Personal Statements: 3 Tools to Describe Yourself Better

You’ve heard it before:

“Tell me about yourself.”

That common interview question takes on new life when you write a personal statement for graduate school.

How are you supposed to fit a recap of your life, map of your career goals and description of why you are a great fit for a program in 500 words? Plus make it compelling for a reviewer who has read everything.

I have read thousands of application essays.

As a reviewer, the best essays and statements have one thing in common: strong self awareness.

To boost how you express this self awareness, I highly recommend outsourcing the language you use to describe yourself.

Check out these 3 self-assessments and use the results to better describe who you are to a new audience:

1. CliftonStrengths

2. Myers-Briggs

3. VIA Character Strengths

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1. CliftonStrengths

• Length: 60 minutes

• Cost: $19.99 (Not an affiliate link, they just hide the $20 option. You can pay more to see where you rank on all 34 strengths but it’s not necessary)

• This is 100% worth it for your statement and especially at work

What you get

Your top 5 strengths from a list of 34.

How to use your results

These are especially helpful in describing how you work. From how you synthesize information to how you build and maintain relationships, CliftonStrengths gives the best language to tell others how you function. 

(I may need to do a separate post as a love letter to CliftonStrengths, it’s that good).

Pro Tip: Knowing your strengths will help you be a better teammate at work and in future group projects for class.

Fun facts

• Formerly know as StrengthsQuest/StrengthsFinder.

• Taken by over 30 million people.

• Deeply rooted in research. They interviewed specific subsets of people at the top of their field to determine the final list of 34 strengths. After interviewing NHL goalies, they found that “seeing in slow motion” was a common trait, but not applicable to the general population.

2. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Length: 10 minutes

• Cost: Free

What you get

Your results will be a four-letter acronym representing one of 16 personality types. There are four pairs, you will receive one letter from each pair listed below.

Here are simple descriptions of what each pairing describes about you:

(E or I) = Extraverted - or - Introverted

• Describes where you get your energy. Is it from being around people or being alone to recharge?

(N or S) = Intuitive - or - Sensing/Observant

• How you process information. Are you more intuitive or tactile?

(F or T) = Feeling - or - Thinking

• Decision-making. Do you decide from your feelings or on the facts?

(P or J) = Prospecting/Perceiving - or - Judging

• How you prefer to interact with the world. Example: If you had a day off, would you want it completely free (P) or scheduled (J)?

Note: Every person who takes this assessment is on a sliding scale for each letter. (Ex. highly extroverted to highly introverted). Some people may be more in the middle between both letters. Others may find they lean toward one letter in their personal life, and toward the other in their professional life. 

How to use your results

Myers-Briggs is great for explaining how you make decisions, get your energy and interact with the world.

Real Life Example

I am an ENFP. This page highlights strengths I would use to illustrate a story in my personal statement:

- Curious

- Perceptive

- Enthusiastic

- Communication skills - including listening

Fun fact

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was developed by a mother-daughter duo.

3. VIA Character Strengths

• Length: 10 minutes

• Cost: Free

What you get

Your top 5 best qualities in order of how salient they are for you. There are 24 total.

How to use your results

In your personal statement, use the words from your VIA Character Strengths report to share your values and how they relate to your career goals after you graduate from the program.

Fun fact

VIA originally was an acronym for Values in Action. 

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A final note

Keep in mind, these assessments are not intended to put you in a box or be the sole definition of who you are as a person. 

With CliftonStrengths and VIA Character Strengths, your uniqueness also comes from how each of your qualities interact with the other.

Example: a great communicator with a strategic strength will likely know what to say at the right time to the right people who need to hear it.

I’ve shared these assessments to help you brainstorm the best ways to describe yourself to reviewers of your personal statement.

Having read applications for 10 years, I can guarantee you that 95% of people do not delve into this level of detail or thought. (It shows).

By taking these extra steps, you’ll strengthen your statement and impress the reviewers who have read everything.

Bonus Tip

Your results from all three assessments are easily Google-able to learn more about yourself and how you function. 

If you get far enough into the rabbit hole, you’ll find Myers-Briggs memes, too. Have fun!

Read next: If you’re preparing to write a personal statement, make sure you have a plan to request transcripts and to track your applications.

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