I wrote about my research experience
• Fourth paragraph: I wrote about how my unpaid work experience has helped me be prepared for graduate school ( leadership positions, assisting a professor, working with a variety of people).
• Fifth paragraph: I wrote about future goals after graduate school. I wrote how the graduate school could help me reach those goals.
• Sixth paragraph : I wrote about three faculty that I hoped to work with.

My personal statement ended up being one page ( double spaced 12 times new Roman font). Some personal statements can be longer. The length of the personal statement will be determined by the requirements of the program. Some programs may want a specific word count or page count. Mine was short because I haven’t had tons of experience that would relate to graduate school. I also watched a lot of YouTube videos and I asked advice from professors. My professors were nice and gave me their personal statements as examples ( this helped me how to organize my personal statement).

~Liu Miao~