Lost on how to write my personal statement

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Okay so I have no idea how to write my personal statement. I know they want to hear something unique, but to be honest I have nothing tear jerking or something inspirational that made me want to be an optometrist. I love to travel, but don't know how I could relate my experiences to traveling to optometry. I have no idea how to even begin? Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions to how to write a good personal statement?

You could start off saying something about how you would like to do some mission work in central America or overseas to help underpriveleged areas, and maybe use that as a segue into any volunteer work you did in college or vice versa. Not everyone has a gut wrenching story, you just need to be you and let your personality come through your writing.

Unless you are a really creative writer, stick to answering the prompt. Why optometry?

Most essays will have some or all these: had to wear glasses at a young age, parents/relative is an optometrist, shadowing, volunteering, mission trips, eye problem, did a study on the eye... etc. What makes them unique is your own personal experiences and feelings. Focus on expressing your interest in the field and add personal touches and your essay will be unique and personal on its own.

Originally Posted by sya

Unless you are a really creative writer, stick to answering the prompt. Why optometry?

Most essays will have some or all these: had to wear glasses at a young age, parents/relative is an optometrist, shadowing, volunteering, mission trips, eye problem, did a study on the eye... etc. What makes them unique is your own personal experiences and feelings. Focus on expressing your interest in the field and add personal touches and your essay will be unique and personal on its own.

I agree with the two people above. It also helped me to check out a book from my local library about writing personal statements for grad school. It was written with regards mostly to med school, business school, and law school as it talked about all of those areas and included samples for those schools. But all professional/grad schools are asking you similar questions...just related to their fields. The book had a lot of ideas about how to take a unique angle and what you needed to be sure to express in your essay.

Here's the book I used:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Perf...7904637&sr=8-1

I read it cover to cover and then sat and thought about my essay for awhile before writing it. I also think I wrote two very distinct ones using different angles, then sat and thought about them for awhile, edited some more, chose one angle in the end, edited it a lot more, etc haha. It's a long process!

Another tip is to have as many people as you can read your drafts as you go. Peer revision circa 6th grade is back. Helps catch weird phrasing, spelling errors that spellcheck missed, and helps it flow more as a piece.

Honestly, if the rest of your stats are good, then I think the best you can do with your personal statement is to organize it well, make sure the spelling and grammar is perfect, and try to add some personal touch. I talked about what I liked when I shadowed and how long I had been interested in the profession. Admissions seemed to really like it.