The time has come: You’re applying to college, a scholarship, or a program, and the application requires you to write a personal statement.
While it might seem overwhelming at first, the good news is that you already have all the tools, stories, and knowledge you need to author an excellent personal essay.
Still, it helps to use a step-by-step process when developing such an important and thoughtful essay.
This blog will walk you through 5 steps of brainstorming, outlining, and drafting your personal statement for college or another program.
What is a personal statement?
A personal statement is an admissions essay that displays who you are, what makes you unique, what is important to you, and what you will contribute to the university or program.
Application guidelines typically assign a word count between 200 to 1000 words. The common app, used by over 1000 colleges and universities, has a 650-word maximum.
The application assigns one or more prompts that you will pick from to respond in essay form.
The common app includes 6 prompts, such as:
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Why is the personal statement important?
The personal statement is important because it is your chance to stand out from other applicants.
It is a chance to tell a meaningful story, show your personality, reflect on how you’ve grown, and demonstrate your writing style. It’s intended to be one of the most meaningful, personal writing projects you’ve ever completed.
Notice the words that the common-app prompts include:
Identity
Meaningful
Reflect
Challenge
Realization
Growth
They all want you to do the same thing:
Tell a meaningful story and reflect on why it matters to you.
How to Write a Strong Personal Statement Essay for College
The 5 steps to writing a thoughtful, meaningful personal statement are:
Brainstorm topics
Pick a central topic or story
Pick a theme
Outline your paper
Write your rough draft
Step 1: Brainstorm Topics
Asking yourself questions and brainstorming before you actually write the draft will help you pick the strongest topic, include more detail, organize structure, and ultimately write a better paper.
Before writing, try one of the following brainstorming strategies:
A Good Ol’ List
Using a notebook, piece of binder paper, or a Google Doc, spend 5 minutes making a bullet-point list of all the words, stories, people, memories, and ideas that come to mind as you read the prompts.
Anything goes here–don’t worry about making this list perfect, or about the length of your bullet points. The goal is to gather as many potentials as possible.
Direction: After 5 minutes of drafting a list of words and ideas that come to mind, place a star next to the 5 that excite you most.
Favorite Mistakes
Think back on mistakes from your past that impacted you significantly.
Consider mistakes that…
Taught you a lesson
Helped you grow
Moved you in a new direction
Showed you what not to do
You will never repeat
You’ve made multiple times
Direction: Jot them all down into a list, and put a star beside the top 5.
Special Foods
Food makes a great story focus because it:
Relates to the audience
Conveys unique aspects of your culture
Provides a chance for sensory detail
Direction: Make a T-chart. Label the left-hand column Food and the right-hand column Tastes like…
In the left-hand column, take 5 minutes to make a bullet-point list of foods that have significance to you–a dish you tried on vacation, favorite meal, snack you eat everyday, favorite dish at a restaurant, or a traditional family dish.
In the right-hand column, jot down sensory or emotional details about the food. This could be a specific memory, story, event, environment, person, smell, taste, or color.
Direction: After making the T-chart, put a star next to your top 2 choices.
Significant Objects
Take a walk around your room or your house, listing any objects that hold significance to you–trophies, toys, gifts, pieces of art, books, instruments, or art supplies. Jot down any standout stories, memories, words, or items.
Direction: Star the top 5.
Photographs
Photo albums make a great brainstorming tool because they remind us of special memories, stories, places, and people.
Browse through a digital photo album on your phone or computer–or look through a physical family photo album on your living room table–making a list of stories or topics that have special meaning.
Direction: Star the top 5.
Step 2: Select a Central Topic or Story
From your list of topics, stories, objects, or ideas, pick just one–the most interesting and unique to you.
The best choice does not need to relate to your major or be academic. It should be the one that will allow you to write with the most enthusiasm, sincerity, and detail.
Pick the story or topic that…
Interests or excites you the most
Feels important or meaningful
Taught you the biggest lesson
Has the most attention-grabbing “whoa” moment
Demonstrates a skill that sets you apart
Shows your passion or goals on a subject or activity
Direction: From your list, circle the topic you’d like to focus on in your paper.
Step 3: Pick a Theme
A theme is a story’s or essay’s central lesson–its moral or main idea.
It’s critical to identify a theme for your personal statement–and keep it in mind during the whole process–because the theme gives your story coherent meaning. Your details, scenes, and reflection should all develop this central theme.
To create a theme, take your topic one step further by asking a good question about it.
Usually, the best questions begin with how or why.
Direction: Below your chosen topic on your list, create a T-chart. Label the left-hand side How/Why Questions and the right Answer/Theme.
In the left column, brainstorm 5 “big idea” questions about your topic. In the right column, write the answer to each question. These answers can become themes for your paper.
Direction: Looking over your answers in the right-hand column, circle or highlight the one that you find most meaningful and interesting.
Step #4: Outline your Personal Statement
An outline organizes your essay’s structure before writing it, mapping out what you will include and how you will arrange the scenes, details, and reflection.
Outlining makes drafting so much easier.
The outline plans and organizes the following elements within your paper:
Storytelling: Which stories, scenes, and events you want to include
Detail: Storytelling elements and details, like sensory description, dialogue, description of the story’s setting, etc.
Reflection: The lessons or realizations you gained during the events
Insights ( The “So What?”): What this topic, story, and theme tell the reader about you. Why is this important?
There’s no one-size-fits-all structure, but the below templates provide 3 general structure ideas.
To download a blank PDF or Google Docs copy of any of these templates, visit the Writing Resources page.
A=Storytelling and details
B=Reflections and insights
Structure 1: AAABBB–Storytelling, then Reflection
This essay structure begins by jumping right into your story, usually spending multiple paragraphs telling all the story’s events–or a sequence of stories–straight through, without a pause for reflection.
In this structure, the storytelling and detail come in the first part. Then, all the reflection, commentary, and learned lessons come in the essay’s second part.
Sample “AAABBB” Structure Template
Structure 2: ABABAB–Mixed Storytelling and Reflection
This structure mixes storytelling with reflection at each step throughout the paper, sometimes even within the same paragraph.
This structure works well if you’re telling multiple stories, or if your story has multiple lessons or major takeaways.
Keep in mind that using reflection to pull a reader out of the story’s flow can be beneficial–giving them something to think about before moving forward–but the structural decision should have a purpose.
Sample “ABABAB” Structure Template
Structure 3: BAAABB–Introduction, Storytelling, then Reflection
With this structure, you begin your essay by introducing the key topics, themes and takeaways. You don't have to introduce these overtly–“This essay will talk about…”–but instead might mention the topic, your background with it, or frame the struggle that your story will demonstrate, setting the stage for your growth.
This structure works when you want your reader to pay attention to something particular–an idea, topic, or pattern–within the story.
For example, if writing about how working out in the gym has transformed your social skills, you might use your essay’s introduction to describe your background of social struggles and the impact this had on you. Check out how I begin the essay with reflection in the below outline sample.
Sample “BAAABB” Structure Template
Note: These structures are flexible–Not Set in Stone
You can mix storytelling, detail, reflection, and insights or “So what?” details in unlimited ways throughout your paper. Play around with arranging your storytelling (A) and reflection (B) when planning your paper, or try multiple templates from my website’s Essay Resources page.
In general, ending your essay with reflection and the overall theme works well.
Step #5: Draft Your Essay
Now, it’s time to sit down and write the actual essay draft.
Find a quiet space or productive work environment, and sit down with your laptop. Transform your outline into a written rough draft, divided into multiple paragraphs.
During this phase, keep the below tips in mind.
Don’t Overedit: Too Much is Better than Too Little (At First)
When writing a rough draft, aim to get all your ideas out onto the page. Don’t hold back. Write any detail, event, or reflection that comes to mind.
Later in the editing process, you will trim unnecessary detail or language.
Identify your Story’s “Sweet Spot” Moment and Use it to Slow Time
When storytelling, try to find the critical moment when something especially important happens. Often the climax, this moment might be when…
you hit a home run
your girlfriend breaks up with you
you get caught cheating on a test
you go off a huge jump on your bike
you notice a bear in the woods
It’s important to identify this moment because this is when you especially want your reader to pay attention.
How do you achieve that?
By using language–especially sensory detail (the 5 senses) and vivid description–to slow down time. More on that in a future blog.
Always Keep the Theme in Mind
Remember that your theme, or central message, unifies your paper. Every detail and reflection that you include in your paper should build your theme in some way, coming together at the end.
The theme gives your whole story a deeper purpose and significance–it explains why you’re telling the story in the first place. Keep it in mind throughout the whole drafting process.