uw madison personal statement

• Frequently Asked Questions

**Important note: Expectations for personal statements vary widely. The answers below are meant to give some general guidelines, but may not be applicable to the particular program to which you are applying.

Is it all right to use the first person?

In most cases it’s essential. The personal statement is about you, what you think about yourself, and the field you want to study.

How far back should I go in tracing my background?

For your statement, choose the details that you want to highlight in order to best answer the question at hand. The application itself may provide you with a chance to give detailed educational and job history.

Stories about how one became interested in a particular field might reference experiences as far back as grade school. At the same time, mentioning academic accomplishments prior to college might be viewed as naive. More recent honors will carry more weight.

How long should the statement be?

Your statement should never exceed the limit given in the application instructions.

If no limit is specified, make your statement no longer than two single-spaced pages.

How much of the information already in my application should I repeat?

Admissions reviewers may not read every detail of your application carefully. Therefore, highlight information from your application that you definitely want noted.

Do not merely list things, though. Be sure to explain the significance of the items you mention and make them relevant to the statement as a whole.

Should I include or explain negative experiences? Should I call attention to a low (or high) G.P.A.?

In some cases, yes. If something in your academic record is weak or questionable, a thoughtful explanation could help.

Discussing a negative experience that taught you something valuable or helped you make important life or career decisions can sometimes be a good way to provide a reviewer with insight into your character and professional goals.

However, if you don’t want to draw attention to a particular situation (or have nothing positive to say about it), you might want to avoid bringing it up at all.

How “personal” should I be?

By their nature, these statements are “personal” in that they ask you not only to tell things about you but to reflect on their significance to your past and future educational and career goals.

Some applications specifically request that you provide a personal narrative, while others focus more on educational and professional experience.

In either case, it’s important to connect your experiences (personal, educational, or professional) to the goals and requirements of the program to which you are applying and to be guided by the instructions as to the main content of your statement.

How experimental should I be?

Sometimes doing something unusual with your statement can be a way to stand out from the crowd.

It can be risky, however, and it requires a high degree of sophistication and skill. Whatever flashy or clever tactic you choose to use, you have to be able to use it to complete the task at hand, which is to demonstrate your preparation and suitability for the program to which you are applying.

At the same time, readers of experimental statements have vastly different reactions to them. While some appreciate a break from the more standard statement, others may see it as a failure to follow instructions. A safer strategy is to use compelling details and a clear, artful writing style.

Should I format this as a standard essay (with an introduction, body, conclusion)?

To one degree or another, yes. You want to give your statement a discernable shape — one that indicates a direction, takes your reader to a destination, and helps them understand the significance of what you’ve written about.

Academic and Professional Writing

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Writing Personal Statements for Ph.D. Programs

• Before you begin: useful tips for writing your essay
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Admissions Application Checklist

8 steps to a complete admissions application.

Thank you for your interest in applying for graduate school in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. This page will provide you with details on how to apply and what the admissions committee is looking for in potential applicants.

The online application requires the following documents:

• A Curriculum Vitae
• A Statement of Purpose
• Supplemental Application
• Unofficial transcripts
• Three letters of recommendation
• Official TOEFL or IELTS scores if your native language is not English

Step 1: Complete the Graduate School Application form online.

Note: when applying to the chemistry Ph.D. program, you are applying to the Graduate School at UW-Madison. See the Graduate School’s Admissions FAQ for more information. The specific components of the application are described in detail below.

Step 2: Complete the “Supplemental Application”

This is available with the online Graduate School Application in Step 1. You must select “Save” after you complete this section or it will not be transmitted.

Step 3: Upload unofficial transcripts as PDFs for each institution attended in the Supplemental Application.

Universities attended as part of a study abroad program do not need to be included if the coursework is reflected on your current institution transcripts. Unofficial transcripts, accessible through student accounts via the university website, are acceptable.  If you request an official transcript from the university, please print the transcript and re-create an electronic version before you add it to the supplemental application.  This will remove the formatting that causes the transcript to be encrypted and unable to be viewed by the faculty.

Official transcripts are only required if you are accepted into the chemistry Ph.D. graduate program. The Graduate School will send you information about how to submit an official transcript.

Step 4: Submit official TOEFL test scores if native language is not English.

Every applicant whose native language is not English, or whose undergraduate instruction was not in English, must provide an English proficiency test score. TOEFL scores may be submitted electronically via ETS (institution code: 1846). You may leave the department code blank. IELTS scores may be submitted electronically or by mailing them to the graduate school at the following address: UW-Madison Graduate School, Office of Admissions, 232 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706. Your score will not be accepted if it is more than two years old from the start of your admission term. Further details on the graduate school’s English proficiency requirement, including exemptions, can be found at the following link: https://grad.wisc.edu/apply/requirements/ .

Step 5: Upload a PDF attachment of your “Statement of Purpose” essay.

To help you ensure that your Statement of Purpose addresses all of the dimensions the admissions committee will be evaluating, it may be helpful for you to answer the following questions at some point in your document:

• Describe how you affected the trajectory of any research program (including course-based research) that you were involved in. Emphasize your personal intellectual and creative contributions to any projects you participated in.
• What research programs in chemistry are you interested in pursuing in graduate school? How do the research programs of our faculty align with your interests? Please be specific in your response (e.g., describe how your interests intersect with ongoing research programs of individual faculty).
• Please describe how you contributed to enriching communities to which you belong. Community involvement may involve working toward increasing diversity and inclusion, engagement in outreach, and/or other equity work. Please also share with us any leadership roles or responsibilities you have held outside of chemistry.
• What do you consider to be a strength of your application? What do you consider to be a weakness of your application? How have you built on your strengths and worked to improve areas of weakness? How have you shown persistence and resilience in the face of challenges? Please address any gaps or weaknesses in your transcript or CV and share any circumstances that affected your performance (e.g., illness, death in the family, working to support yourself).
• Please describe your long-term goals and how a Ph.D. in chemistry will help you achieve them.

Note that these should not be addressed via stand-alone paragraphs – your answers should be woven into a coherent 2 page narrative.  We suggest that your statement of purpose not exceed 2 pages in length and that you abide by the following formatting requirements:

• Single spaced
• Font 11pt Arial or 12pt Times New Roman

Step 6: Upload a PDF attachment of your CV.

Your Curriculum Vitae (CV) should help the admissions committee evaluate your academic potential, research potential, and whether you were involved with diversity, equity and/or inclusion initiatives. A CV should provide a summary of your experience and skills.

All CVs submitted as part of an application should contain sections dedicated to:

• This section should include the location and duration of each research experience as well as the name of your faculty mentor
• Research experience can include summer internships, industrial experience, and/or course-based research projects
• This section should list any jobs you have held through your undergraduate years and beyond – include the name of the job, place of employment, and duration of employment
• List the approximate number of hours worked per week in each job
• Please include teaching experiences (e.g., Teaching Assistant positions, tutoring) as a type of work experience
• This list should include the names of initiatives you were involved in that were dedicated to enriching the communities to which you below. The duration of your involvement with these initiatives should be explicitly stated. Initiatives may include volunteer experience, outreach initiatives and/or extracurricular activities
• Publications contributed to should be listed using a citation format commonly used in chemistry (e.g., Am. Chem. Soc. , Cell, Nature )
• A list of presentations should include the presentation title, whether the presentation was a poster or talk, all author(s) who contributed to the work, the year of the presentation, and which conference the presentation occurred at
• Papers under review or in preparation can also be included, though this status should be noted explicitly
• This section should include the date each honor/award was received as well as whether it is a local or national honor/award

We provide two example CVs that meet the requirements specified above. The first sample represents an individual whose alma mater is a fictional primarily undergraduate institution. The second sample represents a fictional student who attended a peer institution of UW – Madison. These examples are meant as generic templates – please feel free to include additional sections in your CV.

Step 7: Submit contact information for three letters of recommendation.

You should select recommenders who can comment in detail on why you are a great candidate for graduate study. Overall the best recommendations letters come from:

• Research supervisors: They can attest to how you have advanced scholarly projects.
• Job-supervisor or Coach: These individuals can attest yo your creativity, work ethic, ambition, etc .
• For students who intend graduate work in a math-intensive chemistry sub-discipline, it may be useful to have a letter writer who can attest to mathematical aptitude.

When considering who to ask to be a recommender, remember that letters of recommendation are meant to support inferences as to your academic potential, research potential, and involvement in your community.

Step 8: Complete payment of the $75 application fee via credit card or fee waiver

Domestic applicants can receive fee waivers from the UW-Madison Graduate School. The UW-Madison Graduate School provides fee grants to applicants who grew up in a low income household or participated in a pipeline program. This information can be found on the Graduate School Website .

International students have an added $6 fee for the additional processing, for a total of $81. Application fee waivers do not cover this $6 processing fee.

Applications for fall 2025 are open from 9/6 – 12/1, 2024. The GRE exams (general and subject) are NOT required for admission to the chemistry graduate program.

Director of Graduate Student Program Office: Francisca Jofre [email protected]

Graduate Program Coordinator: Erin Grunewald [email protected]

• Chemistry Admissions FAQ More
• Graduate School application and fees FAQ More

Tips for Writing Your Personal Statement‍

Writing an amazing residency personal statement on your ERAS application is about telling your story in your own voice. It’s about telling the reader something about you that cannot be gathered from other parts of the application.

The personal statement is a longer discussion of yourself, motivation, and experiences. It is also an important element of your application as 67% of residency programs cite personal statements as a factor in selecting students to interview. We’ve put together some tips to help you below.

“Do’s” of writing personal statements :

🗸   DO tell a story about yourself or share a unique situation. You are showing the reader your narrative about why you are a great candidate for residency.

🗸   DO make it human. Approach the statement as an opportunity to process life experiences and articulate the arc of your journey.

🗸   DO be specific. Clearly outline your interest in the specialty, and use concrete examples where able.

🗸   DO be candid and honest.

🗸   DO pay attention to grammar and writing style.

🗸   DO keep the statement to one page.

🗸   DO get an early start. We recommend to begin writing your personal statement during the summer between your third and fourth years of medical school to allow ample time for revisions and reviews. Be prepared to do many drafts.

🗸   DO include personal challenges you have overcome in your medical education journey so far.

🗸   DO get feedback. Have multiple people read your statement including faculty in your field.

What to avoid :

✖   DON’T tell the reader what an emergency physician does; he or she already knows this.

✖   DON’T belittle another person or specialty.

✖   DON’T overestimate your personal statement. The benefit gained from even an outstanding personal statement is still marginal compared with other aspects of your application which carry more weight.

✖   DON’T underestimate your personal statement. A poorly written or error-filled personal statement can drag down your candidacy.

✖   DON’T just focus on activities that the admissions committee can learn about from your application. Use this opportunity to give NEW information that is not available anywhere else.

Questions to Consider When Writing

Crafting a strong personal statement begins with self-reflection. Before you even begin writing, lay the groundwork for your statement by asking yourself the following questions:

Why are you choosing emergency medicine? If you want to help people, why don’t you want to be a social worker or a teacher (for example)? What interests, concerns, or values drive you in your studies, work, and career choice?

Think back to volunteer, shadowing, global health, research, work, and coursework experiences. What has been defining? Are there any moments that stick out? What did you learn about yourself or your future profession? How did you change after that experience?

What do you want the residency program to know about you as a person, a student, and a future colleague? What makes you a good fit for the profession and the profession a good fit for you?

What makes you unique from other applicants?

Additional Resources

Most universities and colleges also have writing centers that may be able to help you focus your ideas into a theme or read and give feedback on your personal statement.

*This resource is intended to serve as inspiration and a compass to guide your own writing. All personal statements or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.

Personal Statements

Personal statements can be the best way for a law school to get to know their applicants. Each school may phrase their personal statement prompt differently, so it’s helpful to check the language the school uses before drafting and submitting your statement. In general though, law schools look for an answer to two big questions: 1) Why is law school the next best step for you right now? and 2) Why should we choose you? Personality and character traits can be demonstrated in a personal statement by giving anecdotes that show (and don’t tell) the law school that you have particular qualities.

• Brainstorming a Personal Statement
• What is the Goal of a Personal Statement?
• DOs and DON'Ts of a Personal Statement

Your goal in brainstorming a personal statement is to find a core idea around which the statement will be centered. What will be the take away for admissions committees reading the statement? The takeaway should not be a list of your experiences or accomplishments. Go deeper. The takeaway should concern something more: key characteristics, skills, or abilities; lessons learned; personal growth; passions pursued; the impact of certain experiences; or qualities about you that indicate readiness for law school.

If you are having difficulty developing the core idea for your personal statement, consider these brainstorming ideas.

• Write down memorable episodes (even minor) from your life, then select those that best demonstrate something positive about yourself that you want to convey.
• Describe yourself in 6 words. What is it about you that comes to mind?
• Review your resume and think about the impact of each experience on your personal growth.
• Think of a strong belief or opinion you have and then write about a time when you took action in service of that opinion or belief. 

You can also check out CPLA’s “ Brainstorming Exercises ” for more suggestions on how to get started!

FIRST , and most importantly, the personal statement is your primary writing sample. In fact, it may be one of only two pieces of writing that the admissions committees will receive from you—the other being the LSAT writing section that you composed in a mere 50 minutes. Admissions committees want to know whether you are a strong writer, and they will evaluate your personal statement through this lens. Well-written personal statements should not only demonstrate that you are proficient in your use of the English language but should also demonstrate that you can be logical, persuasive, engaging, and concise.

SECOND ,  at many law schools, the personal statement is a proxy for an interview. Only a handful of law schools offer interviews to applicants. For all other law schools, the personal statement is typically the only opportunity that the admissions committee has to get to know something more personal about you than is reflected elsewhere in your application. It is called a personal statement for a reason. It should make admissions committee members feel as though they have met you. Ideally they will like who they meet.

THIRD , the personal statement gives the admissions committee greater insight into your critical thinking abilities. Are you able to reflect on your life experiences and identify how one or more of those experiences has impacted you in some meaningful way? Critical thinking is an essential quality for law students and lawyers, and admissions committees want to see you demonstrate that ability in your personal statement.

FOURTH , the personal statement may give admissions committees a sense of your motivations for attending law school. Was your decision to apply well reasoned or was it a result of not knowing what else to do after college? Admissions committees prefer to admit applicants who have come to the reasoned conclusion that law is the best career path for them. You can show this reasoning through the anecdotes you choose to include and/or through a couple of sentences towards the end of your statement.

FIFTH , the personal statement can be a form of tie-breaker for applicants with similar numbers and experiences. An applicant who has demonstrated critical thinking, persuasiveness, writing ability, or interesting life experience may have the upper hand.

Finally , Finally, the personal statement is potential and needed relief for admissions committees that review thousands of applications over the course of the admissions cycle. The other components of the application, while useful, can be dry and fatiguing to review in bulk. The personal statement is the one document that can bring life to an application file. Take advantage of that opportunity and give the admissions committees an engaging statement. It doesn’t need to be the great American novel, but it should at least give admissions committees a pleasant break from the rest of the application review process. They will be grateful.

(1) Review Each School’s Prompt Carefully

The prompt for each school is first available in August/September when law schools release that year’s application. The prompts typically don’t change much year to year, so you can get a head start by looking at the previous year’s application. For many applicants, the prompts are similar enough that the same personal statement template can be used with minor adjustments for each school (see Tip #2 on personalization). For some applicants, however, the prompts are different enough that they should write multiple personal statements. Be sure that the personal statement you use for a school does in fact respond to the prompt for that school. The ability to follow directions is a necessity for law school applicants.

(2) Personalize Your Statement

Most law schools want to see that you have put time and effort into researching why that school is a good fit for you. One of the ways you can demonstrate your due diligence is to include a paragraph (typically at the close of your personal statement) outlining several specific factors that have drawn you to that law school. Be specific. Important considerations to note: (a) Vague statements asserting that a law school is a good fit for you without any supporting evidence or information are not helpful, so do your research and work on articulating the reasons for your interest in each school. (b) You can review a school’s website to determine what you like about that school, but don’t just regurgitate information from the website. They want to know why that information is relevant to your interests and/or goals. (c) Top-ranked schools (typically, top 5 or so) pretty much know why you would like to attend, so personalization is less important unless there is something that truly differentiates that school from others for you. (d) Some schools have a separate “optional” essay allowing you to discuss why you want to attend that school. If that is the case for one of your schools, write the separate essay, and omit the personalized paragraph from your personal statement. If the school offers this additional essay prompt, you should treat it as a required statement and put time and effort into developing reasons supporting your desire to attend that school. (e) Be sure to submit the correct versions to each school. Save the school’s name in the title to help minimize any potential for error.

(3) Be Personable

As you now know, one of your goals as an applicant is to let admissions committees get to know you. It is just as important that they like you. Admissions committees are in no rush to admit applicants who are arrogant, pretentious, elitist, or rude. So the tone you use in your personal statement is important. Don’t assume that you need to use a formal tone just because you think lawyers write very formally. By using a formal tone, you are actually building a wall between yourself and the admissions committee—the opposite of what you should be doing. Aim for a more conversational (but not casual) tone so that the statement flows easily for the reader. Also, forget the big words that you think make you sound smart. They actually risk making you sound arrogant, pretentious, or even unintelligent (if used improperly). Strong writing conveys intelligence without the need for big words.

(4) Tell a Story

Another easy way to be both personal and personable in your personal statement is to start off with an anecdote about yourself that sets up the framework for the rest of the statement. For example, if you are highlighting certain characteristics in your statement, tell an anecdote that demonstrates those characteristics. If you are discussing a defining moment in your life, describe a scene from that experience. A well-told anecdote can immediately capture readers’ attention and draw them into your world. Even if you don’t include an anecdote in the statement, the topic that you choose should, in a sense, “tell a story” about you in a way that captures and keeps the reader’s attention.

(5) Be Concise

Some schools set no limit for personal statements, but most suggest either 2–3 or 2–4 pages. Be sure to check the school’s requirements for page count before you submit. You should write two pages, double-spaced in almost all cases. Do not make the error of thinking that more is better. Law schools value the ability to persuasively convey information in a relatively short space. Also, keep in mind that admissions committees are reviewing thousands of applications. Don’t waste their time.

1. DON’T  just restate your résumé in narrative form. That shows no critical thinking ability. If you are going to talk about more than one achievement or experience mentioned on your résumé, then connect the dots. Find a common theme that ties those items together. 2. DON’T address your weaknesses in the personal statement. Use an addendum. The personal statement should highlight the positives about you. 3. DON’T focus only on your high school activities or accomplishments. Focusing on achievements in high school can draw attention to a lack of similar achievements in college. 4. DON’T be overly dramatic. Understatement is better. 5. DON’T spend too much time talking about someone else. Always bring the focus back to you. 6. DON’T start your statement with a famous quotation, no matter how well you think it might fit with the theme of your personal statement. Admissions committees want to hear your words, not those of someone else. 7. DON’T use legalese or Latin phrases. 8. DON’T be careless. Be sure not to accidentally mention the wrong school in your statement. 9. DON’T use big words in an effort to impress the admissions committees. It sets the wrong tone for the statement. 10. DON’T write a position paper or opinion piece. Even written well, those types of writings are not particularly useful to admissions committees because they miss the point of the personal statement.

Center for Pre-Law Advising (CPLA) support for personal statements:

CPLA advisors are happy to help brainstorm or review drafts of personal statements for UW-Madison students and alumni .

Please note: application documents (personal statements, resumes, etc) require an appointment to be reviewed. You can submit documents ahead of time via email if you wish or bring them with you to the appointment. Please be aware that during peak advising times there can be a 2 week wait for appointments. Thank you for your understanding as we do our best to serve and support all those exploring and applying to law school. We look forward to working with you!

Get Advising

UW-Writing Center support for personal statements:

The UW-Writing Center offers appointments for personal statement drafting help for current undergraduates and current graduate students. If you also plan to bring your statement to the Center for Pre-Law Advising (CPLA) for review, we suggest bringing it to CPLA for suggestions on the topic/content first, and then taking it to the writing center to improve the quality of writing.

Alumni and current students may attend a personal statement workshop put on by the writing center, usually scheduled in the fall.

Writing Center Workshops

Writing Center Appointments

Other Personal Statement Resources:

• Sample Personal Statements More
• Advice from Law School Admissions Deans More
• Personal Statement Prompts and Other Admissions Requirements by school (7 Sage) More

ADVISING & CONFIDENTIALITY:

We are here to support you in reaching your goals, including navigating academic or personal challenges as they relate to pursuing professional programs after graduation. While our advisors are able to keep most conversations private in accordance with FERPA, sometimes information disclosed during advising or in personal statements requires us to communicate with other support offices on campus (such as the Dean of Students or the Title IX Coordinator).

Why are we required to discuss certain situations with other offices? Due to various federal, state, and UW policies, we are not Confidential Campus Resources when it comes to incidents such as sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, stalking, or sexual discrimination. Two examples of Confidential Campus Resources are University Health Services and the McBurney Disability Resource Center.

To learn more about efforts related to campus safety and expectations of faculty and staff, please speak with your advisors or visit the Title IX information page and Clery Act information page .

The goal of communication is to ensure a safe and healthy campus community, and to ensure that students receive the information they personally need to be safe and healthy. However, we understand that you may have questions or concerns about these policies. Please do not hesitate to bring these up with your advisor.