Five Things to Do When Writing the Common App Personal Statement

And a few it’s probably best to avoid!

It’s that time of year again… high school juniors and seniors are getting antsy, unsure of what the next four to five years have in store for them. College applications are looming over the horizon for students, and one of the biggest tasks ahead of them is drafting the Common App Personal Statement – an essay that has many students stressing for days and months about writing “perfectly” in the hopes of being accepted to their dream colleges. 

There is no objectively “perfect” Common App Personal Statement, but students can definitely aim to make their essays the best that they can be. Here are some of our tips:

Tip #1: Be authentic

The personal statement is all about fit.

What this means is that the schools aren’t just looking for the highest GPA, or the most jaw-dropping list of extracurriculars. There are other places in the application for all of that. They want to know, if they admit you and you come to their campus, what’s it going to be like to have you in the crowd?

You could have a 4.0 GPA and hide in your room all day, but maybe you’d wander out at night to take stunning photos with the school telescope. Or you could have a 4.0 GPA and be the one who’s going to start Klingon club, and organize a dorm Star Wars party on May the Fourth. You could have a 2.6 GPA but a real knack for sympathizing and reaching agreement with others, and make an incredible addition to the student government.

The people reading this don’t know you. They only have a few minutes to get to know you. And it won’t work if you’re pretending to be someone you’re not. Your best essay is the one that speaks the most truly about yourself.

Be you. That isn’t so hard to do, is it?

Tip #2: A moment is as important as you make it

You shouldn’t only write your personal statement about the time that your ice hockey team won that big game, or you got an A+ from your strict English teacher, or you scored first place in the male beauty pageant. In fact, it’s probably better if you don’t write about these things.

Dozens (nay, thousands) or personal statements can be reduced to simple tropes: “Our team was weak, we trained, we got strong,” or, “I was not top place, but I dedicated myself, and, eventually, I got the gold.” If yours can be so reduced (and it probably can; that’s fine) then you need something more. You need to explain why your story is particular to you.

If you got an A+ in English class, you could talk about how that teacher changed your relationship to grammar exercises, maybe unearthing a passion for something like puzzle-solving. That’s one story. Or, if it’s a male beauty contest, maybe talk about the bravery it took to devote so much time, as a boy, to your appearance – and the security it gave you in your masculinity. That’s another. Or maybe this is a story where you end up starting to question your gender, and taking puberty blockers. That’s a third, totally different story.

What matters isn’t the “Wow!” factor of the story itself. What matters is your reflection on it.

In our recent webinar about the Common Application Personal Statement, we went over an essay by a boy who did parkour. He related that back to his unwillingness to put himself out there and take a leadership role, and proposed some solutions. It was a well-written essay – and not about any monumental triumph.

“But parkour,” you might argue, “is pretty cool!” Maybe college admissions teams would be impressed by the difficulty and performance of the skill. (Check it out here if you haven’t seen it.) However, a student can even take an experience of making doll houses as a child – a fairly mundane topic in and of itself – and make it into a well-written, insightful Common App essay. Perhaps the student could write about how they introduced their dolls – and their parents – to non-traditional family structures, and cultivated an interest in social justice; perhaps they could talk about how they kept rearranging the furniture, and now they want to be an interior designer, or how they loved to build them bigger and better houses, and became interested in architecture.

The importance of the moment is what you make of it.

Tip #3: A personal statement is a story

Remember: a personal statement is, at heart, a story. You are trying to connect with your reader – hoping that your authentic personality will come alive and leap off the page. To do this, you’re telling a story.

A story has an arc. And stories, like five-paragraph essays, have a structure. It’s just a different kind.

Hook

There’s a hook (think of a sentence like, “Gee Burt, I can’t believe we’ve been hanging off this cliff for two hours”). The “hook” makes you want to read more.

Background information

Then there’s an introduction of background info. This is laying the groundwork: introducing characters who will play parts, and setting the stage.

This part shouldn’t be too long; just enough to move into the moment that’s the centerpiece of your story.

Context of the moment and the moment itself

In any story, stuff happens. In your story, this is where stuff happens.

Again, only include as much as you need to. If it’s an A+ on a paper, it’s enough to mention your assignment, your preparation, and then the turning over of the essay’s upper-left corner to peek at the grade. Don’t talk too much about the moment itself, or go too much into detail about unnecessary aspects of your story, such as feelings that anyone would have had.

And…

There are more steps to a personal statement (realization/reflection and conclusion), but this is where a Common App personal statement deviates slightly from just being a “story.” We’ll cover the reflection bit in the next tip.

Tip #4: 66.6% story, 33.4% reflection

If you’re not a math whiz, those are approximations for two-thirds and one-third, respectively. But this isn’t math. This is creative writing, and you’re allowed a fair bit of leeway.

It’s not a five paragraph essay. You don’t need to support every claim that you make with evidence. You just need to have a story, and tell it – and then you need to reflect on it. About a third of your essay should be this reflection.

We aren’t going to ask you to share things that you aren’t comfortable sharing… but your essay will definitely be better if you’re completely open and honest. In other words, it will speak to the admissions officers if you’re truly exposing yourself in a moment of vulnerability.

Be vulnerable

There are times when you might want to pretend that everything is super smooth sailing, you’re always 100% in control, and life passes you by with nary a hiccup. This is not one of those times. It’s okay to mess up. We’re all human. It’s okay to fall down.

In the personal statement, it’s okay to mention those times when you didn’t make it – when you fell. Then explain what you did about it: how you got up off the ground, and tried again, or took a different route. Talk about what you learned from the experience, and how you changed.

Maybe you haven’t found a solution yet. That’s okay. Talk about what you learned, and what you’re still learning. If you are honest and vulnerable in your reflection, that creates trust, and trust is like an iron chain that can connect you with your reader.

But wait! Red flags?

Here are some things that are probably best to avoid:

• It’s not a five paragraph essay, so try to avoid writing it like one. Contrary to what every English teacher will tell you (for essays in their classes), here you want to use the word “I” – and often.

• It’s probably best to avoid writing about the victories of your sports team. You could do this, and make it unique, but a thousand other applicants have stories that will be very similar.

• Avoid picking a prompt first, and then making a story to fit the prompt. Pick your story, and then pick a prompt through which to tell it.

• Don’t list your accomplishments. There’s another section in the Common App for that.

• Don’t wait until the last minute. If you’re a senior, you should have at least one draft already written. If you’re a junior… it’s never too early to start drafting!

• Avoid bragging about your accomplishments or your skills too much.

Okay, that’s enough negativity. Let’s look at more of the things you should do.

Tip #5: Have fun

That isn’t said in jest. This whole process shouldn’t be nearly as stressful as too many college hopefuls make it. It’s actually a very fun process!

You’re not writing a five-paragraph, scholastic essay. You’re writing a story. And it’s a story about the one thing in the world on which you’re an undeniable expert – the one thing you for sure know better than anyone else: it’s the story of you.

The colleges don’t need this to hear about your stellar GPA, or your 35 score on the ACT. There are other sections for that stuff. The personal statement is the one section that’s personal – and it’s where you have to (or, better said, “get to”) convince the admissions readers that you won’t only be able to handle the workload, but you – as a person – will be an amazing addition to their campus community.

So: start writing and revising, and trust the admissions system. Put your true, authentic self on the page – with all your interests and passions, no matter how dorky – and you’ll get into a school that’s just right for you.