I first want to say thank god for the personal statement workshop! I was pretty stumped on what I was supposed to do in the cover letter for my summer internship application. Since I am a design major, I was new in writing a personal statement, since most of the time were replaced by portfolio. In addition, I am planning to apply for architecture grad school, where the personal statement is a must and has to be the best.

Dr.Hill and Magdala pointed out that the most important part of writing the personal statement: What is it? Personals statement is just like a business proposal, writing down what he or she will do during the time of stay in the university. All the expectation and facts differ from university to university. Dr. Hill and Magdala pointed out the importance of research and getting in contact with people in university or workplace. Whether it is a current attendee or a superior, it is important to be highly knowledgeable of the institution which the letter is being written to.

I was surprised by Dr.Hill’s revealing of truth. That person spends less than 7 seconds on a personal letter. In addition, the letter goes through word scanner and point out only the ones with word choices of excellence or superior, which points out talents and ability of the applicant. I was shocked by the information. How can a long personal statement, which is spent numerous month to write and apply, is spent so little time on it.

With all the information, I got to know how competitive the application process is. I think I know now that I must spend all my time and focus, and make sure to focus my personal statement on expressing my goals and myself.