{"id":2839,"date":"2018-10-10T12:36:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T16:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.scholarshipowl.com\/?p=2839"},"modified":"2022-03-30T07:16:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T11:16:08","slug":"the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2840\" src=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement.jpg\" alt=\"businesswoman taking some notes on her notepad with a giant pencil concept for Perfect Personal Statement\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement.jpg 847w, https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement-80x53.jpg 80w, https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement-367x245.jpg 367w, https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement-675x450.jpg 675w, https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement-750x500.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The personal statement, commonly called the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/easy-500-scholarships-students\/\">college essay<\/a>,\u201d is one of the most critical parts of any student\u2019s application. After all, most students are applying to schools where the other applicants have similar GPAs and test scores \u2013 the essays are often what sets a student apart.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The good news is everyone is capable of writing a compelling essay by following the six steps described below. If you need a little bit of extra help\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/prompt.com\/scholarship-owl\/\">Prompt.com<\/a>\u00a0is a great (and free) resource that has a personal statement module and also guides you as you develop and structure your content.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify your ambitions \u2013 the types of things you want to do or accomplish in the future<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of the most compelling college essays provide a glimpse into your future.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Including a look to your <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2842 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/estee-janssens-396889-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"153\" \/>future\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">provides a clear narrative arc for where you are heading based on the experiences you discuss in the essay. While you may not know exactly what you want to accomplish, you may have a sense of the types of things you enjoy. For example, maybe you want to do something entrepreneurial or related to helping people. It\u2019s okay if you do not have a sense of the types of things you want to do or accomplish; you\u2019ll just need to work a bit harder to identify the most compelling experiences from your life to include in your essay.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify compelling experiences<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two types of experiences you should focus on \u2013 your passions and times of personal growth. Let\u2019s go through both of these in detail. Ideally, if you have a sense of the types of things you want to do or accomplish in the future, then the experiences you identify here should relate in some way to your ambitions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times of Personal Growth<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2846 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/hannah-olinger-549282-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/>A time of personal growth is an experience or set of experiences you went through where there is a clear difference between who you were before the experience and who you are now. We find there are three common types of times of personal growth:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(1) you overcame a challenge or went through a trying experience, <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(2) your view of yourself or others changed over a period of time,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(3) you went through a period of time where you found your skills rapidly improving as a result of your own actions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Passions<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A passion is an interest on which you spend a significant portion of your free time. A passion can really be anything, such as a topic or activity you are drawn to, helping others, community service, improving athletic or artistic skills, interacting with people from other cultures, or being a part of a family or culture. The core question to think about when developing your passions is \u201cwhat are the things I\u2019m far more excited about than my peers or do differently than my peers?\u201d For example, playing in a band and loving music is not enough; you must be able to demonstrate a much deeper passion than your bandmates such as practicing outside of class for fun, forming a rock band, or building a deep knowledge of various artists.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Match your values to your experiences and ambitions<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A reader will only remember a couple sentence summary of your essay. As such, it\u2019s important to consider how you define yourself in a few words \u2013 i.e. your values. The<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">College Essay Guy<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> considers a student\u2019s values the most important part of any essay. Use the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.collegeessayguy.com\/cwiab-student-15-values-exercise\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">College Essay Guy\u2019s Values Exercise<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to identify your values or you could do the values exercise within <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Personal Statement Module within Prompt<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. After identifying your values, determine which values relate to your times of personal growth, passions, and ambitions. You\u2019ll want to make these values clear to your reader in your essay.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. Create an outline<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2849\" src=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/thought-2123970_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"146\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two common ways to structure your personal statement \u2013 the Journey structure and the Passions structure. If you\u2019re writing about a time of personal growth, you\u2019ll likely use the Journey structure. If you\u2019re more focused on your passions, then you\u2019ll use the Passions structure. We recommend using one of these structures as each leaves plenty of room for creativity while also ensuring you cover the right things within your essay.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Journey Structure<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Journey essay has three main parts \u2013\u00a0the before, during, and after your time of personal growth. In your introduction, you\u2019ll start with a scene that drops hints as to what is to come in your essay. Then, in the \u201cBefore\u201d section, you\u2019ll talk about who you were before your time of personal growth (the intro + before should be about \u2153 of your essay). In the \u201cDuring\u201d section (about \u2153 of your essay), you\u2019ll discuss what happened during your time or personal growth. Finally, you\u2019ll wrap up with the \u201cAfter\u201d section (about \u2153 of your essay) which will detail what you learned from your experience, how you changed, the specific actions you\u2019ve gone on to take as a result of this experience, and how all of this ties to your future ambitions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2850 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/fabian-grohs-581927-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Passions Structure<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Passions essay consists of multiple experiences all related to a single theme (e.g., your passion). This structure works well when you have a number of disparate experiences across your life that all played a significant role in shaping who you are today (i.e., your values). In your introduction, you\u2019ll start with a statement or a scene that sets up the theme of your essay. Your body will consist of a paragraph for each experience you wish to discuss related to your theme. For each experience, you\u2019ll include what you learned about yourself as a result of the experience which should relate to one or more of your values. At the end, you\u2019ll restate your theme and provide a tie-in to your future ambitions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. Write your first draft<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you have your outline, spend 30-45 minutes writing your first draft. Don\u2019t worry about getting it perfect the first time \u2013 your essay will likely change in significant ways before you have a final version. The key with the first draft is to just get something on which you can have someone provide feedback.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6. Get feedback and iterate<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2841\" src=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/rawpixel-760063-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>Getting feedback on your essay and then acting on the feedback is the most critical part of the essay-writing process. You can have your parents, teachers, counselors, or peers provide feedback, but you should also strongly consider getting a professional to review your essay as well<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Be strategic in obtaining feedback by asking each person to answer the same questions that Prompt\u2019s Essay Specialists answer for every personal statement. If you ask the right people for thoughtful feedback, you should be at a solid essay within 2-3 drafts.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What did you learn about the student?<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Write 1-3 sentences<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on what you walked away understanding about the student. Focus on how you would describe the student (e.g., values, personality traits)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is the content compelling?<\/span><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does the content provide a clear sense of what makes the student unique, what the student values, and what sets the student apart from their peers?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What didn\u2019t you learn that you wanted to learn?<\/span><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are the questions that pop into your mind but go unanswered such as\u2026<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who were you before this experience?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What did you learn from this experience? (i.e., how did it change you?)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What have you done recently that is a direct result of this experience?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How does this experience tie with your future ambitions?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is the essay well structured? How can it be improved?<\/span><\/i>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you think \u201caccept\u201d from the beginning to the end of the essay?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you have a sense of where the essay is heading at each point in the essay? (i.e., there aren\u2019t parts that leave you thinking \u201cHow this is relevant?\u201d)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does the introduction \u201chook\u201d you into wanting to learn more?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What content can be cut and where can more content be added?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consider providing a short, example outline of how it could be restructured<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, you\u2019re done! <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2843\" src=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/rawpixel-651327-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"243\" \/>Writing the personal statement may seem like a daunting task, but by following these six steps, you should have a compelling essay in only 5-10 hours of your time.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you have a draft, you can use Prompt\u2019s Essay Specialists to get actionable feedback on the content, structure, and grammar of your essays. Sign up by using the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/prompt.com\/scholarship-owl\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scholarship Owl referral link<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and you\u2019ll get up to 10% off Prompt\u2019s essay review packages. Happy writing!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The personal statement, commonly called the \u201ccollege essay,\u201d is one of the most critical parts of any student\u2019s application. After all, most students are applying to schools where the other applicants have similar GPAs and test scores \u2013 the essays are often what sets a student apart. The good news is everyone is capable of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[47,79],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.5.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement | ScholarshipOwl<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The personal statement is one of the most critical parts of any student\u2019s application. Write a compelling essay by following these six steps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement | ScholarshipOwl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The personal statement is one of the most critical parts of any student\u2019s application. Write a compelling essay by following these six steps.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ScholarshipOwl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-10T16:36:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-30T11:16:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"565\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidtab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee5a2d82f51365483e1e7ca69b217115\"},\"headline\":\"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-10T16:36:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-30T11:16:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/\"},\"wordCount\":1438,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Scholarship Essay\",\"Study Tips\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Finding Scholarships\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/\",\"name\":\"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement | ScholarshipOwl\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-10T16:36:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-30T11:16:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"The personal statement is one of the most critical parts of any student\u2019s application. Write a compelling essay by following these six steps.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Finding Scholarships\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/category\/find-scholarships\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"ScholarshipOwl\",\"description\":\"The Fastest Path To Scholarships\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ScholarshipOwl\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/scholarshipowl-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/scholarshipowl-logo.svg\",\"width\":160,\"height\":20,\"caption\":\"ScholarshipOwl\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee5a2d82f51365483e1e7ca69b217115\",\"name\":\"David\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfcd94064920070dff3aae8a3a8f52c8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfcd94064920070dff3aae8a3a8f52c8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David\"},\"description\":\"David Tabachnikov is the CEO of ScholarshipOwl. Formerly at Waze and Google, David is an experienced CTO\/R&amp;D manager with over 10 years of experience of leading tech teams. David fervently believes that students should have greater access to education, and is passionate about using technology to help them achieve that goal.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nethunter\/?originalSubdomain=il\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidtab\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/author\/davidt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement | ScholarshipOwl","description":"The personal statement is one of the most critical parts of any student\u2019s application. Write a compelling essay by following these six steps.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement | ScholarshipOwl","og_description":"The personal statement is one of the most critical parts of any student\u2019s application. Write a compelling essay by following these six steps.","og_url":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/","og_site_name":"ScholarshipOwl","article_published_time":"2018-10-10T16:36:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-30T11:16:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":847,"height":565,"url":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Perfect-Personal-Statement.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidtab","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/"},"author":{"name":"David","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee5a2d82f51365483e1e7ca69b217115"},"headline":"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement","datePublished":"2018-10-10T16:36:47+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-30T11:16:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/"},"wordCount":1438,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Scholarship Essay","Study Tips"],"articleSection":["Finding Scholarships"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/","url":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/","name":"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement | ScholarshipOwl","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-10-10T16:36:47+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-30T11:16:08+00:00","description":"The personal statement is one of the most critical parts of any student\u2019s application. Write a compelling essay by following these six steps.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/find-scholarships\/the-6-steps-to-writing-the-perfect-personal-statement\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Finding Scholarships","item":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/category\/find-scholarships\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/","name":"ScholarshipOwl","description":"The Fastest Path To Scholarships","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"ScholarshipOwl","url":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/","sameAs":[],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/scholarshipowl-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/scholarshipowl-logo.svg","width":160,"height":20,"caption":"ScholarshipOwl"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee5a2d82f51365483e1e7ca69b217115","name":"David","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfcd94064920070dff3aae8a3a8f52c8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfcd94064920070dff3aae8a3a8f52c8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David"},"description":"David Tabachnikov is the CEO of ScholarshipOwl. Formerly at Waze and Google, David is an experienced CTO\/R&amp;D manager with over 10 years of experience of leading tech teams. David fervently believes that students should have greater access to education, and is passionate about using technology to help them achieve that goal.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nethunter\/?originalSubdomain=il","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidtab"],"url":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/author\/davidt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2839"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2991,"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839\/revisions\/2991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}