PREMIUM ESSAY

The Perfect Personal Statement for College

You've stayed up and worked hard to get the grades. You stayed after school to get involved in extracurricular activities. You made the sacrifice to take those AP's. And now, you need to write a winning personal statement for an elite institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Most application readers spend less than 10 minutes looking at your application. Of that time, 7 minutes will be spent reading your essay. It is the most important part of your application to an elite university.

Readers will already have a good sense of your qualifications before they read your essay. They have records of your grades, qualifications, recommendations and, in the case of Harvard, MIT and others, the thoughts of your interviewer. The essay is your time to reveal something personal about yourself. It should not be a recap of your resume.

Entrance essays have 3 components. A Personal Dimension, a Moment of Discovery, and an Intellectual Passion. The general equation for these essays is:

Dimension + Moment = Passion

There are many important dimensions of identity, but 6 really stand out as good ways to let an admissions officer know who you are. If you feel any of these 6 are relevant to you, then you should try to build your essay around at least one:

List of Personal Dimensions

1. Family
2. Religion
3. Gender
4. Ethnicity/Culture/Race
5. Disability/Injury
6. Sexuality

In addition, your essay should provide a moment of change, a very focused account of a time when you learned, lead, or were transformed. Here are some good examples of personal moments:

List of Moments:

1. Sports leadership
2. Travel or Study Abroad
3. Research outside of class
4. Political involvement
5. Work experience

Finally, you need to identify a passion. Intellectual passions should correspond roughly to actual majors and focus areas at the school you are applying to. Popular intellectual passions include:

List of Passions:

1. Economics and Finance
2. Politics or International Relations
3. Biology, Physics, Chemistry, or Environmental Science
4. Mechanical, Electrical, or Computer Engineering
5. Literature, History, Philosophy and Art

Remember, the equation for an elite college entrance essay is the following:

Dimension + Moment = Passion.

Here are some equations that describe real, successful Stanford entrance essays:

Family + Travel = Intellectual Passion

Family trip to Grand Canyon, Witnessed Pollution = Interest in Environmental Science

Religion + Political Involvement = Intellectual Passion

Raised Christian + Debated the Issue of Gay Marriage = Interest in Politics

Gender + Sports = Intellectual Passion

Woman + Played Basketball, Got Injured = Interest Human Biology and Medicine.

Remember, think of a personal dimension of yourself, think of a moment, and then tie that to an intellectual passion. Don't worry if you don't know what your passion is yet. Admissions officers know that you may change your mind once you arrive at your elite university. Still, they want to see that you are capable of identifying a direction that makes sense to you and heading confidently in that direction.