The Personal Statement: The Keystone of College Application Success

The personal statement is your best chance to articulate who you are. Applicants at prestigious colleges and universities overwhelmingly have high test scores and near perfect GPAs, and yet they still admit fewer than 8% of applicants.

The Key Question:

If applicants already have top GPAs and test scores, how can they set themselves apart from their peers?

The Answer:

Top universities have plenty of “qualified” applicants (strong test scores, GPA, and extracurricular activities). Rather, they seek students who will become the next generation of global elites. Extremely selective universities curate their incoming classes to reflect students they think should and will be the next generation of elites. These universities select their incoming classes to reflect a diverse range of geographic regions and socioeconomic backgrounds. More importantly, after accounting for athletes and legacy admissions (who both receive an admissions advantage), elite universities ask themselves: who among these applicants is likely to go on to do something interesting or influential in the future?

The answer to this question cannot be extrapolated from GPA and test scores. The personal statement is the student’s only opportunity to synthesize all their extracurricular experiences into a narrative that explains who they are – why they are who they are – and who they hope to one day become.

Case Study: The University of Pennsylvania 2022-2023 Admissions Data

UPenn accepted 6.5% of undergraduate freshman applicants in 2023.

54% of applicants had a perfect GPA and 90% of applicants had an unweighted GPA above 3.75.

Students in the 50th percentile had a 750 in Reading and Writing and a 790 in Math. Source: 2022-2023 Common Data Set

The Common App Personal Statement effectively pulls double duty by providing an opportunity for students to showcase their personality and demonstrate their ability to craft and reflect on a compelling story. Unfortunately, while this skill is incredibly important in applications (and in life), it is almost never systematically taught in school curricula.

Starting next week, we will publish weekly blog posts offering helpful conceptual perspectives and practical tips on successfully creating a winning Common App Personal Statement.