- Joined
- Jun 5, 2015
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 5
Hi Everyone,
I finally submitted my application, after working on it since the end of July 2016. I want to share my best tips on how to write a killer PS...why? I am not an expert but as a non native speaker, mature student with lots of self-doubt about my writing skills, I have learned a lot through this hard process.
Tip 1 / meet with a professor, chat, brainstorm
Tip 2/ do a first sh**y draft
Tip 3/ research writing guides
Tip 4/ select a review committee
Tip 5/ Sweat ink and blood, write a new draft (Copyrighted appellation)
Tip 6/ Plan ahead (if you can!)
Tip one:
Brainstorm, meet and chat with one kind college professor who knows that you are applying and is supportive of your future career/ college choice.
When I met with the former professor who agreed to write one evaluation letter, the questions she asked me were very though provocative, challenging. I realized right there that a PS was more then a pretty narrative about why I wanted to pursue OT. I took notes about all our conservation and I was not afraid to show her that I was not getting it ...then she went on explaining more
. This teacher had experience in advising pre-med students in their application process.
Tip two:
When you are really inspired, just seat and write the whole thing in one session. It might be really bad for a first draft, but at least, you would have articulated some fundamental ideas and assembled the big rocks ..
I wrote my first draft the same day I met my professor.
Tip three:
Do an internet search on "writing a personal statement for medical school " Because, imo, there are far more resources for medical school students, you will find more pdf documents from major and heavy league universities' academic resource centers. I read and study from those
https://depts.washington.edu/psych/files/writing_center/personal.pdf
https://grad.ucla.edu/asis/agep/advsopstem.pdf
http://mcnair.ucsb.edu/documents/4.09DiversityForumResearcher.pdf
https://career.berkeley.edu/Grad/GradStatement
The informations on the structure, organization and rationale of the PS were like gold mines!! In my native language, I write pretty well for academia style, so it was easy to understand what the guides recommended.
After reading the guides , you should go back to your draft and make A LOT changes. My first draft and my final copy have NOTHING in common except the detail that I used to be a teacher. A strong PLAN and ORGANIZATION of your essay will ensure a nice flow of your arguments and clear representation of your intellect and insight on your future career plan.
Tip four :
Early in your process, select a group of people who will volunteer to read, edit and proofread your work. I was blessed to meet 2 OTs and a grant writer who agreed to help. Thy knew that english was not my primary language, so they were glad and very kind to help me. The 3 persons gave me separate and independent corrections and feedbacks. Allow yourself time between feedbacks and your final draft, in other words, do not wait until the week before to ask for feedbacks.
Tip five:
Sweat ink and blood! Write , write and write. Just do it. Just set aside a weekend or several weekends, evenings, where you will only write your PS ( and review the PS guides). No TV, no distraction (Facebook, smartphone, pandora). Personally, I did not have a lot of time ahead of me. I cried a little, prayed a lot and spent a very difficult sleepless weekend. I pushed myself to the max, like laboring to deliver a baby !!!
Like a pro: use all the tools available to write a like smart, articulate potential graduate student :
http://wordcounttools.com
https://readability-score.com/text/
http://www.reverso.net/spell-checker/english-spelling-grammar/
To add a nice professional look, put a title or a header like "Personal statement for X." and page numbers.
Tip six: Timing, timing, time!
the early birds get the worms, right !!
If you can start early on, then you should give yourself ample time to simmer and marinate your PS.
I could not afford this luxury of time because I was enrolled for the whole summer semester with 11 credit hours. I had no real insight about my experiences and motivation , not until I met the professor who asked me a million questions about my application and until I finished my CNA certification with clinical training in nursing home.
My timeline
First draft: end of june 2016
Second new draft mid July 2016
Third draft review end of July
Last and most complete draft : August 5th (I submitted this draft for review)
August 7h : sent my draft for review and feedback.
by August 20th : All reviews done and returned from the kind people who volunteered to read my draft
It took me 4-5 days to consolidate corrections, editions , run spell checks and read proof myself the final copy, multiple times. (I wrote 2 papers: a general personal testament for OTCAS and specific statement for the school).
I did not read a lot of samples and examples out there, because I did not want to get confused or discouraged by others great work and actually most of the work out ther has some flaws and platitudes, so it was not worth it to read something OK and sort through it what was great and what was plain... There are some excellent PS online from real students but I did not want to get to inspired by someone else work and I don't like to "borrow " people's work... I wanted my essay to reflect originality and sincerity ...
I hope it helps!! I will post my PS after I hear from the school...in a few months. Good luck!
I finally submitted my application, after working on it since the end of July 2016. I want to share my best tips on how to write a killer PS...why? I am not an expert but as a non native speaker, mature student with lots of self-doubt about my writing skills, I have learned a lot through this hard process.
Tip 1 / meet with a professor, chat, brainstorm
Tip 2/ do a first sh**y draft
Tip 3/ research writing guides
Tip 4/ select a review committee
Tip 5/ Sweat ink and blood, write a new draft (Copyrighted appellation)
Tip 6/ Plan ahead (if you can!)
Tip one:
Brainstorm, meet and chat with one kind college professor who knows that you are applying and is supportive of your future career/ college choice.
When I met with the former professor who agreed to write one evaluation letter, the questions she asked me were very though provocative, challenging. I realized right there that a PS was more then a pretty narrative about why I wanted to pursue OT. I took notes about all our conservation and I was not afraid to show her that I was not getting it ...then she went on explaining more
. This teacher had experience in advising pre-med students in their application process.Tip two:
When you are really inspired, just seat and write the whole thing in one session. It might be really bad for a first draft, but at least, you would have articulated some fundamental ideas and assembled the big rocks ..
I wrote my first draft the same day I met my professor.
Tip three:
Do an internet search on "writing a personal statement for medical school " Because, imo, there are far more resources for medical school students, you will find more pdf documents from major and heavy league universities' academic resource centers. I read and study from those
https://depts.washington.edu/psych/files/writing_center/personal.pdf
https://grad.ucla.edu/asis/agep/advsopstem.pdf
http://mcnair.ucsb.edu/documents/4.09DiversityForumResearcher.pdf
https://career.berkeley.edu/Grad/GradStatement
The informations on the structure, organization and rationale of the PS were like gold mines!! In my native language, I write pretty well for academia style, so it was easy to understand what the guides recommended.
After reading the guides , you should go back to your draft and make A LOT changes. My first draft and my final copy have NOTHING in common except the detail that I used to be a teacher. A strong PLAN and ORGANIZATION of your essay will ensure a nice flow of your arguments and clear representation of your intellect and insight on your future career plan.
Tip four :
Early in your process, select a group of people who will volunteer to read, edit and proofread your work. I was blessed to meet 2 OTs and a grant writer who agreed to help. Thy knew that english was not my primary language, so they were glad and very kind to help me. The 3 persons gave me separate and independent corrections and feedbacks. Allow yourself time between feedbacks and your final draft, in other words, do not wait until the week before to ask for feedbacks.
Tip five:
Sweat ink and blood! Write , write and write. Just do it. Just set aside a weekend or several weekends, evenings, where you will only write your PS ( and review the PS guides). No TV, no distraction (Facebook, smartphone, pandora). Personally, I did not have a lot of time ahead of me. I cried a little, prayed a lot and spent a very difficult sleepless weekend. I pushed myself to the max, like laboring to deliver a baby !!!
Like a pro: use all the tools available to write a like smart, articulate potential graduate student :
http://wordcounttools.com
https://readability-score.com/text/
http://www.reverso.net/spell-checker/english-spelling-grammar/
To add a nice professional look, put a title or a header like "Personal statement for X." and page numbers.
Tip six: Timing, timing, time!
the early birds get the worms, right !!
If you can start early on, then you should give yourself ample time to simmer and marinate your PS.
I could not afford this luxury of time because I was enrolled for the whole summer semester with 11 credit hours. I had no real insight about my experiences and motivation , not until I met the professor who asked me a million questions about my application and until I finished my CNA certification with clinical training in nursing home.
My timeline
First draft: end of june 2016
Second new draft mid July 2016
Third draft review end of July
Last and most complete draft : August 5th (I submitted this draft for review)
August 7h : sent my draft for review and feedback.
by August 20th : All reviews done and returned from the kind people who volunteered to read my draft
It took me 4-5 days to consolidate corrections, editions , run spell checks and read proof myself the final copy, multiple times. (I wrote 2 papers: a general personal testament for OTCAS and specific statement for the school).
I did not read a lot of samples and examples out there, because I did not want to get confused or discouraged by others great work and actually most of the work out ther has some flaws and platitudes, so it was not worth it to read something OK and sort through it what was great and what was plain... There are some excellent PS online from real students but I did not want to get to inspired by someone else work and I don't like to "borrow " people's work... I wanted my essay to reflect originality and sincerity ...
I hope it helps!! I will post my PS after I hear from the school...in a few months. Good luck!
