Make It Personal!
When I lecture about writing personal statements, I perform the following experiment: I ask my audience four or five general, superficial questio about their backgrounds and goals and ask for a show of hands. For example, "How many of you feel your courses have prepared you to succeed in graduate or profe ional school?" "How many of you have had work or volunteer experience that is relevant to your career goals?" OK, you have the idea. Usually, all or the overwhelming majority of the hands go up. Then I ask, "Why did I ask these questio ?" Someone will usually say, "Because we're all the same."
But of course my audience is not "all the same." And you are not the same as those you are competing agai t--unle you write on a very general and superficial level. If you write on the same level that I asked my questio , you will fail to distinguish yourself from your competition.
You need to use your unique experiences and ecific details from those experiences to bring you and your e ay to life. Don't write about volunteering for the homele write about Joe, the homele , Vietnam vet with the toothle smile who taught you something ecific that you will carry with you. Don't write about your trip to Europe; write about watching a Gy y troupe perform a Rachmaninoff concerto that you had played many times, but never understood before sitting under that grimy circus tent in the Ukraine. Many students can write about volunteering for the homele or traveling in Europe, but only you can write about your memorable experiences and their impact upon you. Those unique anecdotes will be how admi io officers remember you and your e ay.
In addition to distinguishing you from your competition, experiences and anecdotes are much more interesting to read than generalities and platitudes. Think about the lecturers who just give the theory and principles and compare them to those who bring the theory alive with real examples and anecdotes. I'll take the latter any day.
Do you want to write a memorable e ay that is truly revealing of your unique experiences and personality? Use ecifics. They will bring your e ay to life.