personal statement NIGHTMARE

[Student4Life0]

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It is around that time where I am sure many of us are struggling with what to write for our personal statements. At least I know I am! I have so much anxiety around the whole issue of writing a good PS, that every time I try to write mine, I feel a block. I have brainstormed to death, but I feel that everything I write sounds amateurish, or just stupid. I will be applying to mostly psyd and one phd clinical program in the winter, and i want a good statement to send off. would anyone be willing to read mine, tear it apart, and give me some constructive feedback?

 

[ClinicalTrainee]

Give yourself a break! Expecting to write a good personal statement on the first try is probably unrealistic. I had the same kinds of thoughts ("This sounds stupid" or "This sentence sucks") when writing my internship essays. If we're being honest, I have these thoughts with absolutely everything I write! For me, the only thing that works is to allow the stupid thoughts to pass through my mind and the stupid words to make it onto paper. Sometimes I write notes to myself in brackets, like [this paragraph needs serious help]. I get everything down on paper in sentence form and then I walk away for a day or two. When I come back, the stupid things often seem less stupid, and I can edit for style with a rough outline of the content on the page.

Don't get me wrong, having people give you constructive feedback is important. I guess I'm just saying that stupid and amateurish are self-judgments that can prevent drafts, and drafts are your friends, so allow the stupidity to flow onto the page. It's a process. 🙂

 

[Psy01]

It may help if you think of writing as like sculpting. With a sculpture, you first have to carve out the big hunks and get the material roughly in the shape of what you're going for. Then you can start whittling the fine details and carving out the excess.

With writing, it's much the same. You first write a rough draft in the general direction of what you need. Then you start editing and refining, and getting rid of the excess.

 

[Student4Life0]

Thanks for the advice. I feel a bit less anxious about the process today. I actually wrote a draft yesterday, and wrote almost an entirely different draft today. I think I am starting to see something take shape.

 

[docma]

The dreadful truth about good writing is that it takes many many drafts. Everyone who makes a living at it (Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott) write about this, often making it funny since that is a good thing to do with painful truths. Just plow ahead. You can't really get there until you have something to edit.

People who are naturally articulate and have easily been good students can get all the way through college before they actually have to learn this truth and it can be shock. But it is great step to take as you dive into graduate level/professional writing. A professional writing teacher I know used to quip: NO one likes writing, they like having written....just go for it and be willing to throw out a lot before you find the final product

 

[aMusingsBlog]

There are some pretty good books about writing personal statements...

I heard the Donald Asher ones are pretty good.

I'm glad you are making process. Good luck.

 

[justme08]

If anyone wants to exchange statements I'm in this process now too. And, the program I want to get in the most at present requires the most essays of any of the programs I've located to apply to so far🙂

 

[O Gurl]

Hi, all! In addition to swapping statements with other applicants for review (cool idea, btw), might I also suggest letting your main faculty adviser and at least one close friend read it as well. Your adviser can look at it from the committee's point of view and a friend can make sure it sounds like you. Since the personal statement is the only chance you have (on paper) to convey information about you as a person, it is really important that some of your personality is involved.

 

[Shatani]

It is around that time where I am sure many of us are struggling with what to write for our personal statements. At least I know I am! I have so much anxiety around the whole issue of writing a good PS, that every time I try to write mine, I feel a block. I have brainstormed to death, but I feel that everything I write sounds amateurish, or just stupid. I will be applying to mostly psyd and one phd clinical program in the winter, and i want a good statement to send off. would anyone be willing to read mine, tear it apart, and give me some constructive feedback?

i'll tell you right now, i read the personal statement i wrote when i applied to grad school and it was a flaming pile of crap! but they still let me attend and become a doctor, so its not that huge a deal. go easy on yourself.