Hi muffins,

So, I’m going to be real with y’all: sometimes a thing is only as good as the amount of time you put into it. It’s called sweat equity. And… you guessed it, that’s the real secret to a good personal statement.

To get a polished, typo-free, personal statement that expresses something fundamental about who you are, what you’re up to, and what you want your future to look like, you’re going to have to revise it. Many times. In circumstances like this, it’s best to get AS MANY people as possible to read it and give you feedback.

Pro tip for those of you giving feedback: always start with you DID like, and then go into the things that “need work” —> treat people the way you’d want to be treated if the situation was reversed!

Anyway, get trusted teachers to read it, get your nerd friends to read it. Another GREAT option to get feedback is to read it aloud for people, and have them tell you what they liked and what didn’t make sense. That way, they don’t have to go through the trouble of reading and marking up a document.

In fact, that leads me to my next point: when you get to a draft you think is nearly there, stop, walk away, and go do something that’s not a brain drain. Then, wake up the next morning, and read it aloud to yourself. Slowly. This makes you pay better attention to details and mistakes.

But, all in all, devote a fair amount of time over the course of a week or so to getting it great. My personal statement took me over a month to hammer out, but most likely y’all won’t need that long because you’re far more savvy than I was at that age!

If you are one of my former students, do not hesitate to reach out to ask for me to look at your draft and give feedback, but be prepared and make sure you’ve followed the template from Step 3: Getting a Draft

Because I unfortunately can’t replicate myself, I’ve recorded how I edit y’alls work as well as some videos walking you through the editing and revising process— hopefully these videos will inspire you to write your own story, and with any luck, maybe you’ll learn a few tricks to make writing less painful!

If you have any tips on writing your personal statement, leave them in the comments section below!