Use stories to illustrate your interest. You shouldn’t fill your graduate personal statement with anecdotes, but you can be straightforward and still infuse some personality into your writing. After all, what’s more engaging: “I frequently left the campus CAD lab just as the sun was rising—and long after I had completed my architecture assignments. I got hooked on experimenting with laser cutting and hardly noticed as the hours passed” or “I really love working with Auto CAD”?

You’re trying to give the graduate admission committee a sense of who you are and what you value. Show them your passion for your field of study. Why do you love it? Why do you want to contribute to it? What about it challenges and excites you?

Stay focused on your academic field and use specific, discrete examples. Was there a clear moment when you knew you had found your calling? Did a particular class assignment, volunteer experience, or work project solidify your interest? Why exactly do you need grad school to achieve your goals?

By the time you apply to a Master’s or MBA programme, you have probably done enough self-analysis that you know what your career goals are and how further education will support them. If not, that is certainly your first step. Do you know what you hope to achieve with a post-graduate degree? Are you certain you want to invest this time and money in that particular programme? Have you studied the various career options this degree will allow, and are you committed to this particular path of study? You cannot convince an admissions committee of your commitment if you have trouble convincing yourself. Neither would you want to.

You can talk about special skills, like a foreign language, computer programming, and especially research in your essay. And you can talk about your academic achievements, internships, published work, and even study abroad experiences. They all make great graduate personal statement fodder. But relevancy is also key. Before stuffing your application essay with every accomplishment and experience from your time as an undergrad, make sure you’re only highlighting those that pertain to your intended graduate studies and future goals.

Your grad school application essay is also an opportunity to explain anything in your academic record that might raise an eyebrow among the admission committee, like a semester of poor grades, time off in your schooling, or a less-than-perfect GRE score. For example, if you worked part or full time to help fund your undergrad education, that lends some important context to your experience and achievements; maybe your undergrad GPA isn’t quite as high as it might’ve been otherwise, but graduate admission counselors will likely appreciate your hard work and dedication.

There are plenty of essay examples online ranging from half decent to absolutely terrible and none of them suits your purpose completely. Your essay is your own even the layout and writing style. You want your essay to reflect your own ideas and ambitions, so it needs to be – above all else – authentic and sincere. Do not attempt to flatter the institution in the hope of winning over the committee, but instead personalize the experience ahead of you with your goals and dreams and how they will motivate you to succeed.

Here at GREprepclub, we have a collection of admissions essays but they are for reading only. It might be a bad idea to copy one of these for your application. You can feel free to check out some samples from:

ADMSSIONS ESSAYS MASTER LIST

You’ll have four (or more) years of collegiate writing under your belt, and your grad school statement needs to reflect that. Use active language, smooth transitions, an attention-grabbing opening, and a strong conclusion. And even though your graduate personal statement should be focused on your academic goals, it’s not a research paper—and it shouldn’t be full of jargon. Your essay’s tone will ultimately depend on the prompt you choose, but don’t be afraid to infuse it with personality, even humor. People relate to stories; tell yours and tell it well.

Thoroughly research your potential graduate programs (if you haven’t already!), and tailor your essay to each school. Admission counselors want to know why you want to enroll in their program, and you can’t speak to the merits of their program if you don’t know what their program is all about! What specifically attracted you to the school? What would you contribute to the program as a graduate student and eventual alumnus? Take a look at press releases, blog posts, and big events on campus to get to know the school’s personality and what it values.

This is one very important point you should exercise while you are writing a statement of purpose. You should be through with the details of all the universities you are applying to, and list down all the things you like about each university before you write the essays. Don't write generic sentences like “I was impressed by the research focus of your department” or “I would like to study here because you have 100 Ph.D.’s and 20 Nobel prize winners.” etc. No, that is not how you do it. The admissions committee knows how great their college is; you don’t have to remind them again and again. But, you should let them know what exactly you like about them, that you so badly want to be there. The specifics are really important. For example, you could say something like this. (Excuse the random jargon, it is only to give you an idea.)

You can show in your essay that you have paid special attention to the college and feel that this college meets your needs perfectly. What amenities, student groups, and career services do you want from the school you select? Illustrating how a particular school meets all your needs and wants demonstrates a fully thought-out decision-making process, which is fundamental to the entire application.

Colleges are sure to find your baccalaureate degree impressive – but not if you call it an "international bachelorette" on your application. That's a spell-check-induced gaffe cited by deans of admission at more than a couple schools. Remember to proofread your statement time and again, and keep on re-editing content until you, your family and friends think you have the best statement in the world. Remember that your statement of purpose is a literary picture of ‘you’ as a person, and it is representing on your behalf. So, make it a top priority to avoid typos, misplaced commas, and semicolons, overused quotes, being too wordy, using too many complex words and sentences, and being too straightforward.

A grammatically and semantically impeccable essay shows how much you care about going to a particular college. And, once you are done with everything, do not forget to ask your friends and family to grade your statement of purpose, and ask them to criticize it accurately, so you can avoid submitting a less than perfect copy of your statement. Feel free to post your graduate essays here and get reviews from your peers.

If you know a professor at your undergrad institution, don’t hesitate to approach him/her for advice regarding your statement of purpose. After all, a professor knows what another professor looks for in a prospective student, so it would only help if you approach your college professors. And, if they are really close to you, you can also ask them for a really good letter of recommendation.

Is your graduate personal statement clear, concise, and well organized? Also revisit the essay prompt to make doubly sure you’ve answered it fully and accurately. Then have other people read your essay to check for these things too. Undergrad professors or mentors are great for this, but you can ask trusted friends too. You can post your statements for review here:

ADMISSIONS ESSAYS SAMPLES