how to organize personal essay

7 Helpful Tips on How to Write A Memorable Personal Essay

Everyone has a story to tell and a message to share. The challenge lies in getting that story and message out of your head and into print in a way that resonates with your audience.

Starting somewhere in the late 2000s, a certain type of personal essay experienced a popularity boom. These essays were ultra-personal and confessional in nature, often in a TMI sort of way. Their headlines were clickable, not to mention shareable, for their shock value alone.

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Although the confessional shock essay’s star seems to be fading, the personal essay itself is still standing strong. Essay collections by late greats like James Baldwin ( The Fire Next Time ) and David Foster Wallace ( Consider the Lobster ) still top Amazon’s Best Sellers in essays. Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) launched a career with her darkly funny and self-effacing essays about her health and mental illness challenges ( Let’s Pretend This Never Happened ). Celebrities like Mindy Kaling ( Why Not Me? ) and Tina Fey ( Bossypants ) blended personal essays into memoir-esque collections that became best sellers. We head for the nearest bookseller when essay titans like David Sedaris or Anne Lamott have a new release.

We’re looking for real stories and musings from people who are able to share their foibles, lessons, and truths in a way we can relate to. Here are seven tips to help you craft a personal essay that will connect with readers.

1 Understand what a personal essay is

Ask three different experts what a personal essay is and you’ll likely get three different answers. Are they structured? Must they address a certain type of subject? Here’s a definition we like:

A personal essay is a short work of autobiographical nonfiction characterized by a sense of intimacy and a conversational manner. Also called a personal statement. A type of creative nonfiction, the personal essay is ‘all over the map,’ according to Annie Dillard. ‘There’s nothing you can’t do with it. No subject matter is forbidden, no structure is prescribed. You get to make up your own form every time.’

Personal essays relate the author’s intimate thoughts and experiences to universal truths. They aren’t simply a retelling of events, though—that falls more in the realm of memoir or autobiography. They conclude with the author having learned, changed, or grown in some way and often present some truth or insight that challenges the reader to draw their own conclusions.

2 Find a compelling topic

The best essay topics are often deeply relatable. Although the story itself is unique to the author’s experience, there’s some universal truth that speaks to us from just below the surface. Topics like facing a fear, falling in love, overcoming an obstacle, discovering something new, or making a difficult choice tackle feelings and events that happen in everyone’s life.

3 Start with a strong hook

As with any type of writing, it’s essential to draw the reader in from the very first paragraph , or even the first sentence. Here are a few examples.

Aside from Peter, who supposedly guards the gates of heaven and is a pivotal figure in any number of jokes, the only saint who’s ever remotely interested me is Francis of Assisi, who was friends with the animals.

When I was young, my family didn’t go on outings to the circus or trips to Disneyland. We couldn’t afford them. Instead, we stayed in our small rural West Texas town, and my parents took us to cemeteries.

I underwent, during the summer that I became fourteen, a prolonged religious crisis.

Alone, we are doomed. By the same token, we’ve learned that people are impossible, even the ones we love most— especially the ones we love most.

Your hook and opening paragraph should establish the topic of your essay (or at least allude to it) and set the scene and tone.

4 Create an outline

All it takes to understand the importance of an outline is listening to someone who struggled to tell a personal story. Often, the story will seem to have no real point. The switchbacks where the teller says “But wait, I have to tell you about this part, first!” are maddening and disruptive. An outline will help you organize your thoughts before committing them to text.

Consider your opening hook and the statement it makes, then map out the sequence of events or main points that support it. Just like a good fictional story, your essay should have rising action. Raise the stakes with each paragraph until you reach a climax or turning point. Plan to add a conclusion that will evoke an emotional response in your reader.

5 Narrow your focus

Don’t try to write to a general topic. Your essay may well be about sexism, but you need to illustrate it through the lens of a defining incident that’s deeply personal to you. What did your experiences teach you about sexism? What does it mean to you as an individual?

6 Show, don’t tell

Close your eyes. Think of the scene you’re about to write down. What were you experiencing with your five senses? How did you feel?

Your challenge is to evoke those senses and feelings without flatly stating them. Don’t say “I felt cold.” Say “I exhaled and my breath turned to vapor that hung in the air. I shivered and pulled the blanket tight around my shoulders in a vain attempt to trap my body heat.” Your description should help the reader experience the cold with you. Stephen King describes it as making the reader “prickle with recognition.”

7 Craft a thought-provoking conclusion

Your essay should end with your own reflection and analysis. What did you learn? How have the events and thoughts you described changed your life or your understanding of life? It’s not enough to say “And that’s what happened.” You have to describe how whatever happened shaped you.

Just as a good lead hooks readers and draws them along for the ride, a good conclusion releases them from your essay’s thrall with a frisson of pleasure, agreement, passion or some other sense of completion. Circling back to your lead in your conclusion is one way to give readers that full-circle sense. Try to restate your thesis in a way that reflects the journey the essay has taken.

There is so much outside the false cloister of private experience; and when you write, you do the work of connecting that terrible privacy to everything beyond it.

Personal Statement Structure: How to Organize Your Essay

July 1, 2020

If you’re about to be a high school senior, you’ve probably heard this many times by now — the personal statement can make or break your application. Using just 650 words, you have to demonstrate who you are, what makes you unique, and what you’re passionate about in a way that impresses admissions officers. Once you’ve found the perfect topic, the question then becomes, what is the right personal statement structure?

High school students are used to writing a traditional five-paragraph essay. The Common App essay doesn’t follow that pattern. Your personal statement structure needs to highlight the core of your personality and character with more of a “bang.” So, you can’t necessarily go on philosophical tangents or drag out introductions. In this blog, I’ve elaborated on ways to organize your essay so that you can captivate admissions officers at your top choice colleges and sets yourself apart from the other applicants.

How to Organize Your Essay

No matter what you’re writing about, your essay needs to be well organized and flow smoothly. Admissions officers will not appreciate a haphazard piece of writing that seemingly tells no story or where the narrative is all over the place. As you figure out personal statement structure, you need to keep 3 key aspects in mind: the introduction, the evidence, and the ending. Let’s take a closer look at each of these elements.

The Introduction

An exceptionally important step in your personal statement structure is your introduction. Obviously, this is the first thing that admissions officers will read, so you have to make a memorable impression with your opening statement and paragraph. Remember that these officers read hundreds of applications – and essays – each day, so it’s crucial that you start your story off in a unique way so that you grab and keep their attention.

Hook: The hook of your essay is a catchy phrase or sentence that should capture the reader’s attention immediately as they start your essay. Your hook can include a quote (for a personal statement, quotes are better suited if they’re a dialogue from real life rather than from a famous person), a fact that might startle your audience, or a vivid description of something unique and makes the admissions reader say, “That’s interesting!” and want to keep going.

Example of a hook: It hit me when I was twelve years old: I had a problem. I hated taking showers.

Problems: Once you’ve got your hook, you can build on it by outlining the problem, or issue that you faced. Because many essays often tell stories of growth in an individual or how the writer worked on something they’re passionate about, there’s often a conflict that stands in the way. As you work on your personal statement structure , consider whether you faced any obstacle that could go hand in hand with your hook.

Example problem: No, it had nothing to do with the warm water, fragrant hair products, or the time spent alone, but rather with how I spent my time afterward. For a little over a year, I blow-dried and straightened my hair after every shower, turning what should have been a fifteen minute affair into an hour-long ordeal. Why did I do this? It was a symptom of what I call ‘The Curly Hair Teenage Angst Syndrome.’

Solution or Thesis: You’ve probably heard the word “thesis” when it comes to your English class essay. This is the main point, the purpose of your essay. What do you want to convey to the reader in the next few paragraphs? As you introduce your essay, you want the reader to know that this is a story of personal development or hard work and determination. So, take advantage of the introduction to provide a picture of exactly what you’ll be covering in your response — how did you get to the solution? This gives the admissions officer an idea of what to expect as they continue reading.

Example thesis: My hair was perfectly straight, but I hated it. I hated succumbing to my vanity, continuing to do something that the reasonable part of my brain knew was silly. Deep down I could acknowledge that I was blow-drying my hair only for external approval and that ultimately, my curly hair was just fine by me.

The Evidence

Once you’ve introduced the topic or theme of your essay, it’s time to get into the more nitty gritty details. Next up in the personal statement structure : the evidence. If your story is about your amateur wrestling career or how you founded your own company, it’s time to let the admissions officer know about the specifics. Because this essay is one of the most effective ways to let the colleges of your choice get a picture of who you are, making careful choices here is very important. You want your personality to shine through by using captivating dialogue, vivid descriptions, and subtle tone techniques. The reader should come out of this experience knowing what makes you unique and different from other candidates.

You don’t have to use overly flowery language. The point is clarity and vividness. The more concrete your depiction of events, the better the admissions officers can picture it, and understand why this topic is important to you. And of course, as cliche as it sounds – remember to show, not tell.

Example evidence: As a lifelong artist and self-proclaimed craft aficionado, I decided to bring my cache of crafting supplies to the hospital the next day: colored-paper, yarn, fabric, beads, and more. My grandma and I spent hours weaving bracelets and debating color combinations. By the time it got dark, my grandma, satisfied from an unexpectedly eventful day, fell asleep quickly, unbothered by her back pain. I went home, eager to brainstorm new crafting ideas. I scrolled through blogs, scoured YouTube compilation videos, and scribbled down crafting plans in my sketchbook.

Once you’ve fleshed out your plot and descriptions, you’ve arrived at the final part of understanding the personal statement structure. Just as it’s crucial to start your essay in a catchy manner, it’s essential that your ending is memorable as well. There are a few ways you can end your response. Your conclusion can refer back to your opening paragraph — especially if you’d started with an anecdote — and talk about it in light of the things you mention as part of the evidence. You could choose the expansion route and reflect on a personal or universal truth, and how you’ll focus on events or similar situations moving forward. You could also take it back to your thesis — talk about your growth, and how you’ve changed or how your life may have shifted. Or, you could be more creative and take less of a traditional path and end in a quote or ellipses.

Example ending: In addition to establishing a meaningful friendship, this experience seeded a mentality that will continue guiding my actions, attitudes, and interactions. It showed me the value of being empathetic and considering others’ perspectives. I learned to view my setbacks and predispositions as mere short-term obstacles that can be overcome with a growth mindset – truly believing that anybody can do anything.

Now that you have a clearer understanding of personal statement structure , it’s time to start brainstorming. Once you have a topic, think carefully about the best ways to approach it through your essay. Write multiple drafts to figure out the best way to convey your story so that you can stand out among the competition. Good luck!

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Essay Writing Guides

Guide How to Write a Personal Essay for a High Score

Writing a personal essay is a meeting with readers where you need to share your thoughts and feelings. In such a document, you become the main character of your story and talk about your life experiences. However, before you begin creating your story, you must familiarize yourself with some rules on how to write a personal essay. When writing a personal essay, you must invite readers into your inner world and give them a chance to understand you more deeply.

You can tell one or several life situations that significantly influenced your worldview and changed your view of various things. You must use every word in your document to describe your feelings, thoughts, and meaningful moments. In this article, we will review the basic steps of writing a personal essay, outline the structure, and provide a high-quality example to help you create a successful thesis for a personal essay.

Practical Tips on How to Write a Personal Essay

Having received a written assignment from a teacher, many students wonder how to write a personal essay. Writing a document is much more straightforward than it might seem. To do this, you need to familiarize yourself with some tips from experienced specialists and move on to creating a masterpiece:

Choose a suitable topic. First of all, you need to choose a topic that is truly interesting and important to you.
Be as sincere as possible. Readers often appreciate honesty, so don’t be afraid to share your feelings, even if they seem vulnerable.
Create an essay structure. One of the most important parts is the structure. Be sure to break your essay into an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Be specific. Remember that detail brings life to your essay and provides readers with a clear understanding of your topic.
Give preference to visualization. An excellent option to improve your essay is to show your feelings through dialogues, descriptions, and experiences instead of just talking about them.
Edit and proofread. If, during the process of creating a personal reflective essay, you notice that the text contains errors or typos, be sure to remove redundant words, check the grammar, and try to make each sentence as clear and expressive as possible.

With these tips, you can create a high-quality personal essay that will be interesting and understandable to readers. Read each prompt carefully and think about each step before moving on to the writing process.

What Is Personal Essay and Why to Write It?

Before you start writing, you must find out what is personal essay. The personal essay is a unique form of expression that allows students to share their thoughts, emotions, and life experiences with readers. The primary purpose of the personal essay is to connect with the audience on a deeper and more personal level. This writing serves as a vehicle for students to communicate their perspectives, life lessons, and unique journeys.

Thanks to this, readers are introduced to personal essays to better understand the author’s inner world, where they can resonate with their life situations. At its core, a personal narrative essay is a piece of literature that helps students talk about their lives, allowing readers to witness personal growth, challenges, and triumphs.

How to Create a Clear Structure of a Personal Essay

To create a high-quality essay of any type, you must adhere to a clear plan to help structure your thoughts and make the text more understandable for readers. Creating a clear structure of a personal essay is necessary to convey your story and attract audience understanding effectively. Below, we will provide a step-by-step guide to help you create a well-organized and consistent structure:

Introduction. The key is to hook the reader, which can be done by starting with a compelling anecdote, a thought-provoking question, or a relevant quote to grab attention.
Thesis. Next, clearly state the central theme or message you want to convey in your essay, which will help set the tone for the entire work.
A summary of the essence. Once you have created a strong thesis statement, you need to provide the background or context of the story briefly.
Chronology. Try to organize your events and thoughts in a logical sequence.
Visualization. Make your story strong by including dialogue, sensory details, and descriptions. Try to engage the reader’s senses to immerse them in your experiences.
Description of your thoughts. While writing a personal essay, you need to pause to share thoughts, emotions, and ideas related to the experience you are talking about.
Culmination. It is necessary to create some tension to make a personal essay as emotional as possible.
Conclusion. This section should summarize the results and name the main points.

Following these steps, you can create a well-structured personal essay that effectively tells your story and resonates with your audience. Be sure to take every step into account, and you will likely be able to write a compelling story that will succeed.

Tips for Writing a Good Personal Essay

Writing a good personal essay requires a combination of storytelling, self-reflection, and practical communication skills. Below, we will provide some tips to help you cope with this task:

Choose a topic that is meaningful to you personally.
Be sincere and write from the heart.
Start with a strong introduction that grabs the readers’ attention.
Formulate a clear thesis.
Use descriptive language to draw readers into your story as much as possible.
Take breaks from the story to reflect on events and share your thoughts.
Create your essay with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Add dialogue to your essay to bring your story to life.
Provide sufficient detail, but try to be concise.
Connect your essay to broader topics that may interest readers.
Be sure to review your essay and edit it if necessary.
Get feedback from colleagues or friends.
Conclude your essay with a firm conclusion that supports your main message.

Using these tips, you can create personal essay formats that tell your story and engage and resonate with your readers.

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Creating successful personal essay outlines.

It is important to remember that creating a successful personal essay outline is critical to organizing your thoughts and delivering a coherent and compelling narrative. Below, you can find a guide to help you create an effective plan:

Introduction. This section aims to grab the reader’s attention, provide brief context to set the stage for your narrative, and clearly state the main idea or topic of the essay.
Body paragraphs. Here, you need to start with the first event or experience, provide story details, and involve the reader as much as possible. Additionally, in this paragraph, you can talk about several events chronologically.
Climax. If your story has a climax or turning point, create tension leading up to that pivotal moment.
Conclusion. This is where you need to summarize the key events and thoughts from your essay. Be sure to end with a strong closing statement that will leave a lasting impression.

Remember that your personal essay outline is essential to creating a masterpiece. Feel free to tweak and adapt as you write, leaving room for creativity and spontaneity in the storytelling.

How to Create a Conclusion for a Personal Essay

Creating a compelling conclusion for a personal essay is essential to making a lasting impression on the reader and reinforcing your story’s central idea. Here are the steps to help you write an effective conclusion:

Summarize the key points.
Restate your thesis.
Think about the story that was told.
Connect to the introduction.
Leave a lasting impression.
Connect your narrative to broader themes or universal experiences.
Avoid introducing new information.
End on a positive note.

It’s important to remember that the conclusion is your last chance to make a lasting impression on the reader. Try to craft this piece thoughtfully, ensuring that it reinforces your essay’s main idea and leaves the reader with a sense of completion and reflection.

High-Quality Example of a Personal Essay

If you received an assignment from a teacher to write personal essays and need help with how to do it correctly, this is not a problem! First, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules and tips that will help you do this successfully, and then read the example of a personal essay to understand how it should look. Below, we will provide a fictitious letter created for illustrative purposes. However, personal essays should be based solely on real stories and experiences.

«Journey Inside»

The sun was setting, casting a warm golden light on the horizon as I stood on the edge of a cliff, contemplating the twists and turns of my life. The wind whispered stories of the past, and I couldn’t help but reflect on the transformative journey that had brought me to this precipice.

My story begins in a small town where the days seemed long and the dreams even longer. I was an ordinary child with an extraordinary imagination, hungry for adventure beyond the familiar streets. Little did I know that the most incredible adventure awaited me deep within my soul.

The turning point came during my freshman year when I was lost in a sea of new faces and challenging coursework. The initial excitement soon gave way to a feeling of vulnerability and uncertainty about my place in this vast and competitive world. Amid academic pressure and societal expectations, I embarked on a journey of self-discovery.

It was a journey marked by late-night conversations with me, diary pages filled with inky confessions, and moments of quiet introspection in the campus garden. I plunged into the labyrinth of my thoughts, facing my fears, acknowledging my insecurities, and embracing the pure beauty of vulnerability.

As the semesters progressed, I engaged in activities aligned with my passions rather than society’s expectations. I discovered the joy of creative expression through writing and art, unlocking a reservoir of untapped potential. Every brush stroke and every written word became a testament to the power of authenticity.

Now, when I stand on this cliff and look at the sun sinking below the horizon, I see an end and a beginning. The journey within has changed me and illuminated the limitless possibilities that lie ahead. I carry lessons of authenticity, resilience, and the unwavering belief that the most authentic adventure is what we undertake to discover for ourselves.

In the twilight of the day, I step forward not with the trepidation of the unknown but with the confidence that comes from accepting my true self. The stars above twinkle approvingly as if acknowledging that the most profound journeys are those that lead us back to ourselves.

After reading this and other personal essay examples, you will be able to understand what it should look like and create an individual and unique letter that will be exciting and successful.

Suppose you have a question about how to write a personal essay. In that case, it is essential to remember that this type of writing is an immersion in your world and an exploration of the uniqueness of your own experience. The key to a successful personal essay is to talk about important moments in your life and what conclusions you draw. Be honest, sincere, and thoughtful, so your words take readers into a personal experience. Remember that your story is a part of you and a response for those ready to walk this fascinating path of self-discovery with you.

How to Write a Personal Essay: The Ultimate Guide

In this article, we’re going to show you how to write a personal essay from start to finish. We’ll walk you through the whole process, from picking a topic to submitting your finished work.

Whether you’re writing an admission essay or a college application, your main task is to show the reader who you are as a person. This means you’ll be writing a lot about yourself. However, it can be difficult to know how much to reveal. Too little information and the reader won’t see you as authentic or three-dimensional. Too much information and the reader won’t see you as relatable or identify with your experiences.

See also: Difference Between Paraphrasing and Summarizing

If you want to create a stellar personal essay, you need to understand what makes a great one. But before that, let’s first answer the question, “What is a personal essay?”

What Is a Personal Essay?

A personal essay is a short piece of non-fiction in the form of an essay. Most often, personal essays are autobiographical in nature and written in the first person where the writer recounts a story about something that happened in their life, describes an event, or explains an opinion held by them.

By their very nature, personal essays are usually descriptive and written from a particular point of view which is sometimes subjective rather than objective. This means that the writer of a personal essay is required to tell a story about something that happened, but in doing so, they also use the piece to reveal something about themselves.

The crucial thing to understand about a personal essay is that it is not an objective account of the events that are described. Instead, a personal essay is all about the writer’s own feelings and emotions and how they experienced and processed the events that are taking place. The way in which the writer feels and reacts to the events of their life is used as a means to reflect their own personality, character, experiences, and history.

Personal essays are not as formal as other forms of writing such as college papers or research papers that are based on factual research and require a formal, objective tone. Instead, personal essays have a more relaxed approach to their writing style and tone. The writer of a personal essay is not required to be as structured as a writer of a research paper and there are usually fewer rules about the format of the piece.

However, this does not mean that personal essays can be written without putting any thought or effort into their writing. A good personal essay requires just as much effort and thought as any other form of writing. The only difference is that the writer has more freedom and flexibility in the style and tone of their work which allows them to explain things from their own perspective and tell a story from their own point of view.

How to Write a Good Personal Essay

Start with the right topic.

The first step in writing a great personal essay is picking the right topic. As we mentioned, your goal here is to reveal yourself as a person. When choosing a topic, pick one that allows you to show the things that make you who you are. You want to choose something that really interests you because if you’re not interested, neither will the reader. You also want to make sure that the topic is broad enough to allow you to write about it at a reasonable length.

As an example, let’s say you decide you want to write a personal essay about how you learned to play the piano. This could be a good choice for a topic because you could write about how you got started, what you had to learn, and what pieces you’ve played over the years. The topic is broad enough that you’ll have plenty to write about.

Start with a Hook

The next thing you need to do when writing a personal essay is start with a hook. This is the first sentence of your introduction and its main purpose is to grab the reader’s attention right away. One way to do this is by presenting an unexpected or surprising statement. However, you don’t want to make it too outlandish because then the reader won’t believe you and will stop reading.

Another way to start with a hook is by asking a question. Research has shown that readers tend to respond better to questions than statements. This is because questions demand answers and the reader will feel the need to read on in order to find out the answer.

In any case, your hook needs to do its job which is getting the reader interested enough to keep reading.

Craft an Interesting and Engaging Body

Once you’ve hooked the reader, it’s time to reveal more details about yourself in a logical sequence. In other words, it’s time to write the body of your essay. The trick is to pick up the topic you introduced in the hook and explain it in more detail while also weaving in other relevant details about yourself.

As you’re writing your essay, it’s a good idea to think about the types of questions a college may ask you. For example, if you’re applying to Harvard and they ask you to write a short essay, they may ask you, “What are you passionate about?” This is basically asking you what your interests are. If you were to apply to Harvard with the topic of piano playing, the answer to that question would be something like, “I’m passionate about the piano because it has been a big part of my life for many years. It allows me to express my emotions when words fail me and I find great solace and happiness when I’m able.”

This is what you want to do in your body paragraphs. Reveal information about yourself in a logical sequence while also incorporating details about your topic. The more specific you are, the better.

Write a Powerful Conclusion

Once you’ve covered all the main points you want to make, it’s time to wrap things up with a conclusion. This is where you can simply restate your main point or you can relate it back to other things you’ve experienced in your life. For example, if you wrote about playing the piano, you may want to relate it to how it makes you feel or how it has impacted your life in some way.

It’s also a good idea to briefly mention any other interests you may have had and what you’ve learned from those experiences as well. For example, maybe you tried swimming when you were younger but quit after a year.

You could mention that in your conclusion by saying, “Although I didn’t stick with the swim team for very long, I did learn how to tread water which has come in handy on holiday cruises with the family.”

This is relevant to your interests because it shows a) you have diverse interests, b) you’re a hard worker (treading water isn’t easy!) and c) you learned a new skill which will come in handy in life.

The conclusion is important because this is your last chance to make a good impression on the admissions officer reading your application. You want to end on a positive note so they remember you more favorably than other applicants.

Get Someone Else to Read It

After you have gone over your essay a few times, show it to at least one person other than the people you live with. If you can, find someone in your field of study and see what they think. Their advice will be especially helpful if they know exactly what is being asked for in the statement. They may even tell you that your statement is perfect and doesn’t need to be changed!

Proofreading and Editing

The final step to writing a great essay is proofreading and editing. Never pass anything out without double-checking for spelling and grammar mistakes. Be especially careful with your school name and your name, as these are the most common mistakes applicants make on their statements.

You may feel like your statement is done and ready to turn in, but taking an extra day or two to proofread will always be worth it in the end. After all, this is your best chance to show the committee who you are. After you’ve given your essay some time, read through it again making changes as you see fit.

This may involve changing specific words or phrasing, re-ordering sections, or cutting out unnecessary information. Whatever you do, don’t be too perfectionistic with this process. You don’t want to torture yourself by spending hours staring at a blank word document screen because that will only cause unnecessary stress.

Common Mistakes in Writing Personal Essay

Telling, not showing.

It is very easy to lapse into “telling” instead of “show don’t tell.” Stories should be immersive and engaging for the reader. The writer should try to put the reader into his or her own body so that the reader can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel what the writer is describing.

For example, instead of writing “I cried,” it is better to write, “Tears streamed down my face.”

Instead of “I was sad,” it is better to write, “I sunk into myself and felt all the sadness in the world weigh me down like an anchor.”

Instead of writing, “He laughed,” it is better to write, “The boy laughed uproariously at something his friend said, his eyes shining with delight.”

Unnecessary Details

The best stories need only a few details to tell the story. Readers can use their own imaginations to fill in the rest. Readers tend to become impatient when they have to wade through too much-written information before getting to the story. If every detail can’t be interesting, then at least try to put in a few humorous or exciting details.

Writing More than Two Pages

This is a common mistake because people don’t know what a page looks like. It is very easy to go over a page if you are not used to writing on paper, and it is very easy to go over two pages if you are not using a word processor. It is also common for people to reduce font size in an attempt to make the essay fit on the page. This makes the text harder to read and also can be used as justification for turning down your application. The most common reason personal statements are turned down is for going over the limit. A secondary reason is that the writing is too small to read.

Starting with “I”

The personal statement is about YOU, but it is not supposed to be all about you. Remember that there are other applicants and yours needs to stand out from everyone else’s. The best way to do this is to NOT make it all about you. Your opening sentence should be something like, “Playing with my sister was one of the highlights of my youth.” This instantly makes your application different from everyone else’s. If you start with something like, “I have always loved to play the piano,” someone else could easily start their statement with, “Playing the piano has been a lifelong passion of mine.”

Start your sentence with something that no one else can use, and make sure that whatever you start with is true. You don’t want to lie or stretch the truth in your personal statement. This is supposed to be an example of who you are, and lying on your application is never a good idea.

Complaining

Many people try to use their personal statements as a way to complain about their life. For example, “My dad was never around, and my mom had to work all the time so I had to look after my little sister.” Admissions counselors have heard stories like this one too many times to count. It isn’t interesting and doesn’t tell them anything good about you. They hear about emotional and physical hardship all the time. Let’s try to come up with something better, “I had to sometimes watch my sister when I wanted to play ball with my friends, but I learned the importance of responsibility and had a lot of fun playing with her.” Including something about your family in your statement is a good idea, just don’t dwell on the negative.

There are exceptions to every rule. If your parents are crazy and abusive or you have an illness that prevents you from living a “normal life”, then it might be a good idea to list this information. However, be aware that few circumstances are so severe that you should even consider this option. If your father left when you were three and you never saw him again, there is no need to mention this. If your sister was severely disabled and required around-the-clock care, it isn’t necessary to mention that either. Keep your statement positive and upbeat. Highlight the benefits you have received from your experiences, not the emotional trauma.

In general, if you are unsure if you should include something, do not include it. This is especially true for anything concerning the family. Your goal is to have the reader like you, not think less of you.

Being Pretentious

There are a few applicants every year who attempt to sound smarter than they are in the hopes of impressing the committee. Do not try to sound like someone you are not, or you will end up lying and making yourself look bad. If you do not know the meaning of a word, do not use it. If you cannot think of a phrase other than, “I think…” then try not to use it. The best way to sound smart is to BE smart.

Strive to have your writing be as close to perfect as you can. You will need to use proper English grammar and spelling. You don’t need to fill your statement with big words, but if you are going to use a big word, make sure you know what it means!

For example:

Don’t use: I am blessed with having multilingual abilities.
Do use: I have multilingual abilities.
Don’t use: His ineptitude at providing appropriate care to his patients was the reason for many untimely deaths.
Do use: He was inept at providing appropriate care to his patients, which was the reason for many untimely deaths.
Don’t use: She was an accomplished traveler who had journeyed to most of the known world.
Do use: She was a traveler who had journeyed to most of the known world.

You should be aware that some words simply sound stupid when you use them a lot. Some examples include: utilize, specific, and viable. If you use these words in your statement, which you might, then try to mix them up with their synonyms.

Not Proofreading

After a story or essay is complete, it is very important to read it over several times to catch any spelling or grammar mistakes. It can help to read the writing out loud in order to catch any mistakes that aren’t noticeable just by reading it in your head. Never send an essay out without checking for mistakes!

How to Structure a Personal Essay

A personal essay contains 3 basic sections: the introductory paragraph, body paragraphs, and the conclusion.

Introductory Paragraph

The first thing you’ll want to do here is to catch the reader’s attention. You should try to do this in one of two ways:

1. Provide an Anecdote (Short Story)

For example, “The first time I ever sang in front of people was when I was 7 and in the Thanksgiving pageant at my elementary school. I remember I was supposed to sing “Softly and Tenderly” but I couldn’t remember the words and I got so nervous that I blanked out and started singing the alphabet instead.”

2. Provide a Startling Fact

For example, “Although I’ve always wanted to be a doctor since I was little, I’m ashamed to say I’ve never been very good at science. In fact, my grade in biology was the only C I ever received until this semester when I got a C- in human anatomy .”

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs should make up the majority of your essay. Since you’ve already crafted the introductory paragraph, you know something interesting about yourself. Now it’s time to back it up.

Try to include at least two or three interesting facts about yourself and don’t be afraid to get creative. This is your chance to shine so don’t be afraid to step outside the box!

The conclusion is the final thing the admissions board will read before making their decision so you want to leave them with a positive last impression. To do this, simply summarize your strongest qualities.

For example, “I may not have done everything I’ve set out to accomplish but I’ve learned that I’m resilient and can figure things out as I go. For this reason, I believe I’ll be successful in college because I’m always willing to try new things.”

Example of a Good Personal Essay

Sometimes, when I talk to my little brother, Connor, he looks at me as if I have all the answers. Little does he know, he’s right. As the oldest sibling and the only girl, I have often found myself to be a motherly figure in our relationship. When Connor first started school, I would often help him with his homework. On more than one occasion, I would encounter teachers who told me to let Connor learn through failure. They claimed it would help him in the long run. I, of course, never listened. Instead, I would do his homework for him and the next year, when he started school at a different school, his teachers didn’t know him as well and didn’t realize he wasn’t applying himself. While Connor was coasting in school, I was working hard in mine. I wanted to become a doctor more than anything and knew I needed good grades to get there. I worked hard in school and rarely had time to have a social life. While most of my friends were out partying on the weekends, I was at home studying. After I had gotten accepted to medical school, Connor threw a huge party. I wasn’t able to attend, of course, but after I saw all the pictures, I realized how much I missed out on in high school. It made me sad to think about how I couldn’t have gone to my own high school party because I would have been studying biology instead. Still, I pushed on. I went to medical school and pushed myself even harder than I had in college. My classes were difficult and the studying and exams took a toll on my physical and mental well-being. It got to a point where I no longer wanted to go to medical school, but it was too late to quit. By then, I was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and all I could think about was earning money as a doctor. I graduated from medical school and became a family doctor. Two years after graduating, I moved and began working in the emergency room. The hours are terrible and the patients are worse, but I manage. I still haven’t had time to settle down and have a family of my own. Sometimes, I feel as if I missed out on the best parts of being a kid because I was always studying. Other times, I’m thankful I didn’t waste my youth doing irresponsible things. Either way, I think about Connor and how he looked at me with awe in his eyes. I know I’m doing the right thing. I always have.

Making a personal essay is a lot of work, but well worth it in the end. When your essay is done, you’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment and relief that you got the task completed. Remember that you don’t have to follow all of these steps exactly as they are written here. You can change or skip around as you see fit.

What matters most is that you take the time to get to know yourself better and articulate that in your own words. The more “you” that comes through in your personal statement, the better chance you have of standing out from the crowd. Good luck!