A personal statement is an essay that you write to show the University’s admissions committee who you are and why you deserve to be admitted to their university. It provides a platform for you to highlight your skills and achievements. It is critical for you to tailor your personal statement to the university you are applying to. 

Each application in Singapore is different. While one university may ask you to write a Statement of Purpose, another may ask you to write short essays as part of your application. For example:

1. NUS requires one personal statement of 300 words
2. SMU requires one personal statement of 300 words and 2-3 short essays of 50 words each.
   1. Example of a short answer question could be: “What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?”
3. SUTD requires only five short essays of around 100 words each.
   1. Example of a short essay question could be: “Have you ever struggled for something and failed? How did you respond?”

Although the various requirements may seem daunting, the standard rules of writing and the tips provided by us can be used universally across pieces of writing. So make sure to follow them!

While writing your personal statement, admission officers look for the following:

1. An insight into your background and how it has shaped your personality.
2. Your formative experiences.
3. Important events/ significant achievements that have led to changes in your life.
4. Your interest in your course choice.
5. Your interest in studying in Singapore, and in particular the university.
6. Your expectations from tertiary education.
7. Your future goals and dreams.

 Make sure to cover these points when writing your personal statement.

Tips to write a good Personal Statement

To help you write a good personal statement or essay, we have come up with a few tips for you.

1. Firstly, plan your essay well in advance. Create a rough skeleton for the essay and jot down important details that you can include in your essay. This includes your background, significant experiences and achievements, why you wish to pursue this course and why you want to study at this university. 
2. Next, your essay must truly show who you are. The essay has to be highly tailored to fit in how your unique experiences have shaped you and your interests. You should be able to specifically address why your interests lie where they are. This can be done through an anecdote. It could also be your motivations and feelings about a certain topic.
3. Thirdly, being honest goes a long way. Mention your achievements and strengths in your own voice and it is okay to not be overly positive. You can mention your setbacks and analyze how those situations have helped you grow as a person. 
4. Next, always make sure that you don’t overcomplicate your sentences. Your personal statement must be clear, coherent and succinct. 
5. Lastly, proofread your essay as many times as possible. Look for grammatical errors, sentence semantics and wordplay. And keep in mind the word count, so as to not exceed it. 

The personal statement speaks volumes about you as a person as it is the most qualitative piece in your application and gives a human touch to all the numbers and scores. Make the most of your personal statement to showcase your voice in your application.

At UniRely, you can get access to 100+ sample personal statements of students who have been accepted to top universities abroad. Please visit our website unirely.com to learn more about the process of applying to universities in Singapore for an undergraduate degree.