How to Keep your Personal Statement Personal

August is a great time for you to start thinking about and drafting your personal statement before the nuttiness of senior year descends. I think many students get caught up in the fact that they don’t have a great story. They haven’t had traumatic childhoods they’ve had to overcome, or on the flip side they haven’t cured cancer, published a novel, or won an Olympic medal. The secret I tell my students is what they write about doesn’t really matter all that much. Their overarching “topic” is merely a vehicle for shedding a little light on a particular aspect of who they are that an admissions reader might find appealing. So you should be thinking less “what do I want to write about?” and more “what do I want to reveal about myself?” I have my students start by reflecting on the qualities about themselves of which they are proud, and the things in their lives that bring them the most joy. A great personal statement is usually at the intersection of those two lists! 

When I say the topic doesn’t really matter all that much, I mean it! I’ve read wonderful essays about a student baking with his sister and another student building a canoe with his dad, one student’s relationship to her leather jacket, another student’s obsession with drawing eyes, and yet another’s addiction to getting perfect scores on online trivia quizzes. Effective topics can come from just about anywhere! Therefore, my cardinal rule is: if anyone else could have written this essay, throw it out! Your story, and the voice that you share it in, should be 100% you. And it should demonstrate some ability to reflect on, and to some extent, know yourself. This is not a time to be modest, but rather to lean into all the weird and wonderful things that make you, you! As you are assessing a potential topic, think about: what will someone learn about me from reading this essay? If you can’t answer that question in a clear and positive way, move on to the next idea! 

Now, some things to avoid. Many students fall into the trap of writing their essays about someone else, someone usually very meaningful to them. But those essays usually fail to answer the above question, and usually should be avoided. Other topics admissions officers over the years have urged me to have my students avoid are: dead dogs, dead grandmas, and winning the big game. Those are rather cliched, and rarely reveal much about their writers. Instead, home in on your strengths and the times when you feel most like yourself. Is it when you’re helping or teaching others? Drawing or playing an instrument? Cooking for your family? Learning new things? Pushing yourself in new ways? These topics, and many more like them, can make for wonderful essays if you take the time to reflect deeply on how they tell a story (certainly one of many) of who you are!