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Personal Statement Prompt
I am in a crisis involving a horrible case of writer's block! I cannot decide on a topic for my personal statement I need written, revised, and embellished by this Friday! There are two prompts on the UC applications and no matter which one I choose, open a new word document for and just begin writing sounds like a load of crap. I am too distracted by my past and how it's shaped me as a person and cannot find a good solid yet positive topic to write about. I don't know if I can do this. I have scoured the internet for tips and advice but none has helped. I'm feeling low, and desperate.
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Slow down and take a deep breath. I find in situations like these, less is more. When your writing and it sounds like crap, thats because it is crap, your trying too hard! You obviously want this and the pressure and anxiety of doing it "right" is blocking your connection with yourself.
First of all get out of that anxiety. Go for a long walk, good read, yoga, ect. Whatever you need to take your mind away from it. Then when you approach it again take some deep breaths and try to abandon all your expectations about what the product "should" be. Take your focus off the product and put it on the process. You want to find the words for something purely honest. Your relationship to your work. If you don't know what it is start with a free write. welcome random words and fragmented sentences. This is a page with no expectations. A place where the good and the bad are both equally welcome. Your going to write or type and let your thoughts bleed out of you. All of it doesn't have to make sense and hopefully it wont. Don't stop writing till your exhausted or have realized what you want to say. The more you can abandon expectations of the product the deeper you can venture into your self. There is no right or wrong here just go!
After that go over all the ideas on the page/s and give each one a quick but honest thought. How much do I actually agree with this? Do I honestly think this is true for me? If your not at least %90 in agreement with this idea, cross it out. If you agree with it look to see if has any connection or relation to anything else on your page.
Remember the best writers write what they know. When you have finished this process you should have scraped some bits and pieces of what you know. It might be super raw and in need of a LOT of work but congratulations you have found your voice.
Now, how can you fill in the gaps? How can you use your writing skills to reach the most honest and expressive version of this voice? How can you not judge the writing? Don't measure it against outside expectations, measure it against the best version of it's self. Develop your work to be true to itself. Don't judge it for what it's not, embrace it for what it is.
I know you have it in you, good luck honey!
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I learned how hard this is too when I put together a dating profile which led to meeting my 2nd husband. The first thing it is set up for is writing to tell a prospective date about you.
I will get to the tips but first it'll make more sense once I show you what the wrong thing is.
Lets say you want to know if a new possible boyfriend is positive, sensitive, patient, easy going, believes in being a gentleman and respecting women and supporting them, is community oriented etc. something about his character and personality.
How can you learn that from a personal statement that says where he went to school, that he is divorced, has one kid, owns his home. Has lived in vermont and Texas and what college he went to, and how many pets he has? You can't. Yet I received a lot of those.
It took me time to figure out mine too.
A good help is to think of what you are passionate about. It can be quite a few things.
Something you are doing or believe in that you are passionate about, will not feel like work, you are drawn to it, to talking about it, time flies so much faster when you you are focused on and doing it, and you can never get enough of it and never tire of it.
That for me would be mothering both my kids when little and now grandchild or anyone elses kids I Come across. I love gardening and don't want to stop to make dinner sometimes. And I love writing.
Think now about your passions and what is the single ingredient (or two) that drives you to want to pursue these things. In my examples, its a quality I was born with but none of my children possess, I am a nurturer at heart. Whether its nurturing children or young new plants and all the care they need as children do, the weeding an trimming and feeding, protecting, etc... In the garden I can let the creativity that lays buried in me, rise to the surface, and creativity comes out in my writing as well. These two things will influence greatly the things I get involved in throughout life. So find what yours are and then think of how those being who you are at core should make it easier to make statements about yourself. In fact if it wasn't for my want and need to nurture and have creative outlets, I would not have been drawn to volunteer here at Advicenators.
Good luck dear.
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The instructions for writing a personal statement include this: "Find your individual voice and express it honestly." Your problem is that you're not being honest. You're trying to shape yourself into what you think a personal statement should be like. The worst thing that you can do is come up with a cookie-cutter statement that is going to sound like crap and be just like everyone else's. Nobody wants to read that. Not even you. A story where the main character goes through no level of adversity, challenge, or struggle is a rather terrible, boring story.
Make your statement stand out by making it a truly personal statement. Be honest. If all you can think about is your past and how it's shaped you, write about it! That's what you're supposed to do! Your struggles and how you have overcome them should be the focus, not a distraction. It may be negative, but it's what has shaped you into the person that you are today. Struggles in life are sometimes what bring about the greatest, most positive qualities in people.
Use your own voice and write what your heart is screaming at your brain to put down. If you are honest, it will be a moving, wonderful piece of writing that will catch the eye of whomever is tasked with reading it. It will stand out from the rest in a good way. Consider this quote from the movie Mulan: "The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." You have a story to tell, so tell it. Good luck!
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