Personal Statement Tips for College and University Applications
Learn how to write a personal statement for the Common Application with online courses, blog posts, podcasts, and more. Find out what makes a great college essay, see examples of successful personal statements, and get feedback on your own writing.
How to Write a Personal Statement (Tips + Essay Examples)
Learn what a personal statement is, how to find a great topic, and how to write a compelling essay that showcases your values, skills, and passions. See examples of personal statements from different applicants and get tips on how to make yours stand out.
12 Outstanding Personal Statement Examples
Learn how to write an outstanding personal statement for college with 12 examples and analysis. See how to showcase your values, vulnerability, insight and craft in your essay.
How to Write an Amazing Personal Statement (Includes Examples!)
5. Use an authentic voice. Your personal statement reflects who you are, so you should use a tone that represents you. That means you shouldn't try to sound like someone else, and you shouldn't use fancy words just to show off. This isn't an academic paper, so you don't have to adopt a super formal tone.
How to Write a Personal Statement for College (15+ Examples)
Learn how to write a compelling personal statement for college applications with tips, examples, and a step-by-step guide. Find out what colleges look for, what to include, and how to stand out from other candidates.
Personal Statements
Learn how to write a personal statement for graduate or professional school applications. Find tips on how to get started, brainstorm, research, and edit your statement.
Personal Statement Examples
Learn what a personal statement is, how colleges use it, and how to write one that showcases your unique experiences and potential. See five personal statement examples and get tips and tools to draft, edit, and finalize your own.
Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay
Learn how to write a college application essay that showcases your personality and stands out from the crowd. Find out how to start, stay on topic, edit, and avoid common mistakes in your personal statement.
How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
Learn what a personal statement is, why it matters, and how to choose a topic and write one that showcases your personality and skills. Get tips on creative writing, showing not telling, and using dialogue to make your essay stand out.
10 Personal Statement Essay Examples That Worked
Learn how to write a personal statement that showcases your unique experiences, ideas, or beliefs for your college application. See 10 real essays with commentary on what worked and what could be improved.
What's a Personal Statement? Everything You Need to Know About the
Learn what a personal statement or college essay is, why colleges ask for it, and how to write a great one. Find out the common types of essay prompts and see examples from real applications.
How To Write a College Admissions Personal Statement
Learn how to craft a compelling personal statement for your college applications, regardless of which prompt you choose. Get tips on brainstorming, editing, structure, sensory language and more from a college student contributor.
How to Write A Personal Statement for College (+ 3 Examples)
The landscape of college applications is vast, and each piece of writing serves its unique purpose. Here's a breakdown to help clarify the basics: What is a personal statement? At its core, an effective personal statement is a narrative essay where applicants showcase their unique journeys, personalities, challenges, and aspirations.
Personal Statement Format + Examples
Learn how to write a personal statement for college admissions with tips on format, structure, content, and topic. See examples of essays that use montage or narrative approaches and showcase your identity and values.
How to Write an Amazing Common App Essay (2024-2025)
Learn how to choose a topic, write a strong personal statement, and get into your dream college with this comprehensive guide. Includes Common App Essay prompts, examples, tips, and FAQs.
How to Start a Personal Statement
Learn how to write a personal statement for college with tips, examples, and formats. Find out how to choose a prompt, craft a hook, and reflect on your experiences and goals.
College Personal Statement Examples and Writing Tips
1. Personal statements give broad, comprehensive insights into your personal and academic background. Ultimately, your academic, personal, and even professional background can be the determining factor in your admission to any college program. But there's a big difference between a personal statement and resume or CV. 2.
How to Write a Personal Statement (with Tips and Examples)
Most personal statements are between 500-800 words. That's a good general range to aim for if you don't have more specific guidelines. Should Personal Statements Be Different for Scholarships? Many scholarship applications will ask for personal statements with similar prompts to those of college applications.
How to Write the Personal Statement for College Applications
Learn how to brainstorm, structure, and write a compelling personal statement for your college application. Find out what topics to avoid, how to show rather than tell, and how to use fiction techniques to make your essay stand out.
How to Write Your Personal Statement
Learn how to craft a compelling personal statement for your graduate school application with strategies and examples. Find out how to open with a scene or a motivation, describe your development over time, and own your challenges and obstacles.
How to write a college application essay: 7 tips + step-by-step how-to
Learn how to choose a structure, draft, and revise your personal statement for college applications. Follow the guide for montage or narrative essays, and avoid common topics and mistakes.
Writing the Personal Statement
Learn how to write a personal statement for college applications that sells your skills, goals, and experiences. Find tips, questions, and examples for different types of statements and fields.
Applicant Webinar Series
Personal statements Support for applicants, their advisers and supporters through every step of the application process. Each webinar features admissions staff talking about a specific stage of the application process, with the opportunity for you to ask questions.
Application forms and personal statements
Application forms and personal statements. Many employers and educational institutions will ask you to apply online using their application form. In this form you will likely need to provide basic information about yourself, as well as provide evidence of your skills and motivation through answering questions or writing a personal statement.
College Essay Guy
We're Proud to Be One-for-One. College Essay Guy believes that every student should have access to the tools and guidance necessary to create the best application possible. That's why we're a one-for-one company, which means that for every student who pays for support, we provide free support to a low-income student. Learn more.
Education Sciences
To support the integration of AI in education, this empirical study investigated what lessons college students learned from using Generative AI for writing. We recruited 47 students in the United States from a university writing course. Students completed an assignment in which they used Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) to draft an application letter or personal statement.
516: Inside the Application (Part 2): Developing the Personal Statement
Ethan is joined by Cassidy, a current high school senior who is working on her college applications for the Fall 2025 term. Ethan and Cassidy will be walking step-by-step through the college application process as it unfolds this school year. In episode 2, they get into: How is Cassidy's personal statement coming along?
COMMENTS
Learn how to write a personal statement for the Common Application with online courses, blog posts, podcasts, and more. Find out what makes a great college essay, see examples of successful personal statements, and get feedback on your own writing.
Learn what a personal statement is, how to find a great topic, and how to write a compelling essay that showcases your values, skills, and passions. See examples of personal statements from different applicants and get tips on how to make yours stand out.
Learn how to write an outstanding personal statement for college with 12 examples and analysis. See how to showcase your values, vulnerability, insight and craft in your essay.
5. Use an authentic voice. Your personal statement reflects who you are, so you should use a tone that represents you. That means you shouldn't try to sound like someone else, and you shouldn't use fancy words just to show off. This isn't an academic paper, so you don't have to adopt a super formal tone.
Learn how to write a compelling personal statement for college applications with tips, examples, and a step-by-step guide. Find out what colleges look for, what to include, and how to stand out from other candidates.
Learn how to write a personal statement for graduate or professional school applications. Find tips on how to get started, brainstorm, research, and edit your statement.
Learn what a personal statement is, how colleges use it, and how to write one that showcases your unique experiences and potential. See five personal statement examples and get tips and tools to draft, edit, and finalize your own.
Learn how to write a college application essay that showcases your personality and stands out from the crowd. Find out how to start, stay on topic, edit, and avoid common mistakes in your personal statement.
Learn what a personal statement is, why it matters, and how to choose a topic and write one that showcases your personality and skills. Get tips on creative writing, showing not telling, and using dialogue to make your essay stand out.
Learn how to write a personal statement that showcases your unique experiences, ideas, or beliefs for your college application. See 10 real essays with commentary on what worked and what could be improved.
Learn what a personal statement or college essay is, why colleges ask for it, and how to write a great one. Find out the common types of essay prompts and see examples from real applications.
Learn how to craft a compelling personal statement for your college applications, regardless of which prompt you choose. Get tips on brainstorming, editing, structure, sensory language and more from a college student contributor.
The landscape of college applications is vast, and each piece of writing serves its unique purpose. Here's a breakdown to help clarify the basics: What is a personal statement? At its core, an effective personal statement is a narrative essay where applicants showcase their unique journeys, personalities, challenges, and aspirations.
Learn how to write a personal statement for college admissions with tips on format, structure, content, and topic. See examples of essays that use montage or narrative approaches and showcase your identity and values.
Learn how to choose a topic, write a strong personal statement, and get into your dream college with this comprehensive guide. Includes Common App Essay prompts, examples, tips, and FAQs.
Learn how to write a personal statement for college with tips, examples, and formats. Find out how to choose a prompt, craft a hook, and reflect on your experiences and goals.
1. Personal statements give broad, comprehensive insights into your personal and academic background. Ultimately, your academic, personal, and even professional background can be the determining factor in your admission to any college program. But there's a big difference between a personal statement and resume or CV. 2.
Most personal statements are between 500-800 words. That's a good general range to aim for if you don't have more specific guidelines. Should Personal Statements Be Different for Scholarships? Many scholarship applications will ask for personal statements with similar prompts to those of college applications.
Learn how to brainstorm, structure, and write a compelling personal statement for your college application. Find out what topics to avoid, how to show rather than tell, and how to use fiction techniques to make your essay stand out.
Learn how to craft a compelling personal statement for your graduate school application with strategies and examples. Find out how to open with a scene or a motivation, describe your development over time, and own your challenges and obstacles.
Learn how to choose a structure, draft, and revise your personal statement for college applications. Follow the guide for montage or narrative essays, and avoid common topics and mistakes.
Learn how to write a personal statement for college applications that sells your skills, goals, and experiences. Find tips, questions, and examples for different types of statements and fields.
Personal statements Support for applicants, their advisers and supporters through every step of the application process. Each webinar features admissions staff talking about a specific stage of the application process, with the opportunity for you to ask questions.
Application forms and personal statements. Many employers and educational institutions will ask you to apply online using their application form. In this form you will likely need to provide basic information about yourself, as well as provide evidence of your skills and motivation through answering questions or writing a personal statement.
We're Proud to Be One-for-One. College Essay Guy believes that every student should have access to the tools and guidance necessary to create the best application possible. That's why we're a one-for-one company, which means that for every student who pays for support, we provide free support to a low-income student. Learn more.
To support the integration of AI in education, this empirical study investigated what lessons college students learned from using Generative AI for writing. We recruited 47 students in the United States from a university writing course. Students completed an assignment in which they used Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) to draft an application letter or personal statement.
Ethan is joined by Cassidy, a current high school senior who is working on her college applications for the Fall 2025 term. Ethan and Cassidy will be walking step-by-step through the college application process as it unfolds this school year. In episode 2, they get into: How is Cassidy's personal statement coming along?