Example of autobiographical statement for graduate school

Let’s make this easy for you, gentle reader. Whether we call it a “personal statement” or a “statement of purpose,” your primary grad-application essay can only have one of three structures.

One is excellent—a rhetorically powerful piece of writing that makes you look like an exceptional scholar, no matter what difficulties you’ve faced in the past. Another is “good” or “okay”—a solid, functional, easy way to write.

The final one is bad, and despite what anyone else tells you, it correlates highly to grad school rejection. Let’s examine these three essay templates, compare them to some excellent sample essays, and so learn how to structure a personal statement that’ll make you feel awesomely confident…and knock the socks off of admissions committees.

Table of Contents

1. The Bad: Autobiography Essays
2. The Decent: Statement of Objectives
3. The Magnificent: Story-Based Statement of Purpose
4. Why Are These Essays So Good?
5. A Per