Presenting yourself is a crucial skill that can enhance your chance to finish your degree effortlessly. For instance, when you need to pass the admission process, you need to apply with your personal statement written independently. Still, many enrollees feel difficulties writing an essay about their key characteristics. Luckily, there are many online services to find writing experts who can inspire you for better content. When students ask one of these specialists, “Please, help me write my personal statement,” it means they want to get a relevant sample to use on the next writing stage. Meanwhile, you will find the top ten mistakes you should never repeat in your personal statement by reading our recommendations. 

1. Falling into too many details.

Often students want to tell their stories from the beginning of their life. It is good to save one or two prominent situations for some interviews by requirement. Still, adding too detailed descriptions about your childhood, school ages, and college achievements are unnecessary. If the experience doesn’t relate to the chosen study you apply for, consider cutting it. Instead, add recent performances from last year and other corresponding activities. All because admission officers want to read concrete actions towards your aims. 

2. Adding repeated information.

Usually, students don’t know what else to say about their achievements, and they borrow information from the application form. Avoid this mistake and focus more on the concrete story. Represent the way you’ve achieved the grade because nobody is interested in listing the same data as in a student’s resume. Keep in mind that a personal statement should consist of 600 words, and it is challenging to include something noteworthy in this volume. Therefore, think about a new but compelling story from your studying activity that will prove your readiness for the course. 

3. Staying too open-hearted.

Indeed, personal statement originality is still a great option, don’t overdo concentrating on too intimate moments of your life. Often looking for sympathy, students mention such situations as health issues or sad stories from their past. An admission officer could be touched, but you lose your chance to reveal a real potential in your short personal statement. Remember, it is 600 words only. So, concentrate more on positive aspects. For instance, you can show how you overcame the burdens and proceed to professional development. 

4. Grammatical failing.

In a hurry to become more natural in a personal statement, students often make simple mistakes. The first side shows that you are not acquainted with elementary English language rules, and secondly, the admission officer will not concentrate on the story’s context. Many editing tools will help you to cope with grammatical, punctuation, and spelling issues. Use online editors such as Grammarly or Ginger app to automatically reduce errors and improve your text for better performance. No matter how natural you should sound in a personal statement, jargons are not applicable for this writing type.

5. Omitting skills description.

Making such a flaw means you can’t explain fully why you are ready for a university degree. The personal statement should include such elements as the ability to study in an academic style, readiness to follow university principles, and approach to undertake the studying process independently. 

When you don’t mention this, you lose your chance to get a place in class because admission officers look for specific qualities every student should maintain. Indeed, you can do it in your own manner and build your essay around your soft skills. Still, don’t put such characteristics as precise material analysis, good memory, robust concentration, or sociability in a boring list. 

6. Utilizing cliche.

Although personal statements can be composed with phrases like, “I started to study photography from childhood,” or “my passion for nature leads me to eco-activism,” they don’t sound engaging. Yet, these overused explanations don’t really reveal your inner talents. Showcase the central quality that leads you to success in further studies in a brief but powerful way. Have you ever heard a story about a boy who entered the university with a personal statement about the dead bird? If not, watch this video with more ideas about the original representation of yourself. 

7. Choosing a non-catchy topic.

Actually, this point should be first in the list of advice on how to avoid personal statement writing mistakes. When coming up with the topic, remember to describe the story in one shot. Define the main idea of your personal statement and consider its meaning for readers. It is much more interesting to follow the author’s context when the name of your personal statement is, “How I killed my teacher” or “When the book fell on my head.” Also, these variants are provoking, but they sound much more original than “Why I’ve chosen your faculty.”

8. Forgetting the purpose.

The main target of your personal statement is to bring you to university. Still, students think that they should advertise their qualities just for fun. Always set more significant objectives and make them more concrete for the reader. Let your admission officer understand why you write this essay and describe the reason you apply to this specific studying field. Set the aim to logically explain to the committee why you’ve chosen the course in this educational institute and whether you are able to complete it following local academic and ethical principles. 

9. Going astray.

Every student should stick to the rule that a personal statement is a story about you and no one else. If you start to describe your friend, classmate, teacher, or family member, it is not your story anymore. Or do you want your grandmother to enter the course instead? Yeah, you want to do it yourself. Therefore, concentrate on your advantages and demonstrate them without reference to other people. 

10. Finally, telling obvious things.

Your admission tutor sees thousands of similar essays. So, don’t go into the illusion that you are really unique writing about the subject you haven’t got a degree in. You will not invent a bicycle if you start showing the knowledge on the doctrine you will study in the university. Just tell why you want to learn it but don’t pretend to be smarty pants. 

After representing ten common mistakes in personal statement writing, we are sure that you’ve already had an engaging draft. Anyway, now you will feel more confident to tell your story. See? It is simple!