Your personal statement can make or mar your application, check out this few tips

INTRODUCTION:

Do you know that there is nothing more disheartening than being denied admission because of improperly or poorly composed personal statement? I would prefer being denied admission for incomplete document submission, or that my academic qualifications fall below standard rather than that of personal statement.

WHAT IS PERSONAL STATEMENT?

Personal statement or Statement of purpose is an essay or written article that every admission seeker must submit; I can call it a cover letter that follows an admission applications. 

It should be comprehensive enough to tell the University management about your past and present professional journey but must not contain unnecessary personal history other than the career related narrations. 

It should state:

• All the academic certificates that you have obtained, 
• work experiences, 
• what triggered your zeal to pursue a particular career, 
• what you hope to achieve by studying that course and 
• your expected contributions to the world of academics and society at large.

A good personal statement is the only tool that will speak for you before the admission team since they may not be able to interview all applicants individually. Your personal statement should be good enough since it is the only fact that will make you stand tall against  other admission seekers.

Below are the tips on how to make an excellent statement of purpose or personal statement.

1. Write down an outline for your personal statement

An outline is a skeletal framework of your personal statement which you hope to develop into flowing paragraphs. This is a point where you should summarize your ideas into simple sentences with each idea to be developed in separate paragraphs.

Here is s guideline for developing your outlines:

1. What aroused your interest to choose this particular field of study?
2. At what point did you realize the need for that field?
3. Is your choice department related to your previous academic trainings and skills?
4. What are your work experiences relevant to this field of study?
5. How does your experiences add to the values of the University or your choice department?
6. What are the relevance of this career to your home country?
7. How do you how to contribute to the society or to the academic fields by the help of this line of studies?
8. How do you intend to demonstrate your leadership roles to foster the advancement of this choice field?

2. Developing your outlines into flowing paragraphs:

At this point you should be able to develop your outlines into flowing with each thought presented in each paragraph. 

Your sentences should be a narration of what you outlined in the first stage written in simple and concise sentences.

Take a look at this:

1. What aroused your interest for this course, 

At this stage, you are to state a particular reason or event that aroused your interest to pursue a particular career.

For example:

"Having worked as a medical laboratory scientist, I came to know that so many unanswered questions about health can only be resolved by medical biotechnology..."

2. At what point did you realize the need for that line of study?

For example

"I never gave it a strong consideration not until the outbreak of the COVID_19 when I worked with team of biotechnology experts in a research involving recombinant DNA....."

3. Is this course of Study related to your previous academic trainings and skills? How?

Try to relate the relevance of your previous qualifications to your choice department. This will help the admission officers know if you are actually qualified for the department you applied for.

For example: 

"As holder of a Bachelor's Degree in Medical laboratory Science with years of experience in clinical laboratory, I have strong conviction that I possess the requisite qualifications for this..."

4. What are your work experiences related to your choicest career? Does this experiences place you better than other applicants.

State your various work experiences relevant to the degree you are pursuing. Your experiences may place you ahead of others.

5. How does your experiences and skills add to the values of the department, the University or society?

For example:

"With my wealth of knowledge in laboratory practice and general medical research, I hope to collaborate with the University research team to..."

6. What are the relevance of this career to your home country?

Try to state how your intended career will benefit your country and your immediate environment

For example:

"Pursuing a Masters degrees program in medical biotechnology perfectly aligns to the developmental goals of my country in the areas of science and technology..."

7. How do you intend to contribute to the society or to the academic fields by the help of this line of studies?

For example

"Upon graduation, I hope to collaborate with senior biotechnologist and research institutions in my country in medical research and to give biotechnology a new breath..."

8. How do you intend to demonstrate your leadership roles to foster the advancement of this choice field.

Let your introduction be catchy and strong to lure your readers to go through the entire writing. 

Ideal personal statement is usually between 500 to 1000 words; in some cases it is advisable to employ headings for emphatic purpose.

3. FACTS TO NOTE:

• There should be correlation between the paragraphs; linking each to the other with the help coordinating words except in the cases where headings are used.
• The entire body of the writing should also hold the reader's interests. Back up all your claims with verifiable evidence and in some cases, let it reflect what you have in your CV.
• Use clear and unambiguous words and ensure that your essay is well punctuated.
• Go through your writing repeatedly to get rid of errors. You can share with friends for criticism.
• Avoided AI generated contents since it easy to know owing to the grammatical constructions and unoriginality.