美国院校对PS的一般标准之二.doc

美国院校对PS的一般标准之二

Writing Tip 1: Strategy

A Means to an End
Before sitting down to write your essay, it’s helpful to take a moment to re-assess what you hope to achieve. Ask yourself what you hope to get out of the program to which you are applying. What impact will your degree have on your short-term and long-term career plans? Your earnings expectations? Your professional development? It’s crucial that you have a solid understanding of how important the quality of your application is but don’t allow the process to make you feel overwhelmed or anxious. Instead, let your ambition motivate you to write the best personal statement that you possibly can.

Common Pitfalls
Application questions can range from the extremely specific ("What personal challenges regarding interpersonal matters brought out your conflict mediation and management skills?") to the hugely open-ended ("Tell us something about why you want to become an attorney"). The latter is more conducive to a discussion of your personal characteristics; the former is an excellent opportunity to showcase a particular achievement. In either case, here are some pitfalls you’ll want to avoid when planning your essay strategy.

Answer the Question.
You may have a remarkable achievement or personal experience that you think would make an impression on the admissions committee say, for instance, you emigrated from a foreign land when you were young and had to learn a new language, assimilate to a new culture, and work your own way through school. But the personal statement question on your law school application is, "How do you plan to use your degree in your career?" Unfortunately, your experience simply doesn’t have much to do with the question. So *don’t use it.* There’s a reason that the question was posed the way it was: the school wants to read your answer. Instead of trying to manipulate your experience to "fit" the question, focus on the scope of the question and ask yourself what exactly is being asked. If guidelines for answering the question are provided, examine these, too. You won’t impress anyone by deviating from the information they want; they’ll simply conclude that you didn’t answer the question.
Don’t Assume That One Size Fits All
No one likes to receive a form letter that pretends to be personalized. Similarly, admissions committees are less impressed by generic personal statements that are clearly written to be sent to multiple schools. Though it’s possible that your personal statement might *generally* meet the requirements of more than one school, it’s also true that there is no one personal statement that could possibly meet *all* the questions posed by the *all* the schools to which you are applying. Establish what information each personal statement question seeks, and then determine the type and structure of essay that would be the most appropriate. Ideally, you will write a separate personal statement for each application.

Don’t Repeat Yourself (I).
Using your essay to simply reiterate your GPA and/or your courses is wasting an incredible opportunity. This information will be given adequate consideration elsewhere. Instead, use the personal statement to present information that the admissions committee wouldn’t otherwise know.

Don’t Repeat Yourself (II).
Some applications ask for one primary essay and several supplemental, short-answer statements. Remember that they will be read together, and plan carefully so that the information presented in one isn’t being re-stated in another. Make sure your primary statement answers the question while also ensuring that it shows the admissions committee there is more to you than was previously revealed.
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Don’t Apologize.
The last thing the person reading your essay wants to read is a list of excuses for why your GPA isn’t as high as you might like. Mentioning your weak points only brings attention to them; the only valid reason for dwelling on such a topic would be if the problem was caused by, say, an illness that required hospitalization or a serious family problem that took you away from school for an extended time. In such a case, present the information in a factual manner and move on. Focus on your achievements, not your shortcomings.

Do Your Homework
Research the schools to which you plan to apply. The more you know about the school, its programs, and its faculty members, the better you will be able to structure your essay and show that you are truly interested in the school. Here are some ways to gather information: Call the admissions department and request a brochure that provides information about the school’s expectations from its applicants.Talk to people you know who attended the school. Contact the alumni office and ask whether it would be possible to contact alumni to hear their thoughts on the school. Make an appointment with an admissions counselor or another official to get a better idea of the graduate experience. Use Admissions Essays. Com’s free search engine, which lists key statistics and URLs for highly regarded colleges, universities, professional, and graduate schools. This extra effort alerts the reader that you have taken time to learn about the school, which gives a favorable impression of your diligence, dedication and interest in their institution. Of course, don’t overdo it, the admissions committee already knows when the school was founded and how many students attend each year. You need only show that you have gone the extra mile.

The Bottom Line
Your personal statement is your chance to shine. Plan accordingly. Discuss accomplishments and valuable experiences; emphasize the positive and empowering; make sure you come across as bright, involved, engaging and motivated. Don’t dwell on negative experiences or setbacks unless you do so to introduce an example of overcoming obstacles and rising above circumstance. Don’t bore or depress the reader. And remember, admissions committees are composed of experienced professionals who have collectively read thousands of personal statements. They will be able to read between the lines! Be honest.