personal statement

[IDr10]

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Does anyone have advice on writing a personal statement? I am certainly not an English major! Will schools deny you an interview based on your grammar/writing ability? What about length? If the maximum word count is 500 should I try to use all the allotted space? I'm afraid my "goals" are very general and typical statements, should they be more concise?

 

[alferec]

Does anyone have advice on writing a personal statement? I am certainly not an English major! Will schools deny you an interview based on your grammar/writing ability? What about length? If the maximum word count is 500 should I try to use all the allotted space? I'm afraid my "goals" are very general and typical statements, should they be more concise?

Here are some tips I put up on my website:
http://www.optstudent.com/applications.html

In my opinion, if your grammar/writing ability is not at least college freshman level, then you will probably have a lot of trouble getting in - also because a lot of interviews involve a hand-written impromptu essay to make sure that you really were the essay writer.

Many people worry about length. Honestly, if you can get your point across in 250 words, then do it. Conciseness is crucial; your essay will be read along hundreds of other essays and the admissions committees don't want to waste time reading generalized words/sentences. Just read the tips I put up on my website for details on this.

Hope this helps...!