How to start personal statement

[lovefash67]

I need some advice/assistance in starting my personal statement.I know what I want to say but I am finding it difficult to write it out. Can anyone give me any advice.How did you start writing your personal statement? Also are there any websites or groups that provide assistance in writing a personal statement?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Indiana_Jane]

I kept a word document and tried to write down little blurbs here and there. That helped me a lot in the beginning! You may have seen this, but there's a small section about personal statements in this guide:

http://www.unc.edu/~mjp1970/Mitch's Grad School Advice.pdf


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[EmotRegulation]

I know someone who has presented on a "graduate school application" panel at ABCT several times and who has a personal statement guide on her website: http://comp.uark.edu/~jcveille/VeilleuxPersonalStatementGuide.pdf

 

[PhDToBe]

Some people start with a short quote (by a famous psychologist) or related to psychology

 

[Wendi22]

This was hard for me as well. What helped me finally think of how to start my essay was starting out by thinking more about what I was trying to convey about myself as a person in those opening sentences and less about the exact words I wanted to use. I wanted to convey creativity, passion and also share how I ended up in psychology. I thought knowing this would help the reader know me better. I started with some imagery (keep it short, it's not creative writing) about the moment I knew I wanted to change majors from an unrelated major and then used that to flow into ultimately selecting psychology, my undergrad experiences and other relevant experience. Hard to explain the imagery thing without giving too much detail but my advice is be authentic w/o looking like you are trying too hard. Good luck!


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile

 

[lovefash67]

Thanks Guys!!!