Writing a personal statement can be difficult; it’s your opportunity to help the person reading your application understand who you are as a person, rather than as a list of grades or a CV. When writing a personal statement, avoid clichés, exaggeration, and lack of focus, which is where a personal statement writing service UK can provide valuable guidance. UKWritings.com specializes in helping students write strong, authentic personal statements tailored to their goals and experiences. It might feel like you are writing for the world, but in actuality, it’s for admissions officers or prospective employers. And there are lots of potential hazards you want to avoid so that your personal statement doesn’t lose points unnecessarily. In this article, I share the most important ‘don’ts’ if you want to write a great personal statement.
Don’t Start with a Cliche
One of the worst mistakes you can make in your personal statement is writing an opener that borders on the commonplace. Do not begin every sentence in your essay with some hackneyed truism such as ‘Ever since I was a little kid…’ or ‘I can’t remember a time…’ You are off to a bad start here because this is the most overused opening sentence to an essay in the entire world. If you must begin an essay with a sentence about your past, at least make it a charming anecdote or provocative rhetorical question. You want the admissions officer or employer to read your essay, so start it off with a bang.
Don’t Be Vague
Along those lines, another occasional error is to be overly vague in your personal statement: ‘I am motivated by the opportunity to make a difference in the world’ or ‘I am passionate about helping others’ is fine as part of a coherent narrative, but your reader doesn’t really learn anything about you from such statements. Instead, focus on specific examples of how you demonstrated a difference you made or your passion. ‘I was part of this particular volunteer experience, and it made me want to apply my talents at a higher academic level in order to make a difference in the world.’ ‘I did this and here is the effect it had on my community/city/country/collective/etc.’
Don’t Repeat Your Resume
To avoid common pitfalls in a personal statement, such as being vague or overly self-promotional, consider seeking advice from the best case study writing service for expert tips on creating an engaging narrative. But it’s not a résumé or CV rehashed. The people reading your application have probably already seen a formal list of your qualifications and experience. The personal statement is your chance to go beyond the bullets and tell the story behind them – not what you’ve done but what those experiences have taught you; not what you’ve achieved but how it has made you who you are and what you have in mind for the future.
Don’t Use Overly Formal Language
Keep your voice professional but avoid the pitfall of filling your personal statement with overwrought language. Bigger words and more complicated sentences don’t help you sound smart – in fact, they usually detract from your message. Stiff, wordy prose can make your writing sound awkward, rather than distinguished and informed. It helps to imagine that you’re shooting for a level of clarity that you usually set for emails to friends and family. The goal for your personal statement is that it doesn’t sound like you swallowed a thesaurus.
Don’t Ignore the Prompt
Some applications will provide you with an explicit prompt or question to answer in your personal statement. A common mistake is to ignore this prompt and write a generic essay about oneself. So, if the prompt asks to discuss a time when you overcame a challenge, don’t discuss your general career goals. Stay on task and show that you can follow instructions.
Don’t Forget to Proofread
Now, let’s take a moment to look at some common mistakes in personal statements and their potential impacts:
| Mistake | Potential Impact | How to Avoid |
| Spelling and grammar errors | Makes you appear careless or unprofessional | Proofread multiple times, use spell-check, ask others to review |
| Exceeding word limit | Shows inability to follow instructions | Be concise, focus on most important points |
| Too many personal details | Can make the statement feel unfocused | Stick to relevant experiences and information |
| Lack of structure | Makes your statement hard to follow | Use clear paragraphs and transitions |
| Negativity or complaints | Can make you seem unprofessional or bitter | Focus on positive experiences and lessons learned |
Don’t Include Irrelevant Information
Your personal statement should have laser-beam focus – nothing in it is extraneous to your application or the job described in it. If you are applying to med school, your admissions committee doesn’t need to know about your high-school wins in tennis (unless you were planning to be a doctor anyway). You don’t need to explain anything, except who you are – and why you’re the right person for the position.
Don’t Be Dishonest
It is tempting to put a little spin on your background to make yourself look better for admissions and applications. Don’t do it. Admissions officers and employers are very good at spotting inconsistencies, and your application is likely to be tossed in the trash if you are caught in a lie. Don’t do it. Always write truthfully in your personal statement. If, as you look over your résumé, you feel there might be something lacking – a few too many trips to Six Flags or too much youthful volunteerism at the local nursing home – don’t worry. Focus instead on what you learned through those experiences. Authenticity trumps false panache.
Don’t Forget Your Audience
Keep in mind who will be reading your personal statement. If you are applying to a particular programme or job, find things out about that programme or job and indicate how you possess those qualities or how your experiences fit with their programme’s goals. Do not flatter too shamelessly or drop too many names; your personal statement is supposed to be about you and what you can do for them.
Don’t Use Humor Inappropriately
Humor might elevate your personal statement to a higher level of liveliness, but use it sparingly. What you find funny, others might not – humor is notoriously transitive and can easily be misunderstood in writing. If you do employ humor, ensure it is not only fitting but also directly relevant to your message. Never employ sarcasm or potentially offensive jokes in your personal statement.
Don’t Neglect Your Conclusion
Just as the first paragraph of your personal statement is essential to your essay’s beginning, so the concluding sentences of your essay are essential to your essay’s ending. It is a serious mistake to let your essay fizzle out at its end, to allow your essay to just drop off into space. Be sure that your conclusion ends your essay nicely without letting loose ends hang. Most of all, restate your main points and reemphasise why your background and goals make you a good candidate for the programme or position. Don’t include new points or information in your conclusion. The conclusion is a summing up of what you have written before and will reinforce aspects of what you have written earlier in your essay.
Don’t Rush the Writing Process
A clichéd expression about any piece of writing applies equally here: the best personal statement takes time. It’s not a piece of writing that you should leave until the eleventh hour and then crank out in a mad panic – you start early, and have lots of time to think of ideas and write several drafts and revise. The first draft of anything is rarely the best, so make sure you have time to think so your ideas can develop. It can also be helpful to set your draft aside for a day or two before turning back to it with fresh eyes, to see where your piece is weak that you might not have seen the first time around.
Don’t Forget to Show Growth
Your personal statement needs to show that you can still learn as much as that you’ve achieved. You don’t want to sound as if you are done with learning about yourself, as if you are a ‘product’, and you want to show how you have developed from experience. Have you made mistakes and learned from them? Have you overcome a steep learning curve in any area of your life? If so, what did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about your capacity for improvement? That’s more meaningful than listing your accomplishments.
Don’t Ignore Your Uniqueness
Although the prompt requires dedication to the demands of the programme or position, or explanation of your fit within a school community, don’t forget to let your personality come through in the process. Your personality should shine through, not what you perceive the programme director or admissions committee wishes to read. Your personal statement should sound like you – not someone you think the reader wants. What do you think or feel about the world or yourself? What have you seen or experienced that motivates you? What can you contribute to the community that is different from other applicants? You should definitely be different in many ways from other applicants, as long as ‘different’ is positive and will make sense within the context of the programme or school community.
Don’t Overlook the Importance of Structure
A well-structured personal statement is easier to read and understand than a long block of text. A good rule of thumb is that if you can write your entire personal statement without any breaks or paraphrasing, you won’t pass the test of a strong application. Use paragraphs to organize your writing into clear sections. For example, you may want to talk about work experience, voluntary experience, school experience and other areas you can use each of. If you have more sentences to show how they’re linked. For example, ‘This was important because it helped me realize the value…’ This type of paragraph also shows how you can start with one point and bring it around to something that continues the story.
To sum up, writing a personal statement can be a slow and arduous process but ultimately it can be a fulfilling experience. If you are able to avoid making these common mistakes, you can end up with an essay that retains your authenticity while creating a lasting impression on your reader. Be genuine, be precise, be considered and be original in your words. Take your time, get feedback, and revise. Your personal statement can be a way for you to tell your story, so tell it right.