Hi, welcome to www.engvid.com , I'm Adam.
In today's video, I'm going to talk to you
about writing a personal statement. Now, a
personal statement is one of the documents
that you will have to submit to a university
when you're applying for admission there.
Not all schools want it, but most schools
do want some form of written document from
you to apply with. Now, personal statement
is just one type of document, but that's the
type I'll talk about today. I'll mention the
other types, but that will be a separate video
for them, because it's a different approach
to each one. So, before you do - before you
do - before you start writing your personal
statement, you have to be ready. Now, what
this means is you can't write a personal statement
the night before. You can't write it a week
before. Some people spend anywhere from six
months to a year preparing their personal
statement. Now, personally, I don't think
you need a year, you just need to work hard
for awhile, but you need more than a week,
okay? There's a lot of work to do, I'm going
to show you some of the things you need to
keep in mind, we're going to look at six different
things you need to understand about the personal
statement, but this is such an important document,
such an important piece of paper, that you
have to spend time on it. You have to know
what's involved, okay? So, we're going to
start with that.
First of all, know the parameters. Now, what
does this mean? I've seen lots of people;
I've seen lots of examples of personal statements
where the people did not get onto the school's
website and find out what they actually need
to do. They didn't look at the instructions.
They didn't look at the limits. They didn't
look at anything. They just started writing
a personal statement, okay? What they didn't
understand is what font size can you use?
Usually the school will tell you, they will
give you some instructions about what you
can and can't do, okay? If you think, oh,
I don't have enough to write, I'll use a 14
font, a size 14 font, to fill up the pages,
okay, they - the admissions committee, the
people who read this, they will see a 14 font
- garbage, you're done, you're not getting
into this school. They didn't even read one
word yet. They saw you couldn't follow instructions,
you obviously can't be a good student - goodbye,
okay? Know the font. Know the spacing. Do
they want double-spaced or single-spaced?
Some of them don't care, they say you can
write double or single, but make sure you
know. If they want double-spaced, send them
double-spaced personal statement. If they
want single, make it single. Some of them
will tell you how - the margins, they want
one inch each side. They want two inches on
the top and bottom, one inch on each side.
Make sure you format your personal statement
the way they want it. If you don't, it means
you can't follow instructions, and this is
for a personal statement. How are you going
to do when your teachers give you instructions,
right? You can't follow these basic instructions?
You won't follow your teachers' instructions,
they don't want you at their school, you're
done, they haven't even read your personal
statement yet.
Now, very, very important. Some of them will
give you a word limit. Some of them will say
no more than 1000 words. Some will say no
more than 1250 words. Some of them will say
900 words. Make sure you know what the limit
of words is. Now, they might not give you
a word limit. They might give you a character
limit. Character means like, each letter and
space and period and comma, each one of these
is a character. A 900 character usually includes
spaces, so make sure when your final draft
is ready, you do not have more than 900 characters.
Now, again, don't sit there counting each
one. Make sure you do this on Word or some
sort of word processor that can count for
you, okay? And you can look at the top of
the tabs in Word, for example, and there'll
be a place that says word count. There will
also show you character count. Make sure you
don't go over your limit. Some of them will
just give you a page limit. No more than two
double-spaced pages. Okay. No more than one
single spaced page, it's almost the same thing,
but again, know how much you need to write,
don't go beyond it. If they're giving you
two pages, don't write half a page. If they're
giving you one page, don't write a page and
a half. Generally, I say anywhere between
a page and a quarter to a page and a half
should be enough. That's usually the standard,
but again, every school will have their own
instructions. Make sure you know what they
want. Make sure you give them what they want.
Okay?
Now, some of them will just say "Write a personal
statement", basically, why do you want to
come to this school, or why do you want to
join this program. Others will give you a
very specific question, okay? If they give
you a question, make sure you answer that
question. Make sure that you build your - you
construct or organize your personal statement
around that question. If you ignore the question,
you're - again, you're ending up in the rejection
file, you know, you aren't getting admitted.
Now, keep in mind, the personal statement
is not the only thing they're looking at,
but if you have very good grades, very good
extracurricular activities, very good volunteering
but you still have a terrible personal statement,
all those things might not help you. On the
other hand, if you have so-so grades and so-so
everything else but your personal statement
is amazing, that could actually get you into
university. Very important document, okay?
And sometimes, you will have everything the
same, they'll - let's say there's five seats
in a class, in a particular course. There
are ten people, each of them have basically
the same grades, the same experience, the
same volunteer experience, etc. What's going
to make the difference between who gets in
and who doesn't? The personal statement, okay?
Don't underestimate the value of this document.
Now, the next thing, and this where a lot
of people make a mistake. Do they actually
want a personal statement, okay? Or, do they
want a statement of intent, or a statement
of purpose? Call it both ways. Do they want
an essay? Do they want a personal statement
of intent? Make sure you understand what it
is they're asking for. A personal statement
and a statement of intent are not the same
thing, okay? This - the way you write this
and the way you write this are different,
okay, and that's why I said I'll make a different
video for the statement of intent because,
right now, we're just concentrating on the
personal statement. So, let's take this question
and go to the next step.
So, we're taking about a personal statement.
What is the first thing you have to notice
about personal statement? First thing you
have to notice is that they want a person.
It's personal, okay? What they don't want
to know is they don't want to know what are
you, they want to know who are you. They want
to see the person. They want to see the personality,
okay? They want to see the person that's going
to be coming into their classrooms and interacting
with other students, interacting with faculty,
interacting with school staff, somebody who
can lead, somebody who can work hard and succeed
and go on to give the school a good reputation
once they enter the working world. So, they
want to see a person.
Now, what does this mean? They want to know
your personality. They want to know, what
have you done or - that shows who you are.
They don't want to know what's on your transcripts.
They see your transcripts. They know what's
on your transcripts. Don't tell them that
in the personal statement. Again, you can
take out highlights. I was in the top 3% of
my class in whatever, sure. That's not on
your transcript, necessarily. But don't tell
them I took this, this, and that course and
I got A's in everything. Yeah, they know,
they can see your transcript. Don't tell them
that here. They don't want to see a student.
They want to see a person. Okay? And I'll
say that many times. If you have to submit
a CV or a resume, don't tell them what you've
done in terms of work or volunteer experience.
They can see it in the resume. They can see
it in the CV. Show them the person, don't
show them the worker. Show them the person,
don't show them the student, okay? All of
that, they have other documents for. Again,
all they want to see is the person.
Now, you're asking, okay, yeah, I understand,
you've said it enough times, but I could tell
you that - I've said it to people ten times,
and they still didn't do it. Very, very important
to make sure they see a person, okay? They
want to see uniqueness. They want to see some
sort of imagination, okay, they want to see
creativity. If you go online, if you do a
Google search, or Bing or Yahoo or whatever
search engine you use and you put "personal
statement samples", the internet's full of
them. Read some of these. You will read examples
of what not to do and you will read examples
of what to do. I once read a sample of a girl
who got into all the ivy league schools. How
did she organize her personal statement? She
basically put all of her information into
a story about going to Costco. For those of
you who don't know, Costco is a huge supermarket
in the States and Canada and everywhere. She
compared her life and she compared her academic
career and her work experience to a shopping
trip to Costco. Now, you're thinking, well,
that's a little bit strange. Yeah, it is a
little bit strange, but it worked, and what
did it show the most? That she was thinking
outside the box. So, this is very important.
Think outside the box, be creative, be original,
be fresh. The people who are going to be reading
your statement, they're going to be sitting
in a room, they're going to have a stack of
statements, okay? It's extremely boring work,
but they have to do it, and the more boring
your personal statement, the more average
it is, the more bland it is, the more unoriginal
it is, the more tired you're making them and
a little bit more angry you're making them.
Don't make them angry, give them something
fresh, wake them up. As soon as you've woken
them up, you already have an advantage in
your admissions process, okay? Very, very
important. Be a person. Don't be a student.
Don't be a worker.
Now, I'm going to talk a bit more about how
you should do this, especially the introduction
paragraph is super important. We're going
to talk about that soon enough.
Okay, so now, as I mentioned, time, right?
So, your next step is to plan. Now, you have
to plan your - you have to plan your overall
approach to the personal statement. So, what
you have to do is you have to find your theme
or your arc. This is an arc, basically, right?
So, this is what is holding your whole personal
statement together and then all the information's
going to come under this, under the arc, and
it's all connecting to one central idea, and
that's why I also call it a theme. Like, if
you're into sports, that could be your theme.
If you're a refugee from somewhere and you're
looking for a better life and you're looking
for a second chance, that's your theme. Or,
another way to look at it is your "in". The
one thing that lets you into the story and
then you build your story from there, right?
Very, very important to have this theme. You're
not going to just list down random information.
You're going to tell a story, okay, and that's
what you're looking for. You're looking for
the plot of the story of who you are and you're
going to present that to the admissions committee,
the people who are reading it. Again, I can't
stress this enough, take time to do it. And
you'll be surprised, I've helped lots of students
write personal statements, okay, and it's
amazing to me. Like, they always send me their
first draft and I always - almost always send
them back an email and I say, "Yeah, we're
going to have to start from the beginning,
because you're not doing what a personal statement
is. You're not telling me a story, you're
giving me facts, a lot of the facts which
I can get from your other documents, okay,
so we're going to start from scratch." And
what I do is I create a list of questions
for them, and what you can do is create a
list of questions for yourself. But be very
broad with your questions, okay? Make sure
you ask all the who, what, when, where, how,
which, etc., why, why do you want to come
to this school? Why do you want to study this?
When did you know you wanted to study this?
So, you're applying, for example, to medical
school, okay? Why are you applying to medical
school? Why do you want to be a doctor? Did
somebody push you to be a doctor? Did you
ever have an experience at a doctor's office
where you came out and you said "You know
what? This is what I want to be, this is what
I want to do with my life." What is that point
in your life, that light bulb switched on
and you realized this what you want to study?
If you're going into business, why? Why do
you want to go into business? Do you want
to be rich? Okay, good. You're not going to
say that on your personal statement. What
you can say is why do you want to be rich?
Do you want to make lots of money so that
you can help poor people? Do you want to make
lots of money so that you can control the
world? Do you want to be president? Always
ask one more question. Whatever your answer
is, go a little bit more. Again, very important,
I want you to dig deep into yourself. Don't
be afraid of asking yourself these questions,
okay? Now, when I help students write a personal
statement, I send them minimum fifteen questions,
sometimes thirty questions, and I'm not going
to use all the answers in the personal statement,
I'm not going to ask them to do that, but
I want them to think. I want them to find
that little piece of information, that little
piece of their history to build a story around,
okay? I want them to find their theme, okay?
Ask non-typical questions. Don't say "Why
do you want to be doctor?" Okay, obviously,
that's a question you need to think about,
but I want you to think, "Why do you want
to help people? Why does seeing somebody sick
become unsick make you feel good? How does
it make you feel good? What situation - what
example, what experience in your life has
helped you understand that feeling about yourself?"
Okay? Lots of questions. Give non-typical
answers to typical questions. Even if you're
- in your list of questions, you have very
typical questions, "Why do you want to go
to this school?", look for non-typical answers.
Why do you want to go to MIT? Well yeah, it's
the best technical school in the world, but
why MIT? Why this particular school? There
are lots of good technical schools. Well,
MIT has, on-campus they have this particular
building where you can do this, that, and
that. Be very, very specific with your answers.
Now, all the details you're going to collect
are going to help you come up with your theme,
with your arc, the one thread that goes through
all this information and connects it all together,
the one thing that helps you create a story,
okay? Because, again, they have your transcript,
they have your CV, they want to know who you
are as a person, okay?
Think of it like this: when you get to university,
you're going to meet lots of new people and
you're going to meet new classmates, new teachers,
new people who are not your classmates but
go to your school, in your dormitory, you'll
meet them at the cafeteria, whatever. You're
going to start interacting with people. People
are going to want to know, who are you? Do
I want to be friends with you? Why do I want
to be friends with you? Well, tell them here.
Tell them in the personal statement. Make
the admissions committee, people, want to
be friends with you, because you're a special
person, okay? And don't think - sorry, one
last point before I go on - everybody thinks
they're special, which is fine. Everybody
is special, but if everybody is special, nobody
is special. Right? So, don't assume that everybody
is basically different and you're the one
special one, okay?
Another thing that a lot of people forget,
and I forgot to mention this before too, you're
not the only one applying. The admissions
committee is reading a lot of these things.
What makes you stand out? Okay? What makes
you different from the other people? So, I
had one student. She was applying to a program
that, on average, every year, they had 700
people applying, 700 applicants, for 25 seats
in the program. So, one of the questions I
asked her, "What makes you better, or what
makes you more qualified, or what makes you
a better candidate than 675 other people?",
okay? That's what she had to think about and
come up with an answer the beset she could
and then we worked through it and got her
theme, okay?
Now, you have your plan, you have your theme,
you're ready to go. Are you going to start
researching the school? Not yet, you can start
thinking about your introduction. All of the
other details will come later, because I want
you to establish your theme, I want you to
establish your story, that's happening in
the introduction, okay? The introduction is
what is going to make or break your personal
statement. This is where you catch the reader's
attention, you hold it, and make them want
to go on to read the other important information.
So, you need a hook. You need that first sentence
to just grab the reader's attention and hold
it, and that comes in the first sentence.
Now, I've seen lots of personal statements
where somebody says, "My name is Bill Smith
and I really want to go to your school." No.
Terrible sentence. Why? A: They have your
whole application package, they know your
name. They know you want to apply to this
school because you sent an application. They
know you want to go here. Don't tell them
the obvious. You're writing a story, grab
their attention. Give them something unique,
okay? I had one - I helped one person write
a statement. I found out she liked sports.
That was her hook. We started straight with
the sports analogy. What makes successful
people successful? In sports, it's their ability
to win, it's their ability to play in a team
and to strategize, to have a target and work
hard to reach it. Again, I'm obviously paraphrasing
here, but that's the key point. We used sports
as her theme. Sports is a very good theme,
by the way, if you're into sports. But, again,
if you're going to use sports, make sure that
your CV has a lot of sports stuff on it. She
was on two university teams, so it was very
good. I think she was captain of one and won
a championship with another.
Now, what should you not do? So again, don't
state your name. Don't state your hometown,
don't state your area of study. My name is
Bill Smith, I'm from Florida, and I study
Economics. They know all that! Don't waste
words and time on your personal statement.
Now, if any of this information is part of
your story. Let's say your name is - you have
some strange name, and from your country.
Let's say you're not an English speaker. Your
name in your country is a regular, everyday
name, but when you come to America, your name
is very strange, okay, or has a different
meaning. So that name is part of what shapes
your personality, it's part of what you experience
as a person. Then, yes, talk about your name.
But, again, don't say "My name is...". Make
sure that that name has a link to your overall
personality and your overall goals. Same with
hometown. If you're from a county like, if
you're a refugee from a country, then yeah,
you can say "I'm from this place and I had
to run away from there to start a new life
here, and this is why I'm applying...", etc.
If this information is relevant to the story
of who you are, use it. If it's not, leave
it out. If it's just plain information, they
don't need it. They already have it, okay?
And even if it is a part of your story, try
to incorporate it a little bit later in the
essay, in the body, or if it's central, then
yeah, use it in the introduction as well.
Don't state your interest in the school. Again,
you applied. They know, okay? Now, I - I shouldn't
have to say this, but I do have to say it.
Don't flatter them. "I'm applying to your
school because you're the best in the world
and you have the best teachers and the best
graduates and I want to be a part of that."
They don't need to know that. They know. They
know how good they are. Yes, you can mention
rankings, you can mention how good the state
of the art equipment and reputation in the
body. Don't do it in the introduction. Don't
flatter them, don't fawn. Don't, ah, I so
much want to go to MIT, it's such a great
school. I love you guys, you're the best!
No, they don't need to know any of that. They
know they're the best, that's why you're applying
there. Do not beg. I really, really need to
come to your school because if I don't, my
parents will kill me. They don't care, and
you're not getting into this school because
if that's your main reason for coming here,
you're not going to be a good student. You're
coming here because you have something to
offer them. Don't make it like they have something
to give you. It's always about you helping
the school, not the other way around, okay?
The school needs to want you to come there,
because why? Because you have something to
offer. You're a leader, you're going to make
your classmates work harder. You have fresh
ideas. You're going to help everybody be better.
If you're saying, "I want to come there, I
want to improve my English, I want to get
the best degree in the world, I want to make
lots of money.", you're not getting into this
program. Okay?
Don't plead, which basically means the same
as beg, please, please, please. Don't explain
anything. If you had a bad score in one of
your grades, don't explain it in the introduction.
You can bring it up later as part of the story.
It could be like, "I had somebody in my family
passed away", or "Somebody in my family became
really sick and I had to take care of them,
which is why this particular class, I did
badly in, because I didn't have time to study,
but after everything was resolved, you'll
notice that my marks went straight back up
to A's, so it was a difficult time, but it
made me stronger." Again, take the bad, make
it into good, but don't give an excuse. Nobody
wants excuses, they want results, okay? Don't
justify anything. Don't say that, oh, my school
isn't the best in the country, but my school
doesn't have the best reputation, but I promise
you that I'm a very good and hard worker.
Don't tell them that. Show them that, and
we'll talk about show, don't tell. Again,
don't give excuses, any of that stuff.
And I'm just going to mention very quickly.
Whatever your theme is and whatever your introduction
is, make it in such a way that whenever you
get to your last paragraph, your conclusion
paragraph, you can somehow tie it all together
and make like, a nice, tight circle and you
have a nice package, a full, complete story.
Okay?
So, we know what a POS is, we know what our
instructions are, we know how to plan, we
have our introduction more or less lined out,
we have our theme. What's next?
Okay, so now we're going to look at the next
couple of points. Now, before I go on, the
thing about the introduction. Once you've
more or less written it, you have your idea,
your theme, you've put it in - into a way
you can start your essay, your personal statement,
you're not done with it. This is not the final
draft. This is just to get you an idea so
that then you can go onto the next part. You're
going to do research, and this is very, very
important. I mean, every step is very important,
but this is super important, because the school
needs to know that you know why you're applying
to this school. I hope this makes sense. They
don't want you to apply because you're applying
to every program and every school in the country
that offers it. You're applying to this program
for a reason. Now, how are they going to understand
that you really want to come to this program?
Because you will now what you're talking about
when you're applying. You will do the research.
You will read everything on the website about
the school and about the program. You're not
going to read the pages of the other faculties
because it's not important, but about the
school in general, about the students, about
the general place itself, the campus life,
where it is, why it's famous, what's good
about it, what's bad about it, and of course,
everything about your area of study, you're
going to read about. And you're going to read
other things. You're going to read the rankings,
okay? Where does this school rank in the world,
or in the country, for this particular program?
You're going to read reviews, like, what do
ex-students say? What do other people say
about this school, about this program? You're
going to read whatever news you can find about
this school and this program, okay? Throughout
your research, you're going to collect key
words. Now, you have to pay attention. What
words keep coming up when - in this particular
school? What words do you see regularly on
the website? What words do you see regularly
when this program is discussed, right? Make
a collection of these. You're going to try
to use some of these words in your personal
statement. That's how they know that you know
what you're talking about. That's how they
know that you've done the research. You can
say, and a lot of people say this, "I really
want to go to your school because you have
state of the art equipment and you're world-famous."
Really? How do you know that? You can say
that about most schools these days, right?
Don't tell me, show me.
So, this is a very key idea in writing. Don't
tell me anything, show me. Show me that you
understand. Show me that you know something
about the school. Don't say "Oh yeah, I know
about your school." Okay, anybody could say
that, not anybody could show that they know
something. Get those key words, make sure
you use them. If you're going to talk about
state of the art equipment or state of the
art laboratories, show me that you have a
real concrete example. Like, this particular
school has the new whatever system. Put that
into your personal statement so they know
that you have done some research, okay?
What is their pride and joy, okay? When this
school promotes itself, what's the thing they
concentrate on the most? What makes them the
most proud of themselves? What makes them
very happy to talk about themselves? Find
that out, make sure that you incorporate that
into your writing, okay? Again, all you're
doing is you're showing them that you have
done the research and you have a real reason
to apply there. It's not just because you're
applying to every school, hoping to get into
one, okay? And never mention that that's what
you're doing, if that's what you're doing.
Incorporate all of this into your theme. Now,
you're not going to just randomly throw all
of this information into your personal statement.
You're going to connect it to the part of
the story that is you, okay? How do these
ideas, how do these key words connect to your
personal story? And, again, never forget,
even once you're past the introduction, never
forget that this is still a personal statement.
This is still a story of who you are, and
you're connecting yourself to the school.
You're showing how your story and the school's
story are compatible, okay, that's what you're
trying to show them. Your story makes you
a good fit for this school. That's why you
have something to offer them, and, of course,
they have something to offer you. Make sure
that relationship is clear. Make sure that
compatibility is clear, okay? Then, once you
have all this, go back to your introduction,
re-write it in a way that's going to set up
the rest of the information that's going to
come in the body of the personal statement.
Make sure your introduction is brief. Don't
make it too long, don't give too many details,
brief. Establish the hook, establish the story,
make it impressive, and then get into the
details.
Now, one thing you can do, once you have your
theme in the introduction and you know all
the things you want to mention in your body,
then create a sort of storyline that you can
connect each paragraph has a different point.
So, this is your main theme, and then there's
a subtheme, subtheme, subtheme, subtheme,
sorry, and then you're going to connect all
of the information that you learned about
the school and all the information about yourself
into that subtheme, into those subthemes and
the story.
Once you've done all this, and again, I'm
making it much more simple than it is. You
need to see a lot of sample statements to
know how to write them well. I'm not going
to talk to you about grammar, I'm not going
to talk to you about sentence structures,
about vocabulary. Again, remember, this is
not an English test, this is a test to see
your ability to express yourself, but again,
it's more about showing who you are.
But, having said that, when you finish writing
it, okay, that is your first draft. You will
have many drafts. You shouldn't submit anything
until you've gone at least four, five, six
drafts deep, okay? You're going to re-write,
you're going to edit, and then you're going
to edit some more, and then you're going to
edit some more. And then, you're going to
give it to a friend that you trust, or to
a professional, somebody who you know can
look at it and see all the things that you
missed and give you feedback and then you're
going to re-write and then you're going to
edit some more, okay?
Now, you're going to have many drafts. By
the end, you should have zero spelling mistakes,
zero grammar mistakes, zero punctuation, capitalization,
word usage, zero mistakes anywhere, because
any mistake shows carelessness, and you don't
want to be careless. You want to be meticulous;
you want to be perfect so that they know that
you took this very seriously and you're going
to put the same effort into your studies.
At the end of the day, schools want to admit
students who will succeed, because when a
student succeeds, the school succeeds. When
you graduate from this school and you go get
a good job and you start making connections
and networking all over the place and people
ask you, "Oh, where did you go to school?"
and you say "Oh, I went to this school", this
school looks good, okay? That's what they
want. They want you to be successful and then
go promote them, because they made you successful,
okay? Show them that you're not careless,
have zero mistakes in it.
And, again, make every single word work for
you. Every word should have a purpose. Every
sentence should be saying something, so be
moving the story along. It should be creating
a full picture of who you are, what you can
offer the school, why you think the school
can offer you something in return, and the
relationship you're going to have. And, ideally,
find someone you trust, someone who is good
with the language, who is good at writing,
good with English, get them to put fresh eyes
on this thing. You will read this thing 100
times, 200 times. Mistakes, you're not going
to see them because you've read it so many
times, you know in your head what should be
there. If it's not there, you're not going
to see it anymore. Get somebody with fresh
eyes to read it for you, give you feedback,
make corrections, etc. And again, re-write,
edit, edit, edit. Don't be afraid to hire
a professional editor, okay? There are people,
there are agencies that do only this. Again,
it might not be very cheap, but it's worth
it because this is basically the story of
you. This is what the admissions committee
is going to decide your future on, this piece
of paper, okay, or this statement. Make sure
it's perfect, make sure it's telling a story,
make sure it's impressive.
Now, I'll give you an example. I helped a
young woman apply to medical school, okay?
So, she sent me her first draft, and I, again,
I told her no, we have to start from scratch,
here's a list of questions, answer me. From
all the answers that she sent me, I wrote
her - I helped her write, sorry, a completely
new personal statement, because there was
information in there that was super valuable
that she didn't even think to include. She
didn't think to include the sports that she
participated in. Her grandmother was the first
woman to graduate from a medical school in
her original country. That is very important.
Why? Because it shows that you have a legacy
to live up to. It shows that you come from
a family where education is very important.
It shows that you are determined; you want
to live up to your grandmother's reputation.
You want to be the next in the line of family
members who accomplished something. It shows
determination. The school - the admissions
committee, they want to see that you're determined,
that you're motivated, that you're going to
succeed. This story helps them see that, because
you have a reason to do it, right? She didn't
even think to include this, originally. I
helped her include that in her story. So,
get somebody to give you feedback. It's very,
very important, okay?
Now, if you go to www.engvid.com , there's
a quiz there, although it's not really a quiz,
it's more of a review of the main steps that
you have to keep in mind. Go there, think
of it as a checklist of what you need to do
when you're preparing your personal statement.
Now, a lot of you who are watching this video
are not applying to university, you're not
going to apply to university, but keep in
mind that all the points made here can and
do apply to you. If you're applying to a job
and you have to send a CV or a resume and
a cover letter, the cover letter is the same
idea. You have to sell yourself. You're not
selling the resume, they will look at your
resume, they will get all the details of your
experience. The cover letter is where you
show them a person, okay? Treat the same way
as the personal statement. Show them a person,
show them why they want you, okay, why they
need to hire you, why they would be losing
if they didn't hire you. What can you offer
them, and what can they offer you, make sure
that relationship is clear, and that's why
all of these notes apply to lots of people
out there, okay?
If you have any questions, please go to www.engvid.com
again, there's a comment section. You can
also visit my website, www.editorproof.com
, you can find out more information about
what you need to do with a personal statement
or if you need some help with that. If you
like the video, please subscribe to my channel
on YouTube and come again soon for more good
videos. I'll see you then.
