Admissions Advice: The Grad School Personal Statement

Every graduate school and graduate program website that you have perused likely has one common statement: “The Perfect Graduate School (TPGS) has a diverse student body” (exact wording may vary). Then, because that statement is just sitting there, hanging out in your subconscious, it starts to haunt you as you begin to write your personal statement.

But I’m not diverse. I’m just a girl from a rural town in the South.

But I’m not diverse. I mean, I’m Greek…but I’m Greek…that’s my main identity.

But I’m not diverse. Geez, I’m not even sure how my family got to America.

At this point, writer’s block is your constant companion…and you’re suffering through an identity crisis. As if you didn’t have enough to worry about!

Let me offer some reassurance. Remember that TPGS advertises that they have a diverse student body. Then, remember that a body is a functioning entity made up of many parts, and you, as a student at TPGS, are to be one part in that functioning body.

Do you see where I’m going with this? The schools and programs you are applying to are not relying on you to embody all aspects of diversity. (Deep breath in. Hold it. Now let it out.) However, they do want you to contribute to the diversity of the student body.

As you write your personal statement, think about what you have to offer that no one else will. How has growing up in the rural South affected your view of the world? How has your strong identification with Greek culture shaped you? What is it like to be an American whose family “melted” so thoroughly that there’s no tracing your lineage?

Taking it a step further, ask yourself: What obstacles have you overcome and how have those obstacles influenced your character? What world view do you have to offer that another student may not?

Then, perhaps, your difference does not lie so much in who you are, as in what you’ve done. Do you volunteer regularly with a local charity? Are you an amateur opera singer? Do you organize annual multi-state gatherings for swing dance enthusiasts?

You personal statement comes down to YOU. What has influenced you to strive towards this next educational achievement? What do you have to offer the program that a student with equivalent academic markers and test grades may not? How will you contribute to the diversity of the mosaic that is your chosen school’s student body?