The story can be happy or sad. The more feeling you can inject into our statement, the more you will stand out. • Find out the specific orientation and philosophy of the graduate program. Adapt and refine your statement to fit. This will make you stand out from other applicants who recycle the same personal statement with each application.
Paragraph 1: A personal human-interest story Paragraph 2: Your academic interests and achievements Paragraph 3: Your relevant work and/or research experiences Paragraph 4: Your career interests Paragraph 5: Why you are interested in this particular school Paragraph 6: The qualities you will bring to this school
Suggested Outline Your personal statement will likely range from 205-1200 words or 1-6 pages. The typical personal statement should be 2-3 pages double spaced or 500-700 words. Here is a suggested outline. You should adjust the main point of each paragraph and number of paragraphs depending on the desired length of your personal statement and the areas in your background that you choose to emphasize.
STEP 3: PERSONAL STATEMENT CRITIQUES Schedule an appointment with your Career Coordinator to have your personal statement reviewed.
GRADUATE SCHOOL RESOURCES GRADUATE SCHOOL TESTING
GRADUATE DEGREE SEARCH
LSAT - Required for all law school admissions: https://www.lsac.org
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY - A degree database for all programs within the CSU system: https://degrees.calstate.edu
MCAT - Required for all medical school admissions: https://www.aamc.org GRE - Required for *most graduate school admissions: https://www.ets.org/gre
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - A degree database for all programs within the UC system: https://graduate.universityofcalifornia.edu/ admissions
GMAT - Required for *most graduate management and MBA program admissions: http://www.mba.com/global
GRADSCHOOLS.COM - A database of graduate degrees and certificates around the world: https://www.gradschools.com
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Perdue Online Writing Lab - Examples of personal statements: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/02 Fastweb - A directory of scholarships and financial aid opportunities: https://www.fastweb.com/directory/scholarships-for-first-year-graduate-students
NAVIGATING YOUR CAREER PATH — 2020 CAL MARITIME CAREER GUIDE
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