A compelling personal statement will enable you to stand out in a field with other high-achieving persons. It will help you overcome any gaps or inadequacies in your record. It can predispose the interview panel to want to give you a Truman Scholarship rather than to merely hear your case and then decide.
The passions, accomplishments, ambition, and creativity that you present in a carefully prepared personal statement will go a long way toward success in the Truman competition. Your ability to portray well these characteristics should be of enormous value in competitions next year for graduate fellowships and admissions to highly selective graduate schools.
Writing an effective personal statement is difficult. Points in this section should help you — but count on a lot of thought, effort, feedback from the Truman Faculty Representative, rewriting and editing to produce an outstanding personal statement. The skills that you develop in writing an excellent personal statement for the Truman competition will likely be skills that you will employ throughout your professional career.
The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.
William Zinsser from On Writing Well
Recognize that the people who read your Truman application and decide whether you advance in the Truman competition are pros. Veteran members of the Truman Scholarship Finalists Selection Committee have read hundreds of Truman applications. They distinguish easily between the sincere and the insincere, the truth and the puffery, the carefully prepared and the hastily prepared, the substantive and the superficial. Don't try to guess what they want to read. Just write honestly, simply, and clearly about yourself and your aspirations.
Understand your motivations for a career in public service. Think about why you want to be in the public sector as opposed to the potentially more lucrative and less emotionally challenging private sector.
Get a mentor/critic to help you with the Personal Statement. Generally, this will be the Truman Faculty Representative. If you are unable to work closely with your Faculty Representative, find a professor to assist you and to encourage you when you bog down in telling your story.
Before answering any of the items, think strategically about yourself and your candidacy. Ask yourself: "What are the most important characteristics and values, goals and ambitions, life experiences and service activities that define who I am?" Then decide which of these you wish to emphasize in your Truman personal statement. Don't try to cover every aspect.
Everybody has a special story - some people just tell their story better. Share those stories that have been formative in your development as a potential change agent. These stories are often interesting and compelling.
In telling your story, you want to use your responses to Items 7-9 and 14 to bring out some dimensions that are not obvious from reading your list of activities (responses to Items 2-4). Reveal why you are committed to public service.
The passions, accomplishments, ambition, and creativity that you present in a carefully prepared personal statement will go a long way toward success in the Truman competition. Your ability to portray well these characteristics should be of enormous value in competitions next year for graduate fellowships and admissions to highly selective graduate schools.
Writing an effective personal statement is difficult. Points in this section should help you — but count on a lot of thought, effort, feedback from the Truman Faculty Representative, rewriting and editing to produce an outstanding personal statement. The skills that you develop in writing an excellent personal statement for the Truman competition will likely be skills that you will employ throughout your professional career.
The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.
William Zinsser from On Writing Well
Recognize that the people who read your Truman application and decide whether you advance in the Truman competition are pros. Veteran members of the Truman Scholarship Finalists Selection Committee have read hundreds of Truman applications. They distinguish easily between the sincere and the insincere, the truth and the puffery, the carefully prepared and the hastily prepared, the substantive and the superficial. Don't try to guess what they want to read. Just write honestly, simply, and clearly about yourself and your aspirations.
Understand your motivations for a career in public service. Think about why you want to be in the public sector as opposed to the potentially more lucrative and less emotionally challenging private sector.
Get a mentor/critic to help you with the Personal Statement. Generally, this will be the Truman Faculty Representative. If you are unable to work closely with your Faculty Representative, find a professor to assist you and to encourage you when you bog down in telling your story.
Before answering any of the items, think strategically about yourself and your candidacy. Ask yourself: "What are the most important characteristics and values, goals and ambitions, life experiences and service activities that define who I am?" Then decide which of these you wish to emphasize in your Truman personal statement. Don't try to cover every aspect.
Everybody has a special story - some people just tell their story better. Share those stories that have been formative in your development as a potential change agent. These stories are often interesting and compelling.
In telling your story, you want to use your responses to Items 7-9 and 14 to bring out some dimensions that are not obvious from reading your list of activities (responses to Items 2-4). Reveal why you are committed to public service.
No comments:
Post a Comment