A personal statement is an integral part of any university application. Some programs have strict word limits in place, while others do not have any word limits. Here is an example of a 750-word limit personal statement that was admitted to top programs in the US and Canada.
750 Word Personal Statement Example
Being born and raised in a small village in Indonesia, my younger self could never have imagined that I would be standing where I am today. With farming and trade being the primary earning business within my family, education was never a priority. There were designated roles to be fulfilled by each gender, and if I fulfilled them, there were no other expectations of me. I was never encouraged to achieve more than I already had and was never taught how to plan for my future. There was no career guidance or information on which university to apply to and how to do it. I was not even aware that subjects such as philosophy and psychology existed.
“Blissfully unaware of the struggles of the future” applied to me plenty. Because of this nonchalance, I had to put in twice as much effort later in my professional life. My self-esteem spiraled down when I left my village to pursue higher education. In the alienating classroom environment, I began to fail in almost every subject and activity. My self-confidence shattered. The English language needed to be more decipherable for me, and the students were far from friendly to newcomers like me. It took me several lunch breaks, extra help from teachers, and endless hours in the library to ensure that I would catch up.
When the time came to apply to an undergrad program, I was presented with a choice. I could either quit my education and walk on the well-trodden road that leads to a non-challenging life or continue to struggle on my own to a seemingly unknown destination where the chances of failure were far greater. I chose the latter. I preferred to trudge through the rocky terrain of the unknown and decided to stick to it no matter how many times I would fall. Today, as I write this essay, I am sitting at a desk in my office, being the first female in my family to have secured employment on her own at a multinational IT company. I had even won a scholarship for one semester on the UGRAD exchange program in the United States, a privilege that not anyone in my home village had granted.
Despite this, I am aware of my shortcomings. I always had to tread a fine line between the goals and ambitions I had crafted for myself and my family’s expectations. Where my classmates went for extra-curricular activities and participated in clubs and research groups, I was not allowed to do any of that. A constant threat of disownment for staying away from home for an extended period hung on my head. With such strict curfews implemented, I had to become very creative with my schedule. I calculated every minute of my time on campus to ensure maximum productivity. When not attending classes, I was fulfilling my duties as a teacher’s assistant, conducting tutorial sessions for the first-year class and organizing lectures for senior-year students. I started participating in different gaming competitions and joined different societies as an administrator. I pushed myself to try and work harder than others because I was no longer going to sit back and let circumstances decide my path.
When graduation came, I knew very late that I would not be joining my classmates in the ceremony, for I had missed a straightforward course in my rush to take over the world. By then, I had already accepted full-time employment at Microsoft. Thus, again I began my race against time by taking a three-hour class in the morning, followed by nine hours of work, and afterward dealing with the demands of my family. But it was worth the effort, for when in class, I could learn so many new things, and when at work, I could work away on my coding applications and would not even realize that time had passed.
Continuously evolving and coding have become my two biggest passions, and I will not give them up for all the hardships in the world. My objective is to become a computer science specialist. Using my expertise in computer systems, I will build on my knowledge and study advanced engineering concepts at the graduate level. Silicon Valley is the CS hub of the world. During my studies, I would also like to work part-time with start-ups to gain valuable industrial experience. Aside from academics, as a swimmer, I look forward to joining the department swimming club to compete and train with the best that UCLA offers.