College Applications: Preparing the Personal Statement

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By Emily Schiller, PhD

In 500 words, tell us about a character-defining moment, a hardship you've had to overcome, a personal challenge, a person who has affected your life, your most prized possession, your most satisfying accomplishment . . . basically, tell us something about yourself. All of these essay prompts were paraphrased from existing college applications.

Most college applications require one or more such essays that reveal something personal about the applicant, something beyond the GPA and SAT, ACT and AP scores. However, it's difficult for young people to write about themselves when they are just beginning to learn about and form who they are. Students often have a difficult time identifying and illustrating what is truly unique about themselves and which experiences might help them stand out to others.

Here are some techniques you can use to help your children with this educational hurdle.

1. Whatever the question or essay prompt is, just sit down and write anything and everything that comes to mind. Don't censor any of it no matter how simplistic those ideas seem. Chances are they won't be the ones you stay with, but they need to be written out. They block the doorway to your creativity, leaving the really great ideas outside and unseen. So be as lame as you need to be at this stage.

And don't try to make this a gorgeous essay first time out. There are two phases to good writing: the intuitive/brainstorming phase and the crafting/editing phase. Trying to combine the two in one draft is death to both.

2. While you are free-writing your responses to the prompt, you can start researching yourself. Yes, that's right. Gather information on yourself from others. Go to your friends, family and teachers. Hand them a brief questionnaire (with a deadline) and ask them to write about any specific incidents they can think of that would illustrate the qualities that come to mind when they think about you. If this makes you feel shy and uncomfortable, turn the tables. How would you feel if one of your friends or relatives, someone you really cared about, asked you to do this for them? Wouldn't you feel pleased to help and flattered to be asked? Give them the opportunity to give you this really meaningful gift. People love to help at times like these, but haven't any idea how to.

3. Hopefully, the answers to your questionnaires will jog your memory and give you more material to work with. Are there qualities there you'd never really attributed to yourself? Are there events you'd forgotten about? Now reread what you wrote a few weeks ago. Keep any ideas that might still work, toss the rest, and see if you can integrate any of the results from your survey.

4. Most personal essays require some kind of narrative or story-telling. It's fine and even important to write out each and every detail in your early drafts. You may discover an angle you hadn't seen before. But then be sure to go back and take out everything that isn't vital.

5. Lack of detail is the most common problem I see in personal statements. A student will right that working with Mr Jones was meaningful, but never tells us why or that taking care of Ms Smith has been important but never says how. It's not enough to identify that person, situation, choice, book, etc. that has challenged and changed you in some way. That's just where you start.