Graduate Applications: The Importance of Your Personal Statement

Writing a personal statement can be an intimidating process.  This is especially true when the university graduate program does not ask you a specific question.  Often universities will tell you to put in your personal statement the information that you believe will get you admitted into the program, but  can leave you wondering what to write about. 

At the University of Toronto English Language Program, we provide support through our University Application Program on how to approach the writing of your personal statement.  Here are six questions you can answer when you do not know what to include in your personal statement.

1. When and how did you develop an interest in this field?
Often students become interested in a field because they had a specific course or experience.  Including information about how you became interested in a field of study can show the admissions committee what drives you and allow them to get to know who you are. 

2. What have you done to develop this interest (e.g. volunteer work, working in the field, classes, conferences, speaking with professionals in the field)?
These experiences show that you have worked on gaining knowledge about the field that you are interested in.  Furthermore, these experiences can be used to highlight your abilities.

3. How have these experiences increased your passion for this field?
Your C.V. is a place for you to state the facts about what you have done, whereas your personal statement is a place to evaluate how these experiences have influenced you.  This is also where you talk about how experiences that may not seem related to the field of study that you are applying for are related. 

4. What are your career goals?
This is a chance for you to talk about what your future plans are.  For students this is often part of what drives them.  This does not have to be a large goal; it can be as simple as wanting to teach inner city children or wanting to open up your own school to bring the French Language to a country that does not teach French in most of their schools.

5. How will completing this graduate program help you reach your career goal?
Explain why this graduate program is an important step in accomplishing your career goal.  This is especially important if your career goal does not seem related to the graduate program.  You never want to make the admission committee think that you are only applying to the program because you do not know what else to do.

6. Why have you chosen to apply to this particular graduate program?
Every school is different so you should highlight what makes that program unique.  You should also look at these differences in order to decide if this is a program that you want to apply to.  For example, if you are interested in an Immunology program that has a focus in cancer then you should be sure to apply to a program that has this focus.

While answering these questions you should think about the fact that the reviewer is reading several dozen personal statements from qualified candidates.  Therefore, you want your personal statement to stand out in the reader’s mind.  You can do this by relating a personal story that is a part of your motivation or that has had a large effect on your life.  You can also do this by finding an angle that makes you stand out.

One last piece of advice: make sure that you have someone check your personal statement for grammar and spelling errors.  You do not want the reviewer to remember your application as being the one from the person who does not know how to write properly.  We wish you the best of luck!