Personnel Statement for Grad School

[xctsclrx]

Help Please. 

I am trying to apply for grad school and they are asking for a personnel statement without any guidance. I have googled some examples and tips, but would like to hear from "real" people. Looking for general tips or big don't do this. 

Also is there a format that is preferred? 


I know we have some teachers and professors on here. Hoping you guys can help. 

[waverly]

Maybe it depends on the school. For mine, I think they accepted everyone over a certain GPA, so I stressed about my essay for not a lot of reason. I just stated why I wanted to do the program and made sure it was well written. Some information about me. It was 15 years ago, so sorry I don't remember more than that. I think they stated what format that they wanted in the application.

[mommyatty]

I had to do one for law school. I think what they are looking for is 1) why you are passionate about the subject, and 2) how you plan to use the degree. I would make it as personal as possible. It’s not about what you know. It’s about what you want to know and why you care about knowing it. I wouldn’t say “it’s to make more money.” That’s generally not a good reason to spend years of your life studying a subject.

[smock]

It depends on the type of program, but this is exceptional advice from my experience in the social sciences/humanities:

eveewing.tumblr.com/post/153499715289/how-to-write-a-personal-statement-for-graduate

(I'm a former history professor and I've read a lot of personal statements for grad school admission)

[phdmomma]

I am a faculty member in engineering, and read a ton of these. My first question is what type of program or field?

[mustardseed2007]

We had to do them for law school as well. I wrote about what made me want to go to law school. I looked at the advice smock posted just now and the beginning did start the same as what that post suggests. I started with an anecdote about my father's small business and went on from there.

[xctsclrx]

smock, thank you so much. I know why I want to do this program, but I am having a hard time getting started. This helps.

phdmomma, I want to do a Masters of Business Analytics. I am a currently a database administrator/ analyst, but my undergrad is engineering. I don't have any formal training in what I am doing. It has really been a learn as you go and make your best guess. I am looking for more insights and ideas that I can bring back to my job.

[phdmomma]

xctsclrx, I don't know how much help it will be. But generally in engineering graduate students are paid either by TA ing or by working on a faculty's research project. In their personal statement, I want to have a sense of 1) who they are, 2) what they have done, and 3) what they want to do. Also, if something particular drives the student, like I grew up without clean water, so I want to work on water related issues. In my field its about not only convincing the grad school to admit you, but also convince the department why you should have funding.

[HeartofCheese]

I spoke to someone on an admissions committee while I was applying to grad schools and she told me they look for specific examples of when you overcame a specific obstacle or hardship, your personal philosophies, and how you intend to apply that to their program and in your resulting career. What is that sometime special that you are going to do with your degree or bring to the field? You also want it be as personal and detailed as possible, so that your statement is unique and authentic - but not so much that the evaluator has to obtain a HIPAA release from you to send it to her committee. KWIM?