Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Where do I start?
• It's a good idea to jot down a few notes first.
• Use a set of headings and write bullet points about how
you relate to these headings.
• The main things: why do you want to study your chosen
course, how do my skills, experiences and interests prove I
am passionate about and committed to taking this course?
Who are you?
• Choose a topic that reveals something important
about you, something that mattered to you, and
tell why it mattered.
– Evaluate a significant experience or achievement that
has special meaning to you.
– Indicate a person who has had a significant influence
on you and describe that influence.
– Describe the qualities and accomplishments you
would bring to the undergraduate student body.
– Accomplishments
Do and don’t
• Don’t sound arrogant and pretentious
• Try to have an interesting phrase or paragraph to start and finish on
• Try not to quote books, magazines or publications in a way that makes it sound like you’ve
only read them to put them on your statement.
• Do not lie outright and stay as close to the truth as possible
• Don't try to be funny or make jokes in your statement
• Don't start every sentence with I
• Don't include your hobbies and interests unless they are relevant
• Don't use vocabulary you don't normally use and just looked up in a dictionary
• Don't use famous quotes in your statement unless you back them up with information on
how and why this person’s quote influenced you. Dropping them in just for the sake of it
makes you look silly and that you haven’t given serious thought to your personal statement.
• Don't repeat things already on your application form
• With the exception of a gap year, don't make claims you are going to do something before
you come to university
• Don't include clichés
• Don't take any political or religious viewpoints
Do and don’t
• Be sure to read the question on the application carefully and stick to answering that
question.
• Comply with the word and space limitations given in the application; the school uses
them to tell you how deep they want you to go in your analysis and description.
• If you have a choice, shorter is better.
• Feel free to express your emotions within appropriate limits, even to reveal
contradictory emotions.
• Tell what you realized from this event, how it changed you, what it meant to you,
why you find it worth telling.
• Let your values, priorities, and character come through, so that the reader hears
your authentic voice from the heart and knows the real you a little better.
• Choose one incident, not the entire trip
• Find the unusual in the ordinary
• Get personal; tell something with deep meaning for you
• Indicate how the trip changed you, made you grow
Do and don’t
• Don't list activities and their dates.
• Don't take on a large subject; keep it small and
manageable.
• Don't use gimmicks or try to be cute.
• Don't do a humorous essay unless you are very, very
sure an adult would find it funny.
• Don't try to make the essay for one college fit the
question from another college unless they are truly the
same.
• Don't use cliches. Try to rework them for more depth
and interest.
Tips
• Don't copy the sentences you find outright, even a single sentence!
plagiarism. Change them or write your own sentence in a similar style. If
you can't find any sentences you like, try and write your own!
• Open it with a simple heading such as “Personal Statement for Yohanes
Widodo.”
• If there are any pages to your essay beyond one, number them, and
perhaps include your name on those pages as well.
• Font: Times or Bookman readable. Size: 10 to 12-point size
• Margins: at least one inch.
• Single space your text, skipping a line between paragraphs. You can
indent paragraph beginnings or not, as long as you’re consistent.
• Personal motivations, academic interests, relevant research or
experience, long-term objectives, and your specific interest in attending
the chosen university.
• Academic Background or Research as a Set of Learned Skills
• Long-Term Objectives: Target Program or Scholarship
Tips
• Creative Beginnings: Make readers feel they are there with you, and
remember that the setting itself can be a character in your “short story”.
• Active Verbs: efficiently summarize your achievements, and describe
relevant phenomena, which may be in the form of research that you’ve
completed.
• Revisions: Your first draft of the material might require multiple re-
readings and revisions to be ready for submission. Providing more
concrete detail based on audience needs, keeping in mind that the
content you choose reveals you as a person, as a thinker, and as a
student. The more these three parts can be blended together through
your content revisions, the better.
• Read aloud.
• Revising for Tone: Arrogance? Inconfidence? Too many writers focus on
the negative, stressing their uncertainties, their doubts, and even their
failures. There’s always a positive way to spin a point and in a personal
statement a positive
Tips
• Your job is to affirm—what is true, what you’ve accomplished, what you
value, how you think, how you see the world, what your plans are, what
your research means, what program you’d like to attend, and so on.
• Be specific and concrete -- not general and abstract.
• Use details to conjure up a vivid picture of what you experienced.
• KEEP IT SIMPLE.
• Don't try to impress the reader with big words
• Avoid slang - make sure the reader understands what you mean.
• Don't use quotations that have become clichés.
• Don't use the same word over and over; try consulting a thesaurus
• Don't repeat an idea, even if you think saying it in a few different ways
refines your meaning. Instead, combine all the best elements of the
repetitions into one convincing, clear statement.
Example: My ML
• There was a time, 12 years ago, I remember, that was my first time to fall in
love with media in general. Today, with the vast development on multi
media technology, I intend to study it thoroughly. In the last six years, I
have worked as a station manager on Sonora FM, a local radio in
Palembang, a city in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia. Sonora FM is a part of
Sonora Company, which has networking across Indonesia. This experience
brings me to another stage of media conscience. I have multi-faced
audience and various expectation for media’s agenda.
• In Sonora, I developed radio journalism and interactive discussions. In
printing media, I join in Tabloid Komunio, a monthly publication of
Archdiocese Palembang. I also wrote articles in Sumatera Ekspres, a local
newspaper. In online media, in 1999, I was involved in developing Berita
Pemilu, an online election news portal. Now, I am participating in
developing a citizen journalism project, called Halaman Satu
(www.halamansatu.net).
Example: My ML
• I am keenly interested in acquiring theoretical knowledge and practical
skills in media and journalism. I love to learn about the interrelations
between cultural transformations in the media and technological
developments, especially the usage of Internet. The Internet has had a
major impact on all levels societies throughout the world. Specifically for
journalism as it is practiced online, we can identify the effect that this has
had on the profession and its culture. The journalistic reform movement
(based on internet) known as ‘participatory’, or ‘citizen based’ journalism
has also inspired me in recent years.
• With the spirit of participatory journalism, I believe that a kind of
alternative media needed to respond to the crisis about the voice of
powerless and the victims that are ignored by mainstream media is citizen
journalism. Furthermore, I choose to focus on ‘The role of citizen journalism
to strengthen the democracy’ as the topic of my postgraduate research. The
second topic is ‘What happens when a public journalism such as citizen
journalism is appropriated by news organizations situated in Indonesia’.
Example: My ML
• I am highly motivated to pursue my studies in MSc Programme Applied
Communication Science of Wageningen University. To study about
Applied Communication Science will help me to strengthen my ability to
analyze the problems about media, technology, and democracy. It will
help me to construct the ideas and to focus my thought in developing the
media in Indonesia. One of my main goals is to develop a powerful media
to make a better civilization and to strengthen the democracy in
Indonesia.
• I know Wageningen University is one of the leading universities in the
Netherlands. Wageningen University has highly recognized master
programs, with high standard of education and the fact that it is
respected so much for its way of interdisciplinary. Wageningen University
also seems to be one of the most appreciated by international student
academic cities in the Netherlands.
Example: My ML
• With a solid foundation in academic and work experience in media, I am
confident that I will have skills, knowledge, experience, and contacts that
will open visible perspectives for me to achieve desirable career in media
and journalism, and hopefully, give contributions to increase the general
level of media in Indonesia.
• Yohanes Widodo
Reference
• http://www.studential.com/personalstatements
• http://www.statementofpurpose.com/success.html
• http://emundus.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/motivation-letter-
statement-of-purpose/
• http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/personal.html
• https://www.e-education.psu.edu/writingpersonalstatementsonline/
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