When I begin my brainstorming consulting calls with students, we start off our meeting by going through a quick Q&A to introduce what the personal statement is (aka college essay) and why it is important. In doing so, I want students to understand why they are being asked to write this essay and I hope to remove any doubts or confusion from the get-go so they can fully immerse themselves in the writing process with ease.
One of the first pieces of information I give to students is that the personal statement is truly the only place in the college application where they get to reveal a part of their life, an aspect of their identity, or some type of meaningful experience that they’ve had and how it’s changed them as a result. Reason being, Common App and other application platforms ask students to provide information pertaining to grades and test scores and to fill out an activity section along with any awards/honors they have received. So the essay itself holds lots of weight when admissions officers try to understand something about the applicant as a person—not just as a GPA score.
That being said, the personal statement (along with supplemental essays) provides a wonderful opportunity for students to choose what they want to write about and how they choose to present themselves in their own words. This means that they can incorporate their unique perspectives, their views on life itself, things that are important to them, what motivates them to succeed, and the list goes on—things that they may not usually discuss in day to day life. Consequently, students get to do a little soul searching and share what they come up with through a work of creative non-fiction that will help set them apart from fellow applicants.
Taken together, in all my years of coaching students to develop authentic and meaningful personal statements, I’ve come to see that there is one common thread that runs through each customized experience I provide and that is a student’s desire to stand out as an individual. So, for parents who are reading this or the college-bound student themselves, this is certainly an opportunity to wholeheartedly seize during the college application process itself!