personal statements

It seems that personal statements are the bane of every applicant’s existence. Er, rather, everyone I talk to hates writing them. But this afternoon, I’m going to sit down and write a draft for a personal statement for PhD programs, even if it turns out something awful. It’s just a draft, I’ll tell myself. I just re-read my personal statement for my application to Oregon State, and I can’t believe I got in, it’s so poorly written. However, I did find it interesting that I made the statement: Because of my interest in literary theory, cultural studies, and feminist theory, professors such as Lisa Ede, Evan Gottlieb, Anita Helle, [...] will be excellent resources for me in my pursuit of a master’s degree. And those three people wound up being the three people I asked to be on my committee. What a great coincident.