This past week, I had the opportunity to sit down with a group of students to discuss writing personal statements. Very quickly, the conversation turned into a discussion about how to sell yourself. I think was a vital conversation for us as a Rose community to have. These “insider” tricks aren’t taught in the class room setting and career services isn’t always a comfortable environment for students looking for more than a job, but a competitive edge.

Geoffrey and Magdala both had a extensive background when it came to writing statements, as well as cover letters. Two things that stood out to me during this  conversation:

1. Call-In: I think this was a very important trick that Cornell students don’t take advantage of. Calling in to check up on a pending application not only can alieve anxiety, but also show interest and initiative for the position you are applying to.
2. Tailor: Both Magdala and Geoffrey noted how they have a variety of different copies of resumes, cover letters and personal statements that they have tailored to certain positions to highlight specific aspects and traits they exhibit.

On my journey to develop my personal statement for law school, I know this workshop will certainly be helpful. Personal statements require an immense amount of authenticity and strategy. As I begin to meditate on how I want to approach writing and determining my topic, I know that my personal statement is only a fragment but also there are countless ways in which I can help my application through.

While I wish we would’ve dived deeper into the nuances and looked at examples of strong personal statements, this workshop positively reinforce a lot of what I believed to be true about writing personal statements. I know that I would appreciate the opportunity to meet one on one with Magdala and Geoffrey to receive a more personalized approach to writing statements.

One of the reasons I signed up for this seminar was because I did not know what a personal statement was used for. Was it for job applications? Grad school? Something else? What i learned was that a personal statement is used usually when applying to grad schools and that you include your interests in terms of where you want to go and what you want to do once you get there. Basically, it is a business proposal in which you are asking for a school to invest in you. This differs from a cover letter because a cover letter is written in response to a specific job advertisement in which you write why you are the best candidate for the job/internship. I was glad to clear up this distinction because I did not know whether personal statements should be included when applying for internships. That would have been great to hear that i have been missing something in my applications for the last 3 years. Nevertheless, this information was very helpful.

When cover letters came up, what was discussed wasn’t so shocking to me. When Dr. Hill said that most letters are read by computer programs and also by the slim chance it actually reaches a human being to read it, they only look at it for about 5-7 seconds, many people were shocked. I was not shocking to me. My dad once told me that some companies when they are looking for their interns, have a program that scans resumes and if the word “excel” is not on the sheet in any capacity, it instantly gets tossed aside in the rejection bin. This process seems cruel after all of the time spent by people crafting their letters, but to businesses time is money.

In the future, I hope there is a second part to this discussion as I would like to see some examples of personal statements as well as time to try and write my own. Overall, it was a great discussion in which I learned something new.

“Who do you think will read you application first when you apply for jobs?” Dr. Hill brought up this question at the beginning of the personal statement workshop. Most of us including myself thought of recruiters, managers or maybe interns. Sadly, that is not the case. Most applications rather go through a computer system that identifies specific key words related to a job. That is why many people who apply for jobs get rejected for not including the key words that will let them pass through the first stage of the application screening process. I was also impressed to find out that a recruiter spends less than 10 seconds going over an application. Can you imagine how difficult it could get to let the recruiter pick your application especially if there are hundreds of them piled on their desk?

The key lessons that I learned during the workshop are to pay attention to detail, and look for what the company, educational institution or scholarship office is looking for instead of my own interest. That is also when key words become important. This requires spending time researching about the place or opportunity that one is applying for. In addition, the level of attention to detail matters a lot to the extent that how one names their file when they submit a resume (should include Name, position of interest, year…) or whether or not they submit a word/pdf file or fulfilled the maximum word limit in their personal statement affects their chance of admission. In order to be successful in the application, it is also very important to ask for suggestion from other people and START EARLY!

Last week Dr. Hill and GRF Magdala gave a discussion on the importance of the cover letter and personal statement when applying to graduate school, internships, or any job position that would require this statement. We first went around the room describing why we decided to come to the event and the importance of the personal statement in our respective fields. As a biology major who is also pre-med, I have been continuously told the importance of a personal statement when applying to medical schools. When accepting students, medical schools really care about what drives an individual and why they want to dedicate their life to becoming a doctor. While I have ideas as to what to write about, the discussion really helped solidify a more concrete plan in how to tackle this piece of writing. Dr. Hill stated that we have to be precise, discussing in detail what we have done in the past to motivate our decision to apply to the position we are after. Dr. Hill also discussed the difference in personal statements required for U.S. institutions versus U.K, institutions. While I don’t think I would be applying to any European institutions for medical school, it was interesting to see that the U.K wants plans for meet a future goal while at the institution instead of the U.S.’s desire to see what motives you as an individual. Dr. Hill also stated the importance of making connections while at Cornell. It might not seem extremely relevant at the time, but once we are gone there really isn’t going to be a way to connect to professors we didn’t really know. Professors can offer a wealth of knowledge, advice, and support in order for us to succeed.

Cover letters to me seemed very insignificant. I assumed my resume would suffice no matter what job or organization I applied to. They had to know if I was qualified and had the kind of work experience they were looking for before they hired me. The resume outlined my entire career path in one page what more would anyone need?  After attending the Rose seminar on personal statements and cover letters I understood that the cover letter is the key to getting my resume to the recruiter.

The development of technology led to many great things and the automation of many jobs that were previously carried out by humans. Similarly, I discovered at the seminar that in the recruitment process the first screening an applicant gets is a computer software. This software screens all cover letters for the “key words or terms” that the organization is looking for in all applicants before the resume is screened by the recruiter. Therefore, the cover letter is extremely important to get your resume screened by the recruiter.

After discovering the importance of a cover letter my next problem was what is the art of writing a cover letter? Is it like an essay version of your resume or is it just stating why you are applying for a specific position Dr. Hill provided us with one piece of advice that is crucial to writing all cover letters. Find a story about yourself or a ‘hook’ that relates to why you are applying to do what you want. Mention this hook and then go on to explain what drives or motivates you to apply to this particular position and then connect this story or hook that wraps your entire cover letter up into a nice story. This style of writing seems to be effective since it draws the reader in and it helps to make your cover letter stand out against all the other applicants. What it should definitely not do is mention all the things in your resume. It should clearly state what motivates and drives you and what you want to accomplish not what you “think” you’ll accomplish.

In conclusion, there are definitely many ways to writing a letter. However, since the cover letter is very crucial in the application process find a way to make it unique and effective and most importantly include the key words and terms that the position you are applying is looking for.

One of the most crucial and intimidating aspects of looking for a summer internship, job or any other professional opportunity is presenting yourself via and on paper. It can be intimidating since no well-written resume or personal statement or cover letter can convey one’s complex experience of life and how these experience were received by the individual. However, today’s systemic understanding is such that each and every one of us is part of the capital: Human Capital. And now it has become our duty to sell/ present ourselves.
I think many of us are used or at least somewhat comfortable with resume due to its familiarity. But, cover letter or professional personal statement is otherworldly. It is not quite like the narrative freedom I had when I was writing my personal statement during college application process. Nevertheless, this workshop confirmed it is indeed a narrative about you and your compatibility with the position, only with length and style restrictions. Unlike, college application essay the purpose of a cover letter is not to get you the job, rather get you an interview. So, it will not be read in depth or analyzed in detail, definitely looked in a quick glance to offer an interview or not. That understanding is necessary, to be concise, clear and to the point to express your compatibility. No, need to list all your talents, skills and experience in a cover letter, since it is accompanied by a resume. Dr. Cynthia and Shiv gave us ideas of how to keep an all comprehensive running resume, which could be sued to customize the resume according to the job opportunity and cover letter accompanying it. This workshop was something I really needed, and very helpful for me as I am writing cover letters for summer opportunities.

Last Thursday I attend the Personal Statement Workshop. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to applications, resumes, cover letters, etc. I also wasn’t exactly sure what a personal statement was. I had heard the phrase, and figured they were similar to a cover letter.

As it turns out, a personal statement, especially in the context of graduate school applications in Europe, is more like a business proposal. It seemed to me that the most common presence of personal statements is in applications to graduate school.

Professor Hill described how a personal statement should differ when applying to graduate school in the United States versus Europe. In the United States, graduate school admissions expects a personal statement to describe a students interests and how they became interested in those subjects. They prefer a more moldable student that will graduate as a loyal alumna. However, in Europe they expect applicants to have found a faculty member to work with, and that their statement reflects a research plan, almost like a request for funding.

One interesting tip that Professor Hill had that could be applicable to several different written pieces is the “nugget” method. In this method, you start of a thought towards the beginning of your piece, and leave it unfinished. Then towards the end of the piece bring the thought together. This method is very satisfying to the reader and can work in your favor when writing a personal statement, cover letter, or any other piece of writing.

The last couple months have kept me busy with preparing applications, reviewing my resume and editing my cover letter. Given that I only created my cover letter a few weeks ago, I was curious if there was more to applications or any advice that I was missing. I had approached the process on my own, and thought receiving advice from two veterans would be the best way to find out.

Both Magdala and Dr. Hill have gone through the application process many times with great success and had tips and tricks as well as interesting personal stories to share. Admittedly, I assumed a personal statement was the equivalent of a cover letter before listening to what Magdala and Dr. Hill had to say. In their words, a cover letter was more of a response to an advertised position while a personal statement consisted of a discussion of experiences that prove your ability to contribute to the community you apply. But there’s also more. Dr. Hill informed us that the statement is different for where you apply, and the expectations from different organizations are not always advertised. For those interested in joining a European academic community, the statement must be more similar to an abstract with a certain outline of your academic mission and plan to accomplish this goal. Another strange and also funny application quirk for European countries is the information they require, like religion and, in some countries, a picture.

The discussion with Magdala and Dr. Hill illuminated just how particular and pedantic some application readers can  be, especially when the only thing that may differentiate two applicants is the written portion of an application like a personal statement or cover letter. Not many people are privy to all the peculiarities of different applications and I am grateful to have gleaned a clearer of image of how to present myself in application going forward.

On Thursday night I went to the Personal Statement Workshop held by GRF Magdala and Dr.Hill. The workshop was a very educational experience about tips and philosophy about how to market yourself during the recruiting / graduate school application process.

Dr.Hill started by giving a long monologue on what the personal statement should strengthen and how to strategize  for the specific institution you are applying for. First of all, Dr. Hill mentioned that in a general personal statement we should mention our goal, influences and motivation. Admission officers want to know what we plan to do with the degree and the motivation should be unique and convincing for them to proceed. To get ready to write a persuasive and concrete personal statement, it is important to do extensive research on the institution / company beforehand to learn about its prevailing culture, faculty / professionals, publication, research, and what they value. Researching also allows us to see if a specific school / company is the best fit for us.

Another point is the benefit of maintaining a strong network. Dr.Hill mentioned that it is always useful to identify multiple people who you can work with before applying. Using those people to get internal advice is an extremely crucial step, especially for schools in the UK. Dr.Hill gave the example during when he applied to Cambridge that they only care about a personal statement that comes with a clear research proposal on object and different parts of the potential project. Otherwise, they are very likely to reject the application, even the essay is outstanding. Also finding a supervisor is crucial in getting into both Oxford and Cambridge. Any application would be rejected if the applicant can’t find a supervisor before matriculated.

Dr.Hill spent rest of the time giving general advice of applying to jobs / graduate schools. One thing I want to take away is to put in extraordinary time to do research and apply for more than once. When writing a personal statement, never forget to put in a concrete example, or as Dr.Hill described, your “nugget” (not sure if the spelling is correct). Always pay attention to detail, that is also a great advice that I am trying very hard to adapt.

I feel that it was a great investment of an hour of my time learning from Dr.Hill and Magdala about their experience applying and writing personal statements. I also learned to be persistent, bold, and sometimes aggressive in the search. I was sad to know that Dr.Hill will be on a two-month medical leave at the end of the workshop and I wish him better as soon as possible!