We’ve also included analysis for what makes them outstanding to (hopefully) help you uplevel your own essay. In this spirit, we’re sharing 12 of our favorite examples from the past few years. In our work with students, we often encourage students to review examples of personal statements to get a sense of what a great essay might look like and to just generally share a wide range of topics, structures, and writing styles so that they can see what’s possible when writing this essay.

They basically require you to answer some version of the question “Who are you, and what do you value?” And in recent years, the main Common Application essay has become more and more important in colleges’ decision making process, especially as many colleges are relying less and less on standardized test scores. It’s the main essay required by the Common Application as well as most other application systems. (And please note that the personal statement examples below are for undergraduate applications-if you’re trying to find grad school statement of purpose examples, please head to that link.)īut before diving into analyzing some great personal statement examples, it helps to get some context on what a personal statement actually is, and what writers should plan to include when writing their own personal statement. If you’re applying to college, you’ll most likely need to write a personal statement as part of your college application.

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