{"id":45131,"date":"2024-12-03T09:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T15:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/?page_id=45131"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:51:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:51:30","slug":"personal-statement-guide","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/personal-statement-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Statement Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Writing a personal statement, statement of purpose, or letter of intent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Personal statements: as with all things, there is <strong style=\"font-family: Calluna, 'Big Caslon', Cambria, serif; font-size: 18px;\">bad news<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: Calluna, 'Big Caslon', Cambria, serif; font-size: 18px;\"> and <\/span><strong style=\"font-family: Calluna, 'Big Caslon', Cambria, serif; font-size: 18px;\">good news<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: Calluna, 'Big Caslon', Cambria, serif; font-size: 18px;\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>bad news<\/strong> is that writing a good personal statement is hard work. Successful applicants often write 4-10 drafts before they have a polished piece of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>good news<\/strong> is that, even if you find writing to be a challenge, with practice and hard work you can write an excellent personal statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>If you need assistance with a personal statement, ask for help from a faculty member or from the <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/asc\/writing-help\/\">Writing Desk<\/a>. Or make an appointment with a <a href=\"https:\/\/app.joinhandshake.com\/appointments\">Piper Center coach\u00a0on Handshake<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/personal-statement-guide\/what-are-reviewers-looking-for-in-a-personal-statement\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What are reviewers looking for in a personal statement?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/personal-statement-guide\/how-do-you-identify-the-purpose-of-and-audience-for-your-personal-statement\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How do you identify the purpose of and audience for your personal statement?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/personal-statement-guide\/how-do-you-start-writing-your-personal-statement\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How do you start writing your personal statement?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>To review examples of personal statements or guides on writing essays, drop by the Piper Center and <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/connect-with-us\/\">speak to one of our Peer Advisors<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><!-- begin-migrated-from-panel-builder --><!-- end-migrated-from-panel-builder --><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Writing a personal statement, statement of purpose, or letter of intent Personal statements: as with all things, there is bad news and good news. The bad news is that writing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8325,"featured_media":0,"parent":17157,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-45131","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45131"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52517,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45131\/revisions\/52517"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}