How to Write a Personal Statement

The personal statement can be arguably the most important part of your application to graduate programs. This is where you convince the admissions committee that you are ready to pursue a PhD by pointing to your research, class, and/or extracurricular experiences.

Ultimately, there is no perfect personal statement. Everyone has their own unique story to tell and their own preferences for a personal statement. This guide is meant to give a suggestion on what are generally important components to include and rough estimates for how long each should be. However, **follow your heart**

The following guide is meant to give some guidance on what is important to focus on in your personal statement and what questions to answer. This is an approximate guide and it is not expected that all personal statements to all programs strictly follow this format.

What is the personal statement meant to do?

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What is the personal statement NOT meant to do?

Although the name implies this essay may focus on your personal history and background, usually the focus is intended to be on your prtsonal academic journey.

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What do I talk about in a personal statement?

Experiences that Have Honed Your Research Skills

A PhD is a research degree, so the most important part of the personal statement is convincing the admissions committee that you have honed skills in undergrad to research effectively in grad school. These experiences are usually research with a professor or graduate student, an REU, or a summer internship, but they can also be research projects in classes.

Below is a rough outline of what a single paragraph describing a research-related experience could include. We think these are important questions to answer to explain what you did and illustrate how this contributed to your growth.

Capybara at laptop

Description:

Length:

Brief -- 1-3 sentences

Components:

What is the context of the project?
Why is this research important?
What was the aim of the project?

Contributions:

Length:

The majority of your description.

Components:

What did YOU do for the project?
What skills/knowledge did you gain?
What was the aim of the project?

Results:

Length:

Likely the second-longest component of your description

Components:

What was the conclusion of the project? What did you find?
Did you present these results? Was there a publication?
Personal takeaway: What did you take from this project? How did it lead to your growth as a researcher and connect to your long-term goals?

Extracurriculars that fit into your preparedness and/or motivation for going to grad school

Description:

What is the group/organization?
What was the purpose of the group/organization?

Contributions:

What is your position in the group/organization?
What have you/the group done?

Results:

What have you gained from this experience and how does this fit into you going to grad school? (i.e.: I did outreach at the observatory and now I am passionate about science communication and bringing that to this program)

A group of Capybara

Purpose for Grad School

Why do you want to go to grad school?
Why this grad school? (mention the professors you want to work with and any organizations or facilities that fit into your plans)
What are your long term goals and how does grad school fit into those plans?

There is no one perfect way to write personal statements!

Check out some other guides on applying to grad school:

Astrobites Guide

Medium Guide