Personal Statement Essay Fact Sheet
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Why do colleges require essays or personal statements? Colleges require essays because they feel it is their best way to get to know you. In the application, you have already supplied all the data, and the essay completes the picture of you as a candidate. Colleges also use personal statement essays to examine your writing and thinking skills.
Do all colleges require essays? Most private colleges that accept the Common Application or the Coalition Application, as well as many public universities, require essays.
What are the requirements of a Personal Statement Essay? Most essays require 250-650 words. It is best to compose your Personal Statement Essay in an outside document application so that you can use spell check and have it ready to paste into applications. You can use the WORD COUNT option in the TOOLS menu in Microsoft Word or Google Docs to count your words. Be sure to not go over the word count – your essay may be cut off if you exceed the maximum number of words.
How do I know what to write? Applications will give you prompts that ask you to write about experiences you have had and how they affected you, books or people who have influenced your thinking, achievements, issues that are important to you, or why you are applying and what you will bring to that college. Some are short answers and some require a full essay.
What is the difference between “an essay” and “a personal statement?” They are essentially the same thing. Colleges often use both words.
How many essays or personal statements do I have to write? It varies. The Common Application, the Coalition Application, and many colleges require one personal statement essay, but other colleges require as many as three or four, and some schools ask for additional responses to several short-answer questions.
Action Steps:
- Download and review the Personal Statement Essays fact sheet.
- Download and share with your parent or guardian the Writing Your College Application Essay parent article.
- Upload the fact sheet and parent article to your Unit 6 folder.
