common personal statement mistakes

13 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Personal Statement

Without question, your grades and test scores are the most important part of your grad school application. But stellar grades and a high GRE score are not enough to make you stand out from the thousands of other applicants with similar scores.

So how can you distinguish yourself? The answer: A unique and thoughtfully crafted personal statement.

Think about all the study sessions, missed parties and hard work you’ve put into maintaining good grades and achieving a score that made your mother cry tears of joy. Don’t throw all that away by writing a weak personal statement. This is a valuable opportunity for you to show the admissions department why they would be remiss not to accept you.

On the other hand, it’s important to not get too creative. I’m sorry, but you should probably save your Quentin Tarantino-style statement for another time. Trust me on that one.

Instead, it’s time to channel your inner Goldilocks and express who you are in a way that’s not too much and not too little, but is “just right” to catch the admission department’s attention.

To help you navigate through the writing process, we’ve compiled a list of 13 mistakes you should avoid when writing your personal statement.

Cliches can be hard to avoid. They’ve been lodged in our memory since the dawn of time. (See what I did there?) But they’re uninspiring, tired, and show a lack of creativity. Instead, come up with your own metaphors and similes to say in your unique way that you “have a thirst for knowledge,” and avoid clichés like they’re going out of style.

2. Redundancy

Don’t include your GPA in your personal statement. Let me say that again. Don’t include your GPA in your personal statement. In fact, avoid including any information – such as awards you’ve received, etc. – that can be found elsewhere in your application. It’s redundant. Think of your personal statement as valuable real estate and there’s only enough space for the best, most unique information.

3. Spelling or Grammatical Errors

This cannot be overstated. Admissions directors won’t be able to fully appreciate your powerful personal statement if they have to keep stumbling over spelling and grammar errors. Avoid errors by asking a friend or family member to help you proofread your statement. Another pair of eyes is more likely to catch if you misspelled “conscientious,” for example.

4. Profanity or Slang

This should go without saying, but some students forget to leave out certain inappropriate four-letter words. Just. Don’t. Do. It.

Quotes can be very inspirational, especially when they come from great writers and charismatic people like Martin Luther King, Jr. or E.E. Cummings. But they’re not YOUR words, and they don’t tell the admissions director who you are. Leave them out of your personal statement and post them on your Instagram instead.

6. Hyperboles

You want to show enthusiasm in your statement, but it’s not necessary to say that if you don’t get into grad school your “mother will kill you.” The admissions director will also likely not be impressed if you tell them you have studied no less than a million hours to get into their school. In fact, avoid any and all exaggerations.

7. Plagiarism

These days, it’s easy to find examples of great personal statements online. However, keep in mind that universities will be able to identify if you have copied any material from another source. It’s not worth the risk and, again, it doesn’t let the school see your uniqueness.

8. Other People

Remember, keep the focus of your statement on you and what makes you stand out. Avoid too much mention of mentors, family members, or other people who may have inspired your academic goals. Keep it all about you.

9. Negativity

Keep your personal statement upbeat and positive. Avoid talking about any past educational experiences. You should also avoid mentioning any personal circumstances that have caused you difficulty – unless you are able to highlight how you overcame the circumstances and what you learned from them.

Although you may be trying to secure a financial award from the school, you should leave out any mention of money in your essay. Period.

11. Arrogance

Of course you want to highlight what differentiates you from other students, but be sure to do so in a humbling way. Boasting about how awesome or great you are may be off-putting to those reviewing your application. Also, you should show , rather than tell how wonderful you are by describing certain unique experiences rather than listing superficial adjectives to describe yourself.

Often times, we immediately try to use humor to showcase what makes us unique. Being quirky, though, can be risky in an admissions essay. So proceed with caution. Keep in mind that those in the admissions department may not share your sense of humor, so it’s best to keep your weird jokes between you and your friends.

13. Confessions

This is an opportunity to describe your educational and professional goals in an intentional way. It is not an opportunity to reveal the deepest, darkest corners of your mind, so stay on point and avoid any irrelevant information.

About the Author:

Jennifer is here to help you navigate college and grad school while still maintaining your sanity. She is a graduate of the University of Florida (Go Gators!), with a major in Journalism and Communications and a minor in Psychology. She’s also a certified Montessori instructor and once witnessed a four-year-old correctly label all 54 countries on a map of Africa. She prefers to sing when not in the shower, and she’s not afraid of heights as long as she’s standing on something that is less than 15-feet tall.

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13 Mistakes Students Make When Writing a Personal Statement

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Need help writing a personal statement? You came to the right place!

We've seen everything here at Scribendi, which means we know what makes a good personal statement and what makes a bad one. The bad news is that there's a very fine line. The good news is that we've compiled a list of common mistakes that students make when writing a personal statement. Now, you can learn from the mistakes of others so you don't have to learn them the hard way.

1. Ignoring the rules

If there's one time to think inside the box when writing a personal statement, it's with the technical rules. If there's a required word count, stay inside of it, whatever you do. If they want a specific font type or size, don't try to wow them with your downloaded font pack. If they need a specific file type, make sure your document is in it.

It sounds obvious, but little details like these can be easily overlooked. They're also the first step to getting your foot in the door and onto the desks of the application committee, so color inside of the lines. Doing so will prove that you know how to follow guidelines. Not doing so will get your personal statement a reserved spot in the trash.

2. Failing to answer the question

It's easy to derail from the topic at hand or to answer a question with which you feel more comfortable than the original question posed. However, it's so important to stay on track and show that you are more than equipped to deal with whatever is thrown at you. First, provide an interesting hook—a succinct and engaging sentence to draw readers in and make them want to read more. Then, ensure you follow a clear structure and present a logical flow of thoughts. When answering the question, get to the point as quickly as you can, and stay relevant. If you're not sure whether to include something, keep rereading the question or topic to make sure you're not off track.

3. Making it "one size fits all"

"One size fits all" isn't just a lie in the fashion industry; it's also a lie for personal statements. You shouldn't submit the same personal statement to multiple different schools, just changing the school and program names. Even though the application committee won't know this for sure, they'll get a sense that the whole statement is just a little too generic. Worse, you're proving to yourself that you don't have what it takes to write a different statement for each school, which is a little lazy and pretty insulting to the addressee. So don't do it!

Many hopeful students, especially at the post-grad level, make it a point to show they've done their homework, mentioning particular researchers at the school whom they'd love to work with. Remember that one size never fits all.

4. Taking the "personal" out of "personal statement"

Let's be honest. Nobody wants to hear about the rising tuition costs in America or how the field you're in is progressing at a steady pace. Generalized statements are a killer in personal statements because, of course, the focus should be on you. Talk about how these things affect you specifically. Make your personal statement personal!

Home in on a level of specificity, and keep zooming in until all of the broad statements are vanquished. Instead of talking about rising tuition costs, talk about how you worked two jobs to feed your cat.

On that note, though . . .

5. Telling a sob story

Don't tell a sob story. Everybody has one; it's part of being human.

But you can't let something bad that's happened to you become an excuse. You don't want to rely on it, and you don't want the application committee to think you're trying to gain pity, so it's important that you remain professional. If you have overcome a struggle or a tragedy and it has genuinely influenced or changed you, of course you can and should talk about it. However, try to put a new or positive spin on it when possible. Talk about how working those two jobs was worth it, the different things you learned from your two bosses, or how your experiences made you who you are today.

6. Blasting to the past

In writing a personal statement , you should present yourself as a well-rounded individual but outline your achievements in different areas like academics, athletics, the arts, and your work, volunteer, and social experiences. Make sure, though, that you've moved on from high school. Your experiences should be current and professional.

What you did last weekend is more important than a project you completed three years ago. The application committee wants to know who you are now, not who you once were. What will you do in your free time today, tomorrow, and in the future? It's important that the application committee gets a sense of who you really are.

7. Apologizing and making excuses

Maybe you lack experience. Maybe you've never had a job in your field, or you haven't volunteered enough. Maybe your marks fell halfway through school, or you lost a scholarship. Maybe you don't have any extracurricular activities to list, or you've been out of the game for a while. The worst thing you can do, when faced with these common problems, is to make excuses. Don't even make excuses when they're valid, and don't apologize. There are always explanations for doing poorly, doing nothing, or just not doing the right thing, but they should never be used as excuses. If you absolutely feel the need to address your mistakes, try to talk about what you've learned or how you've grown and changed for the better.

8. Putting on a show

Another common mistake on the flip side of the last is putting on a great big show. Drop the dramatics. If you haven't found a cure for the common cold, then don't act like you have. Can the over-the-top descriptors, adjectives, and adverbs, and let your accomplishments speak for themselves. Similarly, the jargon, the overly academic language, and the stuffy personality have all got to go. It's okay to keep your personal statement simple because that will make it genuine. Write like yourself, and the personal statement will not turn into a drama.

9. Taking the backseat

It's important, though, that you don't take the backseat. This is your personal statement. What is it about you that the application committee needs to know to understand who you are and how you function? How can you best demonstrate your strengths, achievements, and ability to overcome challenges? Which ones have made you the person you are? These are all worth considering.

There will be points where you have to brag a little bit, but do so subtly. Mentioning your achievements is important. Explaining how you made them and what you learned is more important.

10. Forgetting give and take

There's a very fine balance to strike in your personal statement, and it's one that's often overlooked. This is probably the most important tip! Here it is: you need to balance how you can benefit the school in question and how the school in question can benefit you. If you focus too much on the first, you'll come across as arrogant. If you focus too much on the second, you'll come across as desperate. So make sure you balance it out.

What does the school gain from accepting you? That's important to answer, and that's the whole point of writing a personal statement. Answering that question well will get you accepted. At the same time, you have to thoroughly explain what it is about the school that makes it so desirable. Without that, the application committee may believe that you don't think you need its school and that any school will suit your purposes fine. Make sure you give and take!

11. Failing to convey excitement

If you're enthusiastic about the prospect of attending a school, say so! Most students decide to apply for a program because they are excited about the material and the prospect of using the knowledge they'll gain in their future careers. You can also add a touch of altruism by explaining how you hope to harness your passion to help others. For example, if applying to a business program, express your excitement to take advantage of its prestigious alumni roster as well as your hope to help a particular nonprofit. Be specific about why you're excited about the opportunities a school or program will provide.

12. Turning into a cliche

Focus on highlighting unique experiences that could have only happened to you. This will help get your personal statement remembered and cared about. Show that you have energy and passion, that you are committed, and that you are unique (because you are). However, be humble. Unique does not mean "the best." There's always room for improvement, so instead of trying to sound like the best, try to sound irreplaceable. What makes your point of view your very own? That's what you want to demonstrate. Everybody's different, so make sure the application committee understands how you're different by the end of your essay.

13. Thinking it's finished when it's not

Here's the hard truth: one typo can make or break your personal statement. You need to have your personal statement edited and proofread, whether professionally or by a friend or colleague. Seriously, just do it. There's always, always room to improve. Even if you have flawless grammar and spelling (and no typos), perhaps you can work on clarity, tone, structure, or flow. Having others look at your document for you can provide a fresh perspective not unlike that of the application committee. An editor will not only improve the language in your piece but will also give you pointers on how to improve the content. Your personal statement isn't complete unless it's been edited!

Time to start writing!

Now that you know the common mistakes students make, you can avoid them. Writing a personal statement can be a little more than intimidating, but following these suggestions will at least put you ahead of the others. Here's to getting your personal statement on the top of the pile!

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How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges

← What Is an Application Theme and Why Is It Important?

10 Personal Statement Examples That Work →

Most of the college applications process is fairly cut and dry. You’ll submit information about your classes and grades, standardized test scores, and various other accomplishments and honors. On much of the application, your accomplishments must speak for themselves.

The personal statement is different though, and it’s your chance to let your voice be heard. To learn more about the personal statement, how to choose a topic, and how to write one that wows colleges, don’t miss this post.

What is the Personal Statement?

Personal statements are used in both undergraduate and graduate admissions. For undergrad admissions, personal statements are any essays students must write to submit their main application. For example, the Common App Essay and Coalition Application Essay are examples of personal statements. Similarly, the ApplyTexas Essays and University of California Essays are also good examples .

Personal statements in college admissions are generally not school-specific (those are called “supplemental essays”). Instead, they’re sent to a wide range of schools, usually every school you apply to.

What is the Purpose of the Personal Statement?

The personal statement is generally your opportunity to speak to your unique experiences, qualities, or beliefs that aren’t elsewhere represented on the application. It is a chance to break away from the data that defines you on paper, and provide a glimpse into who you really are. In short, it’s the admissions committee’s chance to get to know the real you.

So, what are colleges looking for in your personal statement? They are looking for something that sets you apart. They are asking themselves: do you write about something truly unique? Do you write about something common, in a new and interesting way? Do you write about an aspect of your application that needed further explanation? All of these are great ways to impress with your personal statement.

Beyond getting to know you, admissions committees are also evaluating your writing skills. Are you able to write clearly and succinctly? Can you tell an engaging story? Writing effectively is an important skill in both college and life, so be sure to also fine-tune your actual writing (grammar and syntax), not just the content of your essay.

Is your personal statement strong enough? Get a free review of your personal statement with CollegeVine’s Peer Essay Review.

How To a Choose A Topic For Your Personal Statement

Most of the time, you’re given a handful of prompts to choose from. Common personal statement prompts include:

Central aspect of your identity (activity, interest, talent, background)
Overcoming a failure
Time you rose to a challenge or showed leadership
Experience that changed your beliefs
Problem you’d like to solve
Subject or idea that captivates you

One of the questions that we hear most often about the personal statement is, “How do I choose what to write about?” For some students, the personal statement prompt triggers an immediate and strong idea. For many more, there is at least initially some uncertainty.

We often encourage students to think less about the exact prompt and more about what aspects of themselves they think are most worthy of highlighting. This is especially helpful if you’re offered a “topic of your choice” prompt, as the best essay topic for you might actually be one you make up!

For students with an interesting story or a defining background, these can serve as the perfect catalyst to shape your approach. For students with a unique voice or different perspective, simple topics written in a new way can be engaging and insightful.

Finally, you need to consider the rest of your application when you choose a topic for your personal statement. If you are returning from a gap year, failed a single class during sophomore year, or participated extensively in something you’re passionate about that isn’t elsewhere on your application, you might attempt to address one of these topics in your statement. After all, the admissions committee wants to get to know you and understand who you really are, and these are all things that will give them a deeper understanding of that.

Still, tons of students have a decent amount of writer’s block when it comes to choosing a topic. This is understandable since the personal statement tends to be considered rather high stakes. To help you get the ball rolling, we recommend the post What If I Don’t Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?

Tips for Writing a Personal Statement for College

1. approach this as a creative writing assignment..

Personal statements are difficult for many students because they’ve never had to do this type of writing. High schoolers are used to writing academic reports or analytical papers, but not creative storytelling pieces.

The point of creative writing is to have fun with it, and to share a meaningful story. Choose a topic that inspires you so that you’ll enjoy writing your essay. It doesn’t have to be intellectual or impressive at all. You have your transcript and test scores to prove your academic skills, so the point of the personal statement is to give you free rein to showcase your personality. This will result in a more engaging essay and reading experience for admissions officers.

As you’re writing, there’s no need to follow the traditional five-paragraph format with an explicit thesis. Your story should have an overarching message, but it doesn’t need to be explicitly stated—it should shine through organically.

Your writing should also feel natural. While it will be more refined than a conversation with your best friend, it shouldn’t feel stuffy or contrived when it comes off your tongue. This balance can be difficult to strike, but a tone that would feel natural when talking with an admired teacher or a longtime mentor is usually a good fit.

2. Show, don’t tell.

One of the biggest mistakes students make is to simply state everything that happened, instead of actually bringing the reader to the moment it happened, and telling a story. It’s boring to read: “I was overjoyed and felt empowered when I finished my first half marathon.” It’s much more interesting when the writing actually shows you what happened and what the writer felt in that moment: “As I rounded the final bend before the finish line, my heart fluttered in excitement. The adrenaline drowned out my burning legs and gasping lungs. I was going to finish my first half marathon! This was almost incomprehensible to me, as someone who could barely run a mile just a year ago.”

If you find yourself starting to write your essay like a report, and are having trouble going beyond “telling,” envision yourself in the moment you want to write about. What did you feel, emotionally and physically? Why was this moment meaningful? What did you see or hear? What were your thoughts?

For inspiration, read some memoirs or personal essays, like The New York Times Modern Love Column . You could also listen to podcasts of personal stories, like The Moth . What do these writers and storytellers do that make their stories engaging? If you didn’t enjoy a particular story, what was it that you didn’t like? Analyzing real stories can help you identify techniques that you personally resonate with.

3. Use dialogue.

A great way to keep your writing engaging is to include some dialogue. Instead of writing: “My brothers taunted me,” consider sharing what they actually said. It’s more powerful to read something like:

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame.

Having dialogue can break up longer paragraphs of text, and bring some action and immediacy to your story. That being said, don’t overdo it. It’s important to strike a balance between relying too much on dialogue, and using it occasionally as an effective writing tool. You don’t want your essay to read like a script for a movie (unless, of course, that’s intentional and you want to showcase your screenwriting skills!).

Want free essay feedback? Submit your essay to CollegeVine’s Peer Essay Review and get fast, actionable edits on your essay.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Personal Statements

1. giving a recap or report of all the events..

Your essay isn’t a play-by-play of everything that happened in that time frame. Only include relevant details that enrich the story, instead of making your personal statement a report of the events. Remember that the goal is to share your voice, what’s important to you, and who you are.

2. Writing about too many events or experiences.

Similarly, another common mistake is to make your personal statement a resume or recap of all your high school accomplishments. The Activities Section of the Common App is the place for listing out your achievements, not your personal statement. Focus on one specific experience or a few related experiences, and go into detail on those.

3. Using cliche language.

Try to avoid overdone quotes from famous people like Gandhi or Thoreau. Better yet, try to avoid quotes from other people in general, unless it’s a message from someone you personally know. Adding these famous quotes won’t make your essay unique, and it takes up valuable space for you to share your voice.

You should also steer away from broad language or lavish claims like “It was the best day of my life.” Since they’re so cliche, these statements also obscure your message, and it’s hard to understand what you actually mean. If it was actually the best day of your life, show us why, rather than just telling us.

If you want to learn more about personal statements, see our post of 11 Common App Essay Examples .

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Personal Statement Mistakes: 5 Common Errors to Avoid

by Antony W

September 5, 2021

mistake to avoid when writing a personal statement

Nothing hurts more than a rejected college application, especially if the reason is that your personal statement wasn’t up to the standard that an admissions board expected.

Sure, a personal statement requires you to tell a story about yourself and answer important questions about the program you’d like to apply to. But completing this paper requires more than just your ability to meet the expected word count.

You need to know how to write a personal statement to get this assignment right. Still, it doesn’t actually end there. You also need to know the kind of mistakes to avoid if you want your personal statement to get an approval from the admissions team.

In the following section, we’ll highlight some of the most common mistakes that shouldn’t appear in a personal statement. If you notice any of these mistakes appearing in your write up, go back and fix them before submitting your application.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Personal Statement

1. failing to answer the question asked.

When you first read the definition of a personal statement, the description may sound like this is a more open-ended assignment. While it’s more about telling an admissions panel about yourself so that they get to know you better to determine if you are fit for the program, it doesn’t mean you can write whatever you like.

More often than not, the panel will give questions that they would like answered in a personal statement.

The worst mistake you can make is to answer your own version of the question.

A right approach to getting the personal statement right is to read the questions asked alongside the requirements of the work. This will enable you to understand what the panel expects.

But how do you know you have answered all the questions correctly? It’s simple. Ask someone else to read the essay and give his or her neutral view.

Also Read: How to Write a Personal Statement

2. Using a Technical Academic Language to Look Showy Instead of Being Clear and Relevant

using a simple language in personal statement

There is nothing worse in writing a personal statement than dressing it up with complex words and phrases. If the statement requires an admissions committee to have cups of coffee and dictionaries on the table, then it’s already a big fail.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with knowing a dense language, but what’s the point of merging it into your writing if the target reader won’t understand the message you intend to communicate?

Instead of adding complex and showy verbs, adverbs, adjectives, quotes, and vocabularies, dress your statement with a simple language that even a grade 6 student can read and understand.

Don’t worry; using a simple language won’t make you look too foolish to apply for a college diploma or university degree. On the contrary, it proves that you care more about being clear and precise with your application.

3. Using Generic Statements

not using generic statements in personal statement

A personal statement that features generic phrases can be very boring to read. Not only do they show your lack of disinterest in an application, they also fail to convince an admissions board that you’re a perfect candidate to consider.

When it comes to writing a personal statement, you have zero room for vagueness. So you can’t take your chances.

Remember that in this writing, every sentence count. To stand out from many other applicants, back every statement with your real life experiences as well as examples.

Re-read your personal statement and highlight vague words and phrases, and then improve them. Show how and why an event or experience is important to use instead of just stating it.

Also Read: Personal Statement vs Statement of Purpose

4. Writing More Words than Expected

Writing too much doesn’t mean you’ll stand out from the crowd. It’s the quality of the information that you provide that will matter at the end of the day.

To be clear, an admissions board may give you a word count to work with as you write your personal statement. In some cases, they won’t. Whether they give you a word limit for the essay or not, you shouldn’t write less than 500 words or more than 700 words.

In other words, a good personal statement should be between 500 and 700 words long.

Sure, you may have many good things to say about yourself and thus fall for the temptation of making the document longer. But if you’re honest with yourself, some of your points will be stronger than others are. So it’s best to include only the strongest statements to establish a good connection with the admissions panel while sticking to the suggested word count.

5. Poor Writing and Grammatical Errors

avoid grammar mistakes in personal statement

This is one of the personal statement mistakes that students make.

Your writing has to be up to the standard from the first sentence to the last. So you can’t compromise on your writing skills for any reason whatsoever.

From vocabulary and choice of words to grammar use and sentence structure, your writing skills must be up to the best standard if your personal statement must win the attention of an admissions panel.

As soon as you complete writing your personal statement, go back to the very beginning of the paper and proofread your work thoroughly. Identify words and phrases that neither add meaning nor make sense and delete them from the statement.

If it helps, get a friend or a family member and let them read your statement and give you their opinion. The advantage is that they will read the statement and give you their perspective. You can then go a step further and use their suggestions to improve the quality of your personal statement.

Let Help for Assessment Write Your Personal Statement

While writing a good personal statement isn’t impossible, it can be challenging. If you have no idea how to approach the project, chances are you may more than likely write a low quality personal statement.

But you don’t have to risk your chances of being accepted. Simply reach out to us and we’ll help you write a personal statement that will get you noticed by an admissions board.

Our team of writers and editors has what it takes to write the best in-class personal statement for you.

About the author

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

The Personal Statement: Top Five Mistakes

Post author By Dr. Eliza Fox
Post date June 16, 2022
No Comments on The Personal Statement: Top Five Mistakes

The “personal statement .” For many students, just seeing these words causes a spike in anxiety and stress. In just 650 words, you have to show perfect strangers who you are, set yourself apart from thousands of other applicants, and convince college admissions officers why they should want you on their campus. That’s a lot of ground to cover in what is essentially a one-page document! You also need to avoid falling into some of the many traps that might lead admissions officers to overlook your essay—and with it, the rest of your application.

In previous blog posts , we’ve told you what makes for a strong personal statement. Now, we’re laying out five of the most common personal statement mistakes we see each year to help you avoid making them in your own work.

TOP FIVE PERSONAL STATEMENT MISTAKES

1. making your personal statement too “personal “.

As the Common App notes, the personal statement gives you a chance to show admissions officers who you are “apart from courses, grades, and test scores.” In this piece of writing, you can tell officers about your work as a scholar or an activist, about how you overcame a major challenge or made a wonderful new discovery.

Be careful, however, not to drift from personal into confessional. This is not the space to reveal deep dark secrets or to highlight information that you’d normally only share with close friends. Ask yourself, “If an admissions officer were interviewing me in person, is this something I would feel comfortable discussing with them?” If the answer is no, then that may be a sign that you’re crossing the line into confessional territory. This will not benefit you in the admissions process.

2. PICKING A PROBLEMATIC TOPIC

When writing your essay, you’ll want to focus on a compelling subject. There are lots of great topics you might consider (your fascinating historical research project, your great work on Student Council, etc.), but you’ll want to make sure to avoid:

Clichéd subjects that admissions officers have read about thousands of times before. “The big game,” “the eye-opening community service project,” “my grandma, the role model”—admissions officers have seen countless versions of these essays, so unless you have some unique twist on the genre, you are better off picking a different topic.
Offering your resume in essay form. It’s impressive that you have accomplished a lot, but your essay isn’t the place to provide a laundry list of achievements. Save that for the Activities section of the Common App, and use your personal essay to focus in on one or two accomplishments that really speak to who you are as a person.
Coming across as self-congratulatory. Admissions officers look for students who have both accomplishments and humility. While it’s great to highlight your achievements, make sure that you aren’t overly boastful when discussing them. If you are unsure that you’ve struck the right balance, read over your essay and ask yourself whether it sounds like it was written by someone you’d want as a friend and classmate.

3. FORGETTING YOUR LARGER STORY

As we’ve noted before, admissions officers often spend just a few minutes reviewing each application, trying to get a quick sense of who each applicant is. With this in mind, it can be helpful to think of your application as an elevator pitch for yourself—a collection of materials that underscores the most important points about you.

Before you begin writing, we encourage you to consider what makes you stand out as an applicant. Are you a brilliant creative writer? A chemist who has won multiple science fairs? An advocate for others who has championed a cause close to your heart? Whatever it is that makes you a compelling applicant— that should be the focus of your essay. Writing about another topic risks muddying your “pitch” and preventing admissions officers from forming a clear sense of who you are as a student.

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4. NOT PROOFREADING

Proofreading your work shows admissions officers that you are a thoughtful student who takes the application process seriously. If you submit an essay riddled with typographical errors, admissions officers may assume that you are a poor writer or a disinterested applicant—even if your ideas are otherwise brilliant! To make sure that your essay serves you well, review it carefully for grammatical and spelling errors before you click submit. If you can, ask one or two other people to review it and look for any errors you may have missed.

This brings us to our final mistake:

5. LETTING TOO MANY COOKS INTO THE KITCHEN

It’s a good idea to get some feedback on your essay, especially from people who know the admissions process well. There is, however, such a thing as too much feedback. If you ask lots of people for their insights, you may end up with a ton of contradictory and unhelpful information. Keep in mind, too, that the personal statement is a relatively unusual genre. Even people who know good writing, like your English teacher, may not know what makes for a stellar college essay.

To ensure that you are putting together the strongest essay possible, we encourage you to work with someone who has experience with the college application process. If you need additional support, we’re here to help .

HAPPY WRITING!

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Most Common Personal Statement Mistakes

1. Writing a cover letter or résumé rundown

When you apply for a job, you write a cover letter to entice the hiring manager to look at your résumé. When you apply to law school, the admissions committee will look at your résumé no matter what. Your personal statement should tell a story that your résumé doesn’t.

Here’s an example of a personal statement written as a résumé rundown.

2. Making excuses

Do not explain why you performed poorly on the SATs, got rejected from your top-choice college, or did not earn the GPA you had hoped for. You can explain any mitigating circumstances in an addendum. Dwell on the positive.

3. Starting with a meaningful quote

Essays built around quotations are usually strained, boring, impersonal, and trite—plus they smell like high school.

4. Going for novelty

Don’t submit an essay in the form of a poem, play, or legal brief. Submit your essay in the form of an essay.

5. Dwelling on the distant past

If you are a college senior, it’s probably a mistake to set your whole essay in high school. If you’ve been out of college for more than a year, it’s probably a mistake to set your whole essay in college. It’s possible to write a great essay about high school or childhood; you just have to make sure you don’t seem like a victim of arrested development .

6. Writing about a disappointment as if it’s an obstacle

Asha Rangappa, Associate Dean of Admissions at Yale Law, explains this mistake in an excellent blog post. .

Illness, poverty, divorce, civil strife, abuse, and physical handicaps are obstacles. Flunking a math test, being rejected from Harvard, or losing a class election is a disappointment. Obstacles imperil your ability to survive or succeed. Disappointments, as Asha explains [1] , “are things you wanted but didn’t get.” They imperil nothing but your ego. When you write an essay about overcoming a disappointment, you don’t convey your resilience so much as your immaturity.

[1] Sadly, this article is no longer available to the public.

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Do Not lie on your personal statement

Lying on your Personal Statement is a big ‘no-no’. It’s really not worth it. We say this not to target people who are doing it maliciously but because we know that writing your Personal Statement is a really stressful exercise and you might not be sure what you can and can’t get away with.

Believe us, saying you’ve read something you haven’t, saying you agreed with something you don’t and saying something you’re interested in that you aren’t – all of these things are not too difficult for a tutor to work out at a later stage of the application.

How to make your Personal Statement Stand Out

The easiest way to avoid Personal Statement mistakes like this is to try and put yourself in the shoes of the admissions tutor. The Oxbridge application process is designed so that tutors are allowed to choose the students that they want to teach.

When they read someone’s Personal Statement, they have a chance to try and work out whether this could be one of their future students. But they will want to take the Personal Statement into consideration with the whole portfolio submitted in order to make an informed decision.

If in the process of the Admissions Test results, your references, or speaking to you in the interview, they find out that the Personal Statement was not reliable, they will unlikely want to accept your application.

Oxbridge Personal Statement Wider Reading

It is better to just present yourself and your wonderful personality word for word and let them make the decision.

Do not write what you think the tutors want to read on your personal statement

Being disingenuous is another Personal Statement mistake that we would really recommend not doing. Again, this might sound quite obvious, but it is very, very easy to do!

A rule of thumb is that it is okay to think “What will the person reading this think of me” as long as you then think “Is that a fair representation of me, and does it show my personality?”

Answering your Personal Statement Questions

By way of motivation too, you should remember that there is a lot of luck, good and bad, involved in the application process. You are not obliged to change that by pretending in your Personal Statement. You are not a weaker candidate just because things eventually might not go your way, and everyone will admire you for trying. However, recycling phrases you have heard and using clichés such as “I have always been interested in” will not reflect too well.

If you think something is really boring, be honest. If you have justifications for finding it boring that’s not a problem and much more reasonable.

Do not change your Personal Statement so that it reflects characteristics that don’t apply to you. Your strongest attributes are yours, not anyone else’s and the whole process is just more enjoyable if you apply as yourself and know you did your best.

We really appreciate writing your Personal Statement is hard. It’s likely that you don’t know where to start or that you might not seem satisfied with what you’ve done. Accidentally making Personal Statement mistakes is, at times, inevitable. Don’t worry, everyone feels the same. There are many tips and tricks to help you avoid those unwanted Personal Statement mistakes.

The structure of your personal statement matters!

You’ve got all the information but how do you format the Personal Statement? This is where the structure comes in. Structure matters when writing your Personal Statement. It enhances clarity, thought processes and most importantly, it tells a story about yourself and the subject you want to study.

How to Structure your Personal Statement

Before you go, the below menu will give you access to 10 Personal Statement examples or check out all of our other personal statement articles and successful examples on our Free Personal Statement Resources page .

NATURAL SCIENCE

ENGINEERING

MODERN LANGUAGES

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Residency Application

Residency Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid

There are many common residency personal statement mistakes that can hurt your chances of getting matched. The personal statement can impact the way program directors view you, so it’s important to keep it organized and replete with information that reflects your strengths and ambitions. Your other materials, like your resume and ERAS letters of recommendation , aren’t designed to help you advertise the qualities you need to convey in a personal statement, like motivation and personal background. With limited space to sell your expertise and suitability for the program, mistakes are costly. In this article, we share some common red flags in residency personal statements so that you can detect and avoid them in your own writing.

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Article Contents 10 min read

Residency personal statement mistakes, not showing growth.

Your residency personal statement is a narrative; not only should it contain background information, but it should also explain how your motivation for pursuing medicine developed and what interests you about the specialty you’re entering. At this point, you know how to choose a medical specialty , so refer back to the motivations behind your choice.

Applicants can mention a personal or clinical anecdote that demonstrates how an experience influenced their decision to become a physician. However, the mistake that’s often made when structuring your essay this way is focusing on experiences that don’t show that you’ve matured and made progress toward your goals.

Simply listing experiences or failing to elaborate in meaningful detail doesn’t show that you’ve learned anything; in the worst cases, the experiences you choose to discuss in your personal experience represent traits that are opposite to what most program directors are looking for in candidates. A residency prep course can help you develop a strong personal narrative.

Wondering how to write a residency personal statement? Watch this video:

As mentioned, anecdotes are helpful at the beginning of your residency personal statement if they are interesting, meaningful, and directly related to your medical school journey. A good story needs a strong hook. However, too many personal anecdotes can distract from more important things related to work or clinical experience.

There’s a fine line between personal and professional; too far in one direction and you risk creating too impersonal or too tangential a personal statement. Most of the time, you’re better off using most of your essay body to demonstrate medical school experiences that relate to your chosen specialty.

Without proper formatting and structure, even the most qualified and experienced candidates will struggle to make a compelling case for themselves.

Your residency personal statement should contain a maximum of six paragraphs. When navigating ERAS application sections, you should be familiar with the formatting requirements. The ERAS personal statement allows up to 28,000 characters, which is about five pages long. However, yours should not go over about a page.

The trouble with bad structure is that it makes it difficult to discern how your experiences contribute to your credibility as a candidate. Over-writing can also be an issue for program directors trying to distinguish candidates when they receive an excess of applications with too much detail.

Sometimes, when you try to stuff too many experiences into the finite space of your personal statement, it dulls otherwise profoundly influential and interesting professional experiences. Leaving out contextual information also won’t allow you to paint a clear picture of how your rotations relate to your chosen specialty.

For example, an applicant might write “I am naturally a curious person, which is why I’m interested in this sleep medicine residency.”

The problem with the above statement is that it provides no evidence and it says nothing unique about you as an applicant. Presumably, every candidate is, for all the program directors know, a naturally curious person – but you must demonstrate this quality organically, without simply stating it and moving on.

How to avoid it:

Consider this revised version of the above statement: “To satisfy my curious impulse in medical school, I enrolled in a summer research program investigating sleep in children with ADHD. Evaluating patients using various instruments was interesting, and I enjoyed conducting data collection to make recommendations for the patient’s routine or medication prescription under the supervision of a doctor.”

What makes this statement effective is that it confirms, using evidence of your curiosity in action, that you have been learning how to improve patient assessment skills . Now you’re showing that you took the initiative to gain a relevant experience that makes sense for your chosen specialty.

When it comes to knowing the amount of detail to add to research experience, consider that your residency CV might already list some of those experiences, so be sure not to overlap unnecessarily.

Too Repetitive

Another common issue is repeating information that program directors have access to via other items in your application, like your resume or letters of recommendation. You can use your residency personal statement to highlight certain experiences, but generally, having them listed and described in your resume is sufficient. Your experiences should be used to provide evidence to support the argument that you’re a strong candidate for the program. Again, you don’t want to risk overemphasizing something that doesn’t enhance your candidate profile.

Residency personal statement editing can help eliminate this error. But besides that, before you start writing, have your resume and materials with you, including the supplemental ERAS application . Review them briefly and highlight experiences that you can use to demonstrate your skills as a researcher and scientist. When you’re not sure if there’s an item worth mentioning, ask yourself: “what does this experience say about me? Does it relate to my chosen specialty? Have I already said enough about it in my other documents?”

Having accomplishments is great! However, reserve them for your resume; if you really think they will significantly improve the content and quality of your essay, then you can briefly touch on them. Fixating on your achievements carries a pretentious tone and distracts from the main purpose of the personal statement – to show that you’re a qualified applicant, using relevant clinical experiences, coursework, or research projects to support that claim.

It’s good to stand out among other applicants, but leave the boasting for your referees. Details about your awards, scholarships, and publications are inconsequential for your personal statement because they already exist in other documents. You can mention your research interests and projects that support those interests, but you don’t need to go into detail about what those projects entailed.

Consider these examples, taking note of the tone:

BAD example: “I was the only student in my medical school classes to start an advocacy group for climate action.”

GOOD example: “In my second year of medical school, I was interested in joining a student group for climate change awareness. Finding that there were no active groups, I decided to start my own.”

The residency personal statement is not an opportunity to share your opinions on political or moral issues. This document is a formal essay and should be written in a neutral, objective tone. If you veer off into statements about your political affiliations or why you find certain contentious issues moral/immoral, you’re missing an opportunity to show how your values and interests relate to the school’s. Also, if you happen to state an opinion that conflicts with the school’s mission or the program director’s personal beliefs, it can hurt your chances of being selected for an interview.

Part of knowing how to prepare for residency applications is learning to focus on how your activities prove that your values and goals align with the school’s. Take note of the school’s overall mission and, more specifically, their research mission. Here’s an example from Stanford medical school so you know what to look for:

“To educate and inspire a diverse group of leaders in medicine and science who will improve human health through discovery, innovation, scholarship, education, and the delivery of outstanding patient-centered care.”

Every residency program will have slightly varied goals for its residents. Yale medical school , for instance, has 11 guiding principles for its internal medicine residency program. Review the objectives for the program you’re applying to and think about how you can contribute.

Lack of Focus

A lack of focus is one of the most common residency personal statement mistakes for a few reasons. First, applicants often try to load detail into their personal statements because they (wrongly) assume more is always better. Second, your goal is to show who you are as a physician in training, which is hard to do when your statement lacks consistency and flow. Lastly, some applicants might be tempted to discuss experiences during their undergraduate or from their high school years; however, it’s almost always better to talk about your experiences in medical school. If a program director wants to know more about your background, they will ask in the interview. This is also why it’s important to know how to answer “tell me about yourself” during your residency interview .

Quality over quantity is better. A great way to reduce repetitiveness and a lack of focus is to create an outline to establish a goal for each paragraph. It can also help to list your clerkship, internship, and research experiences to prioritize which ones you think will demonstrate that you’re a strong scientist and that you’re dedicated to your specialty.

Targeting the Wrong Skills

For each specialty, institution, and residency program, there are distinct skills and competencies that you need to show that you possess before becoming a medical resident. Program directors will expect you to have certain abilities as a practicing physician, not only to maintain ethical and professional conduct but to protect patients and other physicians. If you don’t target the specific skills that are essential for your specialty, then the program director will likely pass on you for another more qualified applicant.

First, you need to demonstrate the skills you possess, not state them. Second, you need to know what the program is looking for, which requires research. Some schools will provide details about their expectations for medical residents for specific specialties, so review those before you write.

Program evaluations can also shed some light on what skills you should highlight in your residency personal statement. Program evaluations are what directors use to measure the progress and competencies required of your specialty and clinical practice. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) provides a list of specialties and what milestones will be accounted for. Many of the skills and competencies you will already possess; choose which ones you think are most relevant and attach them to related experiences in your personal statement.

Bad Grammar and Writing Mechanics

Perhaps the most egregious errors committed by applicants in their residency personal statements are grammar mistakes. The adjectives you choose to describe yourself can also have a huge impact on the impression you have on the program director. If your language and structure is too simplistic, you’re communicating that you either aren’t ready for residency, or that you didn’t care enough to construct a compelling document. However, if your language is too abstract and falsely authoritative, you aren’t being succinct and careful enough in regulating your tone.

The best way to avoid a bad habit is to never start it in the first place. It’s okay to refer to a thesaurus in moderation, but it can easily corrupt your documents with words that don’t fit your narrative or personality. Don’t try to impress the reader by using words that aren’t commonly used. Choose verbs and adjectives that best represent your qualities and personality. In terms of grammar, you need to read over your personal statement a few times to make sure you haven’t committed any errors. You can also have someone qualified read it for you; also take advantage of grammar and spell-check features on your word processor, which can catch subtle errors or inconsistencies.

Your residency personal statement is an opportunity to show the residency program director that you’re a qualified and committed candidate, which is why it’s important to avoid mistakes. The ones mentioned above are fairly common – but entirely avoidable – if you employ the right strategies to prevent and resolve them. Focus on clinical experiences to show, rather than tell, the program director that you possess the skills required to succeed as a resident. Give yourself ample time to research the institution, know their research interests, and memorize the mission of the residency you’re applying for; create an outline and make revisions as needed. This will ensure your document is polished and ready for submission.

Program directors certainly care about any grammatical errors, even if they are few and far between. To avoid them, you can ask a qualified professional or colleague to read over your personal statement before you submit. And if you’re wondering “do you need a residency application consultant to write a successful personal statement?” , the answer is that services can benefit your writing and overall application greatly if you decide to use them.

Generally, you can use the same residency personal statement for each application with some minor customization as needed to reflect the variability of programs.

There’s no hierarchy of mistakes for residency personal statements; all individual errors can hurt your chances of getting matched.

Start with an introduction, which should include a meaningful and relevant personal anecdote leading into your thesis statement. Your body paragraphs should address the following points: what motivated you to become a doctor in your chosen specialty; relevant clinical experiences; research interests; and what makes this program the best for you. Your conclusion should be a summary of the above points.

Aim for 750–900 words, or no more than one page on the ERAS application.

You can discuss the most relevant research projects, but try to keep this section brief. Generally, you want to describe the projects, what your role was, and how the experience has prepared you to pursue research in a similar area.

Most of your accomplishments should be on your resume, which means you probably don’t need to talk about them in your personal statement. However, if you still choose to mention one or two, it’s best to use an objective tone and avoid self-praise.

Creating an outline is the best way to avoid structural/consistency errors. That way, you can create bullet points for each paragraph in the development phase and make sure each point leads logically into the next.

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10 Common Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid

With university admissions tutors reading thousands of personal statements every year, here are 10 common mistakes to avoid to give a good impression and do your hard work justice!

Writing your Medicine personal statement can be tricky, especially when you’re applying for medicine. It’s a fine balance between hitting all the points required, but making it unique to your own personality and experiences.

1. “I want to be a doctor because I want to help people”

Opening with this seemingly heroic reason is a very easy trap to fall into. While mentioning your hope to help people and serve the community is completely valid, and should definitely be mentioned at some point in your personal statement, it will be considered a weak opening.

Realistically, many jobs help people: nurses, policeman, fireman – you name it – and this is something your interviewers will eventually challenge you on. Instead, I would recommend starting by mentioning a specific aspect of medicine which you are interested in and linking it to something personal and specific to you.

Read about how to start planning your personal statement

2. “Medicine is great because…”

Many candidates are often tempted to give extremely elaborate, flowery statements praising medicine. However, people reading your personal statements are probably doctors or researchers who have dedicated their life to medicine – they appreciate just how great it is.

Instead, they are much more interested in you as a person and would likely skip over these parts. Therefore with such a strict limit on word count, it is better to avoid these descriptions as they are often too general, and do not give them any idea on your personality and why you, specifically, want to study medicine.

Read 5 tips on writing about motivation for medicine

3. A synopsis of a book

It’s great to mention a book that you’ve read in your personal statement, it shows your inquisitive nature and interest in studying this subject. Unfortunately, many candidates make the mistake of using up a big paragraph purely to describe what the book was about.

This is something you should definitely avoid as university admissions are much more interested in what you’ve gained from the book and your opinions on it.

For example, if it was a fictional novel addressing an ethical issue such as abortion , you could discuss whether the pros and cons of issue were portrayed well, and if you agreed with the character’s choices of action.

If it was a non-fiction book, you could mention which aspects you found most interesting, and how you extended your knowledge by perhaps doing extra research on that particular topic.

Read our 11-step checklist for your personal statement

4. Name dropping famous hospitals and world-class surgeons

Work experience forms an integral part of many personal statements. Some candidates may think that mentioning famous hospitals and doctors leaves a better impression, but this is not true.

People reading your application are frankly not interested in whether you had a placement at an award-winning trauma centre or a district hospital, or whether you shadowed a pioneering heart transplant surgeon or your local GP.

What they value is what you’ve learnt from the experience. Was it the doctor delivering bad news sensitively to a patient that impressed you? Was it the long hours that made you aware of the realities of the profession? Was it the son’s smile of relief after seeing his mother wheeled out from a successful surgery that inspired you?

These are situations that you would be able to witness in any hospital, shadowing any doctor, and are reflections that university admissions are definitely much more interested in.

Read about 3 books to check out to help with your personal statement

5. Misusing buzzwords

You know the ones we mean: empathy , teamwork , leadership , communication skills … Are we suggesting you don’t use this words? Not at all! It’s great that you are showing you know the core requirements needed to be a great doctor. The mistakes are: a) using them without backing them up, or b) not using them at all. We advocate a method called ‘signpost and substantiate’. Use these buzzwords words (signposting you know about them) but ALWAYS back up this use with personal examples (substantiating them).

Read about how to write the perfect personal statement introduction

Personal Statement Review

Get your Personal Statement reviewed by a Medical School Admissions Tutor or a high-flying Medic.

6. Using passive language

Check out the following sentences:

‘Writing an EPQ on stigma associated with HIV presented me with lots of challenges.’
‘I rose to the challenges presented by writing an EPQ on HIV stigma, by seeking out research papers and arranging meetings with experts.’

The second is better, right? That’s purely because it is very active – it’s all about what you did. The first example is passive – things happened to you. Go through your personal statement and ensure everything is active.

Read how to build your personal statement up whilst social distancing

7. Writing really, really long sentences……

…that seem to go on for a very long time and when you get to the end of the sentence it’s actually not very clear because the sentence, it turns out, is actually so long that the person reading it has forgotten the beginning of it by the time they get to the end and then they have to go back and reread it and that’s not great because….

Hopefully this one is self-explanatory! If sentences are getting long and meandering, break them into two, or even three. This will really help improve clarity.

Read our tips on writing about work experience in your personal statement

8. Excessively using medical jargon or technical language

While it is important to demonstrate your understanding of medical concepts and terminology, be cautious not to overwhelm your personal statement with excessive jargon. Remember that the admissions committee may consist of individuals from various backgrounds, including non-medical professionals.

Use clear and concise language to effectively communicate your experiences and motivations without alienating readers who may not be familiar with complex medical terms. Strive for a balance between showcasing your knowledge and ensuring your personal statement remains accessible and engaging.

9. Focusing solely on academic achievements

While academic achievements are important, relying solely on them in your personal statement can be a mistake. Admissions committees are interested in understanding your personal qualities, experiences, and motivations beyond your academic performance.

Avoid simply listing your grades or academic accomplishments without providing context or reflection. Instead, focus on sharing meaningful experiences, such as volunteer work, research projects, or personal challenges, and discuss how these experiences have shaped your desire to pursue medicine. Highlight personal qualities like empathy, resilience, and teamwork that are essential for a successful career in medicine.

10. “Thank you for your consideration.”

Now that the university has read about all your great achievements, leadership qualities, work experience, it is important to end strong. By applying to that particular university, it is clear that you wish to be admitted.

Therefore, while it may seem polite and courteous to end by saying “I hope that I will be admitted to your university”, or “thank you for your consideration”, these sentences are too general and would not do justice to all the impressive aspects of your application you’ve mentioned in your personal statement.

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What to avoid in a medical school personal statement.

Reviewed by:

Rohan Jotwani

Former Chief Resident in Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, & Admissions Officer, Columbia University

Reviewed: 1/30/23

If you’re completing your med school application, and are stuck on your personal statement, read on to learn more about what to avoid in medical school personal statements.

Since medical school personal statements typically have a two-page limit, it can be difficult to figure out what to write in this limited amount of space.

The list of possible topics you could write about in your personal statement is endless. If written well, almost any topic can be unique and reflective of your experiences.

However, there are certain topics and tropes you should stay clear of. This guide will go over bad medical school personal statement examples and tell you exactly what to avoid to ensure you write a stellar personal statement!

Get The Ultimate Guide on Writing an Unforgettable Personal Statement

There are six common types of medical personal statements you should avoid:

The Medical History Buff

Even if you think you have a wealth of medical knowledge that you’d like to show off to impress the admissions committee, writing a personal statement detailing your medical history, or a family member’s, is risky and borders on oversharing.

Remember, you’re writing to a committee of medical professionals who have been in the field for years and have several qualifications. You have a high chance of relaying incorrect or outdated information if you choose to write a technical personal statement.

The Overachiever

There are several ways you may be perceived as an overachiever in your personal statement. One way would be to grossly exaggerate or even make up a story just to make yourself the hero. For instance, saying you saved someone’s life as a pre-med student is bound to raise eyebrows.

Bragging about achievements and putting down your fellow classmates or colleagues is also a surefire way to make the judges think you're pretentious.

Doctors must be able to collaborate well with other healthcare professionals in order to provide the best care to their patients. If your entire personal statement places you on a pedestal, and other pre-med students below you, it’s clear you are not a team player.

The last way to be considered an overachiever is by using flowery language. Your writing should be clear and concise, not poetic. By trying to use vocabulary you are not familiar with, you risk using these words incorrectly, which will reflect poorly on your writing skills.

The Underachiever

While you don’t want to spend your entire personal statement bragging, you also don’t want to completely avoid mentioning significant achievements. You need to still impress the committee through your personal statement, so refrain from portraying yourself as the underdog, the overlooked, or the one that was always in last place.

Medical school is highly competitive, and admission committees are only looking for the best and brightest. If you paint yourself as the opposite, you’ll be hurting your chances of getting accepted into your top choices .

The Repeater

You want to focus on important achievements but don’t want to repeat what’s already on your application. Don’t treat your personal statement like a resume or cover letter.

The committee will already have access to this information, so use this space to tell them something new!

You want the committee to read your personal statement and remember it as they go through other applicants’ statements. If you rely on cliches, the committee will have a hard time remembering your statement.

One common cliche is telling the committee you’ve wanted to pursue medicine for as long as you can remember. While it’s a nice sentiment, it’s overused. Focus less on how long you’ve wanted to become a physician and more on why you chose this career path.

The Careless Writer

Lastly, you want to ensure you proofread your personal statement multiple times before submitting it. If you have typos, punctuation errors, or spelling mistakes, the committee will think you are careless.

Considering how competitive medical school is, committees expect you to bring your A game to your applications. Having avoidable writing errors in your personal statement tells the committee you aren’t as dedicated as other students who took the time to revise their statements.

Medical School Personal Statement Topics To Avoid

Although we’ve covered the general types of personal statements to avoid, you may be wondering which topics are inappropriate to write about. Here are the six topics you should absolutely avoid in your medical school personal statement:

Selective Niches

Students participate in various extracurriculars to diversify their med school applications. Many students play school sports as part of their extracurriculars, and use their favorite sports-related metaphors and sayings in their statements.

There is no guarantee that the entire admissions committee will understand these references. To give yourself the best chance of impressing the committee, ensure you choose a topic that is universally understood.

Early Childhood Memories

A common way students introduce their medical school personal statements is “I knew I wanted to be a doctor when I was three, four, or five years old.” The truth is, almost every child wants to be a doctor at some point! They also want to be astronauts, princesses, and firefighters.

Your childhood career ambitions mean nothing to the admissions committee, and it’s unlikely you even remember much from that age, anyway.

Rather than mentioning that your favorite childhood game was playing “doctor” with your siblings, focus on your motivation to pursue medicine when you were old enough to understand the time and effort it would require.

Incriminating Adversity

Using adversity you faced to prove your resilience and dedication to medicine can be an excellent topic for your personal statement. However, if this adversity involves criminal activity or academic misconduct, it’s best to leave it in the rough drafts.

Highly Personal Information

You want to make your statement personal, but not too personal. Avoid sharing information that you would only tell your therapist or best friend.

Fake Stories

While the majority of students exaggerate their personal statements a little, you shouldn’t make up stories. You’ll likely be asked to elaborate on your personal statement during your interview . One lie will turn into many, which isn’t a good way to start off your medical career.

Low MCAT or GPA Scores

Don’t use your personal statement to provide excuses for low MCAT scores or a low GPA . While you may talk about adversity that created obstacles in your med school journey, excuses will only make you seem like you can’t take accountability for your actions.

FAQs: What To Avoid In a Med School Personal Statement

For any remaining questions about what to avoid in medical school personal statements, read on to find your answers.

1. What Should I Not Write About in a Personal Statement for Medical School?

You should avoid writing about complex medical terminology, focusing solely on your accomplishments, mentioning none of your accomplishments, or sharing highly personal information.

Ensure you also avoid using clichés, false stories, or excuses.

2. Should I Mention Illness in a Personal Statement for Medical School?

You should only mention your own major illnesses if they presented challenges you had to overcome to get to where you are today. However, you should be very cautious and ensure you don’t make any medical mistakes, overshare, evoke pity, or make excuses.

3. What Is an Example of a Bad Medical School Statement?

Common medical school personal statement mistakes include statements that use selective metaphors and sayings, overshare, rely on clichés, or use complex and misused vocabulary.

Statements that share incriminating information, that are obviously false, that play the underdog card, or make excuses should also be avoided.

Final Thoughts

By knowing what to avoid in your medical school personal statement, writing one should be less intimidating.

Remember, your personal statement gives the committee direct insight into who you are and what you value. If you read your personal statement, and it doesn’t capture your essence, it may be time to go back to the drawing board or reach out to our admissions experts who know exactly how to write a winning personal statement!

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5 Common Personal Statement Mistakes You Should Avoid

A personal statement is an essay that helps you tell the admission committee why do you want to be a doctor or an engineer; your inspirations and motivation; and your life experiences. So, to convey a strong enough message is crucial. Therefore, avoiding personal statement mistakes is important too.

Because the admission committee generally has to review hundreds or maybe thousands of applications. So there is a great chance that they may not continue reading your personal statement if they come across an error in the first paragraph; whatever mistake it maybe.

5 Common Personal Statement Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Hence, to make sure that your message reaches the admission committee, you should learn about some of the most prominent yet common mistakes and try to avoid them.

But before we begin, you be also interested in How to Write a Personal Statement for College or University .

1. Waiting too Long to Write it

Yes, you heard it correctly. Too often, we procrastinate in the hope that we may start when we have the perfect situation to write a powerful personal statement. However, there is no perfect situation to start writing.

With that being said, we recommend that you should not wait for things like MCAT or letters of recommendation or anything else. Though all those are highly important, there really does not remain enough time for students to write a powerful personal statement once they are done with everything else.

So, start writing as soon as possible. Write a draft and write again and keep writing again until you are sure your personal statement is convincing and powerful enough.

2. Editing in Your Only

Besides starting late, most of us tend to edit their drafts in their head. This is one of the most common personal statement mistakes. This makes the student even more anxious.

Therefore, the metaphor “write drunk and edit sober” goes very well here. This means that you should write without worrying about what and how you are writing. So, your first priority, for now, should be to only get the draft done.

Hence, write whatever comes to your head. Once you are done writing, take your time, then edit, edit and edit until you have crafted a strong personal statement.

3. Failing to Express Your Motivations and Desire to be What you Want to be

The third most common personal statement mistake is failing to express yourself, motivations and desire to be the doctor or engineer you want. Since the admission committee wants to see how passionate you are and what are your motivations, this is the fundamental thing you need to really care about.

Because let’s suppose even if they read your entire personal statement and you couldn’t get your message out to them, there is no use of that.

To overcome this personal statement mistake, once you have written it, ask somebody to read and tell you whether or not they completely understand what you are trying to convey. You can learn about that by asking them questions from your personal statement.

If they couldn’t answer, trying editing your personal statement a couple of times more to make sure everything is clear. Moreover, repeat this to several people to make sure everything is crystal clear.

4. Mentioning All Your Dirty Laundry Only

Of course, your personal statement needs both your red and green flags. However, you should not waste it only on your red flags. Because you need to build it with your strengths, inspirations, and motivations. Otherwise, you are only making excuses.

So, you should briefly mention them and let the interviewer ask questions during the interview.

5. Failing to be Specific

In personal statements, students tend to use “I” way too many times. They overuse sentences like: “I am passionate about…, I am a quick learner…, I am very hard working…” and more.

To overcome this personal statement mistake, you should instead show. Do not tell what you can or can not do. Instead, share your stories that may perfectly illustrate what you are trying to tell them.

And here goes the bonus!

6. Grammar and Spelling Mistakes

Lastly, there is one more worth mentioning personal statement mistakes. Grammar and Spelling mistakes are more annoying than you may consider.

To avoid this personal statement mistake, you can use online grammar and punctuation checkers such as Grammarly or ProWritingAid . Else you can ask a professional editor to help you edit your personal statement.

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Applying to Oxbridge: writing a personal statement

Writing an Oxbridge-quality personal statement can be challenging. Our comprehensive guide will help your students write a statement that stands out

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What is an Oxbridge personal statement?

A Ucas personal statement is a written statement (up to 4,000 characters) in which an applicant showcases their accomplishments, abilities, interests and goals to strengthen their application for higher education.

Every university in the UK requires a personal statement, including the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Although Oxbridge statements are functionally the same as any other, the quality of writing expected from applicants is much higher. This reflects how competitive and prestigious these two universities are, with more than 40,000 applications between them each year.

The quality of the personal statement becomes even more important for applicants outside the UK, because international students typically receive only 25 per cent of offers made by Oxford and Cambridge.

Personal statements must be written in English and are expected to reach a high standard of content quality and grammatical correctness. So the prospect of each student’s Oxbridge application will be dependent to some extent on how well they can plan, draft and edit their personal statement.

The deadline for the personal statement – along with the rest of the Ucas application – is usually 16 October for Oxbridge applicants, which is more than three months earlier than the applications for the rest of the universities in the UK.

How is an Oxbridge personal statement used?

Unlike most universities in the UK, which rely on the Ucas application form and supporting materials to decide whether or not to offer a place, Oxford and Cambridge require applicants to complete extra steps before offers are made.

After the standard Ucas application, most applicants will need to complete a subject-specific admissions test, which is followed by an interview, should they be invited.

The personal statement is initially used during this shortlisting process, alongside the applicant’s predicted grades, admissions-test score and other supporting materials. It will also be considered in the final decision-making process, although the applicant’s interview performance will provide a greater insight into their personality and motivation for study.

What are Oxford and Cambridge looking for?

Oxbridge admissions tutors are interested in students’ grades, experiences and attitude. It's important to study the universities' specific guidelines rather than making assumptions about what an ideal candidate would look like.

Some of the key qualities that the universities look for include:

1. Academic ability and potential

Oxbridge seeks academically thriving applicants, judged first and foremost by their grades and school performance. Oxbridge applicants should already achieve or be expected to achieve the necessary grade criteria for their courses.

2. Critical and independent thought

Oxbridge seeks exceptionally intelligent applicants who possess critical-thinking skills. The ability to think logically in academic and everyday situations is important, because initiative and independent work are essential for the teaching style and work ethic promoted at Oxford and Cambridge.

3. Suitability and enthusiasm for the course

Each applicant must have a genuine passion for their subject, showcasing expanded interest and a desire to learn. Essential traits include motivation, self-discipline, commitment and a drive for personal growth.

Drafting a personal statement for Oxbridge

After writing the foundation of their personal statement, encompassing their personal story, academic achievements, subject-related experience, extracurricular activities and additional details, an applicant needs to assess whether their statement is likely to capture the interest of Oxford and Cambridge admissions tutors.

In all likelihood, the initial draft will fall short – only a small number of applicants manage to get their statement right on the first attempt. So how can they improve it?

1. Relevance

An Oxbridge hopeful needs to connect everything they discuss to their application. Relevance to the chosen course is essential. A detailed explanation of one highly relevant example holds more value than a list of several irrelevant activities. An applicant should reflect on their experience, highlighting their personal growth and explain why it makes them a stronger Oxbridge applicant.

2. Efficiency

Oxbridge admissions are fiercely competitive, so a sentence should be as efficient as possible in highlighting the applicant’s strongest attributes.

3. Wider reading

Oxford and Cambridge value applicants who take charge of their research and education. Your students should discuss any relevant wider reading and enrichment activities they have taken part in, including research projects, extensive reading, academic competitions and more.

4. Adding value

Oxbridge admissions tutors want a mutually enriching relationship with their students. Applicants should therefore highlight their value to the university, including volunteer experience, extracurricular activities and desirable skills or traits. While not core elements to a statement, these additions will have a significant impact.

Each personal statement will be different. You and the students’ teachers should provide advice based on what you know about them. Help them play to their strengths and highlight what makes them unique.

Common personal statement mistakes

A perfect personal statement is impossible to achieve, but sometimes your students will make simple mistakes that can have consequences for their applications. These are usually easy to avoid, so here are some of the most common mistakes you can watch out for:

1. Pandering to tutors

Applicants often misunderstand what admissions tutors want to see, and might attempt to impress them in misguided ways. Some will overload their personal statements with numerous achievements, assuming that tutors expect a long list. Others will embellish details to sound impressive. However, admissions tutors easily recognise these tactics, having reviewed countless personal statements during their careers.

We already know that tutors are actually looking for academic ability, independent thinking, genuine interest and good character, so these are the traits that you should encourage your students to showcase in their writing.

2. Lying and exaggerating

Students will often think that one small lie will go unnoticed or that they won’t be questioned on the specific details of what they have mentioned. However, as soon as a student is caught out for including false information in their statement, their whole application will be in danger.

When reviewing statements, it’s important for counsellors to question students if something seems untrue – but without making accusations. Mock interviews are also a great opportunity to identify any potential misrepresentation in the work.

3. Bad spelling or grammar

It is important to be vigilant when reviewing students’ statements, especially as English might not be your students’ first language. Encourage them to find mistakes themselves before pointing them out.

Additional tips

1. offer detailed feedback .

It is hugely beneficial to the student to receive detailed feedback with actionable advice. Going line by line through their personal statement, you can point out specific areas, both large and small, that could be improved to enhance its overall quality.

2. Provide exemplars

It is strongly recommended that you build a collection of successful Oxbridge personal statements for your students to use as inspiration (but not to copy). These can come from previous applicants or from other sources, such as the successful personal statement collection curated by UniAdmissions.

3. Use spell and grammar checks

Various pieces of advanced spellchecking and grammar-checking software are available, which will help your students review their work easily and accurately. You should encourage your class to make use of these, but to be careful that they only provide guidance rather then writing the whole statement.

4. Look out for AI-written statements

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly useful writing tool. However, it is not a suitable option for writing a personal statement because it cannot offer the personal insights and reflections that are required in a good statement.

5. Use available resources

Various resources are available to support students through their applications. For example, UniAdmissions offers students a comprehensive collection of resources and support methods that can triple an average student’s chance of receiving an offer. Look into the options available to your students.

Upcoming changes to Ucas personal statements

Because of concerns that the existing personal-statement format unfairly advantages certain students, Ucas will be changing its requirements in 2024 (for 2025 university entry in the UK).

The current format sees each student writing a single, free-form document for submission. The new system will instead be based on a series of six questions, which will cover all the general topics that would be discussed in a standard personal statement. This change will affect all applicants to UK universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

The quality of content required for Oxbridge personal statements will not be changing, but applicants will need to adapt to a new, more limited way of writing. Full details about these changes, including the new questions and the reasoning behind the changes, can be found on the Ucas website .

Avoiding Common Mistakes in Personal Statement Writing

A well-crafted personal statement is a critical component of many application processes, serving as a prominent platform for applicants to present their unique qualifications and motivations. In a manner reminiscent of the attention to detail found in MLA referencing , this pivotal document should demonstrate not only an individual’s academic aptitude but also their personal growth, aspirations, and distinctive experiences. The significance of avoiding common mistakes in personal statement writing cannot be overstated, as it often influences the outcome of admission decisions across a spectrum of academic and professional institutions. This article explores the pitfalls that applicants frequently encounter, offering guidance on how to sidestep these errors and create personal statements that leave a lasting, positive impression on selection committees.

Focusing on Generic Content

The imperative nature of steering clear from clichés and overused phrases in personal statements cannot be overstated. Applicants often fall into the trap of using generic language and expressions, inadvertently making their statements indistinguishable from countless others. Personal statements that stand out are characterized by fresh, original ideas and narratives that captivate the reader’s attention.

Personal statements should serve as a canvas for applicants to paint a vivid portrait of their unique experiences, aspirations, and personal growth. When crafting these documents, it is essential to demonstrate how these experiences have shaped one’s academic and career ambitions . Failure to do so can result in a lackluster personal statement that fails to capture the attention and imagination of admissions committees.

Admissions officers are on the lookout for candidates with distinct qualities, experiences, and motivations. Personal statements filled with generic content may hinder one’s chances of being selected. Hence, applicants are advised to avoid the pitfalls of relying on clichés and generalizations, focusing instead on expressing their genuine passions, interests, and unique journeys. In doing so, they can maximize their chances of making a memorable impression on selection committees, akin to the approach one might take in a well-crafted college paper, but personalized to reflect one’s individuality.

Neglecting Proofreading and Editing

Overlooking the process of proofreading and editing can have adverse consequences. It may convey to the admissions committee that you have not paid attention to the finer details, reflecting negatively on your overall application. To maintain a professional and polished image, careful proofreading is a must.

A well-edited personal statement is not only free from errors but also showcases your commitment to excellence and precision. Demonstrating your dedication to presenting the best version of your personal statement can positively influence the admission committee’s perception of your candidacy. If you’re seeking professional assistance, considering the use of college paper writing services can be valuable in enhancing the quality of your personal statement.

Overloading with Unnecessary Details

One common mistake in personal statement writing is the inclusion of irrelevant or excessive information that can dilute the overall impact of your statement. Including unnecessary details can make it challenging for admissions committee members to discern your core qualifications and motivations amid the noise of superfluous content.

To counteract this issue, it is advisable to be concise and selective when deciding which details to include in your personal statement. Focusing on key qualifications and experiences can enhance the clarity and impact of your statement. A well-crafted personal statement should be engaging, capturing the reader’s attention by emphasizing your strengths without unnecessary distractions.

Resisting the temptation to include an abundance of information that does not directly contribute to your personal statement allows you to construct a more compelling narrative. By prioritizing the most relevant and impactful aspects of your background and aspirations, you can create a personal statement that resonates with the admissions committee and leaves a lasting impression.

Lacking a Clear Structure and Flow

The absence of a clear structure and logical flow in a personal statement can hinder its effectiveness in communicating your qualifications and motivations. To avoid this common mistake, consider the following guidelines:

Organize your personal statement with a coherent structure that divides it into sections or paragraphs, each serving a distinct purpose in presenting your qualifications and experiences.
Use transition sentences or phrases to guide readers smoothly through your personal statement, ensuring a logical and engaging narrative.
Review your personal statement for clarity and logical sequence, making sure that related information is grouped together, thus improving the overall readability and cohesiveness.

By incorporating these elements into your personal statement, you can present your qualifications and experiences systematically, making it easier for admissions committee members to follow your narrative and recognize your unique strengths and motivations.

In conclusion, crafting a compelling personal statement is a crucial step in the application process and your study plan , and avoiding common mistakes can significantly enhance your chances of leaving a positive impression on admissions committees. By focusing on original, individual content, meticulous proofreading, conciseness, and maintaining a clear structure and flow, you can create a personal statement that effectively showcases your unique qualifications and motivations. The careful avoidance of these pitfalls ensures that your personal statement stands out for all the right reasons, increasing your prospects in the competitive world of college and job applications. Remember, the personal statement is your opportunity to shine, so approach it with precision and care to present the best version of yourself to the decision-makers.

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Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS: The 10 Big Mistakes Students Should Avoid

Thea Pillay

Writing a UCAS Personal Statement for a subject that isn’t the right fit
Spelling & grammar mistakes
Avoid pointless cliches
Endlessly listing extracurriculars
Over-using quotes or taking them out of context
Telling the reader something they already know
Ignoring word limits
Unnecessary origin stories
Making things up
Controversy

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Writing a UCAS Personal Statement requires a student to convey a lot of information in a short space of time. Mistakes are easy to make. Read our run down of the most common ones and how to avoid them

Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS is, in many ways, like asking a student to tell the story of their life in 4,000 characters or less.

And if that sounds hard, it’s because it is.

The UCAS Personal Statement is the cornerstone of a UK university application . Students need to write a genuine, authoritative and compelling account of who they are and what they want from a UK university degree. They need to quickly grab the attention of the university admissions officer reading their Personal Statement, and they need to make sure they stand out from the hundreds of other applications that will be crossing that admission officer’s desk.

In order to do this, the Personal Statement will require a student to master form, structure and content in such a way that makes their writing stand out.

Understandably, students might feel an inordinate amount of pressure to get their Personal Statement right first time.

Indeed, more often than not, it’s not a case of students being lazy when writing their UCAS Personal Statements. The problem is often that students will have a lot to say and will have put a lot of thought into their Statement, but may make some simple stylistic mistakes that could cost them when they finally submit their application.

But if these mistakes are easy to make, they’re also easy to avoid.

So we’re going to take you through the 10 most common (and potentially costly) mistakes that a student might make in their UCAS Personal Statement, and give you some tips on how to help your students avoid them.

Bonus Resource – To help your students avoid any major mistakes before they begin, our Personal Statement worksheet helps them to plan and write a truly compelling account of themselves. Click here to download

1. Writing a UCAS Personal Statement for a subject that isn’t the right fit

If students have done their research carefully and considerately, then this shouldn’t be a problem. Ideally, in the year leading up to the submission of the Personal Statement, your students will have shortlisted their university and course preferences to the point where they’re applying for a subject area they’re truly passionate about.

But this first, major mistake is the natural conclusion of a student being pressured into a subject or career path by family, parents or even school peers. Hopefully this won’t happen – but if a student is writing their UCAS Personal Statement for a subject they’re not truly passionate about, then this should set off alarm bells. It will ultimately affect the quality of the Personal Statement.

And, most importantly, admissions staff will easily spot a Personal Statement where the student’s heart isn’t in it.

Top tip: We at BridgeU are big fans of students finding their best-fit universities and courses (after all, it’s why we built our platform!). Students need to put a lot of time into making sure the UK course they are applying for is right for them. Starting a Personal Statement without having thoroughly researched university and course options is one of the most fundamental mistakes a student could make.

2. Spelling & Grammar Mistakes

This may seem like a rather obvious mistake, and one your students hopefully shouldn’t be making.

But the tight time frames associated with a UCAS Personal Statement will make spelling and grammar mistakes more likely, especially if your students aren’t taking the time to proof-read their personal statement before submitting it.

Spelling and grammar mistakes can really count against students, and can make their writing appear sloppy or poorly thought through. It’s an especially bad look if your students are applying for humanities or social sciences courses, or indeed any degree that requires a lot of extended writing!

Top tip: Encourage your students to print out their Personal Statement. Whilst we know that a lot of students do more things digitally these days (and BridgeU is an online platform after all!), reading a UCAS Personal Statement back as a living, printed document can really help students hone their eye for detail!

3. Avoid exuberant language and pointless cliches

“My love of Physics began when I used to look up at the night sky as a child, and found it simultaneously breath-taking and awe-inspiring.”

“I’ve been passionate about the works of William Shakespeare since seeing my first production on stage. I’m fascinated by how Shakespeare remains relevant for today.”

Can you see what’s wrong with these two examples?

Whilst they are very positive and well-worded statements about why a student might want to study astrophysics, or Shakespearian literature, both these Personal Statement examples tip very quickly into cliche and generalisation.

We’re not suggesting you shouldn’t encourage your students to use positive language when writing a UCAS Personal Statement, but this positive language needs to be backed up with clear, specific examples and rigorous analysis.

Remember – the key to an excellent Personal Statement is showing, not telling.

So why is Shakespeare still relevant to today? What specific examples could a student writing about a 16th century author use to demonstrate their relevance to the 21st century?

Likewise, proclaiming a love for the wonders of the night sky is all well and good, but why did it make our example student want to study Physics?

Top tip: Encourage students to set a limit on the number of adjectives or descriptive phrases they use in their writing. It’s important to remember a Personal Statement has to accomplish a lot in a relatively short number of words. If students over-use words like ‘passionate’, ‘breathtaking’ and ‘awe-inspiring’ they’re just going to end up repeating themselves.

4. Endlessly listing extracurricular activities

Extracurricular activities are a vital part of any Personal Statement. If used in the right way, they can help a student to stand out, and seem like a more well-rounded person. Extracurriculars can also help to showcase valuable soft skills that universities value in their students.

But there’s no point using extracurriculars like a grocery list. Students endlessly describing their extracurriculars will mean nothing if they don’t link them back to the overall narrative of the Personal Statement.

Again, it’s about showing, not telling. Saying ‘I have captained my school football team for three years’ means nothing if the writer doesn’t explain this activity within the context of the Personal Statement.

Top tip: When planning their Personal Statement, students need to think about the extracurricular activities that can demonstrate soft skills. What did they learn from doing this particular extracurricular activity? Do they think it will set them apart in their overall application? If the answer is no, then it’s best not putting it in.

5. Over-using quotes or taking them out of context

Remember what we said about exuberant language and cliches?

It’s the same with the use of quotes.

Quotes can be a powerful tool to back up any argument, be it in a UCAS Personal Statement or any other kind of essay.

But quotes used clumsily can often have the opposite effect, and make the writer of a Personal Statement seem pretentious or just quoting for the sake of it.

Many students may feel tempted to open their Personal Statement with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, or Martin Luther King. A student who is submitting an application for psychology may feel it necessary to begin their Personal Statement with a quote from Sigmund Freud.

The trouble is that many UK university admissions tutors have probably seen the same quotes again and again. Again, if quotes aren’t used in context, or don’t serve the overall narrative of the Personal Statement, then it may be worth not putting them in.

It’s also important to remember that universities want to hear from the student, not Sigmund Freud! If in doubt, a student writing a Personal Statement should use their own thoughts and insights, not someone else’s.

Top tip: Encourage students to use less well-known quotes in their Personal Statement. Quotes from less well-known, specialist thinkers within a subject discipline are more likely to show that a student is widely read and has a deep and rich knowledge of the subject they’re applying for.

6. Telling the reader something they already know

Demonstrating subject knowledge and background reading is vital for a UCAS Personal Statement. But this must fit in with the student’s overall story of why they want to study that particular degree.

What students shouldn’t do is explain academic or scientific theories at length, or regurgitate existing arguments that have already been made by other writers in their chosen field of study.

Students writing a UCAS Personal Statement need to operate from the assumption that the person reading it is probably an expert in their field. It’s only worth students talking about their wider reading, or their take on another piece of academic writing, if they can demonstrate its relevance to them.

Top tip: Students should avoid going into depth about other academic or scientific theories unless they have a bearing on the student’s own worldview, and can tell the reader something about why they want to study for that particular course.

Video: Tips from UCAS on starting a Personal Statement

7. not paying attention to word/character limits .

It’s pretty hard to literally ignore the word/character limit for the UCAS Personal Statement, as there will come a point where students will simply run out of space.

But some students can fail to pay attention to word/character limits to the extent that they don’t plan the form and structure of their UCAS Personal Statement properly.

Planning the overall structure and flow of the Personal Statement before writing it is absolutely essential if students are to make the most of the space that UCAS allocates. Half finished thoughts and hastily written conclusions will do more harm than good when someone reads the Personal Statement.

Top tip: Run one class/workshop with students where they brainstorm and plan the overall structure of their UCAS Personal Statement. Break the components of a good personal statement down into chunks, and get students thinking about the optimal structure for making their Personal Statements as good as they can be!

8. Unnecessary origin stories

Everyone loves an origin story (why else would film studios keep remaking Spiderman?). But origin stories in UCAS Personal Statements can sometimes be a waste of time (this is in sharp contrast to an application like the Common App in the USA), where they love to hear a student’s origin story)

Remember our physics student from Tip no.3 who loved to gaze at the night sky? Childhood anecdotes are great, and can certainly add character to a student’s application. But they’re not always necessary to showcase a student’s devotion to their chosen subject.

In fact, it’s fair to say that admissions tutors at UK universities are more interested in an applicant’s more recent contributions or achievements in their chosen field of study than snippets of their biography.

Yet it remains the case that students sometimes feel the need to profess their lifelong devotion to a subject they’re hoping to study at university. It’s really not necessary.

In fact UCAS themselves once published a list of the most commonly used opening lines in a Personal Statement . Three of the most frequent openings were

“I have always been interested in…” (used 927 times)

“For as long as I can remember I have…” (used 1,451 times)

“From a young age I have always been interested in/fascinated by…” (used 1,779 times)

Not only does drawing on childhood memories risk losing sight of more relevant information, it’s also something that lots of universities have seen before.

9. Making things up

We hope that none of your students would ever lie in their Personal Statement. But if someone feels the pressure to stand out from the crowd and really impress a university, then it could happen.

Even small, believable exaggerations could come back to haunt a student if they were hypothetically invited to an interview further down the road. It could be as small as pretending to have read a particular book, or quoting/discussing a piece of research in their chosen subject field and not having fully engaged with it.

Top tip: When it comes to putting anything untruthful in a Personal Statement, we can only offer you one piece of advice to give to your students.

Don’t do it! It’s not worth it, students will probably get found out and there’s likely plenty of achievements and skills that students can talk about in their Personal Statement. They just need to think long and hard about what it is!

10. Being controversial or contrarian for the sake of it

Being controversial or argumentative can seem like a good way to sit up and get the reader’s attention – but it’s not worth a student doing it unless they’ve really got the evidence and the argument to back it up.

For example, arguing against a famous essay or piece of research in a student’s chosen subject might seem like a good way to score some brownie points. But why does a student take issue with this particular piece of research? And is it really wise to try and tackle it in the space of a 4,000 character Personal Statement.

Top tip: Students should definitely be independent and analytical when discussing their degree subject in their Personal Statement – after all, it’s the most surefire way to stand out. But taking a contrarian position, or trying to make an explosive new contribution to academic discourse in the course of one Personal Statement probably isn’t a good idea.

Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS – final tips to avoid mistakes

What do these mistakes all have in common?

The answer is they are the natural consequence of students forgetting some of the core principles of UCAS Personal Statement writing.

Students need to ensure their Personal Statements are well-structured and well-planned – so as to avoid spelling mistakes and/or falling foul of the character limit.
Students need to keep their Personal Statements as unique to them as possible – this means staying truthful to their own ambitions and worldview, and avoiding generalisations or cliches.
A good Personal Statement needs to be rooted in strong analysis and writing that makes good use of evidence and specific examples to back up an argument.
A standout Personal Statement needs to be compelling account of a student’s suitability for a course with a good story at the heart of it – it needs to show, not tell.

Our Personal Statement template is a great resource if you want to help your students plan and write a truly individual Personal Statement, and avoid some of the mistakes we’ve listed here. Download it below!

Bonus Resource!

How to write a Personal Statement Worksheet & Template

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30 of the Worst Personal Statement Topics We’ve Ever Seen

InGenius Prep

September 7, 2017

Writing a strong personal statement is no easy undertaking. With endless potential personal statement topics , where do you begin? In 650 words, you must create a compelling essay that captures who you are as a person. Oh, and it would be great if it was the best piece of writing you have ever produced!

No pressure, but without a powerful and persuasive personal statement, you will not stand out, and you will not be accepted by your dream school.

Often, students don't know how to approach the personal statement. In English class, the 5-paragraph essay is practiced year after year, but personal writing is a different challenge. How do you get an admissions officer to connect with you in just over a page?

This all starts with selecting a strong topic. Much of the success of your personal statement hinges on this first step. But it's often where students go astray. There are common mistakes to avoid when picking personal statement topics , but there are still many places to get tripped up.

At InGenius Prep, we've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. But we work with students to avoid bad topics, one personal statement at a time! To really understand what NOT to do, here are 30 of the worst personal statement topics we have ever seen.

Is this actually adversity?

1. “I was really scared about giving a big speech (and then I gave the speech!)”

Though one of the personal statement prompts asks you about struggles you have encountered in the past, writing about something you were initially afraid to do is one of the most c liché personal statement topics . Overall, this is a pretty common feat. The “overcoming adversity” narrative is typical, so be sure to ask yourself: “Is it actually impressive that I did that?” A topic like this simply will not stand out, and should be avoided.

2. “I made it through trials and tribulations on the links (so I’ve grown as a person!)”

An entire essay about persevering through a particularly windy day out on the golf course won’t impress others. First off, this “struggle” showcases the applicant’s privilege. An admissions officer will not see the difficulty in having access to a golf course. This essay concluded with a reflection on how much the student had grown up, as evidenced by their willingness to continue playing golf, rather than quit and leave. The central flaw was that this was painted as "overcoming a challenge" rather than being about building up a skill set over time. Don’t try to come up with personal statement topics about adversity — if you’re passionate about golf, frame your personal statement differently.

Whose story is this anyway?

3. “my teacher got really sick and i held a bake sale (and it was so hard for me)”.

Writing about someone else’s heartache, illness, or tragedy is almost always a mistake. If the suffering belongs to someone else, it is their story — not yours. The same goes for family crises that happened when you were too young to remember or to have responded in a significant way. Write about yourself. Personal statement topics do not have to be dramatic or tragic; it’s more important that you own your topic.

4. “My friends had to move away because their parents lost their jobs (and it was so hard for me!)”

You never want to sound as though you are claiming another’s adversity as your own. You do not have to write about hardship if you have not experienced something incredibly life changing. Write about something that actually happened to you!

5. “My mother’s cousin is a famous actress (and I know her!)”

After reading an essay like this, an admissions office might want to admit your mother’s cousin, not you! It’s cool to know famous people, but it doesn’t have any significance for your application. Knowing a star is not impressive. In your application, you have to be the star.

6. “My parents are diverse (so I’m diverse!)”

This essay emphasized the diverse background of her parents, but the student grew up in a wealthy U.S. household. This demonstrated how out-of-touch the student was with the types of experiences her parents had over-coming challenges to access education. She didn’t think about diversity in her own lifetime, but tried to argue for her uniqueness because of her family’s background. Your personal statement needs to be about YOU, not your parents.

7. “Everyone at my high school is mean and stupid (but I am better than all of them!)”

Degrading others is off limits — an arrogant tone will instantly rub an admissions officer the wrong way. Not only does this topic put fellow classmates down, but this essay falls into the common trap of writing about others, not YOU. At the end of the day, details about your peers are irrelevant to an admissions officer. The main message of your personal statement should always be about you.

Personal statement topics should be personal!

8. “I have won a lot of debate awards (let me list them for you!)”

Listing your awards is fine — in other parts of the Common Application . These can go in your honors list and in your activities list. The personal statement is where admissions officers want to get to know you as a person. When you tell admissions officers about your experiences, they want to see through your eyes. They want to understand what you were feeling and what you did in response. Use your personal statement to reflect on who you are, not to regurgitate your resume.

9. “Here’s a historical event I’m really interested in and have researched throughout high school!”

This is your chance to show who you are! Don’t spend time talking about a topic you like and describing it in detail. That’s application space other students will have used to demonstrate their talents, achievements, maturity, and interesting ideas. If you’re really passionate about a historical event, talk about how your research has changed your worldview.

10. “I came to the U.S. and saw the value of freedom of speech (wish my mother country had that!)”

It’s great that you’re enjoying the freedom America offers, but your American admissions officers don’t need to be told how great America is. You should strive to pick a more personal topic. In the end, this more of a policy statement than a personal essay.

Hear a Yale writing expert talk about prompts like these and other common personal statement mistakes here:

Privileged Pity Party

11. “While on vacation, I broke my leg waterskiing (and lived to tell the tale!)”

Just think about this scenario. If you were on a tropical vacation and broke your leg waterskiing behind a boat (which your family probably rented), then you must’ve spent a lot of money. Traveling for vacation is something that a lot of students have never experienced. Overcoming a leg break is not overcoming a challenge, especially if the leg was broken while on vacation. Really compare yourself to your peers and ask yourself: “Is this considered a real challenge?” In the end, this story reeks of privilege.

12. “I was surrounded by poverty in Africa (but lived in a gated community!)”

Overall, this makes the student look privileged and sheltered. Talking about how you have avoided poverty because you have money will be seen as extremely spoiled by admissions officers. Instead, talk about how the place you grew up changed your opinions or views of the world. Colleges want to take students from all different backgrounds, but looking pampered will ruin your chances of admission.

Be likable, admirable, humble

13. “i started a food fight and got suspended (but i learned such a valuable lesson)”.

Even though this essay topic is funny and memorable, it shows the student in the wrong light. In the end, it doesn’t give us any new positive impressions of their persona. On the other hand, as an additional informational essay explaining why the student has a suspension on their record, it could have been a decent approach!

14. “Accept me because you need some not exceptional students too (!)”

Promoting your shortcomings is not playing with the best odds. If your grades or test scores are below average, use other parts of the application to highlight your strengths. Showcase your dynamic personality, leadership, and impact on your community. In order to be compelling, you need a personal statement that sheds light on your assets.

15. “I’ll teach my roommates combat (and force them to adapt to my ways!)”

A student answered Yale’s “what will you teach your suitemates” question by saying that he would teach them the art of close-quarter combat, “force” them to adapt to foreign cuisine and language, and engage in regular bouts of unscheduled airsoft weaponry games. Unlike this student, you want to come off as positive and very, very stable. You never want an admissions officer to worry about you.

16. “Blood-soaked. 3am.”

That was the first line of one personal statement. And while the writer definitely grabbed the reader’s attention, this ended up being an essay about how much time this student spent playing video games. This is not a great attribute to highlight in a personal statement. Be sure your topic is a flattering one, and that your hook makes sense with the topic to follow.

Middle School Agony

17. “i was a great soccer player until 8th grade (then i got injured)”.

The injured athlete story is very hard to pull off. Sadly, it is too common. It doesn’t stack up well against students who have overcome shocking hardships. You also don’t want to talk about your middle school trials and tribulations. Tell us what is great about you now, not what might have been!

18. “I chose the wrong middle school in 5th grade (and I’m still thinking about it!)”

Bottom line: you should not be writing about your middle school self! Admissions officers want to hear about who you are now, not five years ago. Focusing on the pre-teen era makes it seem as though nothing of interest has happened to you since! If you gesture to middle school because a sustained interest started then, or you met the President and it had a profound impact on your life path, okay. But the general rule of thumb: do not write about middle school.

Controversial Concepts

19. “China is the best country in the world for the following reasons!”

Or any other country. It’s always best to stay away from things that are controversial like nationalism, politics, or religion. Nationalism showing through an essay can make a student seem like less of a global citizen (which is what schools would really want). You never know who is reading your application, and what opinions they have on these ideas. Steer clear of disputed personal statement topics !

20. “I was shocked that most of my classmates weren't phased by the prospect of accidentally breaking their hymen by using a tampon!”

While this essay dove deep into cultural differences between the East and West, mainly regarding feminine hygiene products, its graphic nature was a little too graphic. Toning down the details would allow the reader to focus on the student’s passion for different cultures, values, and practices, rather than be distracted or uncomfortable. Don’t rub an admissions reader the wrong way with gory specifics!

21. “I helped children with autism for three weeks (and realized that they are human just like me!)”

Overall, this takeaway makes the student seem immature and ignorant. While it’s always good to give back to your community and volunteer, students should dig deeper for a more meaningful takeaway. What did that experience make you think about volunteerism in general? How would you continue to make more long-lasting changes? You do not want it to appear that you previously looked down upon people with Autism.

22.“Volunteering in Haiti made me wonder why didn’t they help each other more?”

This is was in a personal statement to Stanford, and the admissions reader happened to be Haitian. As you can imagine, this came across as incredibly ignorant and offensive. Moral of the story: You never know who your audience is! Think about personal statement topics that would appeal to anyone.

Immature Ideas

23. “i had a temper tantrum (that ultimately led to my parents’ divorce)”.

A student wrote his personal statement about how he refused to leave his current school, and thus when his father took a new job in a city four hours away, his parents had to separate, which ultimately led to their divorce. Nothing says “I can't handle four years away from home” like a temper tantrum that ultimately culminates in your parents’ divorce. Avoid all topics that could make you look immature!

24. “I want to attend your school because my parents have agreed to move across the country to be with me!”

It’s fine to show how important your family is to you, but not at the cost of your development into an independent young adult. At the end of the day, this personal statement comes across as immature. Explain that you want to go to an institution because of your intellectual interests and passions, not because of mom and dad.

Artsy Attempts

25. “I spliced lyrics of Billboard Top 40 songs (into motivational lessons!)”

This original essay draft read like a cross between a poorly written motivational speech and the lyrics of 4-5 then-current Billboard Top 40 songs in the Pop category. Not only were these songs corny and overplayed, but writing to an Ivy League school about how your life is as profound as a Top 40 Pop song’s chorus will almost never land you in the acceptance pile. When you’re an 18-year-old waxing lyrical about how Disney’s Frozen theme song changed your life (and not in the way that a writer for The Onion might), you need to rethink your admissions strategy.

26. “Don’t give up, just be you, ‘cause life is too short to be anybody else."

Whenever possible, avoid starting with a quote or a corny life lesson — especially a cheesy one like this. Opening with a quote will immediately strike an admissions officer as cliché. A quote that wasn’t written by you is not worth including - an admissions officer wants to read your own words!

27. “I am a defender of truth. Let me show you deep thoughts (that you have never thought of!)”

Remember that the people evaluating your personal statement are much older than you are! Professing profundity is likely to make you seem immature instead of wise. This attempt to be profound comes across as arrogant.

28. “Let me tell you about confusing metaphors my grandfather taught me (that have philosophical lessons!)”

A student wrote an essay about a rock that came out of a cast-iron pot of boiling water from a coal mine. The rock was given to the student by his grandfather, and he said some confusing words when handing it to him (in another language). After spending 450 words describing this difficult-to-follow story, the student surmised as to its meaning and ended with “And, that’s what I hope to learn in college.” Adding esoteric confusion to your essays will not improve them. Your personal statement is not the place to be overly philosophical. Be sure an admissions officer would be able to follow your story, and get to your point quickly.

What Could Have Been

29. “There’s this research opportunity I almost got to do (but I screwed up the dates!)”

Achievements that didn’t actually happen have no place in your application. If anything, this essay portrays you as a scattered, disorganized person. Focus on your concrete achievements when thinking about personal statement topics ! You want to talk about how certain opportunities have made you the person you are today, so don’t talk about hypotheticals or what could have been.

30. “Art has always been in my blood. I’ve never taken an art class (but at your school my inner artist will burst forth!)”

If you want to pursue art in college, good for you! However, the personal statement is a place to talk about who you are today and how you currently see the world. If your inner artist has not yet emerged, don’t talk about this interest. Things that could be don’t have a place in your personal statement.

Tags : college personal statement , common app personal statement , Personal Statement , personal statement topics , worst personal statement topics , College , college admissions , college admissions essays , college admissions essay

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5 Common Decorating Mistakes That Could Be Ruining Your Life

Posted: March 4, 2024 | Last updated: March 4, 2024

If you are what you eat, then the space you live in definitely affects your quality of life. Here are five decorating mistakes that could be mentally and physically affecting you in ways you didn't even know. Image credit: Canva

Overcrowding Rooms with Furniture

One of the most frequent mistakes in home decorating is overcrowding a room with too much furniture. This can make spaces feel cramped, cluttered, and uncomfortable and make your space feel smaller than it actually is. The key to avoiding this mistake is to adhere to the principle of negative space – the area that remains empty. It's essential for making a room feel airy and open. Before making a purchase, always consider the size of the room and plan the layout to ensure there's enough space for movement.

Image credit: Canva

<p><span>Furniture and decor should be in harmony with the scale of the room. A common mistake is choosing pieces that are too large or too small for a space, disrupting its visual equilibrium. An oversized sofa can overwhelm a small living room and make you feel cramped, just as a tiny rug can look lost in a large bedroom.</span></p><p><span>Image credit: Canva</span></p>

Ignoring Scale and Proportion

Furniture and decor should be in harmony with the scale of the room. A common mistake is choosing pieces that are too large or too small for a space, disrupting its visual equilibrium. An oversized sofa can overwhelm a small living room and make you feel cramped, just as a tiny rug can look lost in a large bedroom.

<p><span>Lighting plays a crucial role in setting the mood and functionality of a space, yet it's often overlooked. Relying solely on overhead lighting can lead to harsh, unflattering environments. To create a warm and inviting atmosphere, incorporate a mix of lighting sources, including ambient, task, and accent lighting.</span></p><p><span>Image credit: Canva</span></p>

Poor Lighting Choices

Lighting plays a crucial role in setting the mood and functionality of a space, yet it's often overlooked. Relying solely on overhead lighting can lead to harsh, unflattering environments. To create a warm and inviting atmosphere, incorporate a mix of lighting sources, including ambient, task, and accent lighting.

<p><span>While staying up-to-date with the latest design trends can provide inspiration, decorating your home based solely on what's fashionable can lead to a space that feels impersonal and outdated quickly. Instead, focus on what you love and what reflects your personal style. Incorporating trendy elements sparingly can keep your space feeling fresh and unique without succumbing to fast-changing fads.</span></p><p><span>Image credit: Canva</span></p>

Following Trends Blindly

While staying up-to-date with the latest design trends can provide inspiration, decorating your home based solely on what's fashionable can lead to a space that feels impersonal and outdated quickly. Instead, focus on what you love and what reflects your personal style. Incorporating trendy elements sparingly can keep your space feeling fresh and unique without succumbing to fast-changing fads.

<p><span>The most significant mistake in home decorating is not infusing your space with your personality. Your home should be a reflection of who you are, showcasing your interests, travels, and the story of your life. Often, people choose designs they believe are appealing to others rather than what truly makes them happy.</span></p><p><span>Don't get trapped in thinking your home should look like a magazine, a home should reflect the essence of the people who live in them. Avoiding these common mistakes will help you create a home that will make you smile when you walk through the door. </span></p><p><span>Image credit: Canva</span></p>

Neglecting Personal Style

The most significant mistake in home decorating is not infusing your space with your personality. Your home should be a reflection of who you are, showcasing your interests, travels, and the story of your life. Often, people choose designs they believe are appealing to others rather than what truly makes them happy.

Don't get trapped in thinking your home should look like a magazine, a home should reflect the essence of the people who live in them. Avoiding these common mistakes will help you create a home that will make you smile when you walk through the door.

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IMAGES

Common Mistakes When Writing a Personal Statement
Personal Statement MISTAKES TO AVOID AT ALL COSTS
Most Common Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid!
List of 50 Typical Personal Statement Mistakes by Robert Williams
Common Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid + Tips and Tricks to
Common Personal Statement Mistakes

VIDEO

Common Mistakes in Personal Statements and cover letters (in one minute!)
8 Most Common Medical School Personal Statement Mistakes
Common Personal Statement Mistakes
seriously, don't do these to your personal statement
Common Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid + Tips and Tricks to Elevate Your Personal Statement
Common Mistakes When Writing a Personal Statement

COMMENTS

9 Common College Essay Mistakes To Avoid in Your Personal Statement
Start from a blank canvas to make sure you get to the personal right away. No cliched "inspirational" quotes either, please. 7) Writing a Cliched Conclusion. Another major personal essay mistake is that your closing paragraph feels cliche and just repeats information you've already said earlier in the essay.
The ten biggest mistakes when writing your personal statement
Here are 10 common personal statement mistakes that students make, as well as some tips for making sure you're on the right track. Visit the personal statement forum and the university applications forum on The Student Room to see what other students are saying about the process. 1. Telling a story
13 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Personal Statement
Don't include your GPA in your personal statement. In fact, avoid including any information - such as awards you've received, etc. - that can be found elsewhere in your application. It's redundant. Think of your personal statement as valuable real estate and there's only enough space for the best, most unique information. 3.
Personal Statement for College: 8 Common Mistakes to Avoid
The following list outlines topics to avoid in your personal statement for college. 1. Writing your resumé twice makes you seem boring and uncreative. Perhaps the most common mistake that college applicants make is to re-write their resumé or activities list and call it a personal statement. This is bad for several reasons.
13 Mistakes Students Make When Writing a Personal Statement
Now, you can learn from the mistakes of others so you don't have to learn them the hard way. 1. Ignoring the rules. If there's one time to think inside the box when writing a personal statement, it's with the technical rules. If there's a required word count, stay inside of it, whatever you do. If they want a specific font type or size, don't ...
How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Personal Statements 1. Giving a recap or report of all the events. Your essay isn't a play-by-play of everything that happened in that time frame. Only include relevant details that enrich the story, instead of making your personal statement a report of the events.
Personal Statement Mistakes: 5 Common Errors to Avoid
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Personal Statement. 1. Failing to Answer the Question Asked. When you first read the definition of a personal statement, the description may sound like this is a more open-ended assignment.
The Personal Statement: Top Five Mistakes
TOP FIVE PERSONAL STATEMENT MISTAKES. 1. MAKING YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT TOO "PERSONAL ". As the Common App notes, the personal statement gives you a chance to show admissions officers who you are "apart from courses, grades, and test scores.". In this piece of writing, you can tell officers about your work as a scholar or an activist ...
Top tips for writing an original personal statement
Mentioning your work experience at your "father's company". 2. Using the phrase "quenched my thirst for…". 3. Any metaphors using fire, such as "sparked my interest" or "burning desire". 4. Starting the statement with "ever since I was a child" or "from a young age". 5. Using any of the following words:
Most Common Personal Statement Mistakes
Dwell on the positive. 3. Starting with a meaningful quote. Essays built around quotations are usually strained, boring, impersonal, and trite—plus they smell like high school. 4. Going for novelty. Don't submit an essay in the form of a poem, play, or legal brief. Submit your essay in the form of an essay. 5.
Common Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid
Learn about common personal statement mistakes, how to avoid them, & tips to elevate your personal statement! Dartmouth Grad Arianna and Princeton U Admissio...
Most Common Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid!
Here are the two most common Personal Statement mistakes to avoid. The Personal Statement should be completely driven by you, however, there are some mistakes you should avoid when you start the writing process. We don't want to impose too many restrictions on what you decide to write. So we have two big red flags that we would suggest you avoid.
7 of the Most Common Postgraduate Personal Statement Mistakes
After all, you need to demonstrate that you're capable of succeeding at postgraduate level. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. You'll want to make sure that you don't blow your horn too hard* - show that you're humble as well as ambitious. *There's another example of mistake #3.
Common personal statement mistakes and how to avoid them
In my experience, these are some of the most common Personal Statement mistakes, and some tips for avoiding them: 1. Telling over showing — detail, detail, detail! There's no doubt you've heard this from your English teacher, and I'm here to say it again: Show, don't tell. It seems like such a simple concept, and yet, this is by far ...
Residency Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid
Your residency personal statement is an opportunity to show the residency program director that you're a qualified and committed candidate, which is why it's important to avoid mistakes. The ones mentioned above are fairly common - but entirely avoidable - if you employ the right strategies to prevent and resolve them.
10 Common Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid
Strive for a balance between showcasing your knowledge and ensuring your personal statement remains accessible and engaging. 9. Focusing solely on academic achievements. While academic achievements are important, relying solely on them in your personal statement can be a mistake.
12 Medical School Personal Statement Mistakes You Must Avoid
Common medical school personal statement mistakes include statements that use selective metaphors and sayings, overshare, rely on clichés, or use complex and misused vocabulary. Statements that share incriminating information, that are obviously false, that play the underdog card, or make excuses should also be avoided.
Do You Recognize These 7 Common Mistakes in Your Personal Statement?
1 Let's have a look at 7 of the most common mistakes I see people make while reading and editing PA school applicants' essays. 2 1. Most Essays are too long. 3 2. Paragraphs are too Long. 4 3. Applicants Prefer Telling. 5 4. Applicants Love to Talk in Glowing Platitudes.
5 Common Personal Statement Mistakes You Should Avoid
Write a draft and write again and keep writing again until you are sure your personal statement is convincing and powerful enough. 2. Editing in Your Only. Besides starting late, most of us tend to edit their drafts in their head. This is one of the most common personal statement mistakes.
Applying to Oxbridge: writing a personal statement
Common personal statement mistakes . A perfect personal statement is impossible to achieve, but sometimes your students will make simple mistakes that can have consequences for their applications. These are usually easy to avoid, so here are some of the most common mistakes you can watch out for: 1. Pandering to tutors
How to Write a Resume Personal Statement (6 Tips + Examples)
Common mistakes in personal statements. When writing your personal statement, beware of platitudes. These are clichéd expressions that have become meaningless from overuse. They induce recruiters to roll their eyes and move on to the next candidate. Think of such terms as "an administrative jack-of-all-trades" or "a cog in the wheel ...
Avoiding Common Mistakes in Personal Statement Writing
Lacking a Clear Structure and Flow. The absence of a clear structure and logical flow in a personal statement can hinder its effectiveness in communicating your qualifications and motivations. To avoid this common mistake, consider the following guidelines: Organize your personal statement with a coherent structure that divides it into sections ...
Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS: The 10 Big Mistakes ...
Writing a UCAS Personal Statement requires a student to convey a lot of information in a short space of time. Mistakes are easy to make. Read our run down of the most common ones and how to avoid them. Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS is, in many ways, like asking a student to tell the story of their life in 4,000 characters or less.
30 of the Worst Personal Statement Topics We've Ever Seen
This all starts with selecting a strong topic. Much of the success of your personal statement hinges on this first step. But it's often where students go astray. There are common mistakes to avoid when picking personal statement topics, but there are still many places to get tripped up. At InGenius Prep, we've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.
16 Common Tax Filing Mistakes
3. Not Filing Your Taxes at All. Generally, most people who work in the U.S. and have income over the filing threshold are required to file an annual income tax return. The penalty for not filing is 5% of the unpaid taxes for each month that a tax return is late, not to exceed 25% of your unpaid taxes. 4.
5 Common Decorating Mistakes That Could Be Ruining Your Life
Neglecting Personal Style The most significant mistake in home decorating is not infusing your space with your personality. Your home should be a reflection of who you are, showcasing your ...