Personal Statements

In This Lesson: Students will demonstrate an understanding of what a personal statement is.

Over the past several years, a team of organizations worked together to create the College & Career Knowledge Project, consisting of digital handouts compiled into a workbook designed to support college and career education planning. Full workbooks can be ordered through the 12th Year Campaign, and digital copies are also available.

​

​

​

Access the most up-to-date College and Career Knowledge materials on this website.

​

​

To compliment the materials, we have created lessons for each section in the workbook. These lessons contain specific content, a short activity, and resources from the workbook. Educators are able to make their own copy of each lesson and edit it to include specific details about their school and community. Each lesson should take about 20-30 minutes to be delivered during core-content or advisory class.

​

Access the most up-to-date month-to-month College and Career Knowledge lessons by grade level on this document.

Extra Lesson:

Personal Statements

College and Career Knowledge Materials

​

What is a Personal Statement?

• Essay portion of your college application! A personal statement:
• Gives a bigger picture of you. This needs to be all about YOU!
• Is your permission to brag!
• Is a space to tell your story beyond GPA and test scores
• This is your opportunity to stand out!
• Who is the Audience?
• Admissions officers and scholarship committees
• The Importance of the Personal Statement:
• It can put your application over the top for admission decisions
• Gives you the ability to explain extenuating circumstances

​

Brainstorming

Create bubble maps!

• Have an important event in the middle
• Surround it with circles on emotions, people, what you learned
• Make as many as you need to find a topic you can write about

​

Common Prompts

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you and what did you learn from the experience?

​

​

Quick tip: Write to one of the prompts that is similar to others and use it for multiple applications and scholarships!

Common Prompts

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

​

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

​

​

Misconceptions about Personal Statements

​

​

• Personal statements do not have to be a space where you share your trauma to the institution
• They do not have to be a sad or tragic story about your life!
• Personal statements can also be critiques of the institution, and they can be true to you, they do NOT have to be a "show and tell" of your oppression or pain

​

What To Do in your Personal Statement:

• Use “I” statements in your essay.
• Research on the college to ensure that the hopes/dreams you described in your essays can be fulfilled there.
• Be concise - more is not better.
• Write in your own words, speaking honestly, clearly and from the heart – be truthful.
• Let the college know what’s special, unique, distinctive and/or impressive about you.
• Paint a picture of the real you, not who you think they want you to be.
• Draft, proof, and rewrite the essay. Use spell-check. Go back to it after a few days and look at it again with fresh eyes.
• Let the college know how you were affected by the topic or experience if appropriate.
• Be mindful that your application should be consistent with your goals.

Things To Not Do in your Personal Statement

• Use clichés.
• Try to be funny, cute or sarcastic.
• Use thesaurus words – be sure you sound like YOU.
• Exceed the word or page limit.
• Use the name of the wrong college in the essay.
• Be cynical and overly critical- colleges will wonder if that is the personality you will bring with you to college.
• Have someone else or AI write your essay! College application readers are expert at recognizing essays not written by the applicant.

​

Additional Tips

• Use specific examples and details from your life
• Give yourself enough time
• There may be multiple drafts!
• Be thoughtful about the story you want to tell
• Be sure to answer the writing prompt
• Have someone look over your writing for mistakes, including content and grammar
• Read it out loud to see how the writing flows
• You can go over the word limit in your draft, but then follow up with cutting down your writing in the editing process

Activity

Read

• Sample essay 1
• Sample essay 2

You do not have to emulate this exact format and it is okay if your stories differ from these. Don't be afraid to shy away from taking a different path in writing your statement

Activity

Discuss with a partner

• What did the personal statements have in common?
• How did you feel after reading them?
• What can you take away about the student after reading their essay?
• What are some aspects you will incorporate into your own writing?

Need Additional Support?

​

For additional information and support on this topic, please reach out to: