Personal Statement Examples
Using personal statement examples is a great way of mastering the art of writing great personal statements. A personal statement is a document that answers specific questions that businesses and most graduate schools ask the applicants. It is also a career or profile summary that enables recruiters to identify strategic value that the applicant can add to the organization- theguardian.com.
When applying for a job position, you should include a personal statement that sells your skills, achievements and aspirations in your CV. While applying for a graduate school program, include a personal statement that responds to the specific question that the school is asking. There are institutions that require applicants to write essays that respond to three or even more questions- owl.english.purdue.edu.
What makes great personal statement examples?
Just like the name suggests, personal statements should be personal. This is because a personal statement allows you to tell readers more about yourself. This includes personal aspects such as ambitions, hopes, inspirations, experiences and hopes. Therefore, choose examples that provide such aspects of the writer to act as your writing guides. Additionally, consider examples that are reflective and open while using an individual voice to express the aspects in an honest manner.
While using the examples as your guide for writing a personal statement, think about the scholarship, employer or admission officers and what they would like to know about you. Remember that although a personal statement is just one of the many factors that are considered while making the decision to employ you, offer you a scholarship or a position in the college, it offers a context for your entire application- admission.universityofcalifornia.edu.
Questions that good personal statement examples must answer
A good personal statement sample must answer certain questions.
They include:
- How long should your personal statement be?
In most cases, the college or university that you are applying for will provide specifics of the personal statement which include its length. However, if you are uncertain about the length of your personal statement you can use samples as your guide for determining the length of your personal statement. A personal statement for a job application CV should be around 150 words.
- What should you say in a personal statement?
Great personal statement samples tell readers more about the personality of the writer. This includes what is distinctive, unique, impressive or special about them. A sample personal statement for college application gives the details of the life of the applicant, their interests, acquired skills and experiences as well as their aspirations. Thus, when you use a good sample statement you know what exactly to include in your personal statement.
- What tense should a personal statement be written in?
When applying for a job position, you can write a personal statement in either third or first person. However, you should ensure consistency throughout. For college or university application, personal statements are usually written in first person. Using a good personal statement example will help you determine how exactly to use first person in writing your personal statement.
- For how long should you write a personal statement?
Basically, you will know the length and complexity of a personal statement when you use sample personal statements as your writing guides. This implies that you can determine the time that you will take writing your personal statement by using sample personal statements. Usually, the time that you take to write a personal statement depends on the role that it should be tailored for or the question that it should answer. This implies that when applying for multiple jobs, you should write different personal statements for the jobs and they may take different amount of time to complete. Similarly, when writing personal statements for college applications, the length and time that you take will depend on the given questions and requirements of the applications.
Personal statement examples for job applications
Example I
“A hardworking and highly motivated person who has just completed A-Levels scoring excellent grades in Science and Mathematics seeking an internship within the engineering industry based on keen interest in science and desire for starting a career as a professional maintenance engineer. The eventual career objective is to emerge as an experienced and fully-qualified electrical or maintenance engineer with a long-term aspiration of venturing into project management.”
Note that this sample personal statement is written in third person. It highlights the qualifications of the writer, their ambitions and goals. After reading it, you can picture where the writer is and where they intend to go in the future.
Example II
“An economics graduate with 2:1 honors degree from the University of California seeking a commercial analyst job position to further develop and use my knowledge and analytical skills in fast-paced and practical environment. My career objective is to take up a role that allows me to be responsible for analyzing and interpreting commercial data in a market-leading and well-respected company.”
This sample of a personal statement uses first person. It highlights the qualifications of the writer as an economics graduates, his/her ambitions and career goal. Thus, a prospective employer can clearly know what the applicant is looking for and what he/she intends to achieve in life.
Personal statement examples for college or university application
Example
“After majoring in the world of literature during my undergraduate studies, I wish now to concentrate on American and English literature.
The nineteenth-century literature, Anglo-Saxon poetry, women’s literature, folk and folklore literature specifically interest me. Most projects that I have involved myself in were about these subjects. In oral section, I have always specialized in the novels of the 19th century and women literature.
In my doctoral degree studies, I intend to examine the relationship between folk and high literature. During my private and junior year studies of literature and Anglo-Saxon language, I considered the question of the divisions between folk literature, folklore and high literature.
If you allow me a chance to attend your school, I will study Anglo-Saxon poetry paying more attention to the folk elements in it.
Poetry writing is also an important aspect of my professional and academic goals. Recently, I started submitting my work to smaller journals and I am gradually establishing a working manuscript for my collection. My dominant theme is the poems whose basis is classical, folk, biblical traditions and my daily experiences. This theme enables me to celebrate the taking and giving process of life whether figuratively or literary. My studies are influenced by poetry. What I study and read is always the subject of my creative work. I also study literature as an art by engaging in a creative process as well as while using the tools that other authors use.
Career wide, I picture myself as a literature teacher and a critique writer. I also picture myself publishing or editing poetry. I consider doctoral studies very valuable to me in different ways. A teaching assistant program will enhance my practical teaching skills. Earning my PhD in American and English literature will also enhance my other career objectives because it will add to my current skills, both creative and critical as I work with languages. However, I see this PhD as the end and also a stepping stone. I like studying literature and I wish to continue studying it at the level that a PhD program demands. I hope that you will grant me a chance to further my studies in your reputable institution.”
Note that a personal statement sample for a college application is different from a personal statement for a job application in terms of content and length. This implies that the answers that you get to the questions highlighted above after reading these personal statement examples are also different.
Other examples…
You can find other examples of personal statements for college or university applications on the internet.
Here are links to some of the personal statement samples found online:
When using these sample personal statements, make sure that the statement that you come up with enhances the richness, meaning and clarity of the information that you include in the other sections of the application. Also write a statement that enables the readers to understand your unique personality within the family, community, school and global context.
Always remember that you will be admitted to your preferred college or get your desired job if you write a personal statement that makes your case the best. Therefore, use the samples to come up with a personal statement that provides information that will not feature in the other personal statements. To write a great personal statement, read several examples and take time to write your statement- admissions.ucla.edu.
If you need help in handling academic work of any nature contact us any time. You can also visit the home page of our website for more details of our writing services. Alternatively, continue reading for more personal statement examples and guidelines for writing your personal statement on our blog.
Sources
http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/how-to-write-a-personal-statement-for-your-cv
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/
http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/perstmt.htm
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/personal-statement/
http://www.mcw.edu/FileLibrary/Groups/AcademicAffairs/stuaffairs/PersonalStatementSample1.pdf
http://www.cmu.edu/hpp/apply-to-schools/personal-statements/samples.html
http://www.mcw.edu/FileLibrary/Groups/AcademicAffairs/stuaffairs/PersonalStatementSample3.pdf