professional personal statement writers

professional personal statement writers

The Art and Science of Crafting Professional Personal Statements

1. Introduction to Personal Statements

If there is one genre of writing you need to nail in your life, it’s the personal statement or essay. This type of application essay has surfaced as an important genre in fields like law, business, and medicine, as well as in grant and fellowship applications. As undergraduate career advisers often tell their students, you need to be as knowledgeable about how to craft an ideal personal statement to get into the professional or graduate school of your choice as you are about how to get your resume in perfect shape. This essay is your chance to tell a search committee your story, so that more than just a transcript or resume can provide evidence of your abilities.

In the pages that follow, let’s delve deeper into this art and science of crafting a personal statement. As mentors who read dozens of personal statements each year, our area of expertise is doubly helpful because we can not only reflect on what has worked for our own students but also what leaves us cringing in other people’s essays. Our job can often feel a bit like being a doctor dealing with a serious head wound: I see people making the same mistakes over and over again, in the very essays that are supposed to demonstrate their unique qualifications for being a physician.

2. Key Elements of an Effective Personal Statement

An effective personal statement comprises a number of key elements. To begin with, it should tell a coherent and compelling story about who the author is and why he or she is applying for a residency, fellowship, or college admission. The author’s professional goals should be unmistakable from the very first paragraph. Personal statements that effectively incorporate examples from the author’s life, as well as those that evoke emotions in the reader, tend to be remembered for longer. These usually include examples of service to others and those that are consistent with the characteristics of a “good person,” viewed as such by society. Medically-related or research-related stories and experiences can be effective if the author can make these interesting and make the relevance to his or her personal or professional goals or philosophies explicit.

Also, personal statements that incorporate the following basic components seem to occupy a distinct place in the reader’s minds after several passes: a narrative hook, a clear view of the applicant’s goals, an explanation of how the author learned about, strengthened, and/or adapted these goals over time. Different components should be emphasized for different readers: for admissions staff and faculty, a strong hook can frame the individual as a complex and interesting person with experiences worth noting and discussing in committee. For program directors and interviewers, it is often less important to know who the resident or fellow was at age 12, and more important to examine how a person’s professional goals emerged and evolved. Reading applicants’ personal stories lets us know our potential trainees as people, as well as demonstrate their ability to make important observations of themselves and others, to develop critical skills, and to integrate personal strengths and weaknesses into useful professional traits.

In general, trainees should use their personal statements not to tell program directors and faculty what they have done, but rather to convince them of what they will achieve in the future based on a proven pattern of successes. A compelling personal statement will make a program director or admission officer momentarily “forget” the rest of the applicant’s CV and evoke a strong desire to meet the “person” and “workforce member” the applicant’s story describes.

3. Techniques and Strategies for Writing a Compelling Personal Statement

Here are some concrete techniques to create a captivating personal statement:

1. Structure the statement. The beginning should grab attention, and the conclusion should leave the readers with a sense of knowing what you are passionate about and how you feel personally committed to your area of interest. Arrange excerpts in a way that holds the interest of the readers.

2. Highlight ideas effectively. What in here tells the readers that you genuinely care about your chosen area? What is appealing about your story?

3. Storytelling. A compelling story or anecdote can work well to hold the readers’ attention, but be careful to make sure that it is directly relevant to your career or academic aspirations.

4. Stand out and be yourself. Be genuine and don’t use cliché catchphrases or language that sounds stilted or pretentious. Let your personality show and speak in your own voice.

5. Language. Be sure that the words you use best express what you want to say and do so concisely. Assuming sentence structure and grammar is important. The best way to edit a personal statement is to read it backwards—this detaches your mind from the content and allows you to see the punctuation and sentence structure as is. Pronouns—using “I” should be limited. Try not to start every sentence with “I.” Be particularly careful with the wording of the opening and closing sentences.

4. Common Mistakes to Avoid in Personal Statement Writing

The following section highlights various mistakes that applicants make in their personal statements. As a prospective writer attuned to the craft and rhetoric of personal statement writing, you must work to avoid making these errors. The final goal is to present quality personal statements that exhibit an understanding of the field whereby the applicant is seeking entrance, demonstrate the applicant’s relevant personal and professional history, and illustrate how the entrance into a particular program, school, or organization will be an extension and expansion of the applicant’s current life and career.

For now, your mission is educational: actively acquire the sense to recognize inferior writing at a glance, which will beget clear and strong writing that is pleasant and worthwhile to read.

4. Common Mistakes

Below is a list of several common mistakes that writers frequently make in their personal statements. These mistakes can easily be avoided when kept in mind during the writing process. Workshop leaders should review and discuss these mistakes with the attendees of the workshop at the beginning of their time together. The workshop leader should encourage others to share their mistakes to add to the list.

5. Resources and Tools for Perfecting Your Personal Statement

Don’t realize the elements of your background that make you an exceptional candidate for a certain position? There are a number of resources and tools accessible to cover this problem. From the lab course at your schools to private consultants who’ve seen the constraints of other schools of their choice, there is a range of academic and educational resources available to you. The ADEA recommends interviews, workshops, and online resources for any potential candidate interested in a career in the oral health field to reviewers for candidates interested in submitting an application for advanced schooling.

You can also contact much of the university schools in the United States or Canada to apply for employment experience and whether there are recruiting events and facilities for individual candidates. There are several tools available via the college by creating or enhance a draft and providing imaginative and practical characteristics often found to be characteristic of a decent private statement. Access to communication seminars, laboratories, and online tools is the way to go. Trust that you have accomplished more than your money and that others are out to help and are dedicated to your prosperity.