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Your
academic performance will play the most significant role
in exhibiting to the admissions committee your
qualification for admission. However, the personal
statement gives you the opportunity to analyze your
background and offer the insight and interpretation that
you want your readers to take away from your
application.
The best way
to prove your qualification is to discuss concrete
experiences that show your abilities and qualities.
Details about the process are paramount. What we
mean by the "process" is the path to achievement. The
rest of the application has already summarized your
accomplishments and activities. Show the reader what you
did in concrete terms, and most importantly,
highlight your active roles.
The
experiences that demonstrate your qualifications are not
necessarily distinct from those that explain your
motivation. You shouldn't plan on dividing the essay
into two separate sections for each, but rather organize
the structure by topic and extrapolate insights as they
develop. We will cover structure in greater depth in its
own section, but it is important that you begin thinking
in terms of an integrated essay.
Research
Experience
The best way
to demonstrate your qualification for graduate school is
to focus on research experience, since research will be
your main job for the duration of your studies. Be
specific about what you did. If you worked for a year
under a professor, you might consider emphasizing one
particular project and exploring that in depth. The
experience does not have to have been a major
undertaking: Any practical experience can be used as
long as you demonstrate your enthusiasm and aptitude for
the field of study.
Remember to
keep the discussion personal. Do not become bogged down
in minute details and jargon. Ultimately, the focus of
the story should remain on you and your growth or
success.
This applicant cites
specific projects to demonstrate both the growth of his
interest in psychology research and the skills he has
honed in the process. Note, in the third paragraph, that
he does not jump to the end result of presenting his
paper at a conference. Rather, he shows the work he
did--the active role he played--to make that
accomplishment possible. Moreover, he concludes this
paragraph not with a final word about his research, but
with an explanation of what he has gained: "Again, I was
involved in all aspects of the experiment, from typing
the protocol and administering it to the subjects to
analyzing the data and finally presenting my results."
Field
Experience
If the
program you're applying to is more practice-oriented,
then demonstrating real-world experience can be just as
important as academic pursuits.
This applicant is
applying to a computer science program, and he has a
couple years of work experience. He explains one
specific achievement as follows: "As an MS student at
DePaul University, I worked as a network support
technician and project manager for Information Services.
My most significant accomplishment in this capacity
involved the re-wiring of over a thousand dormitory
rooms to enable the students to have Internet access
with a link to the other four campuses. In doing so, I
had to investigate the existing needs of a high-speed
Internet network, as well as the transport of bandwidth
to support future demands, which are almost impossible
to determine." He starts by describing the end result,
which in this case is acceptable because he poses it
almost as a challenge that he faced, and then he
proceeds to explain the concrete tasks he had to
perform. In this applicant's case, it's clear that
citing academic work could not prove the same level of
skill that he has shown by drawing on real-world
experiences.
Unrelated
Work Experience
The skill
sets needed to thrive in various fields often overlap,
and some qualities are essential everywhere. If you have
a strong record in an unrelated field, you should not
hesitate to discuss this, though the more you can tie
the discussion in with your current objectives, the
better.
This applicant is
applying to a graduate program in geology, but he
devotes some space to his work experience in computers:
"During the past 18 months I have had firsthand
experience with computers in a wide array of business
applications. This has stimulated me to think about ways
in which computers could be used for scientific
research. One idea that particularly fascinates me is
mathematical modeling of natural systems, and I think
those kinds of techniques could be put to good use in
geological science." Not only is this particular link
relevant, but it also offers a unique angle, since few
geology students would think to emphasize computers and
mathematical modeling. Note, however, that the applicant
could have described his work in computers in further
depth before returning to geology. You should explore
experiences on their own terms before trying to force
connections.
The links
provided by
this applicant are far
broader, but still effective. Though she is applying to
a Master of Library Service program, she discusses
volunteer experience in a nonprofit organization: "My
work for the organization has taken a number of forms
over the years, but can be summed up as gathering
information, both practical and technical, and using
human relations skills to make it accessible to others."
Basic qualities such as "human relations skills" could
have a wide variety of applications, but that fact
doesn't diminish their relevance to the applicant's
future in library service.
Extracurricular Activities
It is very
possible to demonstrate the relevant qualities you
possess for graduate school through extracurricular
activities. The approaches you take will essentially be
the same as those we discussed in the above two
sections, Field Experience and Unrelated Work
Experience, depending on whether the activity is
related. In the Library Service case cited above, for
example, the applicant was drawing on volunteer rather
than work experiences, but the purposes were the same. |
