Undergraduate Writing Center Handouts

General advice for developing content and structuring your essay:

• Start with a dramatic or intriguing opening to get the reader’s attention, but don’t tantalize people. Resolve all cliffhangers and answer any questions you raise.

• Build a connection with the specific school/program you’re seeking. How will it help you meet your career and academic goals? Why not attend some other school?

• Demonstrate insightful thinking by analyzing your experiences and your decision-making process. A well-described success or failure can leave a powerful impression.

• Make an argument. Explain what sets you apart from other applicants. What unique qualities, skills, and experiences would you bring to the program?

• Paint a picture of your experiences with vivid details and one or two colorful anecdotes.

• Offer concrete examples from your life and specifically describe your goals and dreams.

• Muster the courage to take calculated risks, but support your claims with evidence.

• Clearly articulate a sense of what you value.

• Show that you have a realistic understanding of the field you want to enter.

• Write honestly; don’t include only what you think the committee wants to hear.

• Don’t be self-congratulatory; project confidence without arrogance.

Stylistic and proofreading advice:

• Answer the prompt directly and memorably while adhering to word or page limits.

• Be selective and concise. Don’t simply narrate your resume. Omit extraneous details.

• Choose your words carefully. Avoid gimmicky quotations, vague language, clichés, cuteness, and overly fancy vocabulary.

• Showcase your personality, but use humor cautiously; you might offend your audience.

• Show drafts of your statement to several readers. Get as much feedback as possible.

• Check your final draft for mechanical errors and typos.

Personal Statements - Resources

General

• Virgil, created by our UWC consultants here at UT Austin, simulates our collaborative writing consultations. Helps with personal statements and much more. We’re always adding new sections and tweaking our advice, so place us on your favorites list and keep visiting!

• The University of Wisconsin at Madison Writing Center includes general advice about each step of the writing process—includes special help with an essay’s introduction.

• A page from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). Includes sample essays and tips from admissions officers at prominent schools.

• University of Washington’s Psychology Writing Center’s advice for their undergraduates. Includes humorous and helpful examples of some of the common mistakes writers make.

• This file from Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society shows how you can emphasize various strengths or interests in an essay—your inspiration, future goals, research experience, etc.

Fellowships and Scholarships

• FromWorcester Polytechnic Institute for writing scholarship applications. Includes links to helpful articles on scholarship applications.

• From Willamette University for writing scholarship essays. Includes help with personal statements and advice from prestigious fellowship committees.

Pre-Law

• This site for the DeLoggio Admissions Achievement Program targets pre-law students “outside of the mainstream” (including underrepresented minorities and nontraditional students) but may help applicants seeking admission to other types of graduate schools.

• Sample essays from Accepted.com to show you successful approaches for the law school personal statement.

Pre-Med

• “Illicit” advice (not really) from a former pre-med/med student. Includes an external link to useful articles about med school personal statements.

• Additional tips for personal statements from Temple University’s Health Professions Advising Center. Also has great general advice for pre-meds.