phd personal statement example architecture

Sample Architecture Personal Statement (admitted to Cambridge, Cornell, Yale)

by Talha Omer, MBA, M.Eng., Harvard & Cornell Grad

In personal statement samples by field.

The following personal statement is written by an applicant who got accepted to top graduate programs in architecture. Variations of this personal statement got accepted at Cambridge, Cornell, and Yale. Read this essay to understand what a top personal statement in architecture should look like.

Here is the personal statement of the Architecure Student.

I am not particularly fond of tea. However, while working in the Northern regions of XYZ, I realized that sharing a cup of tea was considered a symbol of gratitude by its hospitable populace. This simple gesture transcended the commonplace and made our work for the community all the more personal.

For several weeks I shared many cups of the sugary beverage while volunteering with the Heritage Foundation constructing homes for the people of the XYZ. Their entire dwellings had been destroyed by the floods, and it came to us, a group of young architecture students, to revive this once-thriving community.

The process from etching the lines of chalk for the Women’s Community Centre to seeing it constructed into a beautiful bamboo building to be used for gainful employment is one that affected me deeply. The structures we built stand supported throughout the seasons, representing the enduring strength of the people of the XYZ. By helping to re-establish an entire community affected by an unprecedented natural calamity, I became aware of the power of architectural design to incite social change. Also, the focus on sustainable structures made me realize how designers need to focus on the available resources and capacities of the community they are involved in.

This experience was pivotal in realizing the path I wanted to take as an architect. My fascination with creating and manipulating space, seen from an early age by my experimentation with a Wendy Tent, went to the root of my desire to become an architect. Furthermore, the stories I had heard growing up about my ancestral home in XYZ, a city known for its scorching heat; as well as my childhood divided between XYZ, a country oblivious to any form of energy deficiency, and XYZ, a country struggling with shortages in resources have all served to underscore how design needs to adapt and address the social issues of its environment. This instilled within me a desire to work towards making my homeland self-sustaining.

To channel my proclivity, I applied to the country’s top architecture school, and my joy, I was accepted. During my five years at the XYZ, I studied the fundamental nature of the architectural design. I found its intricacies to be a maze that beckoned alluringly to me. Elected as the Vice President of the Architecture Students’ Association, I was in a position to influence how students would perceive architecture. I led the team representing XYZ and XYZ at the National Architectural Student Convention held in XYZ.

My team was honored with the prestigious Citation Prize for the Rubens Trophy. This victory awarded our design from amongst those submitted from more than a hundred universities. It proved to be a tremendous boost to my belief in achieving the career goals that I had set for myself. It also allowed me to develop a global understanding of architectural design. The following year, I volunteered to go to XYZ, an experience that left an indelible mark on my mind.

I returned with vigor to realize architecture’s power in shaping my community and channeled my motivation into my thesis project. I managed to study the overwhelmingly bustling historic urban center of XYZ and analyzed its context, which resulted in providing macro-level sustainable design solutions. A culmination of my efforts and passion, this project was awarded an ‘honors’ in my thesis.

I followed through with my academic goals by seeking employment at a firm that avidly incorporates sustainability in its design practices. After working at SR Design Works, I was reassured of the practical applications of the theoretical knowledge I attained as part of my undergraduate degree. Furthermore, with a conscious desire to be part of responsible design practices, I became associated with upcoming advocates of green building design. However, at the same time, I also grew aware that to achieve my aims, I would need further education.

While working on individual projects which incorporated the principles of sustainable design, I was exposed to the prospective benefits as well as the limitations of those principles. In light of this nexus, it was apparent that I needed further education to explore all its potential advantages.

Another hurdle I had to overcome in a predominantly patriarchal society like XYZ was to hold my own and work on an equal footing with various people, from clients to retailers; colleagues to contractors. This aspect of my character can be attributed to my mother, who raised my brother and me while working full-time as a real estate agent. She taught me to be independent and not to treat my gender as a disability. I have taken her wisdom to heart and have dared to dream of rising to the zenith in my field.

I realize that many architectural designs in XYZ fail to communicate with their environmental and social context, thus creating more hindrances for its inhabitants rather than presenting solutions. My experience in architecture has made me realize the necessity of greater responsibility and sensibility in building structures in XYZ. I greatly believe in XYZ potential and aim for this country to be a forefront practitioner of sustainable architecture.

I aim to practice sustainable architectural design in its true essence and promote green practices that can help build communities, hopefully sharing many more cups of tea in the process.

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Passion and purpose in the architecture personal statement.

By Evan Forster, MFA, IECA (NY)

No matter what name it goes by—statement of purpose, statement of interest, or plain old personal statement—architecture school statements are challenging. They often want you to cover a whole lot of information in only 500 words. For instance, Columbia University’s prompt last year was: In a statement of approximately 500 words, describe your background, your past work in your intended field of study, and your plans for graduate study and a professional career . All of that in only 500 words or less? No wonder my candidate Kara, an aspiring architect, had called me in a panic.

“So by ‘background’ do they mean my entire life story plus all of my work, school, and internship experiences?” Kara, wired on venti Americanos, asked. “It says ‘personal’—does that mean I should tell them about my parents’ divorce?”

Here’s the thing: It is important that after the admissions committee has read your statement of purpose, they feel that they know who you are. They need to know what you want to do (your goal)—Kara’s was opening her own “green” architecture firm one day—why this is important to you, what you have done thus far in regards to pursuing that goal or taking an interest in the subject matter, and what you still have left to learn and explore. And right there is the outline for your entire 500-word statement of purpose.

The break down:

Paragraph 1: This is where you get personal. No, this doesn’t mean empty the contents of your diary. This means write about the moment you realized you wanted to pursue your goal. In Kara’s case it was when her family moved from a sprawling home in Greenwich, Connecticut, to a 1,200-square-foot apartment in Manhattan. She found herself wishing she could move the walls around and reconfigure the space to be more open. There! She had her “ah-hah!” moment—the moment she realized that architecture would be a part of her life. This is the type of specific moment that all candidates should search for and write about.

Why? Graduate programs want students who are passionate about what they want to do, not students who are just looking to avoid the real world for another few years. This is your opportunity to show the school why you want this.

Paragraph 2: What have you done thus far to pursue your interest in architecture? Did you explore classes in college? Did you take art or art history classes? When you studied abroad, did you take an active interest in the city’s architecture? This is an opportunity to discuss specific classes you have taken as well as experiences—talk about a particular professor you’ve learned from or clubs you started or joined. Discuss internships or observation hours. But, as I told Kara, do not simply list them; you don’t want to regurgitate your resume (remember, they have it!). Tell the school what’s not on your resume. Dig down deep and discuss specific moments within that internship where you’ve learned something significant and how you plan to apply what you learned.

Why? Graduate schools want students who have already been seeking knowledge.

Paragraph 3: Why do you want to go to grad school? What do you still have left to learn? Discuss skills that still need development or improvement. Kara was looking to strengthen her foundation and design skills with a master’s in architecture. She was also interested in expanding her knowledge of technology and how she could use it in the design process in order to achieve greater innovation. So look at your goals, and then ask, “What do I need to get better at in order to improve my chances of achieving my goal?”

Now here’s the part where Kara asks, “But, don’t I want to appear confident? Won’t it make me look weak to admit that I still have stuff to learn?”

No. Schools want students who are self-aware, who know their strongest and weakest areas. Kara needed to show the school that she knows what she needs to work on and what experiences she needs to gather in order to accomplish her goal. This also demonstrates that she actually will benefit from graduate school—and proves to the school even more that she is a serious candidate.

Paragraph 4: The school-specific portion of your essay addresses why Columbia, specifically. Here it is important to be extremely specific to show enthusiasm for a particular school. Do your research on classes, professors, and clubs, and discuss how they will help you accomplish your goal.

Why? The candidate must prove their desire to go to the school. Being specific about the school demonstrates Kara’s ability to research and gain knowledge—good traits for a prospective student. Additionally, when she got that interview—she had lots to discuss.

Final paragraph: Finish with a few short sentences about how Columbia is going to help you achieve your goal—and how you will contribute to Columbia—to change the planet (by using your master’s in architecture).

Kara, who is now at Columbia, called me the other day. She was still drinking a venti Americano, but this time she was excited—not panicked. She had just interviewed for an internship at a prestigious New York “green” architecture firm and wanted to tell me she had nailed it. And she had applied the work we had done together almost a year ago. She researched the firm, was specific about what she could contribute to its office environment, and communicated clearly to the interviewers how gaining experience at their firm was in line with her long term goals.

Evan Forster can be reached at [email protected]

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Architecture has the potential to be especially noble work. According to the World Bank, for example, educating all children worldwide will require the construction of 10 million new classrooms in more than 100 countries by 2015. At the same time, millions of existing classrooms are in serious need of repair and refurbishment. I would like to encourage designers and architects to partner with students and teachers to envision the classroom of the future.

Another special interest that I have in this area deals with the way in which buildings are a major source of global demand for energy and materials that produce by-product greenhouse gases (GHG). The raw resource extraction, manufacturing, transportation, construction, usage, and end-of-life stages of building products each generate significant GHG emissions. Slowing the growth rate of GHG emissions and then reversing it is the key to addressing climate change and keeping global average temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

In a rapidly growing urban world, slums and informal settlements provide shelter for a sixth of the planet’s population and unless effective action is taken they are likely to become the most common form of dwelling on earth by 2030. Parallel to this lies another inconvenient truth that architecture as a profession is affecting no more than 5% of what is built every year around the world. I feel strongly that Architecture as a profession needs to re-assume its political content and broaden its field of action, or to eventually accept, as a discipline, its irrelevancy in facing new and inevitable urban challenges.

Heroines of Architecture

  Just one in five architects said they would not encourage a woman to start a career in architecture in February, 2016, according to the Architectural Review. 1 And 56% and 52% of workplaces permitted flexible working in the U.K. and the USA and Canada for women during the same year. 1 So things are looking up for women architects.

Here are some heroines of architectures that we think are more than worth promoting.

Jeanne Gang

Jeanne Gang is an American architect and MacArthur Fellow who runs Studio Gang Architects, an architecture and design firm based out of Chicago and New York. In 2016, Jeanne was named Architect of the Year in The Architectural Review’s 2016 Women in Architecture Awards.

Gang’s projects include Aqua, an 82-story mixed-use residential skyscraper in downtown Chicago (which is also the third tallest building in the world to have a woman as lead architect and was the largest project ever awarded to an American firm headed by a woman), the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College, Michigan, and the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, also in Chicago.

During the Architectural Review awards, the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was highlighted. Its “wood masonry” external walls provide a more sustainable alternative to other forms of masonry, and the whole building “embodies the idea of social justice in every way from its outside to its inside”, said Jeanne.

Jeanne has authored two books and is now a member of the Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition jury.

Tatiana Bilbao

Tatiana Bilbao Spamer is a Mexican architect who runs a multicultural and multidisciplinary office which aims to understand the environment before regenerating spaces and humanizing them. Her approach is a reaction to global capitalism, she says.

Tatiana was born into a family of architects, and earned her Architecture and Urbanism degree in 1998 honorable mention. She was awarded the best architecture thesis of the year, and later went on to found Tatiana Bilbao Estudio and work on projects in China, Europe and Mexico.

Tatiana Bilbao’s low-income, $8,000 and climate appropriate housing in Mexico offers a design-led solution to the country’s housing crises, where there is a housing shortage of 9 million homes. Her full-scale, Sustainable Housing prototype has a flexible design that can respond to the different needs of the family that occupies it.

Tatiana’s diverse work include the Botanical Garden in Culiacán and a Biotechnological Center for a Tech Institution. She was the recipient of the Kunstpries Berlin in 2012, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture Prize in 2014, and was named Emerging Voice by the Architecture League of New York in 2009.

Kazuyo Sejima

This Japanese architect is known for her clean modernist designs, including large windows; squares and cubes and slick, clean and shiny surfaces.

Kazuyo was the first woman to be selected for the position of director of architecture for the Venice Biennale, which she curated for the 12 th Annual International Architecture Exhibition. In 2010, she was awarded the Pritzker Prize, alongside Ryue Nishizawa.

Kayuyo teaches as Visiting Professor at both Tama Art University and Japan Women’s University in Tokyo, and held the Jean Labutut Professorship at the School of Architecture at Princeton University between 2005 and 2008, where she also served on the advisory council for several years. She attained her master’s degree in Architecture in 1981 from Japan Women’s University.

She has worked on several projects in German, Switzerland, France, the U.K., the Netherlands, the U.S.A. and Spain.

• https://www.architectural-review.com/rethink/results-of-the-2016-women-in-architecture-survey-revealed/10003314.article

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My Mission/Service in Architecture

There are two principal challenges in Architecture today that stand at the forefront of academic concerns: sustainability, on the one hand, and environmental friendliness on the other. Over the last 15 years, I have had the privilege of helping dozens of architects from around the world to be accepted to graduate studies in architecture, most at the Masters level. I especially remember the statements that I worked on for Koreans and Saudi Arabians as well as Europeans and Latin Americans. An architect from Dubai was special, given the accomplishments of that city. For each one, sustainability and environmental friendliest stood at the forefront of the themes that we worked through the statement, each in the context, of course, of that applicants’ particular career context and trajectory.

The opportunity to help an Iranian man with an application to Berkeley will forever stay with me, due to his experience in Bam as a volunteer, within 24 hours of one of the most devastating earthquakes in Iran’s history. It is a special honor for me to help you; together, we are building tomorrow by helping you to get accepted, based on an eloquent explanation of your long term plans concerning your contribution to humanity in the field of architecture. After you fill out my Online Interview Form , I will ask you some specific questions by email if I need any further information. Please also send your resume/CV and or rough draft if you have one.

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The Humanitarian Side of Architecture

In 2011, 42 million people had to abandon their homes due to natural disasters – that’s more than the number of people affected by wars and armed conflicts. But sadly, the number of architects prepared to participate in the rebuilding of the areas destroyed by floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons is comparatively almost non-existent.

According to Architecture For Humanity, there are many reasons why you’d want to make your work as an architect more humanitarian.

Firstly, getting involved with NGOs or other organizations abroad will provide you with a lot of new opportunities to innovate. The circumstances that lead to humanitarian aid often give rise to some interesting challenges. That innovative spark that you’ve been taming for so many years can finally run free, and improve others’ lives.

Getting bored of the office or studio? Get stuck into a design project that engages local people creatively in your chosen region. Humanitarian work usually also means you’ll get involved with the communities that will use the buildings you designed for them to use regularly and you’ll study their specific, complex needs and participate with them during the process.

It may seem obvious, but humanitarian work will often allow you to gain some valuable international experience. This is great for more mature, experienced architects as well as young architects, offering up a rich array of different cultural, social and political contexts for your resume and making you into a flexible, dynamic, versatile designer.

Feeling like you want to be stretched and gain some new skills? Work with an NGO on humanitarian projects and you could find yourself learning a lot about development, nonprofit finance, program management, teaching and team building, as well as communication, other cultures, languages and ways of life.

The Humanitarian Architecture Research Bureau commented on their website harbureau.org in 2016 that the demand for architects and build environment professionals to work on the design and planning challenges of rebuilding post-disaster sites has never been so urgent. Their current research projects include “Architecture on the Edge Building Sustainable Housing for Vulnerable communities”, “The Evaluation of Shelter Projects in the Asia Pacific Region after Disaster” and the “Building Resilience of Urban Slum Settlements in Dhaka project”. They also publish some excellent books on humanitarian architecture.

Amazon.com boasts a range of books to inspire architects just like you. “Humanitarian Architecture: 15 stories of architects working after disaster”, by Esther Charlesworth, is sure to whet your appetite. It documents and analyzes the role of architects in designing projects using spatial sensibility and integrated problem-solving to humanitarian ends in Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Thailand, Haiti, India, Taiwan and many others.

Whether you fancy assisting governments, working with the UN, International Red Cross or Red Crescent Movement, for NGOs or regional intergovernmental organizations, the options are many and the world is wide open.

Oxford Brookes University offers a part-time, 1-year postgraduate certificate in Humanitarian Action and Conflict beginning in September and January, allowing you to study while you earn and prepare yourself well for an adventure helping some of least privileged people on the planet live a safer, more stable life inside and outside dwellings of your design.

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10 Tips on Personal Statements (for Architect Students)

Gone are the days when prospective students applying to architecture schools get away with merely submitting an application form and a high school transcript.

Whether you are applying for entry into a pre-professional Bachelor of Science or Art (B.Sc. or B.A.) majoring in architecture, or the professional Bachelor of Architecture or Master of Architecture, chances are submitting a personal statement is necessary alongside your design portfolio.

But you could be apprehensive about the task of writing a personal statement as the requirement does not come with clear guidelines, unfortunately.

It is usually just one piece of A4-size word document, but a mighty powerful one at that – second only to your design portfolio – as it represents your voice in the eyes of the admissions evaluator.

It is essential to impress the school and show off your skills and suitability all in one place.

Here are some useful tips to get you started:

1. Give Yourself Enough Time

Probably one of the most valuable tips that you can get when it comes to personal statements is to start early.

Give yourself enough time to write your statement.

Research examples of architecture personal statements. Use one which you think is suitable as a reference but never copy.

Ask your current teachers or people in your life for feedback. If you are the only person reviewing your statement, you risk not knowing what it is missing.

2. Understand What the Statement is Asking For

There is no shame in asking for someone to read the question for you, which could help you understand it better. It could be as simple as “Tell us why you want to study architecture,” or “What would you gain from your experience at our school?”

Either way, a personal statement from a prospective architecture student is to convince the admissions evaluator that you deserve a place in their program.

Competition for entry is fierce, and you want to stand out by being yourself – no two persons are alike. So again, don’t merely copy one you found online for free; tweak and add your voice to it.

3. Introduce Yourself

No. Don’t start by saying, “I am (name), and I come from (birthplace). These are standard information already stated in your application form.

Give the school an insight into your personality and how you would add value to their community of young, budding architects.

Are you ambitious? Have any hobbies? Artistic? Work well in a team?

It does not matter what it is, as long as it helps you stand out from others. Writing a personal statement is not the time to be shy about the qualities you bring to the table – write to impress!

4. Craft Skills You Learned

You can write about the extra classes you took outside your school syllabus and how they relate to architecture.

Perhaps you’d enrolled in an oil painting or a woodworking class. Great, add it in!

But don’t just state those skills you picked up matter-of-factly. Go into the details of the intricate crafts you learned in making a piece of art or a unique solution you achieve by applying a tweak to a standard method.

Better still, point the evaluator to the piece you have included in your portfolio. Such cross-referencing can help reinforce the engagement between the evaluator and your application.

5. A Memorable Vacation

You have been to places and experienced different cultures.

Pick one that is rich architecturally, and elaborate on how your experience of walking through an ancient city or a modern architectural wonder made you want to be an architect.

6. Any Work Experience You’ve Got Under Your Belt

If you’ve got quite a bit of work experience, it is crucial to only talk about the relevant experiences that will help set you apart from the other applicants.

Write about something that shows no added value, and the evaluator would lose interest quickly. An architectural technician work experience role would be perfect for showing the school you know exactly what you are doing.

7. Talk about the future

Who exactly do you want to be when you leave architecture school?

Touch on why you want to study at a particular school and how the degree will help you with your future career. Let them know that you’ve got a whole plan set out, and you are determined to achieve it.

8. Don’t sound too academic

Remember, while you want your writing to sound professional, you don’t want it to sound like you have swallowed a thesaurus.

Too many students make this mistake while writing their personal statement, and it is very obvious to the person reading.

Authenticity over everything!

9. Check for Grammatical Errors

This tip is oft-repeated for any writing exercise, but it does not hurt to remind yourself how important this is.

Especially if you are an international student and English is not your first language, have a second pair of eyes proofread your statement.

A grammatical error-filled personal statement can be a real turn-off for the admissions evaluator.

10. Be Yourself

It may sound cliché but writing an excellent personal statement for an architecture school application is really about you.

In your absence, the personal statement represents you, and you want to make sure that it is precisely that.

There is no right or wrong in a personal statement; it is about the things that are uniquely you.

After writing the personal statement, you can start to apply to your school of choice using the complete set of architecture school application documents .

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Gre prep online guides and tips, 3 successful graduate school personal statement examples.

Looking for grad school personal statement examples? Look no further! In this total guide to graduate school personal statement examples, we’ll discuss why you need a personal statement for grad school and what makes a good one. Then we’ll provide three graduate school personal statement samples from our grad school experts. After that, we’ll do a deep dive on one of our personal statement for graduate school examples. Finally, we’ll wrap up with a list of other grad school personal statements you can find online.

Why Do You Need a Personal Statement?

A personal statement is a chance for admissions committees to get to know you: your goals and passions, what you’ll bring to the program, and what you’re hoping to get out of the program.  You need to sell the admissions committee on what makes you a worthwhile applicant. The personal statement is a good chance to highlight significant things about you that don’t appear elsewhere on your application.

A personal statement is slightly different from a statement of purpose (also known as a letter of intent). A statement of purpose/letter of intent tends to be more tightly focused on your academic or professional credentials and your future research and/or professional interests.

While a personal statement also addresses your academic experiences and goals, you have more leeway to be a little more, well, personal. In a personal statement, it’s often appropriate to include information on significant life experiences or challenges that aren’t necessarily directly relevant to your field of interest.

Some programs ask for both a personal statement and a statement of purpose/letter of intent. In this case, the personal statement is likely to be much more tightly focused on your life experience and personality assets while the statement of purpose will focus in much more on your academic/research experiences and goals.

However, there’s not always a hard-and-fast demarcation between a personal statement and a statement of purpose. The two statement types should address a lot of the same themes, especially as relates to your future goals and the valuable assets you bring to the program. Some programs will ask for a personal statement but the prompt will be focused primarily on your research and professional experiences and interests. Some will ask for a statement of purpose but the prompt will be more focused on your general life experiences.

When in doubt, give the program what they are asking for in the prompt and don’t get too hung up on whether they call it a personal statement or statement of purpose. You can always call the admissions office to get more clarification on what they want you to address in your admissions essay.

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What Makes a Good Grad School Personal Statement?

A great graduate school personal statement can come in many forms and styles. However, strong grad school personal statement examples all share the same following elements:

A Clear Narrative

Above all, a good personal statement communicates clear messages about what makes you a strong applicant who is likely to have success in graduate school. So to that extent, think about a couple of key points that you want to communicate about yourself and then drill down on how you can best communicate those points. (Your key points should of course be related to what you can bring to the field and to the program specifically).

You can also decide whether to address things like setbacks or gaps in your application as part of your narrative. Have a low GPA for a couple semesters due to a health issue? Been out of a job for a while taking care of a family member? If you do decide to explain an issue like this, make sure that the overall arc is more about demonstrating positive qualities like resilience and diligence than about providing excuses.

Specific Examples

A great statement of purpose uses specific examples to illustrate its key messages. This can include anecdotes that demonstrate particular traits or even references to scholars and works that have influenced your academic trajectory to show that you are familiar and insightful about the relevant literature in your field.

Just saying “I love plants,” is pretty vague. Describing how you worked in a plant lab during undergrad and then went home and carefully cultivated your own greenhouse where you cross-bred new flower colors by hand is much more specific and vivid, which makes for better evidence.

A strong personal statement will describe why you are a good fit for the program, and why the program is a good fit for you. It’s important to identify specific things about the program that appeal to you, and how you’ll take advantage of those opportunities. It’s also a good idea to talk about specific professors you might be interested in working with. This shows that you are informed about and genuinely invested in the program.

Strong Writing

Even quantitative and science disciplines typically require some writing, so it’s important that your personal statement shows strong writing skills. Make sure that you are communicating clearly and that you don’t have any grammar and spelling errors. It’s helpful to get other people to read your statement and provide feedback. Plan on going through multiple drafts.

Another important thing here is to avoid cliches and gimmicks. Don’t deploy overused phrases and openings like “ever since I was a child.” Don’t structure your statement in a gimmicky way (i.e., writing a faux legal brief about yourself for a law school statement of purpose). The first will make your writing banal; the second is likely to make you stand out in a bad way.

Appropriate Boundaries

While you can be more personal in a personal statement than in a statement of purpose, it’s important to maintain appropriate boundaries in your writing. Don’t overshare anything too personal about relationships, bodily functions, or illegal activities. Similarly, don’t share anything that makes it seem like you may be out of control, unstable, or an otherwise risky investment. The personal statement is not a confessional booth. If you share inappropriately, you may seem like you have bad judgment, which is a huge red flag to admissions committees.

You should also be careful with how you deploy humor and jokes. Your statement doesn’t have to be totally joyless and serious, but bear in mind that the person reading the statement may not have the same sense of humor as you do. When in doubt, err towards the side of being as inoffensive as possible.

Just as being too intimate in your statement can hurt you, it’s also important not to be overly formal or staid. You should be professional, but conversational.

Graduate School Personal Statement Examples

Our graduate school experts have been kind enough to provide some successful grad school personal statement examples. We’ll provide three examples here, along with brief analysis of what makes each one successful.

Sample Personal Statement for Graduate School 1

PDF of Sample Personal Statement 1 – Japanese Studies

For this Japanese Studies master’s degree, the applicant had to provide a statement of purpose outlining her academic goals and experience with Japanese and a separate personal statement describing her personal relationship with Japanese Studies and what led her to pursue a master’s degree.

Here’s what’s successful about this personal statement:

• An attention-grabbing beginning: The applicant begins with the statement that Japanese has never come easily to her and that it’s a brutal language to learn. Seeing as how this is an application for a Japanese Studies program, this is an intriguing beginning that makes the reader want to keep going.
• A compelling narrative: From this attention-grabbing beginning, the applicant builds a well-structured and dramatic narrative tracking her engagement with the Japanese language over time. The clear turning point is her experience studying abroad, leading to a resolution in which she has clarity about her plans. Seeing as how the applicant wants to be a translator of Japanese literature, the tight narrative structure here is a great way to show her writing skills.
• Specific examples that show important traits: The applicant clearly communicates both a deep passion for Japanese through examples of her continued engagement with Japanese and her determination and work ethic by highlighting the challenges she’s faced (and overcome) in her study of the language. This gives the impression that she is an engaged and dedicated student.

Overall, this is a very strong statement both in terms of style and content. It flows well, is memorable, and communicates that the applicant would make the most of the graduate school experience.

Sample Personal Statement for Graduate School 2

PDF of Sample Graduate School Personal Statement 2 – Musical Composition

This personal statement for a Music Composition master’s degree discusses the factors that motivate the applicant to pursue graduate study.

Here’s what works well in this statement:

• The applicant provides two clear reasons motivating the student to pursue graduate study: her experiences with music growing up, and her family’s musical history. She then supports those two reasons with examples and analysis.
• The description of her ancestors’ engagement with music is very compelling and memorable. The applicant paints her own involvement with music as almost inevitable based on her family’s long history with musical pursuits.
• The applicant gives thoughtful analysis of the advantages she has been afforded that have allowed her to study music so extensively. We get the sense that she is insightful and empathetic—qualities that would add greatly to any academic community.

This is a strong, serviceable personal statement. And in truth, given that this for a masters in music composition, other elements of the application (like work samples) are probably the most important.  However, here are two small changes I would make to improve it:

• I would probably to split the massive second paragraph into 2-3 separate paragraphs. I might use one paragraph to orient the reader to the family’s musical history, one paragraph to discuss Giacomo and Antonio, and one paragraph to discuss how the family has influenced the applicant. As it stands, it’s a little unwieldy and the second paragraph doesn’t have a super-clear focus even though it’s all loosely related to the applicant’s family history with music.
• I would also slightly shorten the anecdote about the applicant’s ancestors and expand more on how this family history has motivated the applicant’s interest in music. In what specific ways has her ancestors’ perseverance inspired her? Did she think about them during hard practice sessions? Is she interested in composing music in a style they might have played? More specific examples here would lend greater depth and clarity to the statement.

Sample Personal Statement for Graduate School 3

PDF of Sample Graduate School Personal Statement 3 – Public Health

This is my successful personal statement for Columbia’s Master’s program in Public Health. We’ll do a deep dive on this statement paragraph-by-paragraph in the next section, but I’ll highlight a couple of things that work in this statement here:

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• This statement is clearly organized. Almost every paragraph has a distinct focus and message, and when I move on to a new idea, I move on to a new paragraph with a logical transitions.
• This statement covers a lot of ground in a pretty short space. I discuss my family history, my goals, my educational background, and my professional background. But because the paragraphs are organized and I use specific examples, it doesn’t feel too vague or scattered.
• In addition to including information about my personal motivations, like my family, I also include some analysis about tailoring health interventions with my example of the Zande. This is a good way to show off what kinds of insights I might bring to the program based on my academic background.

Grad School Personal Statement Example: Deep Dive

Now let’s do a deep dive, paragraph-by-paragraph, on one of these sample graduate school personal statements. We’ll use my personal statement that I used when I applied to Columbia’s public health program.

Paragraph One: For twenty-three years, my grandmother (a Veterinarian and an Epidemiologist) ran the Communicable Disease Department of a mid-sized urban public health department. The stories of Grandma Betty doggedly tracking down the named sexual partners of the infected are part of our family lore. Grandma Betty would persuade people to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, encourage safer sexual practices, document the spread of infection and strive to contain and prevent it. Indeed, due to the large gay population in the city where she worked, Grandma Betty was at the forefront of the AIDS crises, and her analysis contributed greatly towards understanding how the disease was contracted and spread. My grandmother has always been a huge inspiration to me, and the reason why a career in public health was always on my radar.

This is an attention-grabbing opening anecdote that avoids most of the usual cliches about childhood dreams and proclivities. This story also subtly shows that I have a sense of public health history, given the significance of the AIDs crisis for public health as a field.

It’s good that I connect this family history to my own interests. However, if I were to revise this paragraph again, I might cut down on some of the detail because when it comes down to it, this story isn’t really about me. It’s important that even (sparingly used) anecdotes about other people ultimately reveal something about you in a personal statement.

Paragraph Two: Recent years have cemented that interest. In January 2012, my parents adopted my little brother Fred from China. Doctors in America subsequently diagnosed Fred with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). My parents were told that if Fred’s condition had been discovered in China, the (very poor) orphanage in which he spent the first 8+ years of his life would have recognized his DMD as a death sentence and denied him sustenance to hasten his demise.

Here’s another compelling anecdote to help explain my interest in public health. This is an appropriately personal detail for a personal statement—it’s a serious thing about my immediate family, but it doesn’t disclose anything that the admissions committee might find concerning or inappropriate.

If I were to take another pass through this paragraph, the main thing I would change is the last phrase. “Denied him sustenance to hasten his demise” is a little flowery. “Denied him food to hasten his death” is actually more powerful because it’s clearer and more direct.

Paragraph Three: It is not right that some people have access to the best doctors and treatment while others have no medical care. I want to pursue an MPH in Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia because studying social factors in health, with a particular focus on socio-health inequities, will prepare me to address these inequities. The interdisciplinary approach of the program appeals to me greatly as I believe interdisciplinary approaches are the most effective way to develop meaningful solutions to complex problems.

In this paragraph I make a neat and clear transition from discussing what sparked my interest in public health and health equity to what I am interested in about Columbia specifically: the interdisciplinary focus of the program, and how that focus will prepare me to solve complex health problems. This paragraph also serves as a good pivot point to start discussing my academic and professional background.

Paragraph Four: My undergraduate education has prepared me well for my chosen career. Understanding the underlying structure of a group’s culture is essential to successfully communicating with the group. In studying folklore and mythology, I’ve learned how to parse the unspoken structures of folk groups, and how those structures can be used to build bridges of understanding. For example, in a culture where most illnesses are believed to be caused by witchcraft, as is the case for the Zande people of central Africa, any successful health intervention or education program would of necessity take into account their very real belief in witchcraft.

In this paragraph, I link my undergraduate education and the skills I learned there to public health. The (very brief) analysis of tailoring health interventions to the Zande is a good way to show insight and show off the competencies I would bring to the program.

Paragraph Five: I now work in the healthcare industry for one of the largest providers of health benefits in the world. In addition to reigniting my passion for data and quantitative analytics, working for this company has immersed me in the business side of healthcare, a critical component of public health.

This brief paragraph highlights my relevant work experience in the healthcare industry. It also allows me to mention my work with data and quantitative analytics, which isn’t necessarily obvious from my academic background, which was primarily based in the social sciences.

Paragraph Six: I intend to pursue a PhD in order to become an expert in how social factors affect health, particularly as related to gender and sexuality. I intend to pursue a certificate in Sexuality, Sexual Health, and Reproduction. Working together with other experts to create effective interventions across cultures and societies, I want to help transform health landscapes both in America and abroad.

This final paragraph is about my future plans and intentions. Unfortunately, it’s a little disjointed, primarily because I discuss goals of pursuing a PhD before I talk about what certificate I want to pursue within the MPH program! Switching those two sentences and discussing my certificate goals within the MPH and then mentioning my PhD plans would make a lot more sense.

I also start two sentences in a row with “I intend,” which is repetitive.

The final sentence is a little bit generic; I might tailor it to specifically discuss a gender and sexual health issue, since that is the primary area of interest I’ve identified.

This was a successful personal statement; I got into (and attended!) the program. It has strong examples, clear organization, and outlines what interests me about the program (its interdisciplinary focus) and what competencies I would bring (a background in cultural analysis and experience with the business side of healthcare). However, a few slight tweaks would elevate this statement to the next level.

Graduate School Personal Statement Examples You Can Find Online

So you need more samples for your personal statement for graduate school? Examples are everywhere on the internet, but they aren’t all of equal quality.

Most of examples are posted as part of writing guides published online by educational institutions. We’ve rounded up some of the best ones here if you are looking for more personal statement examples for graduate school.

Penn State Personal Statement Examples for Graduate School

This selection of ten short personal statements for graduate school and fellowship programs offers an interesting mix of approaches. Some focus more on personal adversity while others focus more closely on professional work within the field.

The writing in some of these statements is a little dry, and most deploy at least a few cliches. However, these are generally strong, serviceable statements that communicate clearly why the student is interested in the field, their skills and competencies, and what about the specific program appeals to them.

Cal State Sample Graduate School Personal Statements

These are good examples of personal statements for graduate school where students deploy lots of very vivid imagery and illustrative anecdotes of life experiences. There are also helpful comments about what works in each of these essays.

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However, all of these statements are definitely pushing the boundaries of acceptable length, as all are above 1000 and one is almost 1500 words! Many programs limit you to 500 words; if you don’t have a limit, you should try to keep it to two single-spaced pages at most (which is about 1000 words).

University of Chicago Personal Statement for Graduate School Examples

These examples of successful essays to the University of Chicago law school cover a wide range of life experiences and topics. The writing in all is very vivid, and all communicate clear messages about the students’ strengths and competencies.

Note, however, that these are all essays that specifically worked for University of Chicago law school. That does not mean that they would work everywhere. In fact, one major thing to note is that many of these responses, while well-written and vivid, barely address the students’ interest in law school at all! This is something that might not work well for most graduate programs.

Wheaton College Personal Statement for Graduate School Sample 10

This successful essay for law school from a Wheaton College undergraduate does a great job tracking the student’s interest in the law in a compelling and personal way. Wheaton offers other graduate school personal statement examples, but this one offers the most persuasive case for the students’ competencies. The student accomplishes this by using clear, well-elaborated examples, showing strong and vivid writing, and highlighting positive qualities like an interest in justice and empathy without seeming grandiose or out of touch.

Wheaton College Personal Statement for Graduate School Sample 1

Based on the background information provided at the bottom of the essay, this essay was apparently successful for this applicant. However, I’ve actually included this essay because it demonstrates an extremely risky approach. While this personal statement is strikingly written and the story is very memorable, it could definitely communicate the wrong message to some admissions committees. The student’s decision not to report the drill sergeant may read incredibly poorly to some admissions committees. They may wonder if the student’s failure to report the sergeant’s violence will ultimately expose more soldiers-in-training to the same kinds of abuses. This incident perhaps reads especially poorly in light of the fact that the military has such a notable problem with violence against women being covered up and otherwise mishandled

It’s actually hard to get a complete picture of the student’s true motivations from this essay, and what we have might raise real questions about the student’s character to some admissions committees. This student took a risk and it paid off, but it could have just as easily backfired spectacularly.

Key Takeaways: Graduate School Personal Statement Examples

In this guide, we discussed why you need a personal statement and how it differs from a statement of purpose. (It’s more personal!)

We also discussed what you’ll find in a strong sample personal statement for graduate school:

• A clear narrative about the applicant and why they are qualified for graduate study.
• Specific examples to support that narrative.
• Compelling reasons why the applicant and the program are a good fit for each other.
• Strong writing, including clear organization and error-free, cliche-free language.
• Appropriate boundaries—sharing without over-sharing.

Then, we provided three strong graduate school personal statement examples for different fields, along with analysis. We did a deep-dive on the third statement.

Finally, we provided a list of other sample grad school personal statements online.

What’s Next?

Want more advice on writing a personal statement ? See our guide.

Writing a graduate school statement of purpose? See our statement of purpose samples  and a nine-step process for writing the best statement of purpose possible .

If you’re writing a graduate school CV or resume, see our how-to guide to writing a CV , a how-to guide to writing a resume , our list of sample resumes and CVs , resume and CV templates , and a special guide for writing resume objectives .

Need stellar graduate school recommendation letters ? See our guide.

See our 29 tips for successfully applying to graduate school .

Ready to improve your GRE score by 7 points?

Author: Ellen McCammon

Ellen is a public health graduate student and education expert. She has extensive experience mentoring students of all ages to reach their goals and in-depth knowledge on a variety of health topics. View all posts by Ellen McCammon

Top Tips for a Cambridge Architecture Personal Statement

Introduction: dos and don’ts.

Cambridge Personal Statements for Architecture is a crucial component of your university application as it presents a unique opportunity for you to differentiate yourself from other applicants. You would be able to articulate your story and explain your interests beyond that of numbers on an admissions test. Furthermore, it gives the interviewer a chance to understand who you are, providing a platform to bounce off questions during your interview. 

They can tailor questions to your personality, interests, and commitment to who you are as a person and your amalgamation of experiences before you. To guide you through the arduous university application process, our Oxbridge application experts have compiled a list of top 10 Architecture Personal Statement Cambridge tips– do’s and don’ts– for your Cambridge Architecture Personal Statement for the 2024/25 application cycle.

General Advice for Architecture Personal Statement

Architecture at Cambridge not only teaches you about the construction and design of structures and buildings but it is also balanced with teachings in the philosophy as well as the history of architecture. You can also expect to be exposed to more modern topics such as urbanism and contemporary culture, being enriched in knowledge in both design and theory. 

As such, your Cambridge personal statement should illustrate how you demonstrate certain key qualities, such as that curiosity, creativity, and intellectual grounding. Moreover, when planning out your Architecture personal statement, make sure you research Cambridge’s achievements in architecture and include it in your writing to illustrate your interest in architecture. 

Furthermore, when you are completing your university applications, you would likely also be applying to four other universities or courses. Hence, it is understandable if your Architecture personal statement is vague and non-specific to Cambridge. The University of Cambridge understands this and will allow you to fill out an ‘Online Supplementary Application Questionnaire (SAQ)’ shortly after submitting the UCAS application. As such, make sure you’ve created another condensed version of your Cambridge Architecture personal statement that can be directly submitted to Cambridge.

Top 5 Tips for Cambridge Architecture Personal Statement

Display interest in both design and theory.

Some students might have the misconception that architecture is a pure art or design-based course, and others might think that they would be only learning about architecture theory. However, the architecture degree offered at Cambridge encompasses both. Hence, it is important to highlight to Cambridge tutors that you understand and are excited about this. You can display this understanding by highlighting that you are excited about both aspects of the course. You can also further elaborate on this by stating similar relevant experiences that you have undertaken because of this interest. For example, this could include architecture competitions or workshops.

Illustrate in your Cambridge personal statement that you are widely read

Oxbridge tutors love when you show that you are deeply versed in reading. This is because it is a simple, realistic, and straightforward way of showing them that you are genuinely interested in the course you want to pursue. Think of it this way– if you are a fan of a certain pop star or celebrity, you would want to find out more about them. Similarly, if you have a genuine interest in architecture, you would have taken the initiative to learn more about it and read ahead. Rest assured, reading is not only restricted to books. It could also include short articles, magazines, or even podcasts, documentaries, or Youtube videos. For example, Architectural digest is a fun way to be introduced to certain architectural concepts. You can also incorporate the consumption of these media in your daily life by tuning in to a podcast instead of your usual playlist on your ride home from school.

Read around the subject you’re applying for

When writing your Cambridge personal statement, architecture should show as your passion. First of all, reading around the subject doesn’t necessarily mean reading books. Podcasts, magazine articles, documentaries or Research Papers relating to the field of Architecture are all great ways to engage with new content. Popping your headphones in on the way to school and listening to a discussion on thought-provoking areas of your subject is far less daunting than being faced with a huge book. Furthermore, you are going to university to study – you haven’t started yet! – and so the person reading your Cambridge personal statement doesn’t expect you to be an expert, just to have an interest! Exploring a topic that you find fascinating and can form opinions about is far more impressive and important than trying to find the most academic text out there.

Reflect on any experience mentioned and link it to architecture

The main flaw that applicants have when writing their Cambridge personal statements for architecture is assuming that Cambridge tutors want the most decorated applicant. This is actually not the case, as what they are really looking out for is the student who most matches the course they apply for. Hence, do not simply state an experience just because you think it is impressive– reflect on how it has shaped you, and extract a quality that you were equipped with. Lastly, link this quality to how it is relevant to architecture, and how it makes you the perfect architecture student.

Leave yourself enough time when writing your Cambridge Architecture personal statement

Although it is easy to leave the writing of your Cambridge personal statement to the last minute, especially whilst you are busy with your studies or other extracurriculars, always buffer enough time to write your Architecture personal statement. This includes factoring in enough time for the completion of multiple drafts. This is because your first draft would never be your best one, and you would want to continuously refine it based on received feedback. Leaving sufficient time for yourself would also ensure you would not miss out on any information you might have forgotten. If you are staring at a blank document and finding it difficult to start, you can try listing out all your experiences and achievements in the past 5 years. Next, list out all the desirable qualities specific to an architectural student, as well as what the architectural course would entail. You can then match your personal traits to the course, and start fleshing out your paragraphs from there. You can also use prompts to inspire your writing, such as: What about architecture excites me? Why do I want to study architecture? What do I know about architecture at Cambridge and its modules?

Top 5 things to AVOID for your Cambridge Architecture Personal Statement

Be misinformed about architecture and what to expect.

Always be sure to research the course thoroughly before applying. You can also speak to current or post-graduate students about how they find the course. Most students’ perceptions of the course that they are applying to are shaped by that of the media, or their limited high school experiences. Hence, this can lead to a one-dimensional, and not a necessarily accurate view of architecture. Having an accurate and realistic understanding of Cambridge’s architecture programme would not only give you an edge if this understanding is displayed in your Architecture personal statement, but it also ensures that you are able to identify if you are a good match for it.

Associate too many qualities with a singular experience

Although it is recommended to always reflect on an experience and explain how it has equipped you with certain qualities, do not go overboard with the number of things you have learnt from a singular experience. For example, it is not realistic to learn time management, leadership skills, compassion, and perseverance all from a two-day camp. Choose one specific quality that you would like to highlight when enumerating your experiences. There is more value in explaining, rather than listing.

Make sweeping statements without showing how it is related to architecture

With all that you have done in high school and more, you might feel pressed to fit everything into the word count. Hence, it is important to pick and choose the points that you would really like to elaborate on and highlight, instead of mentioning everything with a simple one-liner. Avoid general statements that don’t add value to your Cambridge Architecture personal statement, and make sure that you are always linking your points back to how you are well matched for architecture. For example, you can avoid talking about experiences that are completely irrelevant to architecture. If you feel that a certain experience is crucial to you and your journey, try and extract relevant qualities from it. For example, your part-time work taught you to be resourceful or creative in finding unconventional solutions to common everyday problems.

Writing an essay on your favourite theory or architecture

Although mentioning certain books, ideas, or theories is a good way to show that you are well-read or passionate about architecture, do not turn your Cambridge Architecture personal statement into an argumentative essay or informational sheet about a certain theory. Do remember that what Cambridge tutors are interested in when reading your Cambridge Architecture personal statement is you. These tutors are people who are already experts in their field, and would likely know any theory that you are writing on. When reading your Cambridge Architecture personal statement, they want to learn about you and if you are a good match for architecture, not a theory that they can learn from any textbook.

Being cliché and unprofessional

Keeping in mind that Cambridge tutors are reading your Architecture personal statement to determine if you are a good fit for the course, it could come off as unauthentic if you talk about a cliché or movie-like moment being your only motivation to study architecture. It is alright if your reasons for studying architecture are due to amalgamations of small, seemingly insignificant reasons– as long as you show valid and reasonable reasons for wanting to study architecture. Be authentic!

If you’re unsure about what you’ve included in your architecture personal statement Cambridge draft, why not book a FREE consultation with our specialists and book a personal statement check .

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What to include in a Personal Statement

Personal Statement Tips

Personal statement example architecture personal statement.

Submitted by Bethany

Architecture Personal Statement

The opportunity to leave a lasting impact is a privilege, and architects are gifted with this in every building they design. This is why I want to study architecture: you have the ability to change the course of someone’s life, purely with what you envisage. An article by Michael Bond discussed this. ‘The hidden ways that architecture affects how you feel’, describes how the design, space and presentation of a building can all have great effects on a persons mood and thoughts, looking at the Pruitt-Igoe apartment blocks as an example. Their demise was blamed on the architecture: the modernist, high rise, blank concrete blocks discouraged a sense of community and the large communal spaces quickly turned into the centre for gang crime. I was intrigued; I found it extraordinary the impact a person’s setting can have on their neurology, as often the architecture of our local environment is overlooked and taken for granted in every day life.

A visit to Barcelona when I was younger leading me to discover Gaudi's work is probably what first inspired me to study architecture: the contrast between the order and rigour that can be seen from a birds-eye view compared to the intense detail that can be seen up close. I am interested in the designing of the Sagrada Familia and how you can see the different time periods and design influences as you walk around the cathedral. Structures like this can be so iconic and meaningful and can stick in the mind of anyone for a lifetime. Art AS level taught me to look at structure and form, specifically in the statues of Matisse, where I found similarities in my sculptural style of life drawing and his ‘Back Series’. It also really helped me to develop my own style meaning I explored lots of different avenues within the media I used and found I really enjoyed the sculptural side, creating many clay pieces as part of my project.

Architecture is about solving problems: whether they be design, space, community or cultural, which is why I feel physics and maths have definitely helped prepare me for studying architecture as they are both centred around problem-solving. The move from GCSE to A-level has definitely been demanding for me but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the challenge these subjects have posed. For my A2 project in Product Design, I am focusing on inclusive design and I am hoping that my final product will be a coping mechanism to help children with learning disabilities cope with stressful situations. To do this, I am working with my sixth form’s SEN department and I have had to do a lot of research into inclusive design involving working with and interviewing people from charities that support learning disabilities. I am a form prefect for a Year 11 form for whom I mentor and provide peer support to. From this, I have gained great listening and intuitive skills as well as managing a position of responsibility and bridging the link between student and teacher.

I have completed work experience with three different companies. The placements were really provocative as they gave me three almost contrasting environments to work in with completely different types of people. I worked on Sketch-Up to complete a brief on a personal design project, giving me a good grounding in the software. I had to create a 3D plan of the Birmingham office for one of the company’s future use, using a mixture of both CAD and Sketch-Up. I also had an opportunity to practise my sketching and technical drawing and find out about the historical design and architecture of the areas I was working in. I worked with the third company most recently and I thought my time here was very constructive, as I was involved in meetings with structural engineers who were working with the company as well as giving my opinions on some of the projects the company was bidding for. I found all the placements insightful and beneficial, and they definitely improved my understanding and technical ability when it came to sketching and designing.

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Architecture Masters Personal Statement Example: Effective Guide

Table of Contents

So you want to pursue a master’s degree in architecture? Congratulations! A career in architecture can be rewarding, both creatively and financially. To begin, you need to write your master’s application. This article provides architecture masters personal statement example to guide you.

Like all personal statements, an architecture master’s personal statement should give the admissions committee a snapshot of who you are as an individual. It should highlight your strengths and interests and explain why pursuing a masters in architecture is your next logical step.

But writing about yourself can be challenging – especially concerning something as subjective as art or design. So how do you craft a strong statement that will stand out from the rest? Read on for our top tips!

What Is An Architecture Masters Personal Statement?

Consider it the opportunity to introduce yourself to the admissions’ committee. It is your chance to discuss your interest in studying architecture and the factors that led to your decision. 

A personal statement typically showcases your motivation and academic and professional achievements . It lets you demonstrate how you hope to use an architectural degree once you graduate. 

The admissions’ committee will look for signs of how you will add value to the program and their community. So put your best foot forward and show them your skills! 

Why Do You Need A Personal Statement?

Having an impressive personal statement is essential when pursuing a masters in architecture. It’s your opportunity to showcase your skills and experiences while highlighting why you’re the perfect candidate for the program. If you’re looking to pursue a master’s degree in architecture, be sure to create a statement that stands out.

An Architecture Master’s personal statement helps admission committees know more about who you are as an individual. They’ll want to know what makes you unique and why studying architecture is essential to you.

Your statement should be well-written and concise, providing enough information without going into too much detail. In addition, make sure that your grammar and spelling are impeccable!

Your Architecture Masters personal statement can help set you apart from other applicants and increase your chances of acceptance.

The Structure of Your Architecture Masters Personal Statement

• Introduce yourself and your interest in architecture.
• Outline your academic and professional achievements.
• Highlight your unique abilities and experiences.
• Showcase your creative and design abilities.
• Explain your motivation for pursuing a master’s in architecture.
• State why you want to study at this particular school.
• Write a captivating closing remark.

Tips for Writing Your Architecture Masters Personal Statement

The architecture masters personal statement can be challenging to write. However, with some practice, you will get the hang of it. Below are general things to always remember when writing your architecture masters personal statement.

• Proofread your statement carefully.
• Use strong and descriptive language
• Be concise and stay on topic
• Avoid clichés and general statements
• Use concrete examples from inside and outside the classroom whenever possible.
• Make sure your statement is unique to you
• Get feedback from others.

Architecture Masters Personal Statement Example

Architecture is my passion. I aspire to be an architect who employs unproven techniques in the field of architecture. For a town planning project during my childhood, our local government requested children to create dream homes. As I threw myself into accomplishing the assignment, the challenge captivated me. This incident is one of the countless incidents demonstrating that my passion is inborn and natural rather than the result of some external influence.

I’ve taken various measures to improve my construction and design skills since discovering them. I began my education at the King sway School of Construction Design for Kids, where I gained an early understanding of architectural applications. This experience broadened my knowledge of and interest in architecture. At this point, I chose to pursue a career as an architect. After deciding on a profession, I felt determined to pursue the career opportunities that architecture provided. My life had now become architecture.

After graduating from high school, I enrolled in Emerson Architecture College to improve my architectural talents on a more professional level. The training there expanded my creative horizons. And I started identifying architectural problems and their remedies wherever I went. Environmental architecture and craftsmanship classes allowed me to combine various existent ideas into new or distinctive outputs.

My level of creativity surpassed my expectations. I also learned digital architecture, three-dimensional modeling, and how to use various architectural programs and technology. I am not nearly as talented as I would like to be as an architect; I have an insatiable thirst for architectural knowledge. My innovativeness and ingenuity are fed by my appetite. This understanding is what allows me to design architectural solutions to the challenges I see around me.

I want to be a restoration architect. This passion began following a vacation trip to Paris. As I explored architecture, I realized it portrays our societies’ heritage and history in a way that helps us think critically about our past.

Observing the works of architectural greats has also encouraged me to seek excellence in my career in architecture. In light of this, I have decided to pursue my master’s degree at a school known for producing excellent architects.

To achieve this level of quality, I would like to apply for admission as a master’s student at your institution. This will greatly help me to broaden my understanding of different unfinished architectural difficulties. My goal is to gain information and put it to good use for the benefit of humanity. This will finally bring my dream of being a sophisticated urban planner to fruition .

There are several key takeaways from this exceptional guide on architecture masters personal statement example . When writing a personal statement, highlight your skills and experiences. You should also explain why you want to pursue a master’s degree in architecture. Lastly, be sure to express your passion for Architecture!

Loved the personal statement you read above? Use Hey INK to generate an outstanding one, that will intrigue the admissions’ committee.

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

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Architecture personal statement example 22.

I was brought up in a small flat which made me aware from an early age about the value of the space I was living in. The view from the flat has stayed with me throughout my life. From four stories up I saw two flats side by side with the sun hitting the side of a building. I have always remembered that even in that block of flats there was beauty in the design and the architecture transcended the mundane.

My love for art, Vedic philosophy and mathematics has informed my vision to become an architect, not only to design buildings but to build people's thoughts, ideas and beliefs through the physical environment. As a child I spent a lot of time drawing and playing with Lego which gave me an early insight into the value of imagination and creativity. At Hainault Forest High school I was selected for the gifted and talented group based upon my analytical drawing in design technology.

Natural forms have inspired my exploration of architecture. Observing plants under a microscope has been inspirational, I can see the outcome of natural spatial design in the vast array of different forms and structures that have developed through the evolutionary process. I am interested in the architectural potential that these natural structures present. This biomimetic architecture has presented me with innovative new design pathways.

I was fortunate enough to have work experience at Milan Babic Architects in London. On my first day Milan told me to create a brief for a dream house for my parents. I wrote a statement of their characteristics and formed a brief based upon their personalities and needs. I was taught how to section sketch, choosing the position of the house and shown how the research environmental factors with the Environment Agency such as the possibility of flooding hazard. I made a model of the house and in the end I presented my project to my parents and the architects. The passion I observed in the studio confirmed my interest in becoming an architect.

I have also been influenced by Peter Zumthor who developed a personal response to the concepts of modernism through his experience as a conservationist architect. His use of the raw materials selected in sympathy with landscape and cultural vernacular created buildings that harmonise with their landscapes and human occupants. As our awareness of the necessities of sustainability grows it becomes more and more important that architecture students consider the role they will have in building better homes and environments for the future. My experience of Summer school at Sheffield University reinforced this perspective as practicing architects gave presentations on making cities denser, more sustainable and more eco-friendly.

At college I have been elected as student union governor a role which I take very seriously, I am the voice of the students and part of the college board committee. I work to further my college's social and environmental responsibilities. As a representative of the college I have also been appointed as a student ambassador helping to organize open days and working on advising parents and potential new students about college life. I am midway through completing my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award which has involved charity work and voluntary design work for the National Citizens Service's logo.

I am fully committed to studying architecture and I have chosen the universities that will help me to be at my very best. I am innovative, hardworking and competitive. Architecture is a natural choice, it is a course that best fits my interests and abilities.

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