Dear Office of Admission: I'm not sure where to start with my personal statement. What should I include? What should I not? I heard you read a ton of these every year. Help me, please.
Dear Student: The essay is the most subjective part of the college application so this question is tough to answer because the people who read essays value different things.
Some readers expect to learn something about you that doesn’t show up in the rest of your application, while some are just looking for clean writing and correct grammar to see if you’re capable of producing college-level material. We would say that making sure your essay is well written is more important than the actual content. Even if the reader isn’t engaged with your content, a well-written essay will leave them knowing that you’re prepared to handle writing courses at their college. Applying everything you’ve learned in your English classes about constructing a well-structured essay is also a good idea. And be sure to proofread your work several times. If your essay is filled with spelling errors, mispunctuation, text abbreviations, run-on sentences, etc., your writing ability will come into question even if the reader is into the story you’re telling. Submitting an essay with a bunch of mistakes also suggests that little effort was put into your essay and that definitely rubs readers the wrong way.
While we believe that clean writing should be the top priority, we're not suggesting that content should be ignored. We’ve seen some students submit a paper they wrote for an English or History class where they earned an A as their college essay. Even though an A-graded paper would support your case for being ready for college writing courses, not creating a new essay specifically for your college application would be a wasted opportunity. The essay is your best opportunity to speak on your own behalf and add your voice to the application. It could be something about your family, a personal accomplishment, a challenge that you’ve overcome, a personality quirk you have, or whatever it is you think is important for a college to know about you as they consider you for admission, especially if it’s something they wouldn’t know about you by reading the rest of your application. Settling on a topic and getting started can be the biggest challenge. There are a number of tools out there to help students brainstorm topics and ideas for essays. One is the College Essay Guy. This website is full of free content, guides, and resources to help students develop their college essay.
Finally, make sure your essay captures your genuine voice. It’s good to have people proof read your work, but as you’re taking in their suggestions make sure the final product still reads like it was written by you and not your editor (especially if the editor is a grown-up). We also advise students to focus more on being themselves rather than trying be who they think the college wants them to be. The most stand out essays for me, regardless of the topic, are ones where the student’s personality shines through.
