How to Write a Strong Personal Statement (2023)

At multiple points in your life, you will need to take action to transition from where you are to where you want to be. This process is layered and time-consuming, and getting yourself to stand out among the masses is an arduous but not impossible task. Having a polished resume that explains what you’ve done is the common first step. But, when an application asks for it, a personal statement can add color and depth to your list of accomplishments. It moves you from a one-dimensional indistinguishable candidate to someone with drive, interest, and nuance.

Whether applying for a summer internship, a professional development opportunity, such as a Fulbright, an executive MBA program, or a senior leadership development course, a personal statement threads the ideas of your CV, and is longer and has a different tone and purpose than a traditional cover letter.

We’ve led prominent professional programs for over two decades and sat on prestigious awards committees. Between us, we have read thousands of personal statements. While a few stand out, most are lackluster and miss the mark. A few adjustments to your personal statement can get your application noticed by the reviewer.

Write what they want to hear.

Most organizations that offer a fellowship or internship are using the experience as a pipeline: It’s smart to spend 10 weeks and $15,000 on someone before committing five years and $300,000. Rarely are the organizations being charitable or altruistic, so align your stated goals with theirs. For example, if you’re applying for a Fulbright — whose goal is to foster cross-cultural dialogue — your defined goals should specifically mention international ambitions rather than a desire to go into the domestic financial sector.

Too often, we read statements that wax lyrical about building a career as a physician when applying to a summer program sponsored by an engineering PhD program. The same goes for charitable foundations: Are they looking for global leaders? Those who hold a connection to the disease they’re funding? Position yourself as holding the same values and goals as the organization sponsoring the opportunity.

Know when to bury the lead and when to get to the point.

Be aware of creative writing strategies that you can employ depending on the length of the essay. It’s hard to paint a picture and explain your motivations in 200 words, but if you have two pages, give the reader a story arc or ease into your point by setting the scene. Take the example of a junior analyst at a bank applying for an executive MBA program. If they’re given the opportunity to write a longer piece, an opening describing how a meaningful volunteer experience shaped their worldview can give the reader insight into their multiple facets and diverse interests.

In a brief essay, on the other hand, you should get right to the point. That same junior analyst, when applying for a company-sponsored leadership development bootcamp, should focus a brief statement on projects they’ve contributed to, leadership skills they’ve so far displayed, and how the course would be used to support further (internal) growth.

Recognize that the evaluator is subjective.

Qualifications, transcripts, and in some cases, tests all form objective measures that determine worthiness for consideration for an opportunity. The personal statement is subjective, meaning you’re also being assessed on unknowable criteria. Most of us on evaluation committees are reading for whether or not you’re interesting. Stated differently, do we want to go out to dinner with you to hear more?

While writing your statement, realize that reader’s opinions might not be based on what you’ve done, but rather on how you position yourself. What did you do with the opportunities and challenges you were given, or how did you create opportunities? Write it so that the person reading it wants to hear more and can’t wait to mentor or equip you with this additional opportunity.

Address the elephant in the room.

So maybe your grades weren’t great in core courses, or perhaps you’ve never worked in the field you’re applying to. Make sure to address the deficiency rather than hope the reader ignores it — because they won’t. A few sentences suffice. Deficiencies do not need to be the cornerstone of the application.

To wit, it’s preferable to read, “You will no doubt see I received a C in organic chemistry and you may wonder why a program in chemistry would consider a candidate with a low grade in such a core topic. I wish I could explain my need to balance a part-time job in the glass-washing facility with schoolwork, and I wish I could explain how much I underestimated how different I would find organic chemistry after sailing through freshman chemistry.”

As opposed to “My high school teacher told me I was good at science and I aced freshman chemistry, so I figured organic chemistry would be easy too. It was taught very unimaginatively in a really big auditorium. I don’t really want to go that direction anyways, but I really want to be in your internship because so far the only lab experience I have is as a glorified dishwasher in the glassware core.”

One example shows grit and perseverance, the other shows a person who would not make an effective team member.

Ultimately, what you have accomplished is important, but it can be dismissed if packaged incorrectly. A bespoke personal statement is a critical component of your application package. The goal is to intrigue the reader with the depth of your character and answer the “how” and “why” questions that your truncated resume is unable to accomplish.