can i lie on my personal statement

Can you actually lie in your personal statement?

<p>I have low grades in my first semester and possible 2nd semester junior year. My grandpa did die when I was 6 years old. However, to make up for my low grades… can I say that my grandpa died during my junior year? It is partially a truth because my grandpa did die… any ideas? Will this be found out? ( I know this is bad, so if someone wants to persuade me out of it would be great!!!)</p>

<p>Why would you want to do that anyway? Bear in mind that a personal statement should reflect your true self. I don’t say that you cannot lie in your essay. In fact, a slight exaggeration may serve as the key to your being admitted. However, I don’t think lying about your grandpa’s death is just ‘a slight exaggeration’. Therefore, the adcoms can easily see through your lie and fail you. If you’re so concerned about your grades, try to better them and write a flawless personal statement showing how you’ve struggled to make progress after a massive failure. That may do.</p>

<p>Can you? Probably. Should you? No.</p>

<p>You could but I wouldn’t advise it.</p>

<ol> <li>Yes it is unethical</li> <li>No, the death of a grandfather is not an excuse for poor grades</li> <li>No, “death of my grandparent” is not an especially compelling essay topic</li> <li>Yes, if you are found out you will be in major trouble.</li> </ol>

<p>The problem with lying on such a concrete thing (like a death) is that while they might not see through it, if they do it would make you look like you’re trying to use a very sad and tragic thing to make up for not working hard enough (and I’m sorry if that seems REALLY harsh, there are probably other/mitigating circumstances with your grades that you didn’t put on here- i just mean that’s what it might look like to the essay reader). I agree with PKMGSoledad - write about how you are overcoming these grade problems to become a better prepared and resilient (future) college student - it’ll show them that you will be able to handle what college throws at you later!</p>

<p>Your personal essay should not be about grades at all.</p>

<p>If you feel a need to explain some grades, you should use the optional supplemental statement for that purpose. </p>

<p>You must not lie.</p>

<p>Your topic sounds very cliche and would likely not impress an ADCOM. I agree with others that the essay needs to be about what you have to offer the school. I would not discuss grades in an essay, unless you can show how some life altering experience made you overcome adversity. There are so many other topics- sometimes a very simple topic can reveal more than an essay on something very complex.</p>

<p>I’m confused. Why do you want to lie?</p>

<p>I agree with PsychoDad10 and the others as well. Additionally, Keep in mind that there is a major difference between a sob story and a redemption story. A sob story might make an admissions officer feel bad for you, but it does not tell them anything about yourself that would appeal to the school. A redemption story, however, shows yourself as a person who was shaped by an experience that made you the wonderful you that you are and will continue to be. So be true to yourself and to the admissions officers about traits that you can write about that would appeal to the school.</p>

<p>If you have to lie then you’re applying to the wrong school.</p>

<p>^^^Agree with all of the above. Plus, you have to remember that a huge percentage of applicants in your age range have had a grandparent die recently. It’s just a fact of life that most of the people in your age range have elderly grandparents. It is not an unusual circumstance and certainly would not make you stand out or excuse your low grades.</p>

<p>Death is definitely not the thing to lie about. There are death records, easy as that. Come on, think this through next time…</p>

<p>You can. Most do. You shouldn’t. Be true to yourself. Don’t become a rat in the college rat race.</p>

<p>If you’re okay with being a terrible person unworthy of whatever you gain out of it, go ahead.</p>

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• Most Common Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid!

Last Updated: 6th November 2018

Author: Adi Sen

Table of Contents

These are the two most common personal statement mistakes to avoid.

The Personal Statement should be completely directed by you, however, there are some mistakes to avoid when you start the writing process. We do not want to impose too many restrictions on what you choose to write (the character limit and time pressure does that by itself). So we have just two big red flags which we would suggest avoiding. 

Do Not lie on your personal statement

Lying on your Personal Statement is a big ‘no-no’. It’s really not worth it. We say this not to target people who are doing it maliciously but because we know that writing your Personal Statement is a really stressful exercise and you might not be sure what you can and can’t get away with.

Believe us, saying you’ve read something you haven’t, saying you agreed with something you don’t and saying something you’re interested in that you aren’t – all of these things are not too difficult for a tutor to work out at a later stage of the application.

• How to make your Personal Statement Stand Out

The easiest way to avoid Personal Statement mistakes like this is to try and put yourself in the shoes of the admissions tutor. The Oxbridge application process is designed so that tutors are allowed to choose the students that they want to teach. 

When they read someone’s Personal Statement, they have a chance to try and work out whether this could be one of their future students. But they will want to take the Personal Statement into consideration with the whole portfolio submitted in order to make an informed decision.

If in the process of the Admissions Test results, your references, or speaking to you in the interview, they find out that the Personal Statement was not reliable, they will unlikely want to accept your application. 

• Oxbridge Personal Statement Wider Reading

It is better to just present yourself and your wonderful personality word for word and let them make the decision.

Do not write what you think the tutors want to read on your personal statement

Being disingenuous is another Personal Statement mistake that we would really recommend not doing. Again, this might sound quite obvious, but it is very, very easy to do!

A rule of thumb is that it is okay to think “What will the person reading this think of me” as long as you then think “Is that a fair representation of me, and does it show my personality?”

• Answering your Personal Statement Questions

By way of motivation too, you should remember that there is a lot of luck, good and bad, involved in the application process. You are not obliged to change that by pretending in your Personal Statement. You are not a weaker candidate just because things eventually might not go your way, and everyone will admire you for trying. However, recycling phrases you have heard and using clichés such as “I have always been interested in” will not reflect too well.

If you think something is really boring, be honest. If you have justifications for finding it boring that’s not a problem and much more reasonable. 

Do not change your Personal Statement so that it reflects characteristics that don’t apply to you. Your strongest attributes are yours, not anyone else’s and the whole process is just more enjoyable if you apply as yourself and know you did your best.

We really appreciate writing your Personal Statement is hard. It’s likely that you don’t know where to start or that you might not seem satisfied with what you’ve done.  Accidentally making Personal Statement mistakes is, at times, inevitable. Don’t worry, everyone feels the same. There are many tips and tricks to help you avoid those unwanted Personal Statement mistakes.

The structure of your personal statement matters!

You’ve got all the information but how do you format the Personal Statement? This is where the structure comes in. Structure matters when writing your Personal Statement. It enhances clarity, thought processes and most importantly, it tells a story about yourself and the subject you want to study.

• How to Structure your Personal Statement

Before you go, the below menu will give you access to 10 Personal Statement examples or check out all of our other personal statement articles and successful examples on our Free Personal Statement Resources page .

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Is it OK to lie on your personal statement?

Advice & Insight From Personal Statement Specialists

Short and simple, lying on your personal statement not only shows a lack of integrity but will almost definitely come with negative repercussions. Lying on your personal statement may take the form of making up false claims about your qualifications and experiences. It can also be more subtle where students inaccurately elaborate on experiences and skills. Although you may be feeling pressure to stand out from the crowd, a good personal statement is rooted in strong analysis and evidence not lies.

Reasons to avoid lying in your personal statement:

• Many universities use their interviews as an opportunity to ask students questions about experiences or skills they have referenced in their personal statement. Your personal statement should advocate your key attributes, skills and experiences. By asking students to expand on these universities can get an in-depth and compressive understanding about why they should offer you a place. Imagine the anxiety you would feel if an interviewer began grilling you on something untrue. Interviewers will be very familiar with books and resources students frequently reference in their personal statement. This makes them very qualified to discern whether you have finished the book. Interviewers are often clinicians themselves so have a true insight into hospital policies and NHS ethos. They can tell if you are overexaggerating work experience stories. You do not want your chances of being offered a place to rapidly diminish due to 15-20 untrue characters within the Personal statement.
• If you lie on your personal statement, then your application becomes fraudulent. If you get caught out in the lie as described above, you could lose your offer (or place). If admissions tutors suspect you are lying about one experience you have referenced, they are likely to go through your application and check some of your other references and claims. The GMC are a council who regulate doctors in the UK by setting standards for doctors. Doctors are taught to act with honesty and integrity. Being an honest and truthful physician allows doctors to develop good doctor patient relationships and increase the public’s trust in the profession. Medical schools will look for honesty and truthfulness to be values of protentional students.
• By lying on your personal statement your setting, yourself up to fail. Work experience allows students to develop a true insight into whether they are personally suited for a career in medicine. Work experience allows you to learn about yourself, the medical career and how effective care is delivered and received. If you have not made the effort to get work experience perhaps you aren’t ready to begin perusing your medical career. There is nothing wrong with taking a year out to get some more life experience.

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Why you don’t have to lie on your Personal Statement

Their may be several reasons why you feel your experiences might not make you a strong candidate for medical school. Admission tutors are aware that even the most proactive and tenacious students can struggle to be accepted onto work experience placements. You might feel as if your work experience placements were not very unique or long. Universities are not interested in what it is you have done but what attributes you demonstrated in this role and what you learnt. Direct observations of healthcare can be great to give you a realistic understanding of the physical, organisational and emotional demands of a medical career. However, work experience is more than just this. Consider what people-focused experiences you have had; experiences working with people in a caring or service role allow you to show you have an altruistic and compassionate nature. Perhaps you have experience in paid employment; can you reflect on this to show you developed the skills and attributes needed to study medicine?

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How to reframe and explain in your Personal Statement

Instead of lying on your personal statement consider explaining or reframing how you explain your achievements. This way the truth will serve you fine. When making a structural plan for your personal statement you want to consider what the themes of each of your paragraphs are. Perhaps you have a work experience paragraph and an extracurricular paragraph. Write a list of your top achievements for each paragraph and link them to skills or reflections you made from each experience. Your personal statement should have a positive tone. You don’t have to disclose your weakness; if you feel you were unsuccessful or “failed” during an experience reframe this to talk about the skill that you’re interested to develop as a growth opportunity.

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• 15 Mistakes That Will Ruin your UCAS Application

One of the most nerve-wracking elements of composing your university application is the dreaded personal statement.

With only a relatively small space in which to sell yourself, the pressure is on to find the right things to say to get yourself noticed by the admissions tutors. While much is said about what sort of things you should write in your personal statement in order to stand out and impress, what about the things that are better left unsaid and the things you should definitely avoid doing? Given the huge volume of applications they receive, admissions tutors are often looking for easy reasons to weed some out. Make sure your application doesn’t get noticed for all the wrong reasons by taking heed of these important tips.

1. Untruths

Firstly, and most crucially: never, ever lie in your personal statement. If you do, it will almost certainly come back to haunt you. Don’t make up qualifications or pretend you’ve read books when you haven’t (even if you’ve read little bits of them). If you’re interviewed for a university place, you’ll very probably end up being quizzed about your favourite parts of the course you supposedly went on, or asked to explain what you thought of the book you’ve said you enjoyed reading, and you’ll look incredibly foolish if you try to make up an answer. Your interviewer will spot what’s going on straightaway, and your chances of a place will diminish as rapidly as your face turns red. Only include books that you’ve definitely read or experiences that you’ve definitely been through; think about them in depth and be prepared to discuss them face-to-face.

2. Names of universities

Don’t forget that your application is going to a maximum of six universities, and they’ll all see the same personal statement; you can’t tailor your statement to each university. Mentioning the strength of your desire to study at Cambridge is unlikely to go down too well with the other universities on your application form, so if you don’t make it into Cambridge, you’ll have no choice but to resort to Clearing or take a year out and reapply. Don’t scupper your chances – no university names should make it into your personal statement whatsoever.

3. Copying someone else’s personal statement

However tempting it may seem to ‘borrow’ the personal statement of a successful applicant to your dream university, it’s really not a good idea. The clue is in the name – personal statement. It has to come from you. Your hopes and dreams, personality, motivations, interests and just about everything else are unique to you, and pretending to be someone else won’t do you any favours. And just imagine if it was the same admissions tutor reading ‘your’ personal statement who read the real writer’s application… Don’t forget, also, that the admissions process is a two-way thing – it’s not just about whether you’re suitable for the university, but whether the university is suitable for you. If you use someone else’s personal statement, it probably doesn’t reflect who you really are. In the unlikely event that you get a place on the strength of that borrowed personal statement, you might find you end up hating your time at that university because the admissions tutors gave you a place on the strength of statements that didn’t represent you; they wouldn’t know that the real you wasn’t a good fit for their institution.

4. Quotes from other people

You may think that including quotes from other people (authors, philosophers, you get the idea) makes you sound intelligent and well-educated, but it’s a cliché that the university admissions tutors will have seen countless times before. It smacks of pretentiousness, and it’s therefore something you should avoid. Admissions tutors want to hear what  you  have to say – not what other people say! You have a limited number of words to get your own personality and interests across, so use them wisely and stick to using your own words.

5. Inspired by a Hollywood movie

It can be difficult to explain in a personal statement what it was that led you to your interest in the subject you’re applying for. Explaining that you’re interested because “you just are” doesn’t cut it, but it’s sometimes hard to pinpoint where your interest actually originated (and “developing a passion for it at school” sounds a little dull). A word to the wise on one alternative source of inspiration, though: admissions tutors are unlikely to be impressed by the revelation that you want to study a subject because you’ve been inspired by a Hollywood movie. That’s because movies are rarely an accurate depiction of what subjects are like in real life. Look at my subject, classical archaeology, for example. Being inspired to study archaeology by Time Team isn’t really a bad thing. But given the historical inaccuracy of films such as Alexander , stating that this has inspired you is unlikely to go down well. What’s more, the Indiana Jones trilogy bears very little resemblance to what archaeology is really like. In my experience, academics like going to see films related to their subject – and then tearing them apart afterwards. So, don’t add fuel to the fire; you never know, you might irritate the admissions tutor without even realising it.

6. Apprentice-style bigging yourself up

It is, of course, possible to go too far the other way. You’ve probably watched BBC1’s  The Apprentice  and shared the nation’s dismay at the huge egos and self-aggrandisement on the part of the candidates. So don’t let your personal statement make you come across as being similarly egotistical! Avoid sweeping, unsubstantiated claims of your own brilliance; obviously you need to sell yourself, but modesty is a lot more winning and will get you much further. It’s a question of finding a happy medium somewhere between egomania and self-deprecation.

7. Clichés and rhetorical questions

On the subject of clichés, there are plenty more over-used phrases to be avoided in your personal statement. Think “thirst for knowledge”, “from an early age”, “when I was little” – that sort of thing. You might think these phrases sound good, and establish you as someone with a life-long interest in your subject, but really they don’t say anything and just waste words. What’s more, rhetorical questions such as “So why should you pick me?” should be avoided; they’re a way of stating the obvious, and eat into your valuable word count. A good rule of thumb is to think about how you talk in real life; if you read your personal statement and it just doesn’t sound like how you would actually talk, you probably need to address the tone and find a more natural style (while still retaining the formality required in this context, of course – don’t go too far into a conversational tone or use slang!).

We all want our personal statements to stand out, but make sure yours doesn’t stand out in the wrong way by avoiding any attempts to be humorous. Humour in such a context can come across as arrogance, or even a lack of respect or deference to the senior academics you’re addressing, and it comes under the category of ‘seen it all before’ as far as the admissions tutors are concerned. By all means adopt a confident tone, but keep it formal and don’t try telling jokes; it isn’t the time or the place.

9. Controversy

Don’t be overly controversial in your personal statement, particularly if you can’t back up why you have that opinion. Excessive controversy can look contrived, as though you are deliberately being controversial in order to stand out. What’s more, you don’t know who’s reading your personal statement or what their beliefs and opinions are; you may unintentionally aggravate or alienate them by expressing a controversial view. That said, it’s fine to talk about an unusual theory you may have on a topic relevant to your subject – provided you can explain a little about what has led you to this idea and what you’re doing to try to prove it. If you’re invited for an interview, expect to be grilled on this topic.

As we’ve already touched on, slang should be avoided. Your personal statement is not the place for the informal language you use when you’re with your friends, and it’s perfectly possible to come across as friendly without resorting to the use of the vernacular.

11. Flattery (will get you nowhere)

Don’t try to ingratiate yourself with admissions tutors by talking about what a privilege it would be to study with them, or how honoured you’d be if you were given a place. Admissions tutors can see straight through these sorts of tactics, and you’re far better off concentrating on yourself, what you have to offer them and why you’d be a good candidate for the course for which you are applying.

12. Irrelevant details and lists

Don’t feel obliged to include every single thing you’ve ever done in or out of the classroom if it’s not relevant. You can include two or three interests and hobbies at the end of your personal statement to give the admissions tutors a flavour of who you are outside academia, but they don’t need to know all the details. What’s more, lists are to be avoided. If you’ve included in a single sentence more than two or three examples of books you’ve read or awards you’ve won, you’ve included too many. It’s far better to include one or two examples and give an insightful comment on what you thought of each of them, why you appreciated them or how you achieved something, than to bore admissions tutors with dry lists of things that on their own don’t mean much. Look at your personal statement objectively and ask yourself: would I be interested in reading this? If not, why should an admissions tutor be interested in it?

13. Self-deprecation and other negativity

Don’t be too self-deprecating in your personal statement: it’s there to show admissions tutors that you’re intelligent and talented, and that you’d be an asset to their institution. So even if you’re naturally over-modest, or shy when talking about your own achievements (as we Brits often are), put that to one side and make sure you highlight all the great reasons why admissions tutors should want to teach you. Avoid all negativity; don’t highlight things you don’t know or subjects you’ve not done so well in, for example. Keep your personal statement focused on the positives.

14. Repeating yourself

You’re very limited in the number of words you have on your personal statement, so make the most of them. Don’t repeat yourself, and don’t repeat your academic qualifications or give a list of which subjects you’re studying: these are already outlined elsewhere on your application. By all means mention specific topics you’re learning about within the subjects relevant to the course you want to study, and talk about why you find them interesting and what you’re getting out of them, but there’s no need to say things like, “I’m studying A-level English, Maths, Physics and Music, along with an AS level in General Studies and a GCSE in Spanish” – this information is already available if the admissions tutor wants to know it.

15. Typos and spelling errors

Few things will impress admissions tutors less than poor spelling and grammar, so get someone else to proofread your personal statement before sending it off (you’ve been looking at it in so much detail already that you may have become blind to errors that will appear obvious to someone who’s reading your statement for the first time). Relying on the spelling and grammar check on your text-editing programme isn’t enough; it needs a human eye to spot every typo and grammar error. “Form”, for example, is still a proper word, but it wouldn’t register in a spell check as a typo of “from”. If all these things you shouldn’t include on your university application have left you confused and wondering whether there’s anything you can actually talk about, watch out for another post coming soon about how to write the perfect personal statement!

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By Nik Taylor (Editor, The Uni Guide) | 16 November 2023 | 3 min read

The ten biggest mistakes when writing your personal statement

Dodge these common blunders and you'll be well on your way to creating a great uni application

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Writing your personal statement is a challenge that many students struggle with.  Here are 10 common personal statement mistakes that students make, as well as some tips for making sure you're on the right track.  Visit the personal statement forum and the university applications forum on The Student Room to see what other students are saying about the process. 

1. Telling a story

Many personal statements can take on the appearance of the applicant's life story. While some background information won't hurt, the best statements will only include experiences directly related to their chosen course. Generally, you should focus on recent study from the last few years. Anything older than that should only be included if it's relevant or provides important context.

• Read more: how to write an excellent personal statement in ten steps

2. Repeating information already contained in your application

It can be hard to fit everything you want to say into just 4,000 characters. So don't waste space on things that are already included elsewhere in your application, such as your A-level subjects or previous grades. Remember that the admissions tutor can see your whole application, so there's no need to repeat yourself. 

• Read more: how to write your university application

3. Spending too long discussing personal issues

Many applicants mention personal issues in their statement, like health and bereavement. This is relevant as it affects studying, but it might be better covered in your reference instead. However, if you want to include this in your personal statement, it's worth keeping it short. One or two sentences is enough.

4. Making simple grammatical errors

Students are often so focused on the experiences they're writing about that they forget to check their grammar. Have a go at reading your statement aloud to make sure it flows well. For bonus points, get a friend or parent to go over it as well.

• Read more: teacher secrets for writing a great personal statement

5. Failing to demonstrate capability of university-level study

Your personal statement is great opportunity to demonstrate that you can study in a university style. For example, you could discuss a topic you learned about and then explain how you did further independent study (like reading a book chapter, an article or completing an online course) to expand your knowledge.

• Read more: Ucas deadlines and key application dates

6. Using clichés 

Avoid overused phrases like 'my passion for history began...' or 'I have been interested in geography since a young age'. Admissions tutors read a ton of personal statements and you want to stand out. So get creative with your sentences, but make sure not to go off-topic. 

• Read more: personal statement FAQs

7. Not going into enough detail about experiences

It can be tempting to fill your personal statement with loads of different experiences to show how well-rounded and dedicated you are. But the character limit will stop you from going into any detail. Instead, aim to give two or three in-depth experiences with examples and links to the course.

• Read more: how to write your personal statement when you have nothing interesting to say

8. Telling the admissions tutor things they already know

Admissions tutors are often experts in their field. While it's tempting to include facts, you aren't there to tell them about the subject. It's much better to talk about yourself and why you'd be a great candidate.

• Read more: universities reveal all about personal statements

9. Losing sight of what the personal statement is actually for

Essentially, your personal statement should explain why you want to study the course at university and also demonstrate your ability to complete the degree to a high standard. Make sure everything you write connects with these areas.

• Read more: universities explain how to end your personal statement with a bang

10. Forgetting that the personal statement should be personal

Advice can be conflicting - whether it's from online sources, teachers or tutors. You might be told something that you don't think suits your personality or your statement, and it's fine to disagree with it. Everyone's got different opinions, but the main thing is that you're happy with your personal statement.  

You may want to look at these...

How to write an excellent personal statement in 10 steps.

Help and advice on putting your application together

6 steps you need to take to apply to university

Find out more about choosing a university and course, writing your application and personal statement

Teacher secrets for writing a great personal statement

Writing a personal statement is one of the most important things you will do when applying to university. Here is some useful advice and insider knowledge from Mrs Kinetta, who has more than 25 years of experience as a sixth form tutor.

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7 common mistakes people make when writing their statement of purpose

The statement of purpose (SOP), also known as a personal statement, is a pretty crucial part of your university application, along with your exam results and your admissions interview .  

But what exactly does the SOP entail, how do you write a statement of purpose , and what are some common SOP mistakes that students make? 

Here, we’ll take you through all you need to know.

Table of Contents

1. leaving it to the last minute, 2. not adhering to the word count, 3. dishonesty, over-exaggeration & overconfidence, 4. too much praise for the university, 5. extravagant presentation, 6. extravagant writing or informal words, 7. proofreading, 1. personal introduction and intention.

• 2. How & why you’re interested

3. Why you’re the ideal candidate

4. talk about the future, statement of purpose faqs, what is a statement of purpose.

A statement of purpose is a short essay that prospective students write while applying for university. It’s usually about a page long (around 5 paragraphs), and should detail a little bit about you, your achievements and ambitions, and why you should be accepted onto a university course. 

Essentially, the SOP is the student equivalent of a cover letter for a job application. University admissions panels will use your SOP, along with your exam results, to help decide if you should be granted a place on a degree course. No pressure then! 

But not to worry, as with any seemingly daunting task, there are ways of making it easier! Let’s take a quick look at 7 common SOP mistakes -- make sure to avoid these mistakes while writing your own SOP!

Don't miss these proven Statement of Purpose (SOP) templates. Download now for free!

Give yourself a few weeks before the deadline to work on your SOP.

Of course, not all this time will be spent writing, but use it to brainstorm ideas and study sample SOPs. You don’t want to copy these word for word, since that’ll seem too obvious, but by reading enough samples, you’ll begin to see patterns of content and format emerging.

Leaving just about any task until late is a recipe for rushed work and a poor final product.

In most cases you’ll be informed about the approximate word limit. Make sure to avoid going over it! 

One single page or page and a half in size 12, Times New Roman font will usually suffice. Even if you have LOADS of relevant things to say, keep them succinct, to the point and written in short sentences. This makes it easier to read and leaves less room for mistakes with your SOP!

Plus, if your SOP is too long, chances are it won’t be read with proper care. University admissions teams read hundreds of SOPs after all, so make it easy for them!

OK, 3 SOP writing mistakes in one, but they’re all related.

I’ll admit that most of us tell some innocent little fibs when applying for just about any position, but there’s an important difference between embellishing the truth and telling a flat out lie. So keep your SOP honest and forthright. Remember that the admissions team could contact your referee, so any lies could be caught out. 

And when it comes to talking up your own achievements, try to write these in a fuss-free, modest way. You want to create an impression of a driven, focused and curious person, rather than an over-confident or arrogant one.

Even if you are actually amazing (we’re sure you are!), try to stay somewhat modest when telling them.

By the same token, being overly complimentary or even too admiring of the university doesn’t pay off. Try not to waste too many words telling the university and the professors how amazing they are -- they probably already know! Your goal in submitting your SOP is to explain why you and the university are a good match, not why the university is the greatest in the world! 

The thing about compliments is that they’re easy to see through when they’re not completely genuine and are given with selfish intent. So do yourself a favour and play it more cool.

If there’s a particular module you’re interested in, or a particular achievement by the university that impresses you, by all means give it a brief mention, but always pull things back to you.

We mentioned Times New Roman, size 12 font above. We know it’s a little bit boring, but it’s easy to read and is still the style of choice in academia. You could also use Arial or Verdana unless instructed otherwise, but the point is to keep it neat, tidy and minimalist. 

Go with a 1.5 line spacing, and avoid using italics, bold, and underlined text. 

Even if you’re a great designer or a creative whizz, the SOP is all about the contents, not the presentation, so hold back that creativity for another time.

The same principle applies to the language that you use. Your statement of purpose should be written in a formal, grammatically accurate way, so avoid slang words and phrases at all costs! 

But it’s equally important to avoid being too fancy. The annoying thing about, ahem, an overabundance of loquaciousness, is that it’s, well, annoying… 

See? You probably like me less because I wrote“an overabundance of loquaciousness,” when I could have just said “too many fancy words”.

Language and words are there to be understood, and overdoing it can often create the wrong impression. So try to keep your language straightforward and easy to understand.

...Or a lack of it… 

When you’re done writing, take the time to make sure you’ve made no simple mistakes with your Statement of Purpose. Read through it carefully a couple of times to check for any little spelling or grammar mistakes. Sending in an SOP with mistakes in can create a careless impression of you, so you want to make sure it’s watertight. 

A good strategy for proofreading your SOP is to leave it for a day or two, since our eyes can often play tricks on us. But with fresh eyes after a few days away, you’ll be able to see most little mistakes. Even better -- have someone else read it too, as they might pick up on some things you miss. 

Also watch our video on “Mastering the art of winning SOP” .

Also read: Statement of purpose example

How to write a statement of purpose

Ultimately, the actual contents of your statement of purpose will be down to you. However, there are a few tried and tested methods for structuring and formatting your SOP, and there are also a few details that you should definitely include. 

Here’s how you should structure your SOP:

Briefly introduce yourself and offer some details on your background, before stating your academic and potential career goals. 

2. How and why you’re interested

Go into a little more detail on how you became interested in this specific course, and why you want to pursue both this field of study and any potential career or further education after graduation. 

Now it’s time to sell yourself a little. Take two paragraphs here to really let the reader know why you’d be a perfect fit. Refer back to the things you’ve already written, but go into a little more detail on specific passions, work experience, internships or projects you’ve done that relate to the course of study. 

Again referring back to your introduction, use this final paragraph or two to speak in more detail about your future goals and ambitions. This is your chance to let the university know that you are a great investment, and that their time spent helping you learn and grow over the next few years will pay off. 

Perhaps you want to one day start your own business, or rise to a high-powered position in a large company. Or perhaps you’d like to become one the country’s top human rights lawyers. Whatever your grand ambition, put it out there and link it back to how gaining a place at this university or on that course will help propel you towards these goals.

You might also like

How to write an SOP for MBA

5 tips for writing your MBA Statement of Purpose

1. How many words should an SOP be?

Your statement of purpose should be between 500 and 1000 words, and should not exceed one page of a page and a half.

2. Is it okay to exceed word limit in your statement of purpose?

You should avoid exceeding your word limit when writing your statement of purpose as this can make it difficult to read and digest. Try to be succinct and choose your words wisely, making your points in as few words as possible.

3. Should I mention backlogs in statement of purpose?

Only mention backlogs or low grades if you have extraordinary circumstances that might mitigate them, such as serious ill-health. Do not try to justify or make excuses for poor grades but demonstrate you’re willing to work harder in future.  

4. Can I lie in my statement of purpose?

You should never lie when writing a statement of purpose. Universities may ask you follow up questions if you have an interview and will most likely use the things you have mentioned in your SOP. It would be very embarrassing if you knew less than you should because you have lied about a project or grade that you have worked on.

5. Can my statement of purpose be 3 pages?

Your statement of purpose should be no longer than one page or a page and a half in a readable font, at a size of between 11 and 12pt. This allows the reader to easily digest the information you are giving and means that your SOP is more meaningful.

6. Can my statement of purpose be a copy?

You should tailor your SOP for the course and university you are applying to. It should be succinct and relatable to what you want to study. You should not copy it, and definitely not copy it from another person. Instead, talk about your academic achievements, background, research interests and future goals and what you can offer the university.

7. How do I introduce myself in my statement of purpose?

Introduce yourself by talking about your interests and why you want to study the course and at the university you are applying to. Be honest and genuine in your motivations, and make sure to put across your passion for the subject.

8. do you write a conclusion for a statement of purpose?

Conclude by summarising what you have said in your statement and highlighting your main points. Make sure it is well constructed and concise, and highlight what you can offer the university and course you are applying for.

Now that you know a little more about the common mistakes made in the SOP , it might be time to think a little more about the university and degree you’d like to pursue while studying abroad.

Guest Author | Study Abroad Expert

Disclaimer: The views and opinions shared in this site solely belong to the individual authors and do not necessarily represent t ...Read More

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How to write a college application essay

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Shona Barrie – Director of Admissions, University of Stirling

UCAS asked admissions tutors – the people who read and score your personal statement – for their advice on what you should and shouldn’t do when writing your personal statement. 

The most common piece of advice was not to worry about it – and don’t be tempted to copy anyone else’s.

Read our step-by-step guide to writing your personal statement

Then follow our simple tips below.

• Do talk about why you’re a good candidate – talk about you, your motivations and what brings you to this course.
• Do be enthusiastic – if you show you’re interested in the course, it may help you get a place.
• Do make it relevant . Connect what you’re saying with the course and with your experiences.
• Do outline your ideas clearly .
• Do avoid the negatives – highlight the positives about you, and show you know your strengths.
• Do expect to produce several drafts of your personal statement before being totally happy with it.
• Do ask people you trust for their feedback.
• Don’t be modest or shy . You want your passions to come across. 
• Don’t exaggerate – if you do, you may get caught out in an interview when asked to elaborate on an interesting achievement.
• Don’t use quotes from someone else, or cliches.
• Don’t leave it to the last minute – your statement will seem rushed and important information could be left out.
• Don’t let spelling and grammatical errors spoil your statement , but don't just rely on a spellchecker. Proofread as many times as possible.
• Don’t copy and paste – make yours original.
• Don’t post your personal statement on the internet or on social media or share your personal statement with anyone including your friends and family, unless asking for feedback from people you trust.
• Don’t worry about it – we have all the advice you need to help you stand out in your personal statement. 

The personal statement tool image

Don’t be tempted to copy or share your statement.

UCAS scans all personal statements through a similarity detection system to compare them with previous statements.

Any similarity greater than 30% will be flagged and we'll inform the universities and colleges to which you have applied. 

Find out more

Ana ghaffari moghaddam – third year law student and careers coach, university of liverpool.

You’ve got this. Follow those simple steps and use your personal statement as your chance to shine .Use the below as a checklist to make sure you've avoided all common pitfalls.

Want more tips on what to include in your personal statement? Use the links below.

• Get started with our personal statement builder . 
• Five things all students should include in their personal statement. 
• See how you can turn your personal statement into a CV, apprenticeship application or covering letter. 
• Read How to start a personal statement: The attention grabber .

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• How to Write Your Personal Statement | Strategies & Examples

How to Write Your Personal Statement | Strategies & Examples

Published on February 12, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 3, 2023.

A personal statement is a short essay of around 500–1,000 words, in which you tell a compelling story about who you are, what drives you, and why you’re applying.

To write a successful personal statement for a graduate school application , don’t just summarize your experience; instead, craft a focused narrative in your own voice. Aim to demonstrate three things:

• Your personality: what are your interests, values, and motivations?
• Your talents: what can you bring to the program?
• Your goals: what do you hope the program will do for you?

This article guides you through some winning strategies to build a strong, well-structured personal statement for a master’s or PhD application. You can download the full examples below.

Urban Planning Psychology History

Table of contents

Getting started with your personal statement, the introduction: start with an attention-grabbing opening, the main body: craft your narrative, the conclusion: look ahead, revising, editing, and proofreading your personal statement, frequently asked questions, other interesting articles.

Before you start writing, the first step is to understand exactly what’s expected of you. If the application gives you a question or prompt for your personal statement, the most important thing is to respond to it directly.

For example, you might be asked to focus on the development of your personal identity; challenges you have faced in your life; or your career motivations. This will shape your focus and emphasis—but you still need to find your own unique approach to answering it.

There’s no universal template for a personal statement; it’s your chance to be creative and let your own voice shine through. But there are strategies you can use to build a compelling, well-structured story.

The first paragraph of your personal statement should set the tone and lead smoothly into the story you want to tell.

Strategy 1: Open with a concrete scene

An effective way to catch the reader’s attention is to set up a scene that illustrates something about your character and interests. If you’re stuck, try thinking about:

• A personal experience that changed your perspective
• A story from your family’s history
• A memorable teacher or learning experience
• An unusual or unexpected encounter

To write an effective scene, try to go beyond straightforward description; start with an intriguing sentence that pulls the reader in, and give concrete details to create a convincing atmosphere.

Strategy 2: Open with your motivations

To emphasize your enthusiasm and commitment, you can start by explaining your interest in the subject you want to study or the career path you want to follow.

Just stating that it interests you isn’t enough: first, you need to figure out why you’re interested in this field:

• Is it a longstanding passion or a recent discovery?
• Does it come naturally or have you had to work hard at it?
• How does it fit into the rest of your life?
• What do you think it contributes to society?

Tips for the introduction

• Don’t start on a cliche: avoid phrases like “Ever since I was a child…” or “For as long as I can remember…”
• Do save the introduction for last. If you’re struggling to come up with a strong opening, leave it aside, and note down any interesting ideas that occur to you as you write the rest of the personal statement.

Once you’ve set up the main themes of your personal statement, you’ll delve into more detail about your experiences and motivations.

To structure the body of your personal statement, there are various strategies you can use.

Strategy 1: Describe your development over time

One of the simplest strategies is to give a chronological overview of key experiences that have led you to apply for graduate school.

• What first sparked your interest in the field?
• Which classes, assignments, classmates, internships, or other activities helped you develop your knowledge and skills?
• Where do you want to go next? How does this program fit into your future plans?

Don’t try to include absolutely everything you’ve done—pick out highlights that are relevant to your application. Aim to craft a compelling narrative that shows how you’ve changed and actively developed yourself.

My interest in psychology was first sparked early in my high school career. Though somewhat scientifically inclined, I found that what interested me most was not the equations we learned about in physics and chemistry, but the motivations and perceptions of my fellow students, and the subtle social dynamics that I observed inside and outside the classroom. I wanted to learn how our identities, beliefs, and behaviours are shaped through our interactions with others, so I decided to major in Social Psychology. My undergraduate studies deepened my understanding of, and fascination with, the interplay between an individual mind and its social context.During my studies, I acquired a solid foundation of knowledge about concepts like social influence and group dynamics, but I also took classes on various topics not strictly related to my major. I was particularly interested in how other fields intersect with psychology—the classes I took on media studies, biology, and literature all enhanced my understanding of psychological concepts by providing different lenses through which to look at the issues involved.

Strategy 2: Own your challenges and obstacles

If your path to graduate school hasn’t been easy or straightforward, you can turn this into a strength, and structure your personal statement as a story of overcoming obstacles.

• Is your social, cultural or economic background underrepresented in the field? Show how your experiences will contribute a unique perspective.
• Do you have gaps in your resume or lower-than-ideal grades? Explain the challenges you faced and how you dealt with them.

Don’t focus too heavily on negatives, but use them to highlight your positive qualities. Resilience, resourcefulness and perseverance make you a promising graduate school candidate.

Growing up working class, urban decay becomes depressingly familiar. The sight of a row of abandoned houses does not surprise me, but it continues to bother me. Since high school, I have been determined to pursue a career in urban planning. While people of my background experience the consequences of urban planning decisions first-hand, we are underrepresented in the field itself. Ironically, given my motivation, my economic background has made my studies challenging. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship for my undergraduate studies, but after graduation I took jobs in unrelated fields to help support my parents. In the three years since, I have not lost my ambition. Now I am keen to resume my studies, and I believe I can bring an invaluable perspective to the table: that of the people most impacted by the decisions of urban planners.

Strategy 3: Demonstrate your knowledge of the field

Especially if you’re applying for a PhD or another research-focused program, it’s a good idea to show your familiarity with the subject and the department. Your personal statement can focus on the area you want to specialize in and reflect on why it matters to you.

• Reflect on the topics or themes that you’ve focused on in your studies. What draws you to them?
• Discuss any academic achievements, influential teachers, or other highlights of your education.
• Talk about the questions you’d like to explore in your research and why you think they’re important.

The personal statement isn’t a research proposal , so don’t go overboard on detail—but it’s a great opportunity to show your enthusiasm for the field and your capacity for original thinking.

In applying for this research program, my intention is to build on the multidisciplinary approach I have taken in my studies so far, combining knowledge from disparate fields of study to better understand psychological concepts and issues. The Media Psychology program stands out to me as the perfect environment for this kind of research, given its researchers’ openness to collaboration across diverse fields. I am impressed by the department’s innovative interdisciplinary projects that focus on the shifting landscape of media and technology, and I hope that my own work can follow a similarly trailblazing approach. More specifically, I want to develop my understanding of the intersection of psychology and media studies, and explore how media psychology theories and methods might be applied to neurodivergent minds. I am interested not only in media psychology but also in psychological disorders, and how the two interact. This is something I touched on during my undergraduate studies and that I’m excited to delve into further.

Strategy 4: Discuss your professional ambitions

Especially if you’re applying for a more professionally-oriented program (such as an MBA), it’s a good idea to focus on concrete goals and how the program will help you achieve them.

• If your career is just getting started, show how your character is suited to the field, and explain how graduate school will help you develop your talents.
• If you have already worked in the profession, show what you’ve achieved so far, and explain how the program will allow you to take the next step.
• If you are planning a career change, explain what has driven this decision and how your existing experience will help you succeed.

Don’t just state the position you want to achieve. You should demonstrate that you’ve put plenty of thought into your career plans and show why you’re well-suited to this profession.

One thing that fascinated me about the field during my undergraduate studies was the sheer number of different elements whose interactions constitute a person’s experience of an urban environment. Any number of factors could transform the scene I described at the beginning: What if there were no bus route? Better community outreach in the neighborhood? Worse law enforcement? More or fewer jobs available in the area? Some of these factors are out of the hands of an urban planner, but without taking them all into consideration, the planner has an incomplete picture of their task. Through further study I hope to develop my understanding of how these disparate elements combine and interact to create the urban environment. I am interested in the social, psychological and political effects our surroundings have on our lives. My studies will allow me to work on projects directly affecting the kinds of working-class urban communities I know well. I believe I can bring my own experiences, as well as my education, to bear upon the problem of improving infrastructure and quality of life in these communities.

Tips for the main body

• Don’t rehash your resume by trying to summarize everything you’ve done so far; the personal statement isn’t about listing your academic or professional experience, but about reflecting, evaluating, and relating it to broader themes.
• Do make your statements into stories: Instead of saying you’re hard-working and self-motivated, write about your internship where you took the initiative to start a new project. Instead of saying you’ve always loved reading, reflect on a novel or poem that changed your perspective.

Your conclusion should bring the focus back to the program and what you hope to get out of it, whether that’s developing practical skills, exploring intellectual questions, or both.

Emphasize the fit with your specific interests, showing why this program would be the best way to achieve your aims.

Strategy 1: What do you want to know?

If you’re applying for a more academic or research-focused program, end on a note of curiosity: what do you hope to learn, and why do you think this is the best place to learn it?

If there are specific classes or faculty members that you’re excited to learn from, this is the place to express your enthusiasm.

Strategy 2: What do you want to do?

If you’re applying for a program that focuses more on professional training, your conclusion can look to your career aspirations: what role do you want to play in society, and why is this program the best choice to help you get there?

Tips for the conclusion

• Don’t summarize what you’ve already said. You have limited space in a personal statement, so use it wisely!
• Do think bigger than yourself: try to express how your individual aspirations relate to your local community, your academic field, or society more broadly. It’s not just about what you’ll get out of graduate school, but about what you’ll be able to give back.

You’ll be expected to do a lot of writing in graduate school, so make a good first impression: leave yourself plenty of time to revise and polish the text.

Your style doesn’t have to be as formal as other kinds of academic writing, but it should be clear, direct and coherent. Make sure that each paragraph flows smoothly from the last, using topic sentences and transitions to create clear connections between each part.

Don’t be afraid to rewrite and restructure as much as necessary. Since you have a lot of freedom in the structure of a personal statement, you can experiment and move information around to see what works best.

Finally, it’s essential to carefully proofread your personal statement and fix any language errors. Before you submit your application, consider investing in professional personal statement editing . For $150, you have the peace of mind that your personal statement is grammatically correct, strong in term of your arguments, and free of awkward mistakes.

A statement of purpose is usually more formal, focusing on your academic or professional goals. It shouldn’t include anything that isn’t directly relevant to the application.

A personal statement can often be more creative. It might tell a story that isn’t directly related to the application, but that shows something about your personality, values, and motivations.

However, both types of document have the same overall goal: to demonstrate your potential as a graduate student and s how why you’re a great match for the program.

The typical length of a personal statement for graduate school applications is between 500 and 1,000 words.

Different programs have different requirements, so always check if there’s a minimum or maximum length and stick to the guidelines. If there is no recommended word count, aim for no more than 1-2 pages.

If you’re applying to multiple graduate school programs, you should tailor your personal statement to each application.

Some applications provide a prompt or question. In this case, you might have to write a new personal statement from scratch: the most important task is to respond to what you have been asked.

If there’s no prompt or guidelines, you can re-use the same idea for your personal statement – but change the details wherever relevant, making sure to emphasize why you’re applying to this specific program.

If the application also includes other essays, such as a statement of purpose , you might have to revise your personal statement to avoid repeating the same information.

If you want to know more about college essays , academic writing , and AI tools , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.

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How to Write a Personal Statement (with Tips and Examples)

Hannah Yang

Table of Contents

What is a personal statement, 6 tips on how to write a personal statement, personal statement examples (for college and university), faqs about writing personal statements, conclusion on how to write a personal statement.

How do you tell someone who you are in just a few hundred words?

It’s certainly no easy task, but it’s one almost every college applicant must do. The personal statement is a crucial part of any college or university application.

So, how do you write a compelling personal statement?

In this article, we’ll give you all the tools, tips, and examples you need to write an effective personal statement.

A personal statement is a short essay that reveals something important about who you are. It can talk about your background, your interests, your values, your goals in life, or all of the above.

Personal statements are required by many college admission offices and scholarship selection committees. They’re a key part of your application, alongside your academic transcript, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities.

The reason application committees ask you to write a personal statement is so they can get to know who you are. 

Some personal statements have specific prompts, such as “Discuss a period of personal growth in your life” or “Tell us about a challenge or failure you’ve faced.” Others are more open-ended with prompts that essentially boil down to “Tell us about yourself.”

No matter what the prompt is, your goal is the same: to make yourself stand out to the selection committee as a strong candidate for their program.

Here are some things a personal statement can be:

It can be funny. If you have a great sense of humor, your personal statement is a great place to let that shine.  

It can be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to open up about hardships in your life or failures you’ve experienced. Showing vulnerability can make you sound more like a real person rather than just a collection of application materials.  

It can be creative. Candidates have got into top schools with personal statements that take the form of “a day in the life” descriptions, third-person short stories, and even cooking recipes.

Now we’ve talked about what a personal statement is, let’s quickly look at what a personal statement isn’t:

It isn’t a formal academic paper. You should write the personal statement in your natural voice, using first-person pronouns like “I” and “me,” not in the formal, objective language you would use to write an academic paper.

It isn’t a five-paragraph essay. You should use as many paragraphs as you need to tell your story instead of sticking to the essay structure you learned in school.

It isn’t a resumé. You should try to describe yourself by telling a clear and cohesive story rather than providing a jumbled list of all of your accomplishments and ambitions.

Here are our top six tips for writing a strong personal statement.

Tip 1: Do Some Serious Self-Reflection

The hardest part of writing a personal statement isn’t the actual process of writing it.

Before you start typing, you have to figure out what to write about. And that means taking some time to reflect on who you are and what’s important in your life.

Here are some useful questions you can use to start your self-reflection. You can either answer these on your own by writing down your answers, or you can ask a trusted friend to listen as you talk about them together.

What were the key moments that shaped your life? (e.g. an important friendship, a travel experience, an illness or injury)

What are you proud of? (e.g. you’re a good listener, you always keep your promises, you’re a talented musician)

How do you choose to spend your time? (e.g. reading, practicing soccer, spending time with your friends)

What inspires you? (e.g. your grandmother, a celebrity, your favorite song)

Doing this self-reflection is crucial for figuring out the perfect topics and anecdotes you can use to describe who you are.

Tip 2: Try to Avoid Cliché Topics

College application committees read thousands of personal statements a year. That means there are some personal statement topics they see over and over again.

Here are a few examples of common personal statement topics that have become cliché:

Winning a tournament or sports game

Volunteering in a foreign country

Moving to a new home

Becoming an older sibling

Being an immigrant or having immigrant parents

If you want to make a strong impression in the application process, you need to make your personal statement stand out from the crowd.

But if your chosen personal statement topic falls into one of these categories, that doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t use it. Just make sure to put a unique spin on it so it still delivers something the committee hasn’t seen before.

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Tip 3: Show, Don’t Tell

One common mistake you might make in your personal statement is to simply tell the reader what you want them to know about you, such as by stating “I have a fear of public speaking” or “I love to cook.”

Instead of simply stating these facts, you should show the committee what you’re talking about through a story or scene, which will make your essay much more immersive and memorable.

For example, let’s say you want the committee to know you overcame your fear of public speaking. Instead of writing “I overcame my fear of public speaking,” show them what it was like to be onstage in front of a microphone. Did your palms get clammy? Did you feel light-headed? Did you forget your words?

Or let’s say you want the committee to know you love to cook. Instead of writing “I love to cook,” show them why you love to cook. What’s your favorite dish to cook? What does the air smell like when you’re cooking it? What kitchen appliances do you use to make it?

Tip 4: Connect the Story to Why You’re Applying

Don’t forget that the purpose of your personal statement isn’t simply to tell the admissions committee who you are. That’s an important part of it, of course, but your ultimate goal is to convince them to choose you as a candidate.

That means it’s important to tie your personal story to your reasons for applying to this specific school or scholarship. Finish your essay with a strong thesis.

For example, if your story is about overcoming your fear of public speaking, you might connect that story to your ambition of becoming a politician. You can then tie that to your application by saying, “I want to apply to this school because of its fantastic politics program, which will give me a perfect opportunity to use my voice.”

Tip 5: Write in Your Own Voice

The personal statement isn’t supposed to be written in a formal tone. That’s why they’re called “personal” statements because you have to shape it to fit your own voice and style.

Don’t use complicated or overwrought language. You don’t need to fill your essay with semicolons and big words, unless that’s how you sound in real life.

One way to write in your own voice is by speaking your personal statement out loud. If it doesn’t feel natural, it may need changing. 

Tip 6: Edit, Edit, Edit!

It’s important to revise your personal statement multiple times in order to make sure it’s as close to perfect as possible.

A single typo won’t kill your application, but if your personal statement contains multiple spelling errors or egregious grammar mistakes, you won’t be putting your best foot forward.

ProWritingAid can help you make sure your personal statement is as clean as possible. In addition to catching your grammar errors, typos, and punctuation mistakes, it will also help you improve weaknesses in your writing, such as passive voice, unnecessary repetition, and more.

Let’s look at some of the best personal statements that have worked for successful candidates in the real world. 

Harvard Personal Statement Example

Love. For a word describing such a powerful emotion, it is always in the air. The word “love” has become so pervasive in everyday conversation that it hardly retains its roots in blazing passion and deep adoration. In fact, the word is thrown about so much that it becomes difficult to believe society isn’t just one huge, smitten party, with everyone holding hands and singing “Kumbaya.” In films, it’s the teenage boy’s grudging response to a doting mother. At school, it’s a habitual farewell between friends. But in my Chinese home, it’s never uttered. Watching my grandmother lie unconscious on the hospital bed, waiting for her body to shut down, was excruciatingly painful. Her final quavering breaths formed a discordant rhythm with the steady beep of hospital equipment and the unsympathetic tapping hands of the clock. That evening, I whispered—into unhearing ears—the first, and only, “I love you” I ever said to her, my rankling guilt haunting me relentlessly for weeks after her passing. My warm confession seemed anticlimactic, met with only the coldness of my surroundings—the blank room, impassive doctors, and empty silence. I struggled to understand why the “love” that so easily rolled off my tongue when bantering with friends dissipated from my vocabulary when I spoke to my family. Do Chinese people simply love less than Americans do?

This is an excerpt from a personal statement that got the applicant admitted to Harvard University. The applicant discusses her background as a Chinese-American by musing on the word “love” and what that means within her family.

The writer uses vulnerable details about her relationship with her grandmother to give the reader an understanding of where she comes from and how her family has shaped her.  

You can read the full personal statement on the Harvard Crimson website.

Tufts Personal Statement Example

My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver. I saw it in my favorite book, Richard Scarry’s “Cars and Trucks and Things That Go,” and for some reason, I was absolutely obsessed with the idea of driving a giant pickle. Much to the discontent of my younger sister, I insisted that my parents read us that book as many nights as possible so we could find goldbug, a small little golden bug, on every page. I would imagine the wonderful life I would have: being a pig driving a giant pickle truck across the country, chasing and finding goldbug. I then moved on to wanting to be a Lego Master. Then an architect. Then a surgeon. Then I discovered a real goldbug: gold nanoparticles that can reprogram macrophages to assist in killing tumors, produce clear images of them without sacrificing the subject, and heat them to obliteration. Suddenly the destination of my pickle was clear. I quickly became enveloped by the world of nanomedicine; I scoured articles about liposomes, polymeric micelles, dendrimers, targeting ligands, and self-assembling nanoparticles, all conquering cancer in some exotic way. Completely absorbed, I set out to find a mentor to dive even deeper into these topics. After several rejections, I was immensely grateful to receive an invitation to work alongside Dr. Sangeeta Ray at Johns Hopkins.

This is the beginning of a personal statement by Renner Kwittken, who was admitted into Tufts University as a pre-medical student.

Renner uses a humorous anecdote about being a pickle truck driver to describe his love for nanomedicine and how he got involved in his field. You can feel his passion for medicine throughout his personal statement.

You can find Renner’s full essay on the Tufts Admissions page.

Law School Personal Statement Essay Example

For most people, the slap on the face that turns their life around is figurative. Mine was literal. Actually, it was a punch delivered by a drill sergeant at Fort Dix, New Jersey, while I was in basic training. That day’s activity, just a few weeks into the program, included instruction in “low-crawling,” a sensible method of moving from one place to another on a battlefield. I felt rather clever for having discovered that, by looking right rather than down, I eliminated my helmet’s unfortunate tendency to dig into the ground and slow my progress. I could thus advance more easily, but I also exposed my unprotected face to hostile fire. Drill sergeants are typically very good at detecting this type of laziness, and mine was an excellent drill sergeant. So, after his repeated suggestions that I correct my performance went unheeded, he drove home his point with a fist to my face. We were both stunned. This was, after all, the New Army, and striking a trainee was a career-ending move for a drill sergeant, as we were both aware. I could have reported him; arguably, I should have. I didn’t. It didn’t seem right for this good sergeant, who had not slept for almost four days, to lose his career for losing his temper with my laziness. Choosing not to report him was the first decision I remember making that made me proud.

These are the first three paragraphs of an anonymous personal statement by a Wheaton College graduate, who used this personal statement to get into a top-25 law school.

This statement describes a time the applicant faced a challenging decision while in the army. He ended up making a decision he was proud of, and as a result, the personal statement gives us a sense of his character.

You can find the full essay on the Wheaton Academics website.

Here are some common questions about how to write a personal statement.

How Long Should a Personal Statement Be?

The length of your personal statement depends on the specific program you’re applying to. The application guidelines usually specify a maximum word count or an ideal word count.  

Most personal statements are between 500–800 words. That’s a good general range to aim for if you don’t have more specific guidelines.  

Should Personal Statements Be Different for Scholarships?

Many scholarship applications will ask for personal statements with similar prompts to those of college applications.

However, the purpose of a personal statement you’d write for a scholarship application is different from the purpose of one you’d write for a college application.

For a scholarship application, your goal is to showcase why you deserve the scholarship. To do that, you need to understand the mission of the organization offering that scholarship.

For example, some scholarships are meant to help first-generation college students get their degree, while others are meant to help women break into STEM.

Consider the following questions:

Why is this organization offering scholarships?

What would their ideal scholarship candidate look like?

How do your experiences and goals overlap with those of their ideal scholarship candidate?

You can use the same personal anecdotes you’d use for any other personal statement, but you’ll have a better chance of winning the scholarship if you tailor your essay to match their specific mission.

How to Start a Personal Statement

You should start your personal statement with a “hook” that pulls the reader in. The sooner you catch the reader’s attention, the more likely they’ll want to read the entire essay.

Here are some examples of hooks you can use:

A story (e.g. When the spotlight hit my face, I tried to remind myself to breathe. )

A setting description (e.g. My bedroom floor is covered with dirty laundry, candy wrappers, and crumpled sheet music. )

A funny anecdote (e.g. When I was a little kid, my friends nicknamed me Mowgli because of my haircut. )

A surprising fact (e.g. I've lived in 37 countries .)

There you have it—our complete guide to writing a personal statement that will make you stand out to the application committee.

Here’s a quick recap: 

A personal statement is a short essay that shows an application committee who you are

Start with a strong hook that pulls the reader in

Tell a story to engage the reader 

Write in your own voice, not in a formal tone

Good luck, and happy writing!

Hannah is a speculative fiction writer who loves all things strange and surreal. She holds a BA from Yale University and lives in Colorado. When she’s not busy writing, you can find her painting watercolors, playing her ukulele, or hiking in the Rockies. Follow her work on hannahyang.com or on Twitter at @hannahxyang.

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The Dos and Don'ts of Writing a Personal Statement

The time has come to start applying for university. It’s the next step in education and you’ve never been more excited. Your parents are proud, already picturing your graduation. Meanwhile, you’re thinking about freedom, the socials and fiery academic debates. But first you need to secure your place and the question of the moment is looming: how do you write a personal statement? 

Well you’ve come to the right place. We've compiled a list of 8 do’s and don’ts when it comes to writing your personal statement . Follow each step and you’ll have conditional offers from all your top 5 choices . You’re welcome.

Before we start, let's get a few technical details out of the way. You probably know already that your personal statement will be processed by UCAS and needs to be 4000 characters maximum (bet you've never thought in characters before, right?). Unfortunately you will be penalised if you don’t adhere to the rules. This means you need to use your words wisely. So with that in mind, let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Don’t write your introduction first — save it until the end.

This might sound backward, but you actually want to write your introduction last. This is because an introduction is essentially a summary, and it's much easier to sum up something you've already written than ideas that haven't yet taken shape.

Instead, plan the main points that you want to talk about. Consider why you want to study the course and your inspirations. At the end, read through your content and highlight the important points in your introduction. This will help you save time and a lot of confusion!

Do be honest and true to yourself.

There is no point flat out lying or even embellishing the facts. Even a little white lie could easily come back to bite you. Universities might arrange interviews and discuss parts of your personal statement. Lying on the spot without the aid of Google is much harder, and it's really not advisable to try.

We understand how intimidating it is to write a personal statement. You want to present yourself as the best candidate for the course (considering the competition) and impress those reading it. The best way to do that is to just be honest and authentic. No one is expecting you to be an expert — that’s why you’re applying to study in your chosen area! So just stick to the facts.

Don’t use a quote. ‍

It can be tempting to use a quote that has inspired you when writing your personal statement. However, admissions officers generally won’t appreciate this, and it will most likely result in eye rolls. They want to hear about the passion you have in your subject through your own words, not somebody else's, so using a quote is the easiest way to waste that precious word count.

It is better to reflect on the source the quote came from, and your own relationship with it. Address how this shaped your view and love of the course you’re applying to. Alternatively, you might draw upon a memory that first sparked your interest in your subject. This is a much better way to philosophise and show off your knowledge.

Do start writing your personal statement ahead of time.

The famous saying “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” is apt here. Avoid leaving your personal statement until the last minute. You need time to draft, re-draft, scrap it and start again. This also allows you to get it reviewed by a teacher or admissions expert. There is nothing worse than missing the deadline and having to wait another year.

Check when the deadline is on the UCAS website or for the actual course at your university. For Oxbridge applicants and medical students the deadline is earlier than the national date. You want to make sure you’re prepared and happy to submit your statement. Otherwise, you’re more likely to make a mistake which could cost you your future.

Don’t open with predictable or corny statements.

Similar to the use of quotes, you also want to avoid predictable statements. For example: “ever since I was a child…” or “my Mum was a doctor so it makes sense that…” . Again, these are filler words that do not demonstrate your passion and will likely hinder your chances of grabbing the reader’s attention.

A more appropriate way to open your personal statement or paragraph is to be succinct, punchy and original. Draw on a book, programme, extracurricular or life event that then sparked an “aha moment”. For instance: “after reading Yoval Noah’s ‘Sapiens’, I knew that this was only the beginning of anthropological study.”  

Don’t just say why a course interests you — show it creatively.

Anyone can say that they like or love a particular subject - this alone does not prove your passion. You need to demonstrate that you have a keen interest in your subject in a way that will ensure you stand out.

Talk about the extracurricular activities you partake in, or what you read, listen to and watch in your spare time. Provide a link between these interests and how they show you are a good candidate for the course.

Do follow formatting guidelines.

There are a few annoying but important guidelines that will help your personal statement stand out. Choose a professional font (like Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman) in a standard size 12 and in black. Don’t make the text smaller to fit more words in on the page — it’s still measured by characters. The line spacing should be 1.5 for easy reading.

It’s important to structure your content into 4 main sections: why you want to study this course, subjects or texts studied, work experience and then hobbies or extracurricular activities. Then obviously an introduction and killer conclusion.

Don’t compare your application to others.

One thing to remember is that you should never compare yourself to others in life. The same goes true for your personal statement. Treat yourself as someone who is unique with different experiences to those around you. Whilst it’s possible that there are thousands of applicants who want to do the same course as you, it doesn’t mean your application is less than.

Personal statements will differ depending on the course you are applying to, whether that’s Law, English or Music. Therefore it makes no sense to worry yourself with what to say based on someone else’s application.

Do get someone to proofread your work.

Finally, make sure that a friend, teacher or professional proofreads your work. You’ll be working on your personal statement for a few months, in which time you’ll get sick of reading it! This is why it’s worthwhile to get your application checked before you submit. Particularly for spelling errors or format issues that you can easily miss.

Don’t let your ego trip you up. Even the most intelligent people need a supportive nudge and some constructive criticism. However, we know that getting professional advice can be expensive. You also don’t want to spend hundreds of pounds and risk getting poor feedback. Fortunately, we have an in-house personal statement review service monitored by a UCAS expert that allows you to submit your latest personal statement draft and receive feedback within 48 hours.

To sum it all up…

Hopefully you now feel more confident writing your personal statement. The best advice we can give you is to just keep it simple. As much as research is great, you really just need to put pen to paper. Get your ideas down, review it, seek a second or third opinion, then submit. Good luck!

Looking for a good personal statement checker?

For more advice on the university process, applications and more, speak to our experts today. With over 15+ years of experience, we can give you exclusive advice to help you reach your goals. You can submit your personal statement for free and get a review within 24 hours. We won’t share or advertise your application without your permission, it’s kept safe under lock and key. Our trusted advisors will give you feedback to ensure you write the perfect personal statement. Did we mention that our service is free? At this point, it would be rude not to get help.

Naida is a witty wordsmith with a love for writing and reading. She is a Content Writer and Social Media Executive at Tutor House — the top UK provider of online and in-person tuition. She specialises in topics relating to mental & physical wellbeing and career advice.

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Have people ever lied in their personal statement?

• Thread starter Vanessa Taylor
• Start date Jan 14, 2006

Vanessa Taylor

• Jan 14, 2006

Senior Member

The title of your thread is "have people ever lied in their personal statement?" In your post you said, "I know some people don't have anything for their personal statement opening so they make a story up to put it their." You've answered your question. As for the part about the schools making you prove your statement, I have no clue. I guess the interview is the opportunity they have to question the stuff in your statement, IF they read it. For people that choose to lie, those things have a way of coming back to haunt the guilty.  

Perhaps people do lie in their personal statement. Now, maybe you will be lucky and get way with it. However, you have to consider the other possibility, which is being caught. Believe me, it is not worth it. If you get caught, then you can say bye to dentistry or to any other professional school for that matter. Bottom line is, DO NOT DO IT.  

NA4242 said: Perhaps people do lie in their personal statement. Now, maybe you will be lucky and get way with it. However, you have to consider the other possibility, which is being caught. Believe me, it is not worth it. If you get caught, then you can say bye to dentistry or to any other professional school for that matter. Bottom line is, DO NOT DO IT. Click to expand...

I hope people don't, but I am sure some will embelish their strengths and accomplishment. During the interview you will be asked about the info you wrote on your personal statement and other parts of the AADSAS application and I think it's best to be as honest as possible. All the lies might back fire and you will be in a much worse situation then if you told the truth from the start. What about avoiding or omitting negative things in the appication? that might be a better question for the thread.  

fightingspirit

Full member.

• Jan 15, 2006

i think very few applicants lie in their P.S. however, many embellish their P.S like howui said. and frankly speaking, i dont think it is wrong as long as you know how to respond to related questions during the inTview.  

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The Consequences of Lying on Medical School Applications

• By Kevin Jubbal, M.D.
• June 3, 2023
• admissions committee , Medical School Application

You’ve been tempted to bend the truth a little, maybe even outright lie on your medical school application in order to improve your chances. Can you get away with it? Is it worth it? Here’s what you need to know.

1 | Lying on Medical School Applications

Let’s start with the big one—outright lying on your primary or secondary medical school applications, which can be quite tempting.

There are many different ways you can lie on your application.

You could claim to have a publication when you don’t. You could add 1,000 hours to an extracurricular when you actually only clocked 200. You could completely make up an extracurricular experience . You could give yourself an important title when you didn’t have one. You could also misrepresent yourself by claiming you care deeply about diversity and inclusivity while posting hateful or bigoted rhetoric on social media.

There are myriad ways admissions committees can sniff out lies on your application, whether that’s through AI, checking your social media, or reaching out to their many contacts or your listed references. Keep in mind that medicine is a small world, and medical school admissions is an even smaller one. People talk.

If you are caught lying, you will be immediately black balled by the admissions committee, and it won’t stop just there. It will trickle down to other admissions committees because doctors will do everything they can to protect the sanctity of their profession.

Patients need to be able to trust their doctor, which is why ethics are taken so seriously in the medical profession. If one admissions committee catches you in a lie, they will do what they can to ensure you are not accepted anywhere. A bad egg slipping through the cracks tarnishes the reputation of doctors everywhere and makes it harder for them to do their job.

Remember the career you’re trying to get into. Being a doctor means having integrity and an ironclad code of ethics. Integrity is one of the core principles of the profession. If you’re resorting to these tactics, you should reflect on whether or not you’re entering the right profession. You can’t betray the core foundations of a profession in order to get into it and expect everything to work out.

But what if you get away with the lie? What if no one notices? This doesn’t mean the lie is just swept under the rug. The lie will never go away, whether everyone knows about it or just you. And that inauthenticity will eat at you – imposter syndrome will find you for good reason, and you’ll wonder if you got into medical school and deserve a seat based on your own merits, or because you bent the truth.

Depending on the lie, you may have to keep up with the lie for as long as you want a career in medicine, let alone the application process. Lying will make it even more difficult on yourself during interviews. You won’t be able to be your authentic self, and humans are incredibly sensitive at sniffing out inauthenticity and deceit. After all, this was key during our evolutionary history, and attempts to maintain the lie during the interview will almost certainly show.

Taking an extra year to build up your experiences is a much, much better solution than lying on your medical school application.

2 | Plagiarizing on Medical School Applications

Plagiarizing is a form of lying; however, it’s not only lying, it’s also stealing. You’re taking something that doesn’t belong to you, something you didn’t work for and earn yourself.

In terms of your medical school application, plagiarizing is most likely to come up in your essay—notably, your personal statement. There are tons of personal statement examples out there, which means it would not be difficult to take one and tweak it to make it your own. However, this completely defeats the purpose of a personal statement and will put you at a disadvantage.

Your personal statement is your story . It’s an admissions committee’s window into who you are beyond your grades and achievements. Using another person’s story misrepresents who you are.

Now, it’s perfectly okay to take inspiration from others, and we encourage you to do so. Read examples of successful personal statements to better understand what admissions committees look for. We have multiple free resources that you’ll find highly valuable, including breakdowns and commentary from admissions committees on each personal statement.

Plagiarizing does not work to your benefit, as you’ll be telling someone else’s story instead of your own again and again during the course of your secondary applications, interviews, and beyond. Not only is this difficult to do, it could actually make you sound more generic and forgettable.

It’s difficult to stand out from the thousands of other students applying alongside you and even more difficult to stand out from the tens upon tens of thousands of candidates who applied in the years before you. The more you copy someone else’s story and voice, the more bland you become. The best way to stand out is to tell your own unique story.

Plus, it’s very likely you will be caught at some point. Admissions committees have AI technology designed to catch plagiarism, and it gets better every year. It’s also quite possible that someone on the admissions committee could recognize something or know the person you’re plagiarizing. And remember, medical school admissions is a very small world.

3 | Exaggerating on Medical School Applications

Your grades and transcripts are pretty much set in stone, so you aren’t able to lie about those things. Exaggerating usually occurs in the Work and Activities section or in your other essays, like your personal statement.

You may say you participated in extracurriculars that you didn’t or claim to have played a bigger role than you did in one activity or another. For example, if you were shadowing a surgeon and say you sutured the skin closed or intubated a patient as an undergrad, that’s either untrue or it’s a safety risk. Doctors know these kinds of things, so it’s a clear sign you’re being disingenuous.

Exaggerating may be hard to catch, but it doesn’t make it right. Being a few hours off here or there won’t matter, but be sure to accurately record your hours and experiences as best you can throughout your premed years in a journal so that you can paint a clear picture of your actual accomplishments.

Admissions committees are not dumb. If you’re claiming 1400 hours here, 2000 hours there, and 2500 somewhere else, they are going to notice the impossibility of your claims.

Admissions committees have seen hundreds if not thousands of applications, and they applied to medical school once too. They can see through what’s authentic and what’s bloated exaggeration. They’ll start to question how it’s possible you were able to collect so many hours in so many different areas.

It’s okay to round up. If you were 1 of 48 vying for a scholarship, you could round up to 1 of 50. But if you claim you were selected out of thousands when only a hundred applied, they will find out.

If you don’t have a published article, don’t say you do. You can say it was submitted, but you can’t say it was published if it wasn’t. They will notice because they will simply look up your publication. And if you get to the interview stage, many interviewers will grill you on your research and submitted work.

Admissions committees do not want to accept candidates who think it’s okay to lie to get ahead. If they think you’re being disingenuous, they will use everything at their disposal to figure out if you’re lying. They’ll use AI tools, social media, and their many, many contacts to find the truth. These are expert humans with experience on their side.

Plus, it’s also important to remember that you generally don’t see your letters of recommendation before they’re sent to the admissions committee. If what you claim on your application doesn’t line up with what the letter writer said about you, that’s another huge red flag.

Medical school admissions committees have a zero tolerance policy on lying, and significant exaggerations certainly constitute lying.

4 | Poorly Utilizing AI Writing Technology

So far, admissions committees haven’t said you can’t use AI technology to help write your essays, but this could change in the future. Be sure to check each school’s specific instructions to see what is allowed and what isn’t. Always follow a school’s rules and instructions. If you disagree or are tempted to violate these rules, you’re likely not an ideal fit for that medical school.

If you are allowed to use AI writing tools, should you? And in what capacity?

While it can make writing easier, it’s to your ultimate disadvantage to use AI to write your essays entirely, especially if you don’t have ample experience with prompt engineering. These tools are only as good as the information they have.

We covered this topic in a previous article on the Future of AI and Medical School Applications .

Like any new piece of technology, AI writing tools like ChatGPT take time to master. You need to practice using the tool and train it to do what you want it to. If you have a passion for learning new technologies or have already spent ample time learning how to master the tool, this could be an option for you.

Without providing the AI tool with extensive and detailed background information about yourself as well as your experiences, key moments in your life, and notable traits, even though the writing may sound good, it won’t be your unique story.

For most students, writing your personal statement and other essays yourself will result in a stronger product because it will be in your own words. A personal statement must come from your own unique voice. The strongest applicants utilize their personal statement as an opportunity to further the overall narrative of their application—something AI tools can’t do just yet.

Don’t think you’ll be able to plug in a few descriptors of yourself and have an AI tool plop out an engaging, authentic personal statement in your own unique voice.

If you want to use AI to help write your essays, it’s best to use it for brainstorming, synthesizing ideas, and organizing information. Use AI to help spark ideas and improve your writing if it is something you struggle with, but ensure you keep your voice your own.

Your medical school application is far from the only time you will need to complete a writing assignment or cohesively weave ideas together. You’ll need to effectively craft your own answers on the fly during your interviews and throughout your medical education. Just as empathy or strong communication skills are sought-after traits in doctors and most professions, writing and the ability to craft a coherent and persuasive argument may also become one of those traits that set you apart from your peers.

Of course, at this early stage in the evolution of AI writing tools, we can only guess what the future will have in store. AI technology is still very new, and how it will impact the medical school application process will continue to evolve. Expect to see more information, guidelines, and restrictions in the coming years as programs adapt to the new technology.

Bottom line: Don’t use AI tools if a school implements guidelines against them, and don’t view these tools as an easy way out of your essays. Your concern should not be about how quickly you can write your essays; your concern across your whole application should be authenticity and integrity.

Begin Your Career With Integrity

If you’re going against the core values of what it means to be a doctor before you even get into medical school, that’s a big problem. Breaking the rules of the medical profession to become part of it invalidates and disrespects its core values and shows admissions committees why you should not join their medical school instead of the other way around.

Even if you were able to fool someone else, you can never fool yourself. And your sense of self, including your self-worth and self-esteem, is ultimately the reputation you have with yourself. For your own self-interest, and to maintain your sanity, integrity, and self-respect, act in the way that you would be proud to tell others. Because whether or not you tell others, you’ll always know the truth. And you can’t ever escape that.

With social media, it’s hard not to play the comparison game. You may feel pressured to bend the truth here or there to be more competitive when it seems like everyone is scoring a 520 on the MCAT and has a perfect 4.0 GPA. Understand that’s not the truth, and this is a prime example of survivorship bias.

We’ve even helped students with below average GPAs and MCAT scores get into competitive medical schools. Your stats aren’t your whole application, and what you consider blemishes or embarrassing shortcomings can actually be used to your advantage if you know how. It all comes down to how you spin things, what you’ve learned from the challenges, and the overall narrative that your application presents to the admissions committees.

Get expert, personalized guidance from a real physician with adcoms experience. We’ve helped over 6,000 happy students in their dream of becoming a physician, and we’d love to help make your dream a reality as well.

Kevin Jubbal, M.D.

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Lying Is Rare, but for Those Who Lie It Is Prolific

Psychology research provides tips to out the lie..

Posted June 18, 2024 | Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer

• In a study of 1,000 participants, half the lies were told by 5.6% of the participants.
• Concealed emotions and signs of cognitive strain or stress, like fidgeting, may indicate deceit.
• Deceptive answers are typically less compelling and contain fewer specifics than truthful responses.
• Revealing information contradicting a liar's account challenges the liar to adjust their story on the spot.

As elections approach, voters are assessing the performance of their elected representatives. I have observed and written about corruption in office for two decades. The following psychology research tips can help voters test the credibility of their public servants.

The Good News

Most people are not inveterate liars. Michigan State University communication researcher Kim Serota and his colleagues, in a study of 1,000 participants, find that of those who admit they lie, half of the lies come from just 5.3% of participants. Since lying tends to be rare, except for a small group of frequent liars, it makes sense to start with the premise that people are telling the truth until, as attorneys say, you observe a "pattern and practice" of lying. Or, as President Reagan said, “Trust but Verify.”

The experts agree that no one trait definitively reveals a liar. Listen, watch, and read carefully. Often it takes knowledge of the material and observation over time before patterns become evident.

Liars Tell You Who They Are

Singer, poet, author, and activist Maya Angelou is famous for saying, "When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” I have observed that liars often inadvertently tell you who they are or what they are doing. For instance, an attorney joked during an annual general meeting that disclosed high legal expenses, “Of course, I encourage the association to engage in expensive litigation because then I make more money.”

Liars may use phrases or words that betray what they are doing. Recently, a government clerk rejected a document because it contained uppercase rather than lowercase letters. The attorney dubbed it, "unauthorized capitalization." The document was about complaints by citizens that the city was committing them to hundreds of millions of dollars of expenses and taxation without the vote or permission of the people—in fact, unauthorized capitalization!

In a March 25, 2024 online article, "Psychological Signs That Someone Is Lying," the Australian National Psychology Service identifies several of the studies and behavioral cues and solutions that follow, with the proviso that while psychological research has identified several patterns associated with lying, no single cue definitively indicates dishonesty.

Microexpressions and Incongruent Body Language

Micro expressions are brief, involuntary facial expressions that occur when someone tries to conceal their true feelings. Ekman and O'Sullivan (1991), in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , find that concealed emotions may indicate deceit. This may include body language that does not match what is being said. Research by Vrij, Edward, Roberts, and Bull (2000) published in Psychology, Crime & Law shows that liars might exhibit gestures that contradict their verbal statements, such as shaking their head "no" while saying "yes." These can often be caught on camera when meetings are recorded.

Behavioral Cues

I am surprised at how often the “hand over the mouth” cue shows up. It may indicate, “I don’t believe what you are saying,” or “what is being said isn’t true.”

Conversational Cues

In addition to the non-verbal cues, psychologists note that certain verbal cues may indicate lying, although the best of liars may not exhibit these cues, and sometimes the cues expose nervousness. The nervousness might be due to the veracity of their comments, and it might not. These include clearing throat and vague responses. Increased cognitive load and emotional stress are common in deceptive individuals. Vrij (2008), in Detecting Lies and Deceit: Pitfalls and Opportunities , noted that signs of cognitive strain or stress, like fidgeting , may indicate deceit.

Certain verbal patterns may hint at dishonesty. DePaulo et al. (2003), in Psychological Bulletin , noted that deceptive speech often includes distancing language (e.g., avoiding personal pronouns). Clearing of the throat can reveal nervousness, perhaps induced by a dishonest response.

Questioning Answers and Answering Questions

Liars often provide less detailed, more ambiguous answers. According to Levine, Park, and McCornack (1999), in Human Communication Research , deceptive answers are typically less compelling and contain fewer specifics than truthful responses. They find that unexpected questions disrupt a deceiver's prepared narrative, making it harder to maintain their lie. This technique leverages the element of surprise to elicit spontaneous responses that may betray deceit. These are common practices of journalists as an interview technique or simply due to curiosity.

Recently, I unwittingly used this technique. I asked a few questions of a city manager who stated that the city only received 10% of its property taxes from the county. My understanding was that it was a fixed rate varying from 14-17%, set when the city was incorporated, so I was curious about the lower figure. I provided these figures and asked what had changed. The response was, “Well, that’s the national average cities get.”

Liars often struggle to maintain complex lies. Asking for details increases the cognitive load and makes it more difficult for liars to keep their story straight. Vrij, Fisher, Mann, and Leal (2006), in Applied Cognitive Psychology , found that asking open-ended questions requiring detailed answers can reveal discrepancies in a liar’s account. Strömwall, Granhag, and Hartwig (2004) in Legal and Criminological Psychology suggest that evaluating a story's coherence, plausibility, and detail can provide insights into its truthfulness. Honest accounts are more vivid, with logical sequences and spontaneous corrections.

Unexpected Questions and Strategic Use of Evidence

This can include withholding evidence until the right moment in conversation. According to Granhag and Hartwig (2015) in Annual Review of Law and Social Science , strategically revealing information that contradicts the speaker's account challenges the liar to adjust their story on the spot, often leading to inconsistencies.

Australian National Psychology Service. (March 25, 2024.) Psychological Signs That Someone Is Lying. https://calmandcaring.com/f/psychological-signs-that-someone-is-lying .

Granhag, P.A., & Hartwig, M. (2015). The strategic use of evidence technique: A conceptual overview. Annual Review of Law and Social Science .

Vrij, A. (2008). Detecting Lies and Deceit: Pitfalls and Opportunities. Wiley.

Former Mayor Debbie Peterson is the author of The Happiest Corruption: Sleaze, Lies, & Suicide in a California Beach Town and has a BSc in Communications.

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Why we’re so bad at spotting lies – most of us only perform slightly better than chance

Professor of Psychology, Edge Hill University

Disclosure statement

Geoff Beattie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Edge Hill University provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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You don’t have to be in the middle of an election campaign to be concerned about your ability to spot a lie. Psychology research suggests people lie at least once a day.

A 2006 review of 206 papers found that we are little better then chance at guessing whether something is a lie or not, 54% to be exact.

Some lies are told to make others feel better. I wouldn’t mind if someone wanted to tell me, “You’re such a brilliant psychologist.” Most lies however, are for the benefit of the person telling the lie.

We learn to lie young, typically between the ages of two and three . More successful lying in childhood takes a little longer and requires a more developed ability to understand others’ mental states.

You also need good working memory to be convincing, so that you can remember the lie. Brighter children seem to lie most often and most selfishly.

By adulthood we are, it seems, well practised.

There are no tell-tale signs of lying per se, but there may be indicators of negative emotion associated with telling a lie (anxiety, guilt, shame, sadness, fear of being caught) even when the liar is trying to conceal them .

These sometimes leak out in micro-expressions, brief facial expressions lasting a fraction of a second or squelched expressions where the liar covers the emotion with a mask, usually a fake smile.

You can tell a fake smile because it doesn’t involve the muscles around the eyes and leaves the face quickly. Genuine smiles fade more slowly .

But the thing about possible nonverbal indicators of deception is most of us would need to replay the behaviour in slow motion to spot them.

Facing up to the truth

But what about avoiding eye contact, believed globally to be a deception cue. My mother always said that she could tell when I was lying because I couldn’t look her in the eye. She would move closer and ask what I’d been up to the night before.

Eye contact is not a useful indicator of deception. Eye contact is affected by our cognitive activity even when we’re telling the truth. For instance, by planning our speech or accessing memory.

Also, we all know that’s what people look out for. And liars know to control it. Good liars can maintain eye contact when lying by planning their lie in advance and building their lies on fragments of the truth and real situations.

Eye contact is also affected by interpersonal distance. It’s difficult to maintain eye contact when someone is sitting close-up and staring at you (like my mother). This is the intimacy equilibrium model .

Certain behaviours signal intimacy, like distance, eye contact and topic of conversation. If interpersonal distance changes, we balance this by unconsciously moderating the others. So when my mother moved in for the interrogation, I looked away and she got the evidence she was looking for.

This is a type of confirmation bias . It’s not just that you look for evidence to confirm your hypothesis, you unconsciously influence the very behaviour you’re looking for.

This doesn’t just apply to my mother. A 1978 study suggested that police officers in interrogations move closer to suspects they think are guilty. The suspect looks away, and … guilty as charged! Observers don’t notice the changed distance.

But confirmation bias isn’t just about seating arrangement. We make instant and unconscious judgements of trustworthiness in a face quickly in everyday life (about one-tenth of a second). Once we’ve decided that someone looks trustworthy, we may unconsciously search less for cues to deceit.

Lie detection is fraught with biases and good liars know how to exploit them. They know what we’re looking out for and that’s what they control. Good eye contact, masking smile, well-prepared speech with few hesitations. They can also convince themselves of the essential truth of the lie. Self-deceit reduces any emotional response.

For my new book Lies, Lying and Liars: A Psychological Analysis I studied many expert liars and how they use our intuition against us. For example, in judging a lie we need a baseline of behaviour to detect any deviations.

Expert liars aim to disrupt this. One of my informants (with something to hide) said that when he was stopped by the police he pretended to be really angry and a bit unstable to throw them off course.

And then there’s personality. There’s no point in searching for micro-expressions of guilt, shame, sadness, or fear, if that’s not how they feel inside. Some people enjoy lying. It’s exciting, they don’t care about the consequences. Any micro-expressions in these cases will be positive.

Not a bit of wonder expert liars feel emboldened.

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You can now use digital statutory declarations for sick and carer's leave

Winter cold and flu season is in full swing and, with COVID in the mix too, a lot of workers may be seeking documented evidence when taking sick or carer's leave.

Many workplaces will accept a medical certificate or statutory declaration .

But an otherwise unnecessary trip to the doctor for a medical certificate can be time-consuming, costly, and take clinical time from people who need it.

And statutory declarations (or stat decs), while free, have always required finding a JP to sign them.

But now online statutory declarations are available, and can be used as evidence for personal leave from work.

Digital Commonwealth statutory declarations

Since early this year it's possible to make Commonwealth statutory declarations using your Digital Identity , by creating a myGovID and attaching it to your myGov account.

The documents are free, can be saved, emailed or printed, and once you are set-up take just a few minutes to create.

Veronica Taylor is a professor of law and regulation at the Australian National University (ANU) and was part of a federal government's task force created to help digitise everyday business documents — including statutory declarations.

As Professor Taylor explains, "a digital stat dec and the paper stat dec, which is still an option, have exactly the same effect ".

"What you are doing is saying, 'I declare the facts that I've written here to be true, and I've affixed my signature, and we know it's me — either because I've used a digital ID or because, on a paper form, the witness has watched me sign it — and I make the declaration knowing that a false declaration is a crime'.

"And of course, in an employment situation, your enterprise agreement or your contract with your employer generally has penalties baked in for making false declarations."

Is it easier to lie on a digital stat dec?

Professor Taylor says research she and her team undertook showed that the act of a JP witnessing a declaration did not have any bearing on its contents or substance.

"The witness (the JP) isn't guaranteeing that the contents are true — that burden falls on the person making the declaration.

"It's a kind of leftover ritual from the days when the stat dec was really a reform to get around having to make an oath."

It might feel like it's easier to lie when it's just you and your computer, but the consequences of doing so on a statutory declaration are exactly the same as with a paper one. And an employer may still question whether it constitutes reasonable evidence of your need for leave.

Shae McCrystal, a Professor of Labour Law at the University of Sydney Law School, warns providing any potentially false or misleading information to your employer could have serious consequences.

"If you go down the stat dec line, that's a legal document," she says.

"You never want to be telling untruths to your employer, but [doing so] in that very formal way could very much be grounds for a future disciplinary matter."

The real cost of medical certificates

University of Queensland labour law expert Graeme Orr believes there should be a bigger-picture approach to workplace requirements for personal leave.

"We've got to think about the system-wide effects on millions of people if they do think they have to get a medical certificate.

"They're either getting bulk-billed, or it's costing the Commonwealth revenue so much per visit — and some of the visits are essentially unnecessary and just for a formal purpose, rather than treatment.

"That's a problem," Professor Orr says.

And while he says it's important the solemnity of the statutory declaration process is retained with the online version, he points out that the documents are already often used in lieu of medical certificates — particularly when it comes to carer's leave .

"If you've got an elderly relative you're caring for and they're sick … it would be weird to have to push them in a wheelchair to a doctor to say, 'look, this frail person is struggling today'.

"So we already have a system where stat decs are maybe the only evidence that could be written reasonably required."

It's a sentiment echoed by Professor Taylor, who says "a trust relationship, where employees feel secure and supported, is going to boost productivity".

"When you signal on the one hand, trust and concern, and signal on the other hand, complete disregard for the person that you're putting the compliance burden on, you get very different results.

"So [the use of digital statutory declarations] is just a small way of … actioning what we already know to be true for everyone's benefit."

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Intra-genomic genes-to-genes correlation enables genome representaion

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The pan-genome consists of core genes shared by all members of a taxonomy and accessory genes found in only a subset, holding the keys to advancing our understanding of evolution and tackling medical challenges. Here, we discovered a strong intra-genomic correlation among bacterial genes within each of Escherichia coli , Listeria monocytogenes , Staphylococcus aureus , and Campylobacter jejuni . With a convolutional neural network assisted core genome knock-out simulation, we found that different combinations of fewer than 20 highly variable core genes could recover the sub-species type classified by complete core genome with accuracy >95%. This observation led us to test the genes-to-genes predictability: with more than 52,000 assemblies from each species, combinations of highly variable core genes could predict the sequence variants of other core genes (average accuracy >94%) within the same genome and could also predict sequence variants (average accuracy >91%) as well as the presence (average AUROC >0.91) of some accessory genes. Furthermore, combinations of highly variable core genes could also predict multiple antibiotic resistances (AUROC >0.80) in large published datasets of E. coli , S. aureus , and Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Collectively, we propose that genes within the same genome can strongly correlate with each other. Therefore, the strain phylogeny and the stauts of other genes could be uniformly represented by combinations of highly variable core genes, which could further represent certain phenotypes including in vitro resistance.

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1. increased top margine 2. revised the phrase used in the last three subheadings of results section 3. corrected the author name: "Yongjie Bap" ---> "Yongjia Bao"

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Get help with your resume! Please read the Wiki before posting. Check out the COMMUNITY BOOKMARKS for helpful info.

How risky is it to lie about previous employment's duration on your resume?

I am a graduate student and looking to start work once I graduate in December. I have applied to more than 100 jobs in the last month and have not received a callback yet. One of my friends suggested it might be because of my limited (non-internship) work experience. He suggested I increase the length of my only full-time employment from 10 months to 1 year. I have a great relationship with my previous employer(the CEO) and he'll happily back me up if it comes to that.

Is this a good idea to lie about the duration?

Can this backfire somehow?

If I decide to go forward with this, is it wise to send the new resume(with the 1 year duration) to companies I have already applied too? Some of the companies I have applied to save the resume for a year or 2 to reach out if there is a role suitable for applicants.

Edit: FYI I am apply for tech roles(data scientist, machine learning engineer, etc.).

Introducing Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that puts powerful generative models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac

New Capabilities for Understanding and Creating Language

Image Playground Makes Communication and Self‑Expression Even More Fun

Genmoji Creation to Fit Any Moment

New Features in Photos Give Users More Control

Siri Enters a New Era

A New Standard for Privacy in AI

ChatGPT Gets Integrated Across Apple Platforms

Text of this article

June 10, 2024

PRESS RELEASE

Setting a new standard for privacy in AI, Apple Intelligence understands personal context to deliver intelligence that is helpful and relevant

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today introduced Apple Intelligence , the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful and relevant. Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. It harnesses the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. With Private Cloud Compute, Apple sets a new standard for privacy in AI, with the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers.

“We’re thrilled to introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation. Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence. And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them. This is AI as only Apple can deliver it, and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do.”

Apple Intelligence unlocks new ways for users to enhance their writing and communicate more effectively. With brand-new systemwide Writing Tools built into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.

Whether tidying up class notes, ensuring a blog post reads just right, or making sure an email is perfectly crafted, Writing Tools help users feel more confident in their writing. With Rewrite, Apple Intelligence allows users to choose from different versions of what they have written, adjusting the tone to suit the audience and task at hand. From finessing a cover letter, to adding humor and creativity to a party invitation, Rewrite helps deliver the right words to meet the occasion. Proofread checks grammar, word choice, and sentence structure while also suggesting edits — along with explanations of the edits — that users can review or quickly accept. With Summarize, users can select text and have it recapped in the form of a digestible paragraph, bulleted key points, a table, or a list.

In Mail, staying on top of emails has never been easier. With Priority Messages, a new section at the top of the inbox shows the most urgent emails, like a same-day dinner invitation or boarding pass. Across a user’s inbox, instead of previewing the first few lines of each email, they can see summaries without needing to open a message. For long threads, users can view pertinent details with just a tap. Smart Reply provides suggestions for a quick response, and will identify questions in an email to ensure everything is answered.

Deep understanding of language also extends to Notifications. Priority Notifications appear at the top of the stack to surface what’s most important, and summaries help users scan long or stacked notifications to show key details right on the Lock Screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active. And to help users stay present in what they’re doing, Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus that surfaces only the notifications that might need immediate attention, like a text about an early pickup from daycare.

In the Notes and Phone apps, users can now record, transcribe, and summarize audio. When a recording is initiated while on a call, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence generates a summary to help recall key points.

Apple Intelligence powers exciting image creation capabilities to help users communicate and express themselves in new ways. With Image Playground, users can create fun images in seconds, choosing from three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Image Playground is easy to use and built right into apps including Messages. It’s also available in a dedicated app, perfect for experimenting with different concepts and styles. All images are created on device, giving users the freedom to experiment with as many images as they want.

With Image Playground, users can choose from a range of concepts from categories like themes, costumes, accessories, and places; type a description to define an image; choose someone from their personal photo library to include in their image; and pick their favorite style.

With the Image Playground experience in Messages, users can quickly create fun images for their friends, and even see personalized suggested concepts related to their conversations. For example, if a user is messaging a group about going hiking, they’ll see suggested concepts related to their friends, their destination, and their activity, making image creation even faster and more relevant.

In Notes, users can access Image Playground through the new Image Wand in the Apple Pencil tool palette, making notes more visually engaging. Rough sketches can be turned into delightful images, and users can even select empty space to create an image using context from the surrounding area. Image Playground is also available in apps like Keynote, Freeform, and Pages, as well as in third-party apps that adopt the new Image Playground API.

Taking emoji to an entirely new level, users can create an original Genmoji to express themselves. By simply typing a description, their Genmoji appears, along with additional options. Users can even create Genmoji of friends and family based on their photos. Just like emoji, Genmoji can be added inline to messages, or shared as a sticker or reaction in a Tapback.

Searching for photos and videos becomes even more convenient with Apple Intelligence. Natural language can be used to search for specific photos, such as “Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt,” or “Katie with stickers on her face.” Search in videos also becomes more powerful with the ability to find specific moments in clips so users can go right to the relevant segment. Additionally, the new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.

With Memories, users can create the story they want to see by simply typing a description. Using language and image understanding, Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc. Users will even get song suggestions to match their memory from Apple Music. As with all Apple Intelligence features, user photos and videos are kept private on device and are not shared with Apple or anyone else.

Powered by Apple Intelligence, Siri becomes more deeply integrated into the system experience. With richer language-understanding capabilities, Siri is more natural, more contextually relevant, and more personal, with the ability to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. It can follow along if users stumble over words and maintain context from one request to the next. Additionally, users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment. Siri also has a brand-new design with an elegant glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when Siri is active.

Siri can now give users device support everywhere they go, and answer thousands of questions about how to do something on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Users can learn everything from how to schedule an email in the Mail app, to how to switch from Light to Dark Mode.

With onscreen awareness, Siri will be able to understand and take action with users’ content in more apps over time. For example, if a friend texts a user their new address in Messages, the receiver can say, “Add this address to his contact card.”

With Apple Intelligence, Siri will be able to take hundreds of new actions in and across Apple and third-party apps. For example, a user could say, “Bring up that article about cicadas from my Reading List,” or “Send the photos from the barbecue on Saturday to Malia,” and Siri will take care of it.

Siri will be able to deliver intelligence that’s tailored to the user and their on-device information. For example, a user can say, “Play that podcast that Jamie recommended,” and Siri will locate and play the episode, without the user having to remember whether it was mentioned in a text or an email. Or they could ask, “When is Mom’s flight landing?” and Siri will find the flight details and cross-reference them with real-time flight tracking to give an arrival time.

To be truly helpful, Apple Intelligence relies on understanding deep personal context while also protecting user privacy. A cornerstone of Apple Intelligence is on-device processing, and many of the models that power it run entirely on device. To run more complex requests that require more processing power, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple devices into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence.

With Private Cloud Compute, Apple Intelligence can flex and scale its computational capacity and draw on larger, server-based models for more complex requests. These models run on servers powered by Apple silicon, providing a foundation that allows Apple to ensure that data is never retained or exposed.

Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on Apple silicon servers to verify privacy, and Private Cloud Compute cryptographically ensures that iPhone, iPad, and Mac do not talk to a server unless its software has been publicly logged for inspection. Apple Intelligence with Private Cloud Compute sets a new standard for privacy in AI, unlocking intelligence users can trust.

Apple is integrating ChatGPT access into experiences within iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, allowing users to access its expertise — as well as its image- and document-understanding capabilities — without needing to jump between tools.

Siri can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise when helpful. Users are asked before any questions are sent to ChatGPT, along with any documents or photos, and Siri then presents the answer directly.

Additionally, ChatGPT will be available in Apple’s systemwide Writing Tools, which help users generate content for anything they are writing about. With Compose, users can also access ChatGPT image tools to generate images in a wide variety of styles to complement what they are writing.

Privacy protections are built in for users who access ChatGPT — their IP addresses are obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for users who choose to connect their account.

ChatGPT will come to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year, powered by GPT-4o. Users can access it for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT subscribers can connect their accounts and access paid features right from these experiences.

Availability

Apple Intelligence is free for users, and will be available in beta as part of iOS 18 , iPadOS 18 , and macOS Sequoia  this fall in U.S. English. Some features, software platforms, and additional languages will come over the course of the next year. Apple Intelligence will be available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with Siri and device language set to U.S. English. For more information, visit apple.com/apple-intelligence .

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