Follow a comprehensive personal statement checklist to review your draft and ensure it's ready to be submitted. Visit: http://www.personalstatementanalysis.com/

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Personal Statement Checklist
Having a top­notch personal statement is key if you’re going to land an interview or get into your
dream University. Alongside your academic records, resume and list of extracurricular activities,
your personal statement is what sets you apart from the competition, catching the admissions
committee eye and demonstrating why YOU are the right candidate/student for them.
To make sure that yours is as good as it can be, carrying out your own ​personal statement
analysis​ and personal statement critique is crucial. This means looking over your personal
statement again and again until you’re confident that everything looks awesome. But when you
carry out your own personal statement critique, how do you know what you’re looking for? To
help you out, we’ve come up with a personal statement checklist for you to tick off at will. Let’s
take a look.
Your Personal Statement Checklist
1. Explain The Why’s
Have you explained exactly ​why ​you want to study at this college and what has brought you to
this application process? This is more important than anything else. The applications team
wants to know exactly what you’re doing here!
2. Explain The How’s
As well as explaining why you’re applying for this University, you also need to explain how
you’re the right fit. What sets you apart from everyone else?
3. Explain The What’s
Okay, so we know why you’re here and we know how you’re the right fit, but how about telling
us what you’ve done previously? Where have you studied, what have you studied, and what
grades have you got?
4. Explain The Relevance
You’ve done a few things, and worked a few jobs, and studied a few courses that aren’t exactly
relevant to the one you’re applying for now. But experience is key, so explain how your
experience is relevant to the post you’re now applying for.

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5. Skills
Applications teams love to see skills in your personal statement; they want to know that they’re
going to be welcoming a Grade­A student into their college. If you’ve got a few of skills, make
sure you hunt them down as part of your personal statement analysis.
6. Expand On Your Skills
Don’t just mention your skills ­ elaborate on the main ones. This is something you need to look
out for during your personal statement assessment.
7. Are Your A Critical Thinker?
Colleges and Universities want to see that you can think analytically and independently, and
your personal statement is the perfect place to show this.
8. Long Term Plan
Mentioning your long term goals on your personal statement is important, as it shows the
college or University that you’re not just in this for a giggle; instead, you’ve actually got a plan
and this course is a major stepping stone.
9. Be Positive
Yes, it’s hard to make good ground way with your personal statement at first. But if during your
personal statement review you realise that you’ve been way too negative, it’s time for a rewriter;
it’s time to get positive. Applications teams want to see enthusiasm, after all.
10. Proofread
It’s easy to ​finally ​finish your personal statement and say that’s it, you’re done with it. You never
want to see a personal statement ever again. BUT, it’s super important that you look through
your personal statement again and again to make sure there are no mistakes. One or two
grammar mistakes and spelling errors are enough to put a hiring manager off completely.
11. Delete The Cliches
It’s really easy to fall into the trap of using too many cliches when writing a personal statement,
especially when we’re low on inspiration. A personal statement review gives you the chance to
look through yours and delete the worst ones.
12. Have You Focused On You?
Colleges don’t want to read about other people and their aspirations; they want to read about
YOU!

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13. Lose The Personal Exploits
Got a cool party trick? Play in a band? If you’ve included these in your personal statement, you
need to get rid of then. NOW.
14. The Right Format
Personal statement format is just as important as the content; if yours is totally wrong, now is
the time to clean it up.
15. Repetition
If you’ve fallen into the trap of repeating yourself, you probably didn’t realise it until you’re going
through your personal statement with a fine tooth comb. Delete or amend any overused words,
sentences or points.
16. Too Many Jokes
Humour is a great communication tool ­ but not on a personal statement.
17. Ask For Feedback
It’s hard to be objective when we’re reading our own personal statement, and if you’ve never
written one before, it might be difficult to know where you’ve gone wrong. As such, why not ask
someone for some personal statement feedback? This could be a friend, colleague, or even
teacher.
18. Trim It Down
A personal statement should be around half a page to a page MAX. If yours has spilled over
onto page 2, it’s time to trim that bad boy down.
19. Tone It Down
If you’re claiming to “save the world”, now is your chance to tone your language down. Be
modest.
20. Essential Info Only
Non­essential information is not needed on your personal statement. As this is just a short
statement, what you include should be essential information only. This will keep things nice and
tight.

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21. Language
Your language should be simple, direct and readable. Be straightforward and avoid complex
words and syntax as much as possible. This is not a dissertation, and flowery language will
impress no one.
22. Check Your “I”s
As part of your personal statement critique, you need to be on the lookout for how you start your
sentences. It’s really easy to start sentences with “I”, but you need to avoid overdoing this.
23. Structure
Your personal statement needs structure; it needs a coherent pattern that has a beginning, a
middle and an end. If you’re unsure about structure, research some articles.
24. Originality
Read your personal statement through; does this seem original, or does it seem like something
anyone could have written? Colleges want to see originality.
25. Honesty
NEVER lie on your personal statement. If you included a lie in your first draft because it made
you sound good, now is the time to develop a conscience. Don’t oversell yourself.
26. Delete Quotes
Universities aren’t interested in what other’s think ­ they want to know what you think.
27. Rambling
If you’ve got too many run­on sentences, your personal statement review gives you the chance
to amend them.
28. The Opening Sentence
Crafting a perfect opening sentence is not easy and may take a few attempts. Now is the time to
get it right.
29. Read It Out Loud
Sometimes, you don’t know how good your personal statement is until you’ve read it out loud to
other people. This is a crucial part of your personal statement review and can generate some
much needed personal statement feedback. Ask friends and family to hear you out.

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30. Stop Reading
Once you have submitted your personal statement, it’s time to stop reading it. Otherwise you’ll
just obsess over it to the point where you email the company and ask to make amendments.
Not cool.
If you are still not sure whether your personal statement is perfect, asked
our experts to review it!