Autobiography vs personal statement
How To Write an Autobiographical Statement?
Welcome to EssayEdge’s Graduate School Statements 101! Our experts have assembled the most comprehensive course on the Internet to help you compose successful graduate school essays. A graduate school personal statement or autobiographical essay represents a graduate school’s first qualitative introduction to the way you think and to the way you express yourself. The personal statement must serve as a reflection of your personality and intellect. You must sell yourself through this statement, just as you would through a successful job interview. Preparation and personal reflection are essential.
If you find it difficult to write about yourself, don’t be discouraged. Having assisted tens of thousands of applicants, we can assure you that everyone has problems composing these statements. If you have a friend who finishes one in two hours flat and doesn’t agonize over what he or she is writing, chances are it’s not a statement that will do much to enhance his or her prospects for admission. Good essays take time. Bad ones can hurt your chances for admission.
The essays required of graduate school applicants fall into two major categories. First, there is the general, comprehensive personal statement, which allows the applicant more latitude in what he or she writes. The second category encompasses essays that are responses to specific questions. Here the applicant might have less latitude in terms of your topic, but it is still possible and prudent to compose a thoughtful and compelling response that holds the reader’s interest.
No matter what type of application form you are dealing with, it is extremely important that you read each question carefully and respond to it fully. Some applications are more vague or general in their instructions than others; for these, it is often possible to compose almost any sort of essay you wish. You have virtually total control, and you also have a remarkable opportunity that you My Projects [0] / Notifications [0] / ✮ Starred [0] Students of all ages and education levels are asked to write essays, but those essays probably wouldn't sell very well in a bookstore. Writing an autobiography requires that a writer have at least some interesting experiences to recount, and it usually takes longer than the amount of time spent in elementary school to amass enough interesting experiences to create a bestselling autobiography. There are four traditional types of essays and only one is autobiographical. Persuasive essays argue a point and try to convince readers to agree. Expository essays provide factual information without a writer's analysis of those facts included. Descriptive essays are used to describe an event or other topic. Only narrative essays are written about personal experiences in order to tell a story in the same way an autobiography does. Narrative essays, like the other forms, include an introduction paragraph, a body of three or more paragraphs, and a conclusion. Also like all other essays, a narrative essay is a short and informative piece of writing. No other common type of essay, however, is told in story form. An autobiography is the story of a person's life, or at least some part of a person's life, written by the person themselves. While it doesn't have to be comprehensive, beginning on the day the subject was born and ending on the day the writer finished writing, it is an account of a person's experiences over some period of time. While any personal story told by the person who experienced that story can be autobiographical, a typical autobiography is much longer than the average essay. Autobiographical books are usually written by celebrities, politicians, and people connected to historical events. While any narrative told in story form by the person who lived the experience being described is autobi A personal statement is an autobiographical essay that many colleges, universities, and professional schools require as part of the admissions process. Also called a statement of purpose, admissions essay, application essay, graduate school essay, letter of intent, and goals statement. The personal statement is generally used to determine a student's ability to overcome obstacles, achieve goals, think critically, and write effectively. See Observations and Recommendations below. Also see: .The Difference between an Essay and an Autobiography
Types of Essays
What's an Autobiography?
Structure
personal statement (essay)
Definition
Observations and Recommendations
"[T]he essay or personal statement began as a gauge of student enthusiasm ('Why in particular do you wish to attend Bates College?'). Over the years, it has been called upon to do other work: to capture how the applicant thinks; to reveal how he or she writes; to uncover information about values, spirit, personality, passions, interests, and maturity. . . .
"Admissions officers, counselors, teachers, and students in my survey rated what matters most in an application essay. All four groups agreed that the most important criteria are correctness, organization, specific evidence, and an individual style. . . .
"As an applicant's best chance to plead his or her own case, the essay is a valuable piece in the admissions puzzle. Students need the advice of someone who knows them well to put together a convincing case, and parents are great resources, with their firsthand information about and commitment to their children."
(Sarah Myers McGinty, "The Application Essay." Chronicle of Higher Education, January 25, 2002)
"It's difficult for most people to write about themselves, especially something personal or introspective. The following suggestions may help your creative juices to flow.