personal statement for summer job

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How to Write a Strong Personal Statement

• Ruth Gotian
• Ushma S. Neill

A few adjustments can get your application noticed.

Whether applying for a summer internship, a professional development opportunity, such as a Fulbright, an executive MBA program, or a senior leadership development course, a personal statement threads the ideas of your CV, and is longer and has a different tone and purpose than a traditional cover letter. A few adjustments to your personal statement can get your application noticed by the reviewer.

• Make sure you’re writing what they want to hear. Most organizations that offer a fellowship or internship are using the experience as a pipeline: It’s smart to spend 10 weeks and $15,000 on someone before committing five years and $300,000. Rarely are the organizations being charitable or altruistic, so align your stated goals with theirs
• Know when to bury the lead, and when to get to the point. It’s hard to paint a picture and explain your motivations in 200 words, but if you have two pages, give the reader a story arc or ease into your point by setting the scene.
• Recognize that the reviewer will be reading your statement subjectively, meaning you’re being assessed on unknowable criteria. Most people on evaluation committees are reading for whether or not you’re interesting. Stated differently, do they want to go out to dinner with you to hear more? Write it so that the person reading it wants to hear more.
• Address the elephant in the room (if there is one). Maybe your grades weren’t great in core courses, or perhaps you’ve never worked in the field you’re applying to. Make sure to address the deficiency rather than hoping the reader ignores it because they won’t. A few sentences suffice. Deficiencies do not need to be the cornerstone of the application.

At multiple points in your life, you will need to take action to transition from where you are to where you want to be. This process is layered and time-consuming, and getting yourself to stand out among the masses is an arduous but not impossible task. Having a polished resume that explains what you’ve done is the common first step. But, when an application asks for it, a personal statement can add color and depth to your list of accomplishments. It moves you from a one-dimensional indistinguishable candidate to someone with drive, interest, and nuance.

• Ruth Gotian is the chief learning officer and associate professor of education in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and the author of The Success Factor and Financial Times Guide to Mentoring . She was named the #1 emerging management thinker by Thinkers50. You can access her free list of conversation starters and test your mentoring impact . RuthGotian
• Ushma S. Neill is the Vice President, Scientific Education & Training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She runs several summer internships and is involved with the NYC Marshall Scholar Selection Committee. ushmaneill

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Summer Job resume example & writing guide

From scooping ice cream to mowing lawns, summer jobs are the stuff of every great teen movie. In real life, they’re also a great way to gain valuable work experience and earn some newfound spending power. 

Summer jobs are varied but they generally have a few things in common: the job seeker is generally a student or young person, they’re entering the workforce without boatloads of experience and they’re looking for a temporary gig. So how do you craft the perfect summer job resume that gives you an experience to remember?

Resume.io is here to help. This resume guide, along with the corresponding summer job resume example will cover the following topics:

What is a summer job?

• How to write a summer job resume (tips and tricks)
• The best format for a summer job resume
• Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history, education, skills)
• Professional resume layout and design hints.

While this guide will generally cover everything you need to know about landing a summer job, you can browse our library of 300+ resume examples for more insight into specific job titles you might wish to apply to.

While a summer job might seem pretty self-explanatory – i.e. a job you do in the summer – there are a lot more cultural nuances around the idea of a summer job. Often the first stepping stone for teenagers home from school for summer break, a summer job is usually an entry-level and part-time gig. These jobs might be formal employment, or they may be tasks performed for family and neighbors paid in cash. While a summer job can be any sort of employment in the summer, there are certain types of positions that often lend themselves to these requirements:

• Lawn care worker
• Babysitter or nanny
• Shop assistant
• Ice cream parlor employee
• Grocery store associate
• Amusement park or mini golf attendant
• Movie theater worker
• Camp counselor

How to write a summer job resume

A resume for a summer job will need many of the sections commonly found on CVs. Here’s what to include: 

• The resume header
• The resume summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The resume skills section
• The education section

The nuance of writing a resume for a summer job usually comes down to making the most of your limited previous experience. It’s important to look for other activities or educational roles that require a similar skill set to the job you’re applying for. Use these as leverage to show the employer that although you’ve never worked as a camp counselor before, the time you tutored middle school students in the science lab was great preparation.

Choosing the best resume format for a summer job

The best resume format for your summer job will largely depend on how much previous work experience you have. If you’re lucky enough to have been previously employed, then the reverse chronological resume format is the way to go. That’s because this structure focuses on an employment history section where you can place relevant past jobs to show the prospective employer you’re capable of filling the role.

If this summer job is going to be your first, then the functional resume format can be a great option. This format is designed specifically for job seekers with limited work experience. The employment history section is understated (or sometimes nonexistent) and the resume focuses on your skills instead. If you have only one or two jobs to show, you may consider using a combination of the functional and reverse chronological formats.

For more specific writing and formatting advice, check out our other related resume examples including our landscape designer resume sample, career change resume example and freelancer resume sample.

Resume summary example

The resume summary is a key section, especially when looking for your first summer job. In these 3-5 sentences, you’ll be able to speak directly to the employer to tell them about your goals, motivation and experience. Make sure to write in a positive and professional tone here. The summary is a great section to focus on when you don’t have much previous experience. Check out the summary from our adaptable resume sample below.

Hardworking and motivated college student seeking seasonal employment in the landscaping industry. Adept in a variety of lawn care tasks and familiar with common power tools. Ready to apply experience in golf course upkeep to commercial landscaping projects.

Employment history sample

If at all possible, it’s best to include an employment history section on your resume. If you don’t have much to show here, you can include volunteer positions, temporary gigs and school activities. Use the bullet points below each entry to call attention to your responsibilities and skills – especially as they relate to the job you’re applying for. Below you’ll find the employment history section from our adaptable resume sample.

Summer Golf Course Assistant, Three Horses Golf Club, Boulder May 2021 - Aug 2021

• Served as a seasonal golf course assistant working closely with the superintendent and assistants in all daily maintenance operations.
• Assisted with all mowing practices and hand watering.
• Helped with irrigation repair and troubleshooting.
• Assisted with pesticide applications and fertilizer applications.
• Recognized for positive attitude and willingness to learn and grow.

Store Associate, The Home Depot, Boulder Sep 2019 - Nov 2020

• Worked as an enthusiastic and dedicated store associate handling a variety of assigned tasks and daily responsibilities.
• Provided fast and friendly service by approaching customers to assess their needs and offer assistance.
• Provided customers with accurate information on product features.
• Worked to maintain the in-stock condition of assigned areas and ensured that they were clean, safe and easily accessible.
• Provided a safe working and shopping environment by following all safety policies and standards.

CV skills example

The skills section of your CV takes center stage when it comes time to apply for a summer job. Make sure to point out the key competencies that make you great for the role, and don’t forget to include a mix of hard and soft skills (technical abilities versus personality traits). If you have any special skills or areas of expertise, this is the place to add them to your CV. See the skills resume example below.

• Adaptability
• Time Management
• Detail-oriented
• Good Communication
• Ability to Learn Quickly
• Mowers and Weed Eaters
• Irrigation Systems

Summer job resume education example

If you’re applying for a summer job, chances are you’re a student with some education to show. This is the section to shine. Make sure to list your high school diploma and college degree along with the name of the school, location and dates attended. If you’re still completing your education, it’s perfectly acceptable to add a degree in progress along with your expected graduation date. You can also add relevant coursework or your GPA if it is impressive. See the education section resume example below.

University of Colorado at Boulder, Bachelor of Science in Sports Management Sep 2018 - Present

Walter Johnson Technical High School, Denver Sep 2014 - May 2018

• Graduated with 3.97 GPA

Resume layout and design

The layout and design of your resume is a quick and easy way to make your application stand out among other entry-level candidates with similar skill sets. Make sure to include a healthy balance of white space to text and use the same, professional font styles and sizes throughout your resume. An attractive header with a pop of color can make your resume stand out and align your image with that of the company. You may even want to use different looks for different types of jobs. Luckily, a resume template can make it easy to switch up your design.

Key takeaways for a summer job resume

• Summer jobs are a great way to get some work experience and make extra cash, but you’ll need a well-organized resume to stand out from other candidates.
• If you don’t have much experience to show, a functional or combination resume format can help you focus on your skills instead.
• Check out our summer job resume sample for more ideas on creating a great layout.

Beautiful ready-to-use resume templates

Summer Boarding Courses

How to Write a Personal Statement for Summer School or University

Are you wondering how to write a personal statement for Summer School or University? Summer Boarding Courses HQ asked our fellow friends over at Dukes Education company,  Oxbridge Applications  for some personal statement advice!

How to write a personal statement for Summer School or University

So you want to know what things to write in a personal statement. Excellent! Oxbridge Applications have some brilliant advice on how you can get started if you want to  study in the UK  or elsewhere. They can certainly help with writing a personal statement.

We will show you how to start a personal statement about yourself, what the best personal statements include, what to avoid and how to leave that lasting impression on the tutor. As a result, you will have a really good personal statement in no time!

What is a personal statement?

You can create a personal statement to be an application to a University, college course or Summer School. It showcases your interests, passions and achievements, so that you can convince the establishment reading it to accept you onto their course.

When it comes to writing a personal statement, this is your chance to the reader a chance to meet the real you! You may be a little nervous about how to write a personal statement. Do not worry; we are going to guide you step by step.

How to start a personal statement, before you even start typing!

If you’re thinking about how to begin a personal statement, and are a little nervous about it, ask yourself this:

Why do I want to be a part of this course?

What are my strengths and passions?

Why should I be accepted?

Your personal statement application should demonstrate your interest in the course, showcase what you can bring to the University, college or Summer School, and convince the admissions tutors to offer you a place.

Express yourself with the limited words you have

You have limited space to express yourself, so every sentence in your personal statement counts. Bear in mind that you can only write one personal statement for all your choices if you are applying to University, so make sure that you are tailoring your statement as much as possible to each of the courses you are applying for.

Without this thoughtful approach, the reader might doubt your commitment to their course.

One thing’s for certain: you won’t come up with a polished personal statement overnight. It will take many drafts, a lot of editing and a few late-night flashes of inspiration. Yet, it will all be worth it when those Summer School or University offers start rolling in! To help you get started, we’ve got a few useful tips to point you in the right direction.

How do you start, once you’re ready to type?

Wondering how to write personal statements from the start? There are about a million ways to start a personal statement, and there is no one correct way to begin!

Some people start with a quote which encapsulates their interest. Others start with an anecdote that explains where their curiosity for their subject stems from.

Your opening should set the tone for the rest of the personal statement, show your enthusiasm and interest in your subject and introduce the admissions tutor to your personality. Don’t feel like you need to pretend to be someone else in your personal statement; just make sure you are your academic self!

Speak as you would to your headteacher; clearly, maturely, but retaining a sense of who you are.

What should you include in a personal statement?

What is in a personal statement? Although it’s called a personal statement, the idea is not just to give the school a short history of your life to date. You need to be expressing your academic self, your interest in the subject that you are applying for and your achievements in that area. Brainstorm your ideas below with the following pointers, so you can begin to see what to write in a personal statement:

Subject-related work experience

What have you done so far that is connected to the subject and course you are applying for? Maybe you have studied something particular in school, or have worked hard on a project in your spare time. Have you volunteered somewhere to add to your experience? Have you worked with and along someone who has experience and expertise in the subject you are applying for?

Courses or lectures you attended which have advanced your knowledge

What courses or lectures have you attended which have advanced your understanding and skills in the subject you are applying for? What did you study particularly? Is there anything that you have learned, which has improved your knowledge and understanding?

Relevant books or articles that you have read

What have you been reading that has made you even more enthusiastic and eager to learn more about the subject you are applying for? What did you learn by reading these books and articles? Are there particular authors you have enjoyed reading lately, that are making an impact on you?

Take your English to the next level!

Academic awards.

If you have won an academic award, and been recognised for your skills and achievements, make sure to mention them! Have you received any certificates or recognition? If so, what was the award?

Extra-curricular activities

You should mention your extra-curricular achievements as well, but the amount of space that you dedicate to this section should depend on the university or summer course to which you are applying. If you are applying to Oxford or Cambridge , you should keep your extra-curricular activities to a minimum, as these universities are focused primarily on your academic achievements.

How do you finish a personal statement?

Do you need help writing a personal statement closing paragraph? Almost as hard as starting is finishing your University or Summer Program personal statement!

Your final paragraph doesn’t have to be long – just enough to round off your statement and reiterate your interest and dedication to your subject.

Be careful that you don’t come across as too arrogant or self-assured here; it can be easy after almost 4000 characters of blowing your own trumpet, to get a little carried away!

What not to include in a personal statement

Your personal statement is your space to sell your own subject interest. You haven’t got much room, so make sure that you’re not repeating anything that the admissions tutors could find out somewhere else on your application form. This can include listing your qualifications or grades: these go on the form in a different section.

Be positive in your personal statement!

How do you write your personal statement positively?

This is not the place to attempt to explain a lower predicted grade due to a disagreement with a teacher or the fact that you needed to miss school for an extended period due to illness.  If there is something in this vein that you feel the admissions tutors should know, ask the teacher writing your reference, whether he or she could include this in the reference section of your application form.

It’s more appropriate for your teacher to bring this to the admissions tutor’s attention. It means that you will not be wasting space trying to explain yourself. Instead you can just dazzle the course with your interests and achievements!

Our final advice on how to write a personal statement!

It’s a challenge but it’s worth it.

Writing the best personal statement may not be the most exciting activity for you. After days, weeks and even months of drafting and summoning up the motivation to proofread your statement, it can be a challenge. Yet it is absolutely essential!

Proof read again and again

You know that feeling you get when you spot a typo in an article? No matter how insignificant, it lowers your opinion of the content of the piece and the author. Admissions tutors are likely to be sticklers for accuracy, so make sure you get your teachers, friends and parents to proof-read it a couple of times. One tip is to begin with the last sentence and work your way through your personal statement backwards; it keeps you focused on individual sentences and not the full statement.

Good luck with writing the personal statement!

By now you should be very confident with how to write a good personal statement. You now know how to start your personal statement, what to include in it and how to finish it all on a high note! Look on it as a challenge, but also a very important opportunity to talk about a fascinating subject – you!

Do you need more help on writing a personal statement?

For more assistance with writing subject-specific personal statements, and to find out how Oxbridge Applications can help with personal statements, please click  here .

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• Finding a Job

Summer Job Resume and Cover Letter Examples

• What to Include and Tips for Writing
• Summer Resume and Cover Letters

Summer Job Cover Letter Template

Summer job resume template, resume examples listed by job, cover letter examples listed by job.

 Erik Dreyer / The Image Bank / Getty Images  

Applying for a summer job? Depending on the position you are interested in, you may need to submit a resume and cover letter along with your job application.

Whether you are a student, teacher, parent, or just looking to try something different, your resume and cover letter may include a variety of experiences that would be applicable to the position. If you’re a student, your resume will be different from that of someone who has been in the workforce for a while.

What to Include and Writing Tips

As a student, you will want to include on your resume any pertinent coursework, volunteer work, and any clubs and teams you may have participated in.  The hiring manager is going to understand that you may not have experience specific to the available position, but they will be looking to see that you are responsible, can accomplish tasks thoroughly and on time, and that you are willing to work hard.

For most summer jobs, it is especially effective to describe instances where you have demonstrated leadership or have worked well on a team.

Provide examples of this and of times when you have quickly learned new processes or information in order to successfully complete a project or task.

Other applicants should tailor their resume to include experiences more directly related to the job they are applying for.  If you have had more than a few jobs, select the ones that closely relate to the summer position you are interested in. In your description, highlight the skills and experiences most nearly matched to the requirements of the job .

Your cover letter is your chance to elaborate on why the position interests you, and how you feel your experiences will make you the best candidate for the position.

In your cover letter , you should mention where you learned about the job, including its specific title. Use the body of the letter as your “sales pitch” to outline the desired skills (as stated in the job posting) that you would bring to the job. Close your letter with a statement of your enthusiasm for the job, a request to meet for a personal interview, and a sincere “thank you” for the employer’s consideration of your candidacy.

Here is an example of a cover letter and resume that you can tailor to fit your own personal situation. Also see below for more examples of resumes and letters that will help you get the job.

Subject: Caddy Position - Dean White

Dear Hiring Manager,

I would like to express my strong interest in the golf caddy position you listed on golfjobs.com. I have excellent working knowledge of the sport, as well as experience in customer service, and know that I would be an ideal candidate for the position.

I have been playing golf competitively for the past six years with the Junior PGA, which has given me the opportunity to become very familiar with your club as well as many others in the region. Currently, I am team captain for my high school golf team. We have been Division Champions for the last two years, and I was awarded Individual Honors at the State Finals last year. I have experience as an assistant golf coach, having worked at my home club’s summer camp for the last three years.

My experience in the Pro Shop has given me a lot of experience in customer service, by assisting members and guests with purchases of all items, from golf clubs to clothing. Working at a busy ice cream shop also enhanced my customer service skills, and gave me experience multi-tasking in a fast-paced environment.

I believe that my experience will allow me to provide a friendly and enjoyable experience for all club members. I would be extremely comfortable on the course, and as a caddy would be confident in answering any of the club members’ golf-related questions. My golf knowledge, experience, and customer service abilities would make me an excellent caddy for the Beekman Golf and Country Club.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Dean White dean.white123@email.com Cell 555-567-8890

This is an example of a resume for a summer job. Download the summer job resume template (compatible with Google Docs and Word Online) or see below for more examples.

Example Summer Job Resume (Text Version)

Dean Applicant 1000 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 (123) 555-1234 dean.applicant@email.com

CAREER OBJECTIVE

High-achieving recent high school graduate seeking summer employment while preparing for college.

CORE QUALIFICATIONS

• Proven leadership skills at school and in the workplace.
• People-oriented and responsible.
• First Aid certification.
• CPR with AED certification.
• Proficient in written and spoken Spanish.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

DUCHESS COUNTRY CLUB, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Store Associate ,  May 2017–August 2017 Greet customers and provide suggestions for purchases, straighten stock to maintain ease of shopping, and work on inventory count as necessary.

Golf Camp Assistant Coach ,  May 2017–August 2017 Assist in coaching golf students, ages 8-12, by providing instruction on basic skills, including golf etiquette and swing skills to enhance player success.

MARY’S ICE CREAM SHOPPE, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Store Associate ,  May 2016–August 2016 Greeted patrons at walk-up window, answered questions regarding menu items, and managed debit, credit card, and cash transactions.

Poughkeepsie High School , Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (2018); 4.00 GPA

• National Honors Society
• P-TECH College and Workplace Readiness
• Golf team captain
• Spanish Club vice president

More Summer Job Resume and Letter Examples

Here you will find many additional examples of resumes for a variety of summer jobs. They can be customized to fit your personal situation.

• Camp Counselor Resume
• Camp Resume
• Cashier Resume
• Hospitality Resumes
• Hotel Resume
• Internship Resumes
• Lifeguard Resume
• Nanny Resume
• Retail Resumes
• Summer Job Resume  (General)
• Sales Associate
• Tutor Resume
• Waitress Resume
• Waiter Resume
• Summer Cashier Cover Letter
• Camp Counselor Cover Letter
• Golf Caddy Cover Letter
• Hotel Front Desk Cover Letter
• Lifeguard Cover Letter
• Nanny Cover Letter
• Summer Assistant Job
• Summer Internship Cover Letter
• Sales Associate Cover Letter
• Tutor Cover Letter Example
• Waiter Cover Letter Example

Key Takeaways

EMPHASIZE PEOPLE SKILLS: If you are a student without much work experience, highlight the people skills (also called “ soft skills ”) that are required in most summer jobs. These include talents like teamwork, leadership, self-motivation, organizational skills, and good communications.

ELABORATE: Provide specific examples in your resume and cover letter of times when you have practiced the skills that will be required of you in the summer job.

BE GRATEFUL: Always thank the employer in your cover letter for taking the time to read your resume and consider you for the position.

Resources > Unitemps Career Advice > How to write a CV for a summer job

How to write a CV for a summer job

So, you’re looking for a job to take up on your summer holiday. Whether that be applying to summer camps, retail positions, festivals, or other event work, a well thought out and planned summer job CV is crucial. Without one, you may struggle to stand out from other candidates that are applying for the same role. That’s why we have developed a guide for you to follow to make a positive impression.

What is a summer job CV?

Overall, a standard CV is a short document that should be no more than 1-2 pages. A CV highlights your personal details, including contact details, education, qualifications, and training, as well as any skills and experience that are relevant to the role – and a summer job CV is no different.

How to format and structure a summer job CV

When it comes to the format, we would recommend using a neat and professional design, one font and size with subheadings for each section and making use of bullet points and paragraphs throughout your CV.

You can structure your summer CV with the following information:

1. Contact details

Writing a CV can be daunting, so a good place to start is writing out your contact details. This includes:

• Email address
• Phone number

In this section, it’s unnecessary to include personal details such as your date of birth, gender, or a home address. Although, if you’re a working professional, you may want to include your current or most recent job title. If you’re a student or graduate, the degree you have or are working towards can also be incorporated.

2. Personal statement

Leading on from your contact details, an introduction to who you are is a great next step. We recommend keeping the introduction short and sweet with key details, such as the skills you have and your ambitions and goals.

Top tip: investigate the job description of the job you want to apply for and enhance your personal statement to fit the skills and responsibilities that the employer is looking for.

Doing research into how your skills match the job description can also help you to avoid being vague and generic with phrases like “I am a team player” and “I have a positive attitude”. Instead, clearly share the expertise you possess that relate to the vacancy.

3. Education and training

The subheading of this section pretty much sums up what you must do – list off in your education and training in reverse chronological order! Put simply, write down your most recent education to your least recent. For instance, put your degree first and follow with your A-Levels and GCSEs.

When writing out your education and training, here are some suggestions for you to include:

• The institution you studied or trained at
• The dates you started and completed the course
• What grade you achieved
• The qualification (e.g., whether it is a degree, A-Level or GCSE)
• The subject of study
• The modules you undertook

Here is an example of the above laid out:

Birmingham City University (September 2019 – July 2022) 2:1 in BA (Hons) Business Management Modules included Operations Management and Business Analytics

4. Employment history

Writing out your employment history in a similar way to your education and training will help present this section in a clear and concise manner. However, sometimes it’s okay to break the chronological rule, especially if you already have experience with the company or in a similar role – this can go at the top to ensure you stand out.

Your employment history should detail:

• The company name
• The job title you held or currently hold
• The duration of your time there (put ‘present’ if you’re still there)
• A short list of your main duties and responsibilities

Besides your employment history, any work experience or volunteer work you have undertaken should be placed in this section too. Adding these can demonstrate transferable skills.

Top tip: If you have no experience within the sector you are thinking of applying for, don’t worry! List your work history and for each one pick out the most relevant duties and skills that the employer is looking for.

5. Hobbies and interests

If you’re struggling to get your CV to fill one page, then adding a section to discuss your hobbies and interests can help. Again, it’s important to link your hobbies to the job description. For instance, if you enjoy making videos, this can be linked to how you know how to operate a camera, have excellent writing skills for script development, can generate good ideas and are a creative thinker.

6. References

Adding the sentence “References can be provided upon request” will enable you to keep your CV 1-2 pages, as two references will most likely be required.

To discover who your referees should be, check out the ‘Include references’ paragraph in our article on how you can write a successful job application .

How to avoid summer job CV mistakes

Proofreading your CV is crucial! The last thing you want is to spend all your time crafting the perfect CV to serve as your first impression for it to be spoiled by grammar and spelling errors. If a recruiter spots any spelling mistakes, they most likely won’t hesitate to put your CV aside and move on to the next in line. It’s quite easy to make simple mistakes, so don’t forget to double check what you’ve written!

Now that you know how to write a fantastic looking CV, are you ready to begin looking for your summer job? Take a look at our latest vacancies and apply for your summer job.

Last updated on 28 May 2024

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• How to Write Your Personal Statement | Strategies & Examples

How to Write Your Personal Statement | Strategies & Examples

Published on February 12, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 3, 2023.

A personal statement is a short essay of around 500–1,000 words, in which you tell a compelling story about who you are, what drives you, and why you’re applying.

To write a successful personal statement for a graduate school application , don’t just summarize your experience; instead, craft a focused narrative in your own voice. Aim to demonstrate three things:

• Your personality: what are your interests, values, and motivations?
• Your talents: what can you bring to the program?
• Your goals: what do you hope the program will do for you?

This article guides you through some winning strategies to build a strong, well-structured personal statement for a master’s or PhD application. You can download the full examples below.

Urban Planning Psychology History

Table of contents

Getting started with your personal statement, the introduction: start with an attention-grabbing opening, the main body: craft your narrative, the conclusion: look ahead, revising, editing, and proofreading your personal statement, frequently asked questions, other interesting articles.

Before you start writing, the first step is to understand exactly what’s expected of you. If the application gives you a question or prompt for your personal statement, the most important thing is to respond to it directly.

For example, you might be asked to focus on the development of your personal identity; challenges you have faced in your life; or your career motivations. This will shape your focus and emphasis—but you still need to find your own unique approach to answering it.

There’s no universal template for a personal statement; it’s your chance to be creative and let your own voice shine through. But there are strategies you can use to build a compelling, well-structured story.

The first paragraph of your personal statement should set the tone and lead smoothly into the story you want to tell.

Strategy 1: Open with a concrete scene

An effective way to catch the reader’s attention is to set up a scene that illustrates something about your character and interests. If you’re stuck, try thinking about:

• A personal experience that changed your perspective
• A story from your family’s history
• A memorable teacher or learning experience
• An unusual or unexpected encounter

To write an effective scene, try to go beyond straightforward description; start with an intriguing sentence that pulls the reader in, and give concrete details to create a convincing atmosphere.

Strategy 2: Open with your motivations

To emphasize your enthusiasm and commitment, you can start by explaining your interest in the subject you want to study or the career path you want to follow.

Just stating that it interests you isn’t enough: first, you need to figure out why you’re interested in this field:

• Is it a longstanding passion or a recent discovery?
• Does it come naturally or have you had to work hard at it?
• How does it fit into the rest of your life?
• What do you think it contributes to society?

Tips for the introduction

• Don’t start on a cliche: avoid phrases like “Ever since I was a child…” or “For as long as I can remember…”
• Do save the introduction for last. If you’re struggling to come up with a strong opening, leave it aside, and note down any interesting ideas that occur to you as you write the rest of the personal statement.

Once you’ve set up the main themes of your personal statement, you’ll delve into more detail about your experiences and motivations.

To structure the body of your personal statement, there are various strategies you can use.

Strategy 1: Describe your development over time

One of the simplest strategies is to give a chronological overview of key experiences that have led you to apply for graduate school.

• What first sparked your interest in the field?
• Which classes, assignments, classmates, internships, or other activities helped you develop your knowledge and skills?
• Where do you want to go next? How does this program fit into your future plans?

Don’t try to include absolutely everything you’ve done—pick out highlights that are relevant to your application. Aim to craft a compelling narrative that shows how you’ve changed and actively developed yourself.

My interest in psychology was first sparked early in my high school career. Though somewhat scientifically inclined, I found that what interested me most was not the equations we learned about in physics and chemistry, but the motivations and perceptions of my fellow students, and the subtle social dynamics that I observed inside and outside the classroom. I wanted to learn how our identities, beliefs, and behaviours are shaped through our interactions with others, so I decided to major in Social Psychology. My undergraduate studies deepened my understanding of, and fascination with, the interplay between an individual mind and its social context.During my studies, I acquired a solid foundation of knowledge about concepts like social influence and group dynamics, but I also took classes on various topics not strictly related to my major. I was particularly interested in how other fields intersect with psychology—the classes I took on media studies, biology, and literature all enhanced my understanding of psychological concepts by providing different lenses through which to look at the issues involved.

Strategy 2: Own your challenges and obstacles

If your path to graduate school hasn’t been easy or straightforward, you can turn this into a strength, and structure your personal statement as a story of overcoming obstacles.

• Is your social, cultural or economic background underrepresented in the field? Show how your experiences will contribute a unique perspective.
• Do you have gaps in your resume or lower-than-ideal grades? Explain the challenges you faced and how you dealt with them.

Don’t focus too heavily on negatives, but use them to highlight your positive qualities. Resilience, resourcefulness and perseverance make you a promising graduate school candidate.

Growing up working class, urban decay becomes depressingly familiar. The sight of a row of abandoned houses does not surprise me, but it continues to bother me. Since high school, I have been determined to pursue a career in urban planning. While people of my background experience the consequences of urban planning decisions first-hand, we are underrepresented in the field itself. Ironically, given my motivation, my economic background has made my studies challenging. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship for my undergraduate studies, but after graduation I took jobs in unrelated fields to help support my parents. In the three years since, I have not lost my ambition. Now I am keen to resume my studies, and I believe I can bring an invaluable perspective to the table: that of the people most impacted by the decisions of urban planners.

Strategy 3: Demonstrate your knowledge of the field

Especially if you’re applying for a PhD or another research-focused program, it’s a good idea to show your familiarity with the subject and the department. Your personal statement can focus on the area you want to specialize in and reflect on why it matters to you.

• Reflect on the topics or themes that you’ve focused on in your studies. What draws you to them?
• Discuss any academic achievements, influential teachers, or other highlights of your education.
• Talk about the questions you’d like to explore in your research and why you think they’re important.

The personal statement isn’t a research proposal , so don’t go overboard on detail—but it’s a great opportunity to show your enthusiasm for the field and your capacity for original thinking.

In applying for this research program, my intention is to build on the multidisciplinary approach I have taken in my studies so far, combining knowledge from disparate fields of study to better understand psychological concepts and issues. The Media Psychology program stands out to me as the perfect environment for this kind of research, given its researchers’ openness to collaboration across diverse fields. I am impressed by the department’s innovative interdisciplinary projects that focus on the shifting landscape of media and technology, and I hope that my own work can follow a similarly trailblazing approach. More specifically, I want to develop my understanding of the intersection of psychology and media studies, and explore how media psychology theories and methods might be applied to neurodivergent minds. I am interested not only in media psychology but also in psychological disorders, and how the two interact. This is something I touched on during my undergraduate studies and that I’m excited to delve into further.

Strategy 4: Discuss your professional ambitions

Especially if you’re applying for a more professionally-oriented program (such as an MBA), it’s a good idea to focus on concrete goals and how the program will help you achieve them.

• If your career is just getting started, show how your character is suited to the field, and explain how graduate school will help you develop your talents.
• If you have already worked in the profession, show what you’ve achieved so far, and explain how the program will allow you to take the next step.
• If you are planning a career change, explain what has driven this decision and how your existing experience will help you succeed.

Don’t just state the position you want to achieve. You should demonstrate that you’ve put plenty of thought into your career plans and show why you’re well-suited to this profession.

One thing that fascinated me about the field during my undergraduate studies was the sheer number of different elements whose interactions constitute a person’s experience of an urban environment. Any number of factors could transform the scene I described at the beginning: What if there were no bus route? Better community outreach in the neighborhood? Worse law enforcement? More or fewer jobs available in the area? Some of these factors are out of the hands of an urban planner, but without taking them all into consideration, the planner has an incomplete picture of their task. Through further study I hope to develop my understanding of how these disparate elements combine and interact to create the urban environment. I am interested in the social, psychological and political effects our surroundings have on our lives. My studies will allow me to work on projects directly affecting the kinds of working-class urban communities I know well. I believe I can bring my own experiences, as well as my education, to bear upon the problem of improving infrastructure and quality of life in these communities.

Tips for the main body

• Don’t rehash your resume by trying to summarize everything you’ve done so far; the personal statement isn’t about listing your academic or professional experience, but about reflecting, evaluating, and relating it to broader themes.
• Do make your statements into stories: Instead of saying you’re hard-working and self-motivated, write about your internship where you took the initiative to start a new project. Instead of saying you’ve always loved reading, reflect on a novel or poem that changed your perspective.

Your conclusion should bring the focus back to the program and what you hope to get out of it, whether that’s developing practical skills, exploring intellectual questions, or both.

Emphasize the fit with your specific interests, showing why this program would be the best way to achieve your aims.

Strategy 1: What do you want to know?

If you’re applying for a more academic or research-focused program, end on a note of curiosity: what do you hope to learn, and why do you think this is the best place to learn it?

If there are specific classes or faculty members that you’re excited to learn from, this is the place to express your enthusiasm.

Strategy 2: What do you want to do?

If you’re applying for a program that focuses more on professional training, your conclusion can look to your career aspirations: what role do you want to play in society, and why is this program the best choice to help you get there?

Tips for the conclusion

• Don’t summarize what you’ve already said. You have limited space in a personal statement, so use it wisely!
• Do think bigger than yourself: try to express how your individual aspirations relate to your local community, your academic field, or society more broadly. It’s not just about what you’ll get out of graduate school, but about what you’ll be able to give back.

You’ll be expected to do a lot of writing in graduate school, so make a good first impression: leave yourself plenty of time to revise and polish the text.

Your style doesn’t have to be as formal as other kinds of academic writing, but it should be clear, direct and coherent. Make sure that each paragraph flows smoothly from the last, using topic sentences and transitions to create clear connections between each part.

Don’t be afraid to rewrite and restructure as much as necessary. Since you have a lot of freedom in the structure of a personal statement, you can experiment and move information around to see what works best.

Finally, it’s essential to carefully proofread your personal statement and fix any language errors. Before you submit your application, consider investing in professional personal statement editing . For $150, you have the peace of mind that your personal statement is grammatically correct, strong in term of your arguments, and free of awkward mistakes.

A statement of purpose is usually more formal, focusing on your academic or professional goals. It shouldn’t include anything that isn’t directly relevant to the application.

A personal statement can often be more creative. It might tell a story that isn’t directly related to the application, but that shows something about your personality, values, and motivations.

However, both types of document have the same overall goal: to demonstrate your potential as a graduate student and s how why you’re a great match for the program.

The typical length of a personal statement for graduate school applications is between 500 and 1,000 words.

Different programs have different requirements, so always check if there’s a minimum or maximum length and stick to the guidelines. If there is no recommended word count, aim for no more than 1-2 pages.

If you’re applying to multiple graduate school programs, you should tailor your personal statement to each application.

Some applications provide a prompt or question. In this case, you might have to write a new personal statement from scratch: the most important task is to respond to what you have been asked.

If there’s no prompt or guidelines, you can re-use the same idea for your personal statement – but change the details wherever relevant, making sure to emphasize why you’re applying to this specific program.

If the application also includes other essays, such as a statement of purpose , you might have to revise your personal statement to avoid repeating the same information.

If you want to know more about college essays , academic writing , and AI tools , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.

College essays

• College essay examples
• College essay format
• College essay style
• College essay length
• Diversity essays
• Scholarship essays

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• Writing process
• Avoiding repetition
• Literature review
• Conceptual framework
• Dissertation outline
• Thesis acknowledgements
• Burned or burnt
• Canceled or cancelled
• Dreamt or dreamed
• Gray or grey
• Theater vs theatre

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Resume personal statement examples

If you want to secure job interview, you need a strong personal statement at the top of your resume.

Your resume personal statement is a short paragraph which sits at the very top of your resume – and it’s aim is to summarize the benefits of hiring you and encourage employers to read your resume in full.

In this guide I have included 17 resume personal statement examples from a range of professions and experience levels, plus a detailed guide of how to write your own personal statement that will get you noticed by employers

Resume templates 

17 resume personal statement examples

To start this guide, I have included 10 examples of good personal statements, to give you an idea of how a personal statement should look , and what should be included.

Note: personal statements are generally used by junior candidates – if you are experienced, check out our resume summary examples instead.

College graduate resume personal statement (no experience)

Although this college graduate has no paid work experience , they compensate for it by showcasing all of the skills and knowledge the have gained during their studies, and demonstrating how they apply their knowledge in academic and personal projects.

When you have little or no experience, it’s important to draw out transferable workplace skills from your studies and extracurricular work, to showcase them to employers.

College graduate resume personal statement (part time freelance experience)

This candidate has graduated college with a degree in biochemistry but actually wants to start a career in marketing after providing some digital freelance services to fund their studies.

In this case, they haven’t made much mention of their studies because they aren’t relevant to the marketing agencies they are applying to. Instead they have focused their personal statement around their freelance work and passion for the digital field – although they still mention the fact they are degree educated to prove their academic success.

High school leaver resume personal statement (no experience)

This candidate is 16 years old and has no work experience whatsoever, but they compensate for this by detailing their academic achievements that relate to the roles they are applying for (maths and literacy are important requirements in finance and accountancy roles).

They also add some info on their extracurricular activities and high school work-placements, to strengthen this student resume further.

Top tips for writing a resume personal statement

• Thoroughly research the jobs and companies you are planning to apply for to identify the type of candidate they are looking for – try to reflect that in your personal statement
• Don’t be afraid to brag a little – include some of your most impressive achievements from education, work or personal life
• Focus on describing the benefits an employer will get from hiring you. Will you help them to get more customers? Improve their workplace? Save them time and money?
• If you have no work experience, demonstrate transferable workplace skills from your education, projects, or even hobbies

High school leaver resume personal statement (part time experience)

Although this person has only just left high school, they have also undertaken some part-time work in a call center alongside their studies.

To make the most of this experience, they have combined their academic achievements with their workplace exposure in this personal statement.

By highlighting their future studies, summer programme involvement, work experience and expressing their ambitions to progress within sales, this candidate really makes an appealing case for hiring them.

College leaver resume personal statement (no experience)

This candidate has left college with good grades, but does not yet have any work experience.

To compensate for the lack of workplace exposure, they have made their honor results prominent and highlighted skills and experience which would benefit the employers they are targeting.

Any recruiter reading this summary can quickly understand that this candidate has great academic achievements, a passion for IT and finance and the ability to transfer their skills into an office environment.

College student resume personal statement (freelance experience)

As this student has picked up a small amount of freelance writing work during their studies, they have made sure to brag about it in their personal statement.

They give details on their relevant studies to show the skills they are learning, and boost this further by highlighting the fact that they have been applying these skills in a real-life work setting by providing freelance services.

They also include key action verbs that recruiters will be looking for , such as creative writing, working to deadlines, and producing copy.

Academic resume personal statement

Aside from junior candidates, the only other people who might use a personal statement, are academic professionals; as their resume’s tend to be more longer and detailed than other professions.

This candidate provides a high level overview of their field of study, length of experience, and the roles they have held within colleges.

High school leaver resume personal statement with sports experience

Although this person has no work experience, they are still able to show employers the value of hiring them by selling their other achievements and explaining how they could benefit an organization.

They expand on their sports club involvement to demonstrate their teamwork, leadership skills, communication and motivation, which are all important traits in the workplace, and will be looked upon favourably by recruiters and hiring managers.

They also draw upon their future plans to study business studies at college and take a part time job, to further prove their ambition and dedication.

History graduate resume personal statement

This history graduate proves their aptitude for both academic achievement and workplace aptitude by showcasing valuable skills from their degree and voluntary work.

They do this by breaking down the key requirements for each and showing how their skills could be beneficial for future employers, such as listening, communication, and crisis management.

They also describe how their ability to balance studies alongside voluntary work has not only boosted their knowledge and skills, but also given excellent time management and organizational skills – which are vital assets to any employer.

Law graduate resume personal statement

This legal graduate makes the most from their college work placements by using it to bulk out the contents of their resume personal statement.

They include their degree to show they have the necessary qualifications for legal roles, which is crucial, but more importantly, they showcase how they applied their legal skills within a real-life work setting.

They give a brief overview of the types of legal professionals they have been working alongside and the type of work they have been carrying out – this is all it takes to get the attention of recruiters and show employers they have what it takes to fulfil roles in the legal sector.

Medical student resume personal statement

This medical student proves their fit for the role by showcasing the key skills they have gained from their studies and their work experience placements.

In just these few sentences, they are able to highlight the vast amount of experience they have across different disciplines in the industry, something which is particularly important in the medical sector.

As they have not graduated yet and are still studying, they have provided proof of their most recent grades. This can give the recruiter some indication as to the type of grade they could be graduating with in the near future.

Masters student resume personal statement

This masters student has started by specifying their area of study, in this case, accounting, and given details about the specific areas of finance they are most interested in. This can hint towards their career goals and passions.

They have then carefully listed some of the key areas of accounting and finance that they are proficient in. For example, business finance, advanced corporate finance and statistics.

They have also outlined some of the transferable skills needed for accounting roles that employers will be looking out for, such as communication, attention to detail and analytical skills.

Finance student resume personal statement

As this finance student has recently undertaken some relevant work experience, they’ve made sure to shout about this in their personal summary.

But more than this, they have included a list of some of the important finance skills they gained as a result of this work experience – for example, financial reporting, processing invoices and month-end reconciliations.

Plus, through power words and phrases such as ‘prevent loss’ and ‘improve upon accuracy and efficiency’, they have also showcased how they can apply these skills in a workplace setting to benefit the potential employer.

Internship resume personal statement

This digital marketing professional has started their personal summary by outlining their most relevant qualifications and work experience, most notably their freelance role as a content manager.

They have also provided examples of some of the key marketing skills that potential employers might be looking for, including very detailed examples of the platforms and tools they are proficient in – for example, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest.

They have then closed their statement by giving a detailed description of the type of role or opportunity they are looking for. In this case, an in-house position in a marketing company.

College graduate career changer personal statement

Switching careers as a college graduate can be tough. Especially when it comes to writing a personal statement that will attract employers in your new chosen field.

This candidate is looking to move from history teaching into journalism, so they have created a statement which briefly mentions their current workplace, but mainly focuses on highlighting transferable skills which are relevant to journalism. They achieve this by discussing the writing skills they use in their current role, and mentioning their hobby of writing – including some publications they have been featured in for extra brownie points.

Business management graduate personal statement

This business management proves their ability to work within a junior business management position by swiftly highlighting their impressive degree (to ensure it is not missed) and summarizing some of the real-life experience they have gained in management during their college placements and volunteering. They do not let their lack of paid work experience, stop them demonstrating their valuable skills.

PhD graduate

PhD graduate roles attract a lot of competition, so it’s important that your resume contains a personal statement that will quickly impress and attract recruiters.

This candidate provides a short-but-comprehensive overview of their academic achievements, whilst demonstrating their exceptional level of knowledge in research, languages and publication writing.

By highlighting a number of skills and abilities that are in high-demand in the academic workplace, this resume is very likely to get noticed and land interviews.

How to write a personal statement for your resume

Now that you’ve seen what a personal statement should look like and the type of content it should contain, follow this detailed guide to one for your own resume – and start racking those interviews up.

Guide contents

What is a resume personal statement?

Resume personal statement or resume summary, personal statement format, what to include in a resume personal statement.

• Personal statement mistakes

How to write persuasively

A personal statement is a short paragraph at the top of your resume which gives employers an overview of your education, skills and experience

It’s purpose is to capture the attention of busy recruiters and hiring managers when your resume is first opened – encouraging them to read the rest of it.

You achieve this by writing a tailored summary of yourself that explains your suitability for the roles you are applying for at a very high level, and matches your target job descriptions .

One question candidates often ask me is , “what is the difference between a personal statement and a resume summary?”

To be honest, they are almost the same – they are both introductory paragraphs that sit at the top of your resume… but there are 2 main differences:

A personal statement tends to be used more by junior candidates (college graduates, high school leavers etc.) and is relatively long and detailed.

A resume summary tends to be favoured by more experienced candidates , and is shorter in length than a personal statement.

Note: If you are an experienced candidate, you may want to switch over to my resume writing guide , or example resume summaries page.

To ensure you grab recruiters’ attention with your personal statement, lay it out in the following way.

Positioning

You need to ensure that your personal statement sits at the very top of your resume, and all of it should be totally visible to readers, without the need to scroll down the page.

Do this by reducing the top page margin and minimizing the space taken up by your contact details.

This will ensure that your whole personal statement can be seen, as soon as your resume is opened.

We have a resume template which can help you to get this right.

Size/length

Your personal statement needs to contain enough detail to provide an introduction to your skills and knowledge, but not so much detail that it bores readers.

To strike the right balance, anything between 8-15 lines of text is perfect – and sentences should be sharp and to-the-point.

As with the whole of your resume , your personal statement should be written in a simple clean font at around size 10-12 to ensure that it can be read easily by all recruiters and employers.

Keep the text color simple, ensuring that it contrasts the background (black on white is best) and break it into 2 or even 3 paragraphs for a pleasant reading experience.

It should also be written in a punchy persuasive tone, to help you sell yourself and increase your chances of landing interviews , I cover how to do this in detail further down the guide.

Quick tip: A poorly written resume will fail to impress recruiters and employers. Use our quick-and-easy Resume Builder to create a winning resume in minutes with professional resume templates and pre-written content for every industry.

Once you have the style and format of your personal statement perfected, you need to fill it with compelling content that tells recruiters that your resume is worth reading.

Here’s what needs to go into your personal statement…

Before you start writing your personal statement, it’s crucial that you research your target roles to find out exactly what your new potential employers are looking for in a candidate.

Run a search for your target jobs on one of the major job websites, look through plenty of adverts and make a list of the candidate requirements that frequently appear.

This research will show you exactly what to include in your personal statement in order to impress the recruiters who will be reading it.

Education and qualifications are an important aspect of your personal statement, especially if you are a junior candidate.

You should highlight your highest and most relevant qualifications, whether that is a degree or your GED. You could potentially go into some more detail around modules, papers etc. if they are relevant to the roles you are applying for.

It’s important that you discuss the experience you have gained in your personal statement, to give readers an idea of the work you are comfortable undertaking.

This can of course be direct employed work experience, but it doesn’t have to be.

You can also include:

• High school/college work placements
• Voluntary work
• Personal projects
• Hobbies/interests

As with all aspects of your resume , the content should be tailored to match the requirements of your target roles.

Whilst discussing your experience, you should touch upon skills used, industries worked in, types of companies worked for, and people you have worked with.

Where possible, try to show the impact your actions have made. E.g.  A customer service agent helps to make sales for their employer.

Any industry-specific knowledge you have that will be useful to your new potential employers should be made prominent within your personal statement.

For example

• Knowledge of financial regulations will be important for accountancy roles
• Knowledge of IT operating systems will be important for IT roles
• Knowledge of the national curriculum will be important for teachers

You should also include some information about the types of roles you are applying for, and why you are doing so. Try to show your interest and passion for the field you are hoping to enter, because employers want to hire people who have genuine motivation and drive in their work.

This is especially true if you don’t have much work experience, as you need something else to compensate for it.

Resume personal statement mistakes

The things that you omit from your personal statement can be just as important as the things you include.

Try to keep the following out of your personal statement..

Irrelevant info

Any information that doesn’t fall into the requirements of your target roles can be cut out of your personal statement. For example, if you were a professional athlete 6 years ago, that’s great – but it won’t be relevant if you’re applying to advertising internships, so leave it out.

Generic clichés

If you are describing yourself as a “ dynamic team player with high levels of motivation and enthusiasm” you aren’t doing yourself any favours.

These cliché terms are vastly overused and don’t provide readers with any factual details about you – so keep them to a minimum.

Stick to solid facts like education, skills , experience, achievements and knowledge.

If you really want to ensure that your personal statement makes a big impact, you need to write in a persuasive manner.

So, how do you so this?

Well, you need to brag a little – but not too much

It’s about selling yourself and appearing confident, without overstepping the mark and appearing arrogant.

For example, instead of writing.

“Marketing graduate with an interest in entering the digital field”

Be creative and excite the reader by livening the sentence up like this,

“Marketing graduate with highest exam results in class and a passion for embarking on a long and successful career within digital”

The second sentence is a much more interesting, makes the candidate appear more confident, throws in some achievements, and shows off a wider range of writing skills.

Quick tip: A poorly written resume will fail to impress recruiters and employers. Use our quick-and-easy Resume Builder to create a winning resume in minutes with professional templates and pre-written content for every industry.

Your own personal statement will be totally unique to yourself, but by using the above guidelines you will be able to create one which shows recruiters everything they need.

Remember to keep the length between 10-20 lines and only include the most relevant information for your target roles.

You can also check our college graduate resume example , our best resume templates , or our library of example resumes from all industries.

Good luck with the job hunt!

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How to Write a Personal Statement for Summer Research

Susanna campbell, career peer liaison to cnms, the purpose of a personal statement .

• Share your interests and enthusiasm for the specific work you are applying to do.
• Demonstrate what you can contribute to the program to which you are applying
• To state the specific lab/program you want to work in and why
• To state your professional goals and what or how you hope to contribute to the program

First Steps

• Read the personal statement question carefully and analyze what it is asking for.
• Visualize your audience: will this be read by a scientist? An administrator? A physician?
• Recite your research interests as they relate to the work you are applying for
• Write your year of study, major, related academic and career goals, and impressive academic credentials

Experience in the Field

• Mention any special connections to the work such as prior experience or family background (i.e. Name drop)
• Write something unique about your research interests or an idea that fuels your own research interests

Your Proposed Contributions to the Program

• List personal qualities and demonstrate these through examples
• State what you can do for them and what you seek to gain from the opportunity
• Explain how the work fits into your academic and research goals.
• Saying “I am” is more powerful than saying “I have always been.”
• Make positive statements. “I have experience in…” not “I don’t have experience in x, but do have…”
• Craft clear, engaging opening and closing sentences.
• Check that your opening statement is supported in the body and is consistent with your closing.
• Organize the statement so it flows from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph.
• Proofread for grammar, spelling, paragraph breaks, and correct punctuation.

When you have finished drafting your statement, ask yourself:

• Does this statement show my interests in the specific program or is it generic?
• Does this statement describe me specifically or could any good student in my field use this?

Some common mistakes to avoid:

• Restating the question/topic or rewriting your resume or transcript
• Clichés such as “to make the world a better place” instead, explain how such a lofty goal will be achieved
• Providing unrelated information
• Any background earlier than high school.

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• I am a 2 nd year undergraduate business student at NTU, seeking a job for the summer.
• I am highly IT literate and competent with the usual Microsoft Office packages.
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Graphic Design – Freelance

2017 – date

I started producing marketing materials for my family’s convenience store using Photoshop after completing a marketing module at University. I then approached other local businesses and I now produce materials for 4 businesses locally, including leaflets, posters and social media graphics.

Customer Assistant – Carpenter’s Stores

2009 – date

I assist my family in their convenience store whenever I am not at University. This includes greeting and taking payments from customers, helping with enquiries, restocking, taking deliveries and keeping the store clean.

Customer Assistant (2 days per week, voluntary) – Oxfam Home Stores

June 2020 – September 2020

I volunteered two days a week, including serving customers at the till, sorting donations, researching donations for pricing, photographing items for the website, writing item descriptions and packing items for postage.

Education and training

• Microsoft Word (Expert) – Pitman Training, 2021
• Microsoft Excel (Expert) – Pitman Training, 2021
• BA Honours Business – Nottingham Trent University, 2019 – date (in progress)
• A Levels – English (B), Maths (B), Business Studies (B), Redhill Academy, 2019
• GCSEs – 9 GCSEs grade C and above including English (B) and Maths (B), Redhill Academy, 2017

I am competent with Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint, and I can use Photoshop to a good standard.

• I have completed Expert-level qualifications in Word and Excel.
• I have used all three packages extensively through secondary school and University.
• I use Excel and bookkeeping software to assist my family in running their store.
• I use all three packages to assist me in delivering effective tutoring services.
• I use Photoshop to produce marketing materials for my family’s business and other local shops.

Customer service

• I have helped in my family store since I was 12, serving customers and assisting with their purchases.
• Last summer I volunteered at Oxfam home store for 2 days a week, assisting customers with purchases.

Verbal communication

• I have participated in the Uni debating team for two years and my team has won two regional competitions.
• I prepare and deliver presentations to groups of app. 30 as part of my course, graded on average 79%.
• For the last two years in term time, I have been a private tutor for A-Level students in Business studies for 2 – 3 hours a week, face-to-face and Skype. This requires clear communication and the ability to deliver feedback with sensitivity and understanding. All of my students have passed with grades B+ to date.
• During term time I coach under 11s girls’ football for a local club which includes providing feedback and motivation for players, and feedback to parents.

Written communication

• My average grades for written submissions this year have been 82%, and last year they were 78%.
• I have blogged regularly about student life on my site andieblogs.com which attracts an average of 3,000 visits a month and has won two blog awards.
• I regularly participate in discussions with thought-leaders on LinkedIn regarding women in business.
• During my volunteering with Oxfam last summer, I created around 200 product descriptions for items on their online sales site.

Active listening and ability to take criticism

• I have tutored students in term time for the last 2 years which requires active listening while students have concerns or questions – ensuring the student feels heard, and so I can work out the best way to help them.
• I have demonstrated active listening through taking careful notes throughout my lectures, resulting in an average 82% for exam grades.
• I have worked with my tutor on 17 modules now, taking on board their feedback and adjusting my work accordingly, resulting in an 82% average for this year’s submissions.

Attention to detail

• My submissions have always been exemplary and I have not lost a single mark (out of a potential 5%) for incorrect spelling or grammar in the past two years.
• As an assistant coach for girls’ under 11 football, I work with the head coach to deliver a programme of effective training. Our girls have won 6 out of 10 matches this year!
• During my studies at university, I have participated in at 3 group projects which required a group submission. Our team’s submissions have each scored over 80%.

Time management

• I have completed a significant amount of coursework over the last 2 years to tight deadlines, under difficult circumstances because of Covid-19 and the limitations on teaching. I have never missed a deadline.
• I have 100% attendance record at University and 99% at secondary school.

Working under pressure & ability to remain calm

• During my time working in the family store, sometimes customers would get quite upset if things had gone wrong. I am competent in handling complaints and problems calmly, and in finding resolutions that leaves the customer happy.
• Some of the under 11s I coach can get quite emotional and tensions can sometimes arise between parents. I have shown myself able to remain calm and mediate effectively throughout such situations.

Ability to use initiative

• After studying marketing as part of my course, I have introduced a loyalty scheme at my family’s shop, together with regular marketing leaflets and an online website. Whilst sales have been consistent previously, they have grown by 15% and 25% respectively for the past two years.
• I approached several other local businesses and now create marketing literature for social media, leaflets and posters for four others.

Template details:

Here’s a full preview of page one of this CV for a summer job:

Here’s page two:

How to write a CV for a summer job

Can you believe that summer is just 38 days away? This year seems to be simply flying by, and with the prospect of restaurants and bars opening fully in just a few day’s time, it won’t be long before employers start recruiting again.

If you’re looking for a student summer job CV, we have a great CV template and guide for you. Just click ‘ Price: Free Download ‘ above to get your template and read on.

The first thing to note if you’re reading through the template is, don’t panic! We have included lots of examples of work-type experience, but we wouldn’t expect the majority of students to have quite as much to add to their CV. In fact, if you’ve got absolutely no experience like this at all, we’ve got you covered. We’ve designed this template with a focus on skills rather than experience and in this guide, we’ll give you lots of ideas for how you can demonstrate those skills through study and completing informal tasks.

NB: If you’re under 18, click here to find out how many hours you can work.

Personal details

Your CV needs to include:

• Your first and last name at the top
• Your email address and phone number underneath

DON’T add any other personal information (e.g. religion, disabilities), unless they are in some way highly relevant to the job opening.

DO add your LinkedIn profile if you have set it up professionally and you’re currently using it to network / share relevant professional posts. It can be a useful way of expanding out sections of your CV. Click here to read a guide on setting it up .

If you have a blog, add the URL only if the content is professionally appropriate. It doesn’t have to be about industry-relevant topics but consider whether an employer would want to associate their company with what you have written. If it passes this test, include it – because blogging can help demonstrate that you have lots of skills such as adaptability, time management, organisation, creativity, social media and of course, strong written communication.

After your personal details, you need to write a short profile introducing yourself and explaining why you’re suitable for the role. It’s really important to carefully read the job description and address the main requirements here. For example:

In response to this advert, you could write something like this:”

“Through working in a busy local café on Saturdays, I have developed my team working skills and have proven my ability to work under pressure whilst continuing to deliver delicious high-quality food and an excellent customer experience.”

Many students will go for fairly simple job roles such as bartending, waiter/essing or retail over the summer. The job advert may therefore be fairly short on requirements. Take this actual bartending job advert for example:

“Must have bubbly personality and speak English. Start immediately.”

For adverts like this, you need to really consider what soft skills the employer is actually looking for. In this context we would assume a ‘bubbly personality’ really means:

• Friendly, outgoing, positive
• Great customer service skills
• Excellent verbal communication skills
• Active listening skills
• The ability to sell products and services
• The ability to work with others (and enjoy it!)

Looking at job profiles on the National Careers Service website can help build a better picture of what an employer is likely to be looking for.

It’s not enough simply to list off these skills and character traits – you need to offer as much evidence as possible. So, for example, if you’re claiming active listening skills, think about when you’ve used this skill and what results you’ve achieved with it. The CV template has some examples to help you.

Qualifications

On a standard CV, we’d expect the work history to come before the qualifications, but for a student CV it’s more common to see the qualifications section first.

On a standard CV, you’d also usually list your highest qualification first. However, you might want to include recent, relevant vocational qualifications at the top, such as Word or Excel certificates.

When you list your GCSEs and A levels, place emphasis on any that are relevant to the role, together with English and Maths if you have them. These are valued by virtually every employer.

For most jobs, employers really value IT skills – and bolstering them with an online course may be just the way to stand out from the competition. There are plenty of online courses in Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Try to find accredited courses with respectable awarding bodies who will give you a certificate at the end.

Work history

If you have any sort of work experience at all, you can list it in your work history with the most recent experience first. This doesn’t have to be paid experience – it might be volunteering, or a work experience placement.

You can incorporate evidence of the skills you’ve built in your work history. However, on the CV template, we have taken the approach of keeping the work history very brief, and placing an emphasis on the skills section instead. The right approach really depends on your background. If you want to show how you’ve built and used skills in a variety of ways (e.g. through education, volunteering, freelancing etc.), the approach in our sample CV works very well.

The skills section makes up the bulk of this example CV and we’ve included a range of common skills that apply to almost every job. So how can you show that you’ve acquired and used a skill? Here are some ideas:

Voluntary work

This might be:

• A placement within a shop or soup kitchen, or at an animal rescue centre
• Helping a religious organisation with charity work such as preparing meals
• Organising something for a charity, such as collecting donations
• Helping out a local business or school
• Litter picking or helping at a country park
• Volunteering at a residential / nursing home
• Voluntary projects through girl guiding or scouts
• Helping at events through an organisation such as St John’s Ambulance
• Helping out at local events (such as marathons) in other ways such as marshalling
• Helping the sensei / teacher at a dojo or dance studio
• Assisting a sports coach with teaching a younger / less experienced group
• Helping at PGL
• Writing/blogging for a local business, organisation or publication

If you want to volunteer to boost your CV, join local community groups on Facebook – you’ll quickly hear about local projects that are happening in your area. You can also find voluntary placements on:

• Charity Job
• Volunteering matters
• Reach volunteering

Community work

Community work is an excellent way to develop and demonstrate your soft skills. This might be helping with a specific project such as a social farm or garden, or generally helping out in your local neighbourhood. There is an comprehensive list of ideas here  and here .

Taking part in community projects can help demonstrate that you’ve taken the initiative. It might also show teamwork, communication, organisation, leadership and many other valuable skills, depending on the nature of the project.

Work experience placements

These may have been organised by your school or educational institution. Even if they didn’t provide a lot of industry-relevant practical experience, they can help demonstrate a very wide range of valuable skills, such as timekeeping, communication, teamwork, working to deadlines, determination, perseverance and resolve, and learning from your mistakes.

Temporary jobs

If you’ve helped out a local business or even a family member for a few days here and there, it’s still ok to include this experience on your CV. Example:

“I went along and helped my grandma and her friend out at a once-a-month community fayre. We rotated the tasks which included taking orders, preparing food, serving food, taking payment and giving change – I needed a good memory, the ability to calculate change quickly and accurately, the ability to work together, and an appreciation for health and safety standards. It got very busy but I remained calm, friendly and polite at all times.”

Own projects and achievements

Have you started your own successful blog? Have you trained in martial arts and achieved a high-level belt? Have you built up your Instagram followers in relation to a particular topic? Have you programmed a piece of software or written some code that does something useful? Have you built a robot at home or invented something useful?

Personal achievements can show many different skills and valued attributes. They can demonstrate that you are committed, focused, disciplined and determined to succeed, and can put in the time and hard work to achieve a goal. You can include these in your skills section, or in a separate hobbies section.

Freelancing

Freelancing is a great way to show that your skills are developed to the stage where other people will pay you for them!

You might be successful with freelancing using specific hard skills such as programming, graphic design or blogging/writing. Alternatively it may be for practical skills that you’ve built up, such as painting and decorating or gardening.

If you’ve not yet delved into the world of freelancing online, check out this list of sites where you can list your services (we recommend PeoplePerHour.com and Fiverr).

Helping with the family business

If you’ve helped with the family business, this provides great work experience for your CV – whether or not you got paid. This might be helping in a shop, creating marketing materials, doing the books or any other tasks that have assisted your family.

If your efforts have resulted in any particular achievements, be sure to mention them.

Helping a family member

Regularly helping a family member – for example, helping an elderly relative regularly with their cleaning, shopping and other general tasks – may demonstrate a whole range of valuable skills. Caring typically requires reliability, flexibility, adaptability, active listening skills, organisation and planning, patience, empathy, reliability, compassion, a sense of responsibility and a positive disposition, come what may! You may also have exercised hard skills such as looking after a relative’s bills and paperwork.

Awards schemes

Completion of award schemes such as Duke of Edinburgh and Crest awards can help demonstrate skills, as can completing certificates such as the Army Cadets proficiency certificate. Don’t assume the person reading your CV will know what these schemes are – spell out what you achieved and what skills you’ve built in the process.

Casual work

Casual work such as regular babysitting, dog walking, gardening, car washing, selling products (make up, perfume, housewares*) can all show a range of skills and attributes. They demonstrate taking responsibility and using your initiative, amongst other things. They can also show business skills – the ability to build up a customer base, earn money and retain loyal customers! You can make casual work sound even more impressive if you explain how you fitted these around your other commitments and/or generated a good wage from them.

* Take care when getting involved with casual selling schemes such as those that claim you can make money selling make up and perfume. Often you are required to buy an initial kit and keep purchasing a certain level of products each month. Very often these end up costing you more than you ever make from sales. Read this article for more info .

If you’ve tutored or mentored students, either on your own course or for lower qualifications, this is a good way to show a range of skills such as active listening, communication, organisation and empathy.

Tutoring is a great way to bolster your CV and keep your knowledge fresh. You can tutor remotely through sites such as MyTutor.co.uk .

Paid employment

Last but not least, paid employment, no matter what the position, can show a range of skills – and many of these are transferable to other positions. Be sure to highlight how any employment you’ve completed is relevant. For example, the skills you build through bar work (teamwork, communication, working under pressure, customer service) can be highly relevant to a retail position, even though both roles are different.

What if I’ve not done any of the above?

If none of the above examples apply to you, don’t worry! Even if you can’t check off a single item from the above list, your education still provides a whole range of ways to show that you have valuable skills.

Think about what you’ve done during your time at school or university:

• Have you worked on a project in a team? (teamwork, communication, collaboration, creativity)
• Have you led a group? (teamwork, communication, leadership, motivation, mentoring)
• Have you completed written assignments and received good grades? (written communication, creativity)
• Have you got a good attendance record? (punctuality, reliability)
• Have you created and delivered a presentation? (oral communication, creativity)
• Have you taken notes that helped you achieve good exam grades? (active listening, organisation)
• Did you come up with original ideas for projects or assignments? (creativity, taking initiative)
• Have you encountered problems either at school or outside of it that you solved? (problem solving)

Try to mention results such as grades where possible.

Bolster your skills

Don’t forget that it’s very easy to bolster your CV with online courses. If you’re 19+ and not already in Government funded training, Vision2Learn offers a range of free Level 2 courses which you can take in lots of valuable subjects including:

• Microsoft Word and Excel
• Customer Service
• Business and Administration
• Equality and Diversity

FutureLearn.com also has a range of free and paid online courses, and the Open University  offers a range of courses that come with a free digital badge, downloadable from your OpenLearn Profile and can be sharable on social media/LinkedIn/other online platforms.

Free student CV template downloads

Here are some other helpful templates and examples for students writing a CV:

• All student CV templates and guide
• Apprenticeship CV example
• Example of a CV for a student in university
• School leaver CV template
• CV for teenager: free CV template for a 13, 14 or 15 year old
• Work experience CV
• Skills based CV
• CV for a part time job (skills based)

Jen Wiss-Carline has been a Senior Manager and Consultant for several sizeable companies which included dealing with all aspects of staff management and recruitment. She is also a Solicitor and Chartered Legal Executive, having been admitted as a Fellow in February 2006.

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10 Personal Statement Essay Examples That Worked

What’s covered:, what is a personal statement.

• Essay 1: Summer Program
• Essay 2: Being Bangladeshi-American
• Essay 3: Why Medicine
• Essay 4: Love of Writing
• Essay 5: Starting a Fire
• Essay 6: Dedicating a Track
• Essay 7: Body Image and Eating Disorders
• Essay 8: Becoming a Coach
• Essay 9: Eritrea
• Essay 10: Journaling
• Is Your Personal Statement Strong Enough?

Your personal statement is any essay that you must write for your main application, such as the Common App Essay , University of California Essays , or Coalition Application Essay . This type of essay focuses on your unique experiences, ideas, or beliefs that may not be discussed throughout the rest of your application. This essay should be an opportunity for the admissions officers to get to know you better and give them a glimpse into who you really are.

In this post, we will share 10 different personal statements that were all written by real students. We will also provide commentary on what each essay did well and where there is room for improvement, so you can make your personal statement as strong as possible!

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Personal Statement Examples

Essay example #1: exchange program.

The twisting roads, ornate mosaics, and fragrant scent of freshly ground spices had been so foreign at first. Now in my fifth week of the SNYI-L summer exchange program in Morocco, I felt more comfortable in the city. With a bag full of pastries from the market, I navigated to a bus stop, paid the fare, and began the trip back to my host family’s house. It was hard to believe that only a few years earlier my mom was worried about letting me travel around my home city on my own, let alone a place that I had only lived in for a few weeks. While I had been on a journey towards self-sufficiency and independence for a few years now, it was Morocco that pushed me to become the confident, self-reflective person that I am today.

As a child, my parents pressured me to achieve perfect grades, master my swim strokes, and discover interesting hobbies like playing the oboe and learning to pick locks. I felt compelled to live my life according to their wishes. Of course, this pressure was not a wholly negative factor in my life –– you might even call it support. However, the constant presence of my parents’ hopes for me overcame my own sense of desire and led me to become quite dependent on them. I pushed myself to get straight A’s, complied with years of oboe lessons, and dutifully attended hours of swim practice after school. Despite all these achievements, I felt like I had no sense of self beyond my drive for success. I had always been expected to succeed on the path they had defined. However, this path was interrupted seven years after my parents’ divorce when my dad moved across the country to Oregon.

I missed my dad’s close presence, but I loved my new sense of freedom. My parents’ separation allowed me the space to explore my own strengths and interests as each of them became individually busier. As early as middle school, I was riding the light rail train by myself, reading maps to get myself home, and applying to special academic programs without urging from my parents. Even as I took more initiatives on my own, my parents both continued to see me as somewhat immature. All of that changed three years ago, when I applied and was accepted to the SNYI-L summer exchange program in Morocco. I would be studying Arabic and learning my way around the city of Marrakesh. Although I think my parents were a little surprised when I told them my news, the addition of a fully-funded scholarship convinced them to let me go.

I lived with a host family in Marrakesh and learned that they, too, had high expectations for me. I didn’t know a word of Arabic, and although my host parents and one brother spoke good English, they knew I was there to learn. If I messed up, they patiently corrected me but refused to let me fall into the easy pattern of speaking English just as I did at home. Just as I had when I was younger, I felt pressured and stressed about meeting their expectations. However, one day, as I strolled through the bustling market square after successfully bargaining with one of the street vendors, I realized my mistake. My host family wasn’t being unfair by making me fumble through Arabic. I had applied for this trip, and I had committed to the intensive language study. My host family’s rules about speaking Arabic at home had not been to fulfill their expectations for me, but to help me fulfill my expectations for myself. Similarly, the pressure my parents had put on me as a child had come out of love and their hopes for me, not out of a desire to crush my individuality.

As my bus drove through the still-bustling market square and past the medieval Ben-Youssef madrasa, I realized that becoming independent was a process, not an event. I thought that my parents’ separation when I was ten had been the one experience that would transform me into a self-motivated and autonomous person. It did, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t still have room to grow. Now, although I am even more self-sufficient than I was three years ago, I try to approach every experience with the expectation that it will change me. It’s still difficult, but I understand that just because growth can be uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s not important.

What the Essay Did Well

This is a nice essay because it delves into particular character trait of the student and how it has been shaped and matured over time. Although it doesn’t focus the essay around a specific anecdote, the essay is still successful because it is centered around this student’s independence. This is a nice approach for a personal statement: highlight a particular trait of yours and explore how it has grown with you.

The ideas in this essay are universal to growing up—living up to parents’ expectations, yearning for freedom, and coming to terms with reality—but it feels unique to the student because of the inclusion of details specific to them. Including their oboe lessons, the experience of riding the light rail by themselves, and the negotiations with a street vendor helps show the reader what these common tropes of growing up looked like for them personally. 

Another strength of the essay is the level of self-reflection included throughout the piece. Since there is no central anecdote tying everything together, an essay about a character trait is only successful when you deeply reflect on how you felt, where you made mistakes, and how that trait impacts your life. The author includes reflection in sentences like “ I felt like I had no sense of self beyond my drive for success, ” and “ I understand that just because growth can be uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s not important. ” These sentences help us see how the student was impacted and what their point of view is.

What Could Be Improved

The largest change this essay would benefit from is to show not tell. The platitude you have heard a million times no doubt, but for good reason. This essay heavily relies on telling the reader what occurred, making us less engaged as the entire reading experience feels more passive. If the student had shown us what happens though, it keeps the reader tied to the action and makes them feel like they are there with the student, making it much more enjoyable to read. 

For example, they tell us about the pressure to succeed their parents placed on them: “ I pushed myself to get straight A’s, complied with years of oboe lessons, and dutifully attended hours of swim practice after school.”  They could have shown us what that pressure looked like with a sentence like this: “ My stomach turned somersaults as my rattling knee thumped against the desk before every test, scared to get anything less than a 95. For five years the painful squawk of the oboe only reminded me of my parents’ claps and whistles at my concerts. I mastered the butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle, fighting against the anchor of their expectations threatening to pull me down.”

If the student had gone through their essay and applied this exercise of bringing more detail and colorful language to sentences that tell the reader what happened, the essay would be really great. 

Table of Contents

Essay Example #2: Being Bangladeshi-American

Life before was good: verdant forests, sumptuous curries, and a devoted family.

Then, my family abandoned our comfortable life in Bangladesh for a chance at the American dream in Los Angeles. Within our first year, my father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He lost his battle three weeks before my sixth birthday. Facing a new country without the steady presence of my father, we were vulnerable — prisoners of hardship in the land of the free. We resettled in the Bronx, in my uncle’s renovated basement. It was meant to be our refuge, but I felt more displaced than ever. Gone were the high-rise condos of West L.A.; instead, government projects towered over the neighborhood. Pedestrians no longer smiled and greeted me; the atmosphere was hostile, even toxic. Schoolkids were quick to pick on those they saw as weak or foreign, hurling harsh words I’d never heard before.

Meanwhile, my family began integrating into the local Bangladeshi community. I struggled to understand those who shared my heritage. Bangladeshi mothers stayed home while fathers drove cabs and sold fruit by the roadside — painful societal positions. Riding on crosstown buses or walking home from school, I began to internalize these disparities. During my fleeting encounters with affluent Upper East Siders, I saw kids my age with nannies, parents who wore suits to work, and luxurious apartments with spectacular views. Most took cabs to their destinations: cabs that Bangladeshis drove. I watched the mundane moments of their lives with longing, aching to plant myself in their shoes. Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day. 

As I grappled with my relationship with the Bangladeshi community, I turned my attention to helping my Bronx community by pursuing an internship with Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda. I handled desk work and took calls, spending the bulk of my time actively listening to the hardships constituents faced — everything from a veteran stripped of his benefits to a grandmother unable to support her bedridden grandchild.

I’d never exposed myself to stories like these, and now I was the first to hear them. As an intern, I could only assist in what felt like the small ways — pointing out local job offerings, printing information on free ESL classes, reaching out to non-profits. But to a community facing an onslaught of intense struggles, I realized that something as small as these actions could have vast impacts. Seeing the immediate consequences of my actions inspired me. Throughout that summer, I internalized my community’s daily challenges in a new light. I began to stop seeing the prevalent underemployment and cramped living quarters less as sources of shame. Instead, I saw them as realities that had to be acknowledged, but could ultimately be remedied. I also realized the benefits of the Bangladeshi culture I had been so ashamed of. My Bangla language skills were an asset to the office, and my understanding of Bangladeshi etiquette allowed for smooth communication between office staff and its constituents. As I helped my neighbors navigate city services, I saw my heritage with pride — a perspective I never expected to have.

I can now appreciate the value of my unique culture and background, and of living with less. This perspective offers room for progress, community integration, and a future worth fighting for. My time with Assemblyman Sepulveda’s office taught me that I can be a change agent in enabling this progression. Far from being ashamed of my community, I want to someday return to local politics in the Bronx to continue helping others access the American Dream. I hope to help my community appreciate the opportunity to make progress together. By embracing reality, I learned to live it. Along the way, I discovered one thing: life is good, but we can make it better.

This student’s passion for social justice and civic duty shines through in this essay because of how honest it is. Sharing their personal experience with immigrating, moving around, being an outsider, and finding a community allows us to see the hardships this student has faced and builds empathy towards their situation. However, what really makes it strong is that they go beyond describing the difficulties they faced and explain the mental impact it had on them as a child: Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day. 

The rejection of their culture presented at the beginning of the essay creates a nice juxtaposition with the student’s view in the latter half of the essay and helps demonstrate how they have matured. They use their experience interning as a way to delve into a change in their thought process about their culture and show how their passion for social justice began. Using this experience as a mechanism to explore their thoughts and feelings is an excellent example of how items that are included elsewhere on your application should be incorporated into your essay.

This essay prioritizes emotions and personal views over specific anecdotes. Although there are details and certain moments incorporated throughout to emphasize the author’s points, the main focus remains on the student and how they grapple with their culture and identity.  

One area for improvement is the conclusion. Although the forward-looking approach is a nice way to end an essay focused on social justice, it would be nice to include more details and imagery in the conclusion. How does the student want to help their community? What government position do they see themselves holding one day? 

A more impactful ending might look like the student walking into their office at the New York City Housing Authority in 15 years and looking at the plans to build a new development in the Bronx just blocks away from where the grew up that would provide quality housing to people in their Bangladeshi community. They would smile while thinking about how far they have come from that young kid who used to be ashamed of their culture. 

Essay Example #3: Why Medicine

I took my first trip to China to visit my cousin Anna in July of 2014. Distance had kept us apart, but when we were together, we fell into all of our old inside jokes and caught up on each other’s lives. Her sparkling personality and optimistic attitude always brought a smile to my face. This time, however, my heart broke when I saw the effects of her brain cancer; she had suffered from a stroke that paralyzed her left side. She was still herself in many ways, but I could see that the damage to her brain made things difficult for her. I stayed by her every day, providing the support she needed, whether assisting her with eating and drinking, reading to her, or just watching “Friends.” During my flight back home, sorrow and helplessness overwhelmed me. Would I ever see Anna again? Could I have done more to make Anna comfortable? I wished I could stay in China longer to care for her. As I deplaned, I wondered if I could transform my grief to help other children and teenagers in the US who suffered as Anna did.

The day after I got home, as jet lag dragged me awake a few minutes after midnight, I remembered hearing about the Family Reach Foundation (FRF) and its work with children going through treatments at the local hospital and their families. I began volunteering in the FRF’s Children’s Activity Room, where I play with children battling cancer. Volunteering has both made me appreciate my own health and also cherish the new relationships I build with the children and families. We play sports, make figures out of playdoh, and dress up. When they take on the roles of firefighters or fairies, we all get caught up in the game; for that time, they forget the sanitized, stark, impersonal walls of the pediatric oncology ward. Building close relationships with them and seeing them giggle and laugh is so rewarding — I love watching them grow and get better throughout their course of treatment.

Hearing from the parents about their children’s condition and seeing the children recover inspired me to consider medical research. To get started, I enrolled in a summer collegelevel course in Abnormal Psychology. There I worked with Catelyn, a rising college senior, on a data analysis project regarding Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Together, we examined the neurological etiology of DID by studying four fMRI and PET cases. I fell in love with gathering data and analyzing the results and was amazed by our final product: several stunning brain images showcasing the areas of hyper and hypoactivity in brains affected by DID. Desire quickly followed my amazement — I want to continue this project and study more brains. Their complexity, delicacy, and importance to every aspect of life fascinate me. Successfully completing this research project gave me a sense of hope; I know I am capable of participating in a large scale research project and potentially making a difference in someone else’s life through my research.

Anna’s diagnosis inspired me to begin volunteering at FRF; from there, I discovered my desire to help people further by contributing to medical research. As my research interest blossomed, I realized that it’s no coincidence that I want to study brains—after all, Anna suffered from brain cancer. Reflecting on these experiences this past year and a half, I see that everything I’ve done is connected. Sadly, a few months after I returned from China, Anna passed away. I am still sad, but as I run a toy truck across the floor and watch one of the little patients’ eyes light up, I imagine that she would be proud of my commitment to pursue medicine and study the brain.

This essay has a very strong emotional core that tugs at the heart strings and makes the reader feel invested. Writing about sickness can be difficult and doesn’t always belong in a personal statement, but in this case it works well because the focus is on how this student cared for her cousin and dealt with the grief and emotions surrounding her condition. Writing about the compassion she showed and the doubts and concerns that filled her mind keeps the focus on the author and her personality. 

This continues when she again discusses the activities she did with the kids at FRF and the personal reflection this experience allowed her to have. For example, she writes: Volunteering has both made me appreciate my own health and also cherish the new relationships I build with the children and families. We play sports, make figures out of playdoh, and dress up.

Concluding the essay with the sad story of her cousin’s passing brings the essay full circle and returns to the emotional heart of the piece to once again build a connection with the reader. However, it finishes on a hopeful note and demonstrates how this student has been able to turn a tragic experience into a source of lifelong inspiration. 

One thing this essay should be cognizant of is that personal statements should not read as summaries of your extracurricular resume. Although this essay doesn’t fully fall into that trap, it does describe two key extracurriculars the student participated in. However, the inclusion of such a strong emotional core running throughout the essay helps keep the focus on the student and her thoughts and feelings during these activities.

To avoid making this mistake, make sure you have a common thread running through your essay and the extracurriculars provide support to the story you are trying to tell, rather than crafting a story around your activities. And, as this essay does, make sure there is lots of personal reflection and feelings weaved throughout to focus attention to you rather than your extracurriculars. 

Essay Example #4: Love of Writing

“I want to be a writer.” This had been my answer to every youthful discussion with the adults in my life about what I would do when I grew up. As early as elementary school, I remember reading my writing pieces aloud to an audience at “Author of the Month” ceremonies. Bearing this goal in mind, and hoping to gain some valuable experience, I signed up for a journalism class during my freshman year. Despite my love for writing, I initially found myself uninterested in the subject and I struggled to enjoy the class. When I thought of writing, I imagined lyrical prose, profound poetry, and thrilling plot lines. Journalism required a laconic style and orderly structure, and I found my teacher’s assignments formulaic and dull. That class shook my confidence as a writer. I was uncertain if I should continue in it for the rest of my high school career.

Despite my misgivings, I decided that I couldn’t make a final decision on whether to quit journalism until I had some experience working for a paper outside of the classroom. The following year, I applied to be a staff reporter on our school newspaper. I hoped this would help me become more self-driven and creative, rather than merely writing articles that my teacher assigned. To my surprise, my time on staff was worlds away from what I experienced in the journalism class. Although I was unaccustomed to working in a fast-paced environment and initially found it burdensome to research and complete high-quality stories in a relatively short amount of time, I also found it exciting. I enjoyed learning more about topics and events on campus that I did not know much about; some of my stories that I covered in my first semester concerned a chess tournament, a food drive, and a Spanish immersion party. I relished in the freedom I had to explore and learn, and to write more independently than I could in a classroom.

Although I enjoyed many aspects of working for the paper immediately, reporting also pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I am a shy person, and speaking with people I did not know intimidated me. During my first interview, I met with the basketball coach to prepare for a story about the team’s winning streak. As I approached his office, I felt everything from my toes to my tongue freeze into a solid block, and I could hardly get out my opening questions. Fortunately, the coach was very kind and helped me through the conversation. Encouraged, I prepared for my next interview with more confidence. After a few weeks of practice, I even started to look forward to interviewing people on campus. That first journalism class may have bored me, but even if journalism in practice was challenging, it was anything but tedious.

Over the course of that year, I grew to love writing for our school newspaper. Reporting made me aware of my surroundings, and made me want to know more about current events on campus and in the town where I grew up. By interacting with people all over campus, I came to understand the breadth of individuals and communities that make up my high school. I felt far more connected to diverse parts of my school through my work as a journalist, and I realized that journalism gave me a window into seeing beyond my own experiences. The style of news writing may be different from what I used to think “writing” meant, but I learned that I can still derive exciting plots from events that may have gone unnoticed if not for my stories. I no longer struggle to approach others, and truly enjoy getting to know people and recognizing their accomplishments through my writing. Becoming a writer may be a difficult path, but it is as rewarding as I hoped when I was young.

This essay is clearly structured in a manner that makes it flow very nicely and contributes to its success. It starts with a quote to draw in the reader and show this student’s life-long passion for writing. Then it addresses the challenges of facing new, unfamiliar territory and how this student overcame it. Finally, it concludes by reflecting on this eye-opening experience and a nod to their younger self from the introduction. Having a well-thought out and sequential structure with clear transitions makes it extremely easy for the reader to follow along and take away the main idea.

Another positive aspect of the essay is the use of strong and expressive language. Sentences like “ When I thought of writing, I imagined lyrical prose, profound poetry, and thrilling plot lines ” stand out because of the intentional use of words like “lyrical”, “profound”, and “thrilling” to convey the student’s love of writing. The author also uses an active voice to capture the readers’ attention and keep us engaged. They rely on their language and diction to reveal details to the reader, for instance saying “ I felt everything from my toes to my tongue freeze into a solid block ” to describe feeling nervous.

This essay is already very strong, so there isn’t much that needs to be changed. One thing that could take the essay from great to outstanding would be to throw in more quotes, internal dialogue, and sensory descriptors.

It would be nice to see the nerves they felt interviewing the coach by including dialogue like “ Um…I want to interview you about…uh…”.  They could have shown their original distaste for journalism by narrating the thoughts running through their head. The fast-paced environment of their newspaper could have come to life with descriptions about the clacking of keyboards and the whirl of people running around laying out articles.

Essay Example #5: Starting a Fire

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family. 

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt. 

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him. 

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses. 

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

This student is an excellent writer, which allows a simple story to be outstandingly compelling. The author articulates her points beautifully and creatively through her immense use of details and figurative language. Lines like “a rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees,” and “rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers,” create vivid images that draw the reader in. 

The flowery and descriptive prose also contributes to the nice juxtaposition between the old Clara and the new Clara. The latter half of the essay contrasts elements of nature with music and writing to demonstrate how natural these interests are for her now. This sentence perfectly encapsulates the contrast she is trying to build: “It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive.”

In addition to being well-written, this essay is thematically cohesive. It begins with the simple introduction “Fire!” and ends with the following image: “When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.” This full-circle approach leaves readers satisfied and impressed.

There is very little this essay should change, however one thing to be cautious about is having an essay that is overly-descriptive. We know from the essay that this student likes to read and write, and depending on other elements of her application, it might make total sense to have such a flowery and ornate writing style. However, your personal statement needs to reflect your voice as well as your personality. If you would never use language like this in conversation or your writing, don’t put it in your personal statement. Make sure there is a balance between eloquence and your personal voice.

Essay Example #6: Dedicating a Track

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite. 

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin. 

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

This essay effectively conveys this student’s compassion for others, initiative, and determination—all great qualities to exemplify in a personal statement!

Although they rely on telling us a lot of what happened up until the board meeting, the use of running a race (their passion) as a metaphor for public speaking provides a lot of insight into the fear that this student overcame to work towards something bigger than themself. Comparing a podium to the starting line, the audience to the track, and silence to the gunshot is a nice way of demonstrating this student’s passion for cross country running without making that the focus of the story.

The essay does a nice job of coming full circle at the end by explaining what the quote from the beginning meant to them after this experience. Without explicitly saying “ I now know that what Stark actually meant is…” they rely on the strength of their argument above to make it obvious to the reader what it means to get beat but not lose. 

One of the biggest areas of improvement in the intro, however, is how the essay tells us Stark’s impact rather than showing us: His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The writer could’ve helped us feel a stronger emotional connection to Stark if they had included examples of Stark’s qualities, rather than explicitly stating them. For example, they could’ve written something like: Stark was the kind of person who would give you gas money if you told him your parents couldn’t afford to pick you up from practice. And he actually did that—several times. At track meets, alumni regularly would come talk to him and tell him how he’d changed their lives. Before Stark, I was ambivalent about running and was on the JV team, but his encouragement motivated me to run longer and harder and eventually make varsity. Because of him, I approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

Essay Example #7: Body Image and Eating Disorders

I press the “discover” button on my Instagram app, hoping to find enticing pictures to satisfy my boredom. Scrolling through, I see funny videos and mouth-watering pictures of food. However, one image stops me immediately. A fit teenage girl with a “perfect body” relaxes in a bikini on a beach. Beneath it, I see a slew of flattering comments. I shake with disapproval over the image’s unrealistic quality. However, part of me still wants to have a body like hers so that others will make similar comments to me.

I would like to resolve a silent issue that harms many teenagers and adults: negative self image and low self-esteem in a world where social media shapes how people view each other. When people see the façades others wear to create an “ideal” image, they can develop poor thought patterns rooted in negative self-talk. The constant comparisons to “perfect” others make people feel small. In this new digital age, it is hard to distinguish authentic from artificial representations.

When I was 11, I developed anorexia nervosa. Though I was already thin, I wanted to be skinny like the models that I saw on the magazine covers on the grocery store stands. Little did I know that those models probably also suffered from disorders, and that photoshop erased their flaws. I preferred being underweight to being healthy. No matter how little I ate or how thin I was, I always thought that I was too fat. I became obsessed with the number on the scale and would try to eat the least that I could without my parents urging me to take more. Fortunately, I stopped engaging in anorexic behaviors before middle school. However, my underlying mental habits did not change. The images that had provoked my disorder in the first place were still a constant presence in my life.

By age 15, I was in recovery from anorexia, but suffered from depression. While I used to only compare myself to models, the growth of social media meant I also compared myself to my friends and acquaintances. I felt left out when I saw my friends’ excitement about lake trips they had taken without me. As I scrolled past endless photos of my flawless, thin classmates with hundreds of likes and affirming comments, I felt my jealousy spiral. I wanted to be admired and loved by other people too. However, I felt that I could never be enough. I began to hate the way that I looked, and felt nothing in my life was good enough. I wanted to be called “perfect” and “body goals,” so I tried to only post at certain times of day to maximize my “likes.” When that didn’t work, I started to feel too anxious to post anything at all.  

Body image insecurities and social media comparisons affect thousands of people – men, women, children, and adults – every day. I am lucky – after a few months of my destructive social media habits, I came across a video that pointed out the illusory nature of social media; many Instagram posts only show off good things while people hide their flaws. I began going to therapy, and recovered from my depression. To address the problem of self-image and social media, we can all focus on what matters on the inside and not what is on the surface. As an effort to become healthy internally, I started a club at my school to promote clean eating and radiating beauty from within. It has helped me grow in my confidence, and today I’m not afraid to show others my struggles by sharing my experience with eating disorders. Someday, I hope to make this club a national organization to help teenagers and adults across the country. I support the idea of body positivity and embracing difference, not “perfection.” After all, how can we be ourselves if we all look the same?

This essay covers the difficult topics of eating disorders and mental health. If you’re thinking about covering similar topics in your essay, we recommend reading our post Should You Talk About Mental Health in College Essays?

The short answer is that, yes, you can talk about mental health, but it can be risky. If you do go that route, it’s important to focus on what you learned from the experience.

The strength of this essay is the student’s vulnerability, in excerpts such as this: I wanted to be admired and loved by other people too. However, I felt that I could never be enough. I began to hate the way that I looked, and felt nothing in my life was good enough. I wanted to be called “perfect” and “body goals,” so I tried to only post at certain times of day to maximize my “likes.”

The student goes on to share how they recovered from their depression through an eye-opening video and therapy sessions, and they’re now helping others find their self-worth as well. It’s great that this essay looks towards the future and shares the writer’s goals of making their club a national organization; we can see their ambition and compassion.

The main weakness of this essay is that it doesn’t focus enough on their recovery process, which is arguably the most important part. They could’ve told us more about the video they watched or the process of starting their club and the interactions they’ve had with other members. Especially when sharing such a vulnerable topic, there should be vulnerability in the recovery process too. That way, the reader can fully appreciate all that this student has overcome.

Essay Example #8: Becoming a Coach

”Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.” Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one.

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we competed with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

This essay begins with an in-the-moment narrative that really illustrates the chaos of looking for a coach last-minute. We feel the writer’s emotions, particularly her dejectedness, at not being able to compete. Starting an essay in media res  is a great way to capture the attention of your readers and build anticipation for what comes next.

Through this essay, we can see how gutsy and determined the student is in deciding to become a coach themselves. She shows us these characteristics through their actions, rather than explicitly telling us: To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side.  Also, by discussing the opposition she faced and how it affected her, the student is open and vulnerable about the reality of the situation.

The essay comes full circle as the author recalls the frantic situations in seeking out a coach, but this is no longer a concern for them and their team. Overall, this essay is extremely effective in painting this student as mature, bold, and compassionate.

The biggest thing this essay needs to work on is showing not telling. Throughout the essay, the student tells us that she “emerged with new knowledge and confidence,” she “grew unsure of her own abilities,” and she “refused to give up”. What we really want to know is what this looks like.

Instead of saying she “emerged with new knowledge and confidence” she should have shared how she taught a new move to a fellow team-member without hesitation. Rather than telling us she “grew unsure of her own abilities” she should have shown what that looked like by including her internal dialogue and rhetorical questions that ran through her mind. She could have demonstrated what “refusing to give up” looks like by explaining how she kept learning coaching techniques on her own, turned to a mentor for advice, or devised a plan to win over the trust of parents. 

Essay Example #9: Eritrea

No one knows where Eritrea is.

On the first day of school, for the past nine years, I would pensively stand in front of a class, a teacher, a stranger  waiting for the inevitable question: Where are you from?

I smile politely, my dimples accentuating my ambiguous features. “Eritrea,” I answer promptly and proudly. But I  am always prepared. Before their expression can deepen into confusion, ready to ask “where is that,” I elaborate,  perhaps with a fleeting hint of exasperation, “East Africa, near Ethiopia.”

Sometimes, I single out the key-shaped hermit nation on a map, stunning teachers who have “never had a student  from there!” Grinning, I resist the urge to remark, “You didn’t even know it existed until two minutes ago!”

Eritrea is to the East of Ethiopia, its arid coastline clutches the lucrative Red Sea. Battle scars litter the ancient  streets – the colonial Italian architecture lathered with bullet holes, the mosques mangled with mortar shells.  Originally part of the world’s first Christian kingdom, Eritrea passed through the hands of colonial Italy, Britain, and  Ethiopia for over a century, until a bloody thirty year war of Independence liberated us.

But these are facts that anyone can know with a quick Google search. These are facts that I have memorised and compounded, first from my Grandmother and now from pristine books  borrowed from the library.

No historical narrative, however, can adequately capture what Eritrea is.  No one knows the aroma of bushels of potatoes, tomatoes, and garlic – still covered in dirt – that leads you to the open-air market. No one knows the poignant scent of spices, arranged in orange piles reminiscent of compacted  dunes.  No one knows how to haggle stubborn herders for sheep and roosters for Christmas celebrations as deliberately as my mother. No one can replicate the perfect balance of spices in dorho and tsebhi as well as my grandmother,  her gnarly hands stirring the pot with ancient precision (chastising my clumsy knife work with the potatoes).  It’s impossible to learn when the injera is ready – the exact moment you have to lift the lid of the mogogo. Do it too  early (or too late) and the flatbread becomes mangled and gross. It is a sixth sense passed through matriarchal  lineages.

There are no sources that catalogue the scent of incense that wafts through the sunlit porch on St. Michael’s; no  films that can capture the luminescence of hundreds of flaming bonfires that fluoresce the sidewalks on Kudus  Yohannes, as excited children chant Ge’ez proverbs whose origin has been lost to time.  You cannot learn the familiarity of walking beneath the towering Gothic figure of the Enda Mariam Cathedral, the  crowds undulating to the ringing of the archaic bells.  I have memorized the sound of the rains hounding the metal roof during kiremti , the heat of the sun pounding  against the Toyota’s window as we sped down towards Ghinda , the opulent brilliance of the stars twinkling in a  sky untainted by light pollution, the scent of warm rolls of bani wafting through the streets at precisely 6 o’clock each day…

I fill my flimsy sketchbook with pictures from my memory. My hand remembers the shapes of the hibiscus drifting  in the wind, the outline of my grandmother (affectionately nicknamed a’abaye ) leaning over the garden, the bizarre architecture of the Fiat Tagliero .  I dice the vegetables with movements handed down from generations. My nose remembers the scent of frying garlic, the sourness of the warm tayta , the sharpness of the mit’mt’a …

This knowledge is intrinsic.  “I am Eritrean,” I repeat. “I am proud.”  Within me is an encyclopedia of history, culture, and idealism.

Eritrea is the coffee made from scratch, the spices drying in the sun, the priests and nuns. Eritrea is wise, filled with ambition, and unseen potential.  Eritrea isn’t a place, it’s an identity.

This is an exceptional essay that provides a window into this student’s culture that really makes their love for their country and heritage leap off the page. The sheer level of details and sensory descriptors this student is able to fit in this space makes the essay stand out. From the smells, to the traditions, sounds, and sights, the author encapsulates all the glory of Eritrea for the reader. 

The vivid images this student is able to create for the reader, whether it is having the tedious conversation with every teacher or cooking in their grandmother’s kitchen, transports us into the story and makes us feel like we are there in the moment with the student. This is a prime example of an essay that shows , not tells.

Besides the amazing imagery, the use of shorter paragraphs also contributes to how engaging this essay is. Employing this tactic helps break up the text to make it more readable and it isolates ideas so they stick out more than if they were enveloped in a large paragraph.

Overall, this is a really strong essay that brings to life this student’s heritage through its use of vivid imagery. This essay exemplifies what it means to show not tell in your writing, and it is a great example of how you can write an intimate personal statement without making yourself the primary focus of your essay. 

There is very little this essay should improve upon, but one thing the student might consider would be to inject more personal reflection into their response. Although we can clearly take away their deep love and passion for their homeland and culture, the essay would be a bit more personal if they included the emotions and feelings they associate with the various aspects of Eritrea. For example, the way their heart swells with pride when their grandmother praises their ability to cook a flatbread or the feeling of serenity when they hear the bells ring out from the cathedral. Including personal details as well as sensory ones would create a wonderful balance of imagery and reflection.

Essay Example #10: Journaling

Flipping past dozens of colorful entries in my journal, I arrive at the final blank sheet. I press my pen lightly to the page, barely scratching its surface to create a series of loops stringing together into sentences. Emotions spill out, and with their release, I feel lightness in my chest. The stream of thoughts slows as I reach the bottom of the page, and I gently close the cover of the worn book: another journal finished.

I add the journal to the stack of eleven books on my nightstand. Struck by the bittersweet sensation of closing a chapter of my life, I grab the notebook at the bottom of the pile to reminisce.

“I want to make a flying mushen to fly in space and your in it” – October 2008

Pulling back the cover of my first Tinkerbell-themed diary, the prompt “My Hopes and Dreams” captures my attention. Though “machine” is misspelled in my scribbled response, I see the beginnings of my past obsession with outer space. At the age of five, I tore through novels about the solar system, experimented with rockets built from plastic straws, and rented Space Shuttle films from Blockbuster to satisfy my curiosities. While I chased down answers to questions as limitless as the universe, I fell in love with learning. Eight journals later, the same relentless curiosity brought me to an airplane descending on San Francisco Bay.

“I wish I had infinite sunsets” – July 2019

I reach for the charcoal notepad near the top of the pile and open to the first page: my flight to the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes. While I was excited to explore bioengineering, anxiety twisted in my stomach as I imagined my destination, unsure of whether I could overcome my shyness and connect with others.

With each new conversation, the sweat on my palms became less noticeable, and I met students from 23 different countries. Many of the moments where I challenged myself socially revolved around the third story deck of the Jerry house. A strange medley of English, Arabic, and Mandarin filled the summer air as my friends and I gathered there every evening, and dialogues at sunset soon became moments of bliss. In our conversations about cultural differences, the possibility of an afterlife, and the plausibility of far-fetched conspiracy theories, I learned to voice my opinion. As I was introduced to different viewpoints, these moments challenged my understanding of the world around me. In my final entries from California, I find excitement to learn from others and increased confidence, a tool that would later allow me to impact my community.

“The beauty in a tower of cans” – June 2020

Returning my gaze to the stack of journals, I stretch to take the floral-patterned book sitting on top. I flip through, eventually finding the beginnings of the organization I created during the outbreak of COVID-19. Since then, Door-to-Door Deliveries has woven its way through my entries and into reality, allowing me to aid high-risk populations through free grocery delivery.

With the confidence I gained the summer before, I took action when seeing others in need rather than letting my shyness hold me back. I reached out to local churches and senior centers to spread word of our services and interacted with customers through our website and social media pages. To further expand our impact, we held two food drives, and I mustered the courage to ask for donations door-to-door. In a tower of canned donations, I saw the value of reaching out to help others and realized my own potential to impact the world around me.

I delicately close the journal in my hands, smiling softly as the memories reappear, one after another. Reaching under my bed, I pull out a fresh notebook and open to its first sheet. I lightly press my pen to the page, “And so begins the next chapter…”

The structuring of this essay makes it easy and enjoyable to read. The student effectively organizes their various life experiences around their tower of journals, which centers the reader and makes the different stories easy to follow. Additionally, the student engages quotes from their journals—and unique formatting of the quotes—to signal that they are moving in time and show us which memory we should follow them to.

Thematically, the student uses the idea of shyness to connect the different memories they draw out of their journals. As the student describes their experiences overcoming shyness at the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes and Door-to-Door Deliveries, this essay can be read as an Overcoming Obstacles essay.

At the end of this essay, readers are fully convinced that this student is dedicated (they have committed to journaling every day), thoughtful (journaling is a thoughtful process and, in the essay, the student reflects thoughtfully on the past), and motivated (they flew across the country for a summer program and started a business). These are definitely qualities admissions officers are looking for in applicants!

Although this essay is already exceptionally strong as it’s written, the first journal entry feels out of place compared to the other two entries that discuss the author’s shyness and determination. It works well for the essay to have an entry from when the student was younger to add some humor (with misspelled words) and nostalgia, but if the student had either connected the quote they chose to the idea of overcoming a fear present in the other two anecdotes or if they had picked a different quote all together related to their shyness, it would have made the entire essay feel more cohesive.

Where to Get Your Personal Statement Edited

Do you want feedback on your personal statement? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Next Step: Supplemental Essays

Essay Guides for Each School

How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity College Essay

4 Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay

How to Write the “Why This College” Essay

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

A resume summary statement usually comes right after a job seeker’s contact info and before other resume sections such as skills and work experience. It provides employers with a brief overview of a candidate’s career accomplishments and qualifications before they read further. Because of how early it appears on the document, your resume summary statement (or your CV “profile” in the UK) is one of the first places recruiters and employers look. And without the right information, they’ll doubt that you’re qualified and may move to another resume.

So I got in touch with a select group of professional resume writers, coaches and career experts to get their best resume summary examples you can use and adapt to write a resume summary that stands out and gets interviews.

As a former recruiter myself, I’ll also share my best tips to write your resume summary effectively.

Why the Resume/CV Summary is Important

You may have heard that recruiters only spend 8-10 seconds looking at your resume. The truth is: they spend that long deciding whether to read more. They do glance that quickly at first and may move on if your background doesn’t look like a fit. However, if you grab their attention, they’ll read far more. Recruiters aren’t deciding to interview you in 8-10 seconds, but they are ruling people out in 8-10 seconds. And this is why your resume summary is so crucial. It appears high up on your resume (usually right after your header/contact info) and is one of the first sections employers see. So it’s part of what they’ll see in the first 8-10 seconds.

Your resume summary statement is one of your first (and one of very few) chances to get the employer to stop skimming through their pile of resumes and focus on YOU.

Watch: Resume Summary Examples That Get Interviews

10 resume summary examples:.

These career summary examples will help you at any experience level – whether you’re writing a professional summary after a long executive career, or writing your first resume summary without any experience! After you finish this article you’re NEVER going to have to send out a limp, weak resume summary statement again (and you’ll get far more interviews  because of it).

1. Healthcare Sales Executive Resume Summary Example:

Turnaround & Ground Up Leadership – Concept-to-execution strategies for untapped products, markets + solutions that yield 110% revenue growth – Negotiates partnerships with leading distributors + hospitals—Medline to Centara + Novant Health to Mayo Clinic –  Revitalizes underperforming sales organizations via scalable, sustainable infrastructures emulated as best practice –  C-Level networks of clinical + supply chain leadership acquired during tenures with XXX, XXX and XXX

Why this resume summary is good:

This resumes summary example’s strength lies in the detailed, unique information that has been included. By including revenue stats, names of past employers and partners, the reader right away sees that this person will bring to the role a strong networking ability with key players in his industry, and more importantly can build, grow and revitalize a sales organization, market or product.

By:  Virginia Franco, Founder of Virginia Franco Resumes  and Forbes contributor.

2. 15+ Year Business Owner Resume Summary Statement:

Dynamic and motivated marketing professional with a proven record of generating and building relationships, managing projects from concept to completion, designing educational strategies, and coaching individuals to success. Skilled in building cross-functional teams, demonstrating exceptional communication skills, and making critical decisions during challenges. Adaptable and transformational leader with an ability to work independently, creating effective presentations, and developing opportunities that further establish organizational goals.

Why this is a good summary section:

This is a resume summary statement that was for  a candidate returning to work after having her own business for 15+ years. Because of this, we needed to emphasize her soft skills and what she can bring to this potential position. In addition, we highlighted the skills she has honed as a business owner so that she can utilize these qualifications as a sales professional, account manager , and someone knowledgeable about nutrition, medicine, and the overall sales process.

By: Dr. Heather Rothbauer-Wanish. MBA, Ph.D., CPRW, and Founder of Feather Communications

3. Human Resources Generalist Resume Summary Example:

Human Resources Generalist with progressive experience managing employee benefits & compliance, employee hiring & onboarding, performance management processes, licensure tracking and HR records. Dependable and organized team player with the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently. Skilled at building relationships with employees across all levels of an organization. Proficient with HRIS, applicant tracking and benefits management.

Why this is a good resume summary:

The applicant highlights their experience across a wide range of HR functions from the very first sentence, and continues this pattern throughout the rest of the summary. They then use easily digestible langue to showcase their hard skills (in the first & fourth sentences) and soft skills (in the second & third sentences). They also integrate a variety of keywords to get past automated job application systems , without sounding spammy or without overdoing it.

By: Kyle Elliott, MPA/CHES,  Career Coach and Consultant

4. Social Media Marketing CV Profile Example (UK):

Social media expert with successes in the creation and management of social media strategies and campaigns for global retail organisations. Extensive experience in the commercial utilisation of multiple social media channels including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; I build successful social strategies that increase brand awareness, promote customer engagement and ultimately drive web traffic and conversions.

Why this summary is good:

This summary is well-written, short, sharp, and gives recruiters a high-level explanation of the candidate’s core offerings in a persuasive and punchy style. A quick scan of this profile tells you the exact type of social media platforms the candidate is an expert in, as well as the campaigns they have experience running and types of organizations they have worked for. Most importantly, the summary is rounded off by showing the results that this person achieves for their employers, such as increased web traffic and conversions.

Editor’s note: This CV profile summary was written for the UK market… this is a great one to use/copy, but make sure you put it through a spell-checker if you’re applying for jobs in the US (utilisation vs. utilization, etc.)

By: Andrew Fennell, Director at StandOut CV , contributor for The Guardian and Business Insider

5. Marketing Manager Professional Summary Example:

Marketing Manager with over eight years of experience. Proven success in running email marketing campaigns and implementing marketing strategies that have pulled in a 20% increase in qualified leads. Proficient in content, social media and inbound marketing strategies. Skilled, creative and innovative.

This resume summary stands out because it gets straight to the point. By immediately introducing the number of years of experience the candidate has, the HR manager doesn’t need to spend time adding up years. The candidate also jumps right into his or her strongest skill, provides a statistic , then gives additional skills.

By: Sarah Landrum, career expert and contributor at Entrepreneur.com and Forbes

6. Warehouse Supervisor Resume Summary Example:

Warehouse Supervisor with Management, Customer Service, & Forklift Experience –  Dependable manager with 15+ years of experience in warehouse management and employee supervision. –  Skilled at managing inventory control, shipping & receiving, customer relations and safety & compliance. –  Certified Power Equipment Trainer, Forklift Operator and Reach Operator skilled at coaching other staff. –  Promoted to positions of increased responsibility given strong people and project management skills.

The applicant was applying for a warehouse supervisor position that required them to have demonstrated management, customer service and forklift experience. As such, the applicant showcased their experience in these areas with a few keywords in the title, followed by additional details in the accompanying bullet points. Their final bullet shows a record of promotions, while reinforcing the applicant’s customer service and project management skills.

7. IT Project Manager Resume Summary Example:

Experienced Project Manager with vast IT experience. Skills include computer networking, analytical thinking and creative problem solving. Able to apply customer service concepts to IT to improve user experience for clients, employees and administration.

Because this candidate is switching career paths, it’s important he or she take skills used for previous positions and apply those skills to the new job listing. This is a great example because the candidate makes it clear that his or her experience is not in the new field, but that they are still able to bring relevant experience to the table. When writing your resume summary, keep these tips in mind: Use writing that is straight to the point, clear and concise, you’ll have a higher chance of getting noticed by the hiring manager.

8. Career-Changer Resume Summary Example:

Earn trust, uncover key business drivers and find common ground as chief negotiator and identifier of revenue opportunities in sales, leadership and account management roles spanning e-Commerce, air travel and high-tech retail. Navigate cultural challenges while jumping time zones, lead international airline crews and manage corporate accounts to deliver an exceptional customer experience. A self-taught techie sought after as a go-to for complex billing systems and SaaS platforms alike—bridging the divide between technology and plain-speak. – Tenacious Quest for Success + Learning . Earned MBA and BS in just 3 years while working full-time – gaining hands-on experience in research- and data-driven product roadmap development, pricing and positioning. – Results-Driven Leadership. Whether leading Baby Boomers, Gen X or Millennials—figures out what makes teams tick, trains and transforms individuals into top-performers. – Challenger of Conventional Wisdom. Always ask the WHY. Improve the user experience through smart, strategic thinking that anticipates outcomes. Present cases that influence, and lead change that drives efficiency and profitability.

This client was eager for a career change and had moved from role to role and industry to industry. After completing her Master’s degree, she was eager to tie her skills together to land a role – which she did – as a Senior Technology Account Strategist for a global travel company. Although a bit longer than a traditional summary, its strength lies in the details. Without ever getting to the experience section, the reader gets a clear idea of the scope of responsibility, and hard and soft skills the candidate brings to the table.

By: Virginia Franco, Founder of Virginia Franco Resumes  and Forbes contributor.

9. Project Management Executive Professional Summary Example:

15+ years of initiating and delivering sustained results and effective change for Fortune 500 firms across a wide range of industries including enterprise software, digital marketing, advertising technology, e-commerce and government. Major experience lies in strategizing and leading cross-functional teams to bring about fundamental change and improvement in strategy, process, and profitability – both as a leader and expert consultant.

Why this resume summary is good:

“Project Manager” is one of those job titles that’s REALLY broad. You can find project managers earning $50K, and others earning $250K. The client I wrote this for was at the Director level, and had worked for some of the biggest and best tech companies in her city. So this resume profile section shows her level and experience, and the wide array of areas she has responsibility for in her current work. You can borrow or use some of the phrasing here to show that you’ve been responsible for many important areas in your past work.

By: Biron Clark, Founder of  CareerSidekick.com.

10. Startup And Finance Management Consultant Career Summary Example:

Experienced strategist, entrepreneur and startup enthusiast with a passion for building businesses and challenging the status quo. 8+ year track record of defining new business strategies, launching new ventures, and delivering operational impact, both as a co-founder and management consultant. 

Why this resume summary example is good:

This summary was for a highly-talented management consultant looking to break out of finance, and into trendier tech companies like Uber . His track record and educational background were great, so the goal of this summary section was to stand out and show he’s more than just the typical consultant with a finance background. So we emphasized his passion for startups, and his ability to think outside the box and challenge the status quo. That’s something that companies like Uber and other “disruptive” tech companies look for.

14 Resume Summary Examples for Various Industries

Compassionate and effective 5th-grade teacher with experience overseeing the classroom and preparing lessons. Extensive experience encouraging students through positive reinforcement and motivational techniques. Collaborate well with school administration and other members of the teaching team. Ensure all students meet learning requirements, including literacy, social, and arithmetic skills.

2. Teacher’s Assistant

Goal-oriented teacher’s assistant with ten years of experience working with elementary school children. Aid teachers with lesson planning, classroom settings, and group instruction. Model positive behavior and maintain order in the classroom. Willingness to take on additional responsibilities to meet learning objectives.

Tech Industry

3. computer programmer.

Innovative computer programmer with a proven track record of writing high-quality code and supporting team needs with subject matter expertise. Adept in multiple programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, and C++. Ability to troubleshoot complex programming issues with inventive solutions. 

4. Cybersecurity Analyst

Dedicated cybersecurity analyst with ten years of experience in online security research, execution, planning, and maintenance. Proven track record of identifying business risks and proactively resolving them. Experience designing and instituting layered network security for large-scale organizations. Train users and other staff members on IT safety procedures and preventive techniques.

Skilled healthcare professional with ten years of experience in patient care, diagnosis, and providing appropriate treatments and medical services. Manage medical staff and resolve complex medical cases with maximum efficiency. Communicate the patient’s condition and treatment plan in easily understood terminology. Remain current with the latest advancements in medicine and research to ensure patients receive proper care.

6. Registered Nurse

Seasoned registered nurse offering comprehensive patient care in emergency room settings. Experience handling diverse patient populations and caring for various conditions. Proven leadership managing nursing teams and other staff. Focus on enhancing patient care and satisfaction through empathetic communication and excellent customer service. 

7. Digital Marketing Manager

Forward-thinking digital marketing manager experienced in all facets of digital marketing, including social media management, PPC advertising, SEO, and email marketing. Proven experience creating comprehensive marketing plans that improve lead prospecting and enhance brand awareness. Up to date with the newest tools available for digital marketing campaigns.

8. Marketing Analyst

Industrious marketing analyst well-versed in analyzing marketing campaign analytics and making recommendations to improve performance. Collaborate with account managers and use KPI metrics to explain the results of marketing initiatives. Meticulous with a strong work ethic and robust communication skills.

Food and Service Industry

Experienced wait staff member capable of managing orders, processing payments, and upselling menu items. Ensure restaurant guests feel welcome with attentive service catered to their needs. Remain current on updates to the menu and assist guests with selecting orders to meet their dietary requirements. Maintain a positive attitude and focus during busy restaurant periods.

10. Hotel Receptionist

Friendly hotel receptionist with extensive experience handling guest check-ins, check-out, and payments. Facilitate a positive guest experience with polished customer service skills and a readiness to address common inquiries and complaints. Collaborate well with other hotel team members, including executive administration and on-site restaurant staff.

Business/Office Jobs

11. financial analyst.

Highly motivated financial analyst with a proven track record of recommending appropriate financial plans based on financial monitoring, data collection, and business strategizing. Experienced in qualitative and quantitative analysis, forecasting, and financial modeling. Excellent communication skills for building and fostering long-term business relationships across the organization.

12. Tax Accountant

Experienced tax accountant with ten years of experience preparing federal and state tax returns for corporations and partnerships. Monitor changes in laws to ensure the organization properly complies with reporting requirements. Assist with tax audits, ensuring the team receives proper supporting evidence for tax positions. Analyze and resolve complex tax issues. Look for available tax savings opportunities for corporations with an aggregate savings of $500K last year. Excellent analytical skills and attention to detail.

Sales and Customer Service

13. sales representative.

Enthusiastic sales representative with expertise in identifying prospects and converting qualified leads to paying customers. Provide quality customer service and contribute to team sales success. Offer exceptional communication skills and seek to understand client needs before making the appropriate product recommendations. Continually meet and exceed sales goals. Leverage extensive knowledge of available products to provide appropriate client solutions and enhance customer loyalty and retention.

14. Customer Service Associate

Knowledgeable customer service professional with extensive experience in the insurance industry. Known as a team player with a friendly demeanor and proven ability to develop positive rapport with clients. Maintain ongoing customer satisfaction that contributes to overall company success. Highly articulate, with a results-oriented approach that addresses client inquiries and issues while maintaining strong partnerships. Collaborate well with the customer service team while also engaging independent decision-making skills.

Now you have 24 professional resume summary statements and some explanations of why they’re effective. Next, I’ll share tips for how to write your own in case you’re still unsure how to begin based on these examples above.

How to Write a Resume Summary: Steps and Hints

We’ve looked at 10 great resume summary examples above. As you begin writing a resume summary for yourself, here are some helpful tips to keep in mind:

• Read the employer’s job description. Your career summary shouldn’t be a long list of everything you’ve done; it should be a refined list of skills and experiences that demonstrate you’re a fit for their job.
• Mention your current job title if relevant. One common way to begin your resume summary is to state your current job title.
• Explain how you can help employers achieve their goals or solve their problems.
• Consider using bold text to emphasize one or two key phrases.
• Include any relevant metrics and data like dollar amounts, years of experience, size of teams led, etc. This helps your resume stand out.
• Focus on making the employer want to read more. The goal of your resume summary isn’t to show everything you can do, but to grab their attention and show enough that they continue reading.

Creating a Customized Resume Summary

While general summaries are appropriate when applying for jobs requiring similar skills and experience, a customized resume summary can enhance your chances of moving on to the next step in the hiring process. 

That’s because most companies use automated tracking systems (ATS) to review submitted resumes for content directly related to the job posting. If you use keywords and natural language phrases in your summary that interlink to the job description, you’ll have a much higher chance of passing the ATS review.

Let’s look at an example of a resume summary that is customized for the specific job description below:

“Highly motivated social media specialist with strong project management skills. Creative marketer skilled in crafting innovative social media campaigns that resonate with a target audience. Regularly develop compelling copy and social media content to enhance lead generation and brand awareness. Detail-oriented with extensive project management skills that ensure proper prioritization of tasks and projects. Work with various social media management and analytics tools to examine results and make adjustments as necessary.”

This summary directly addresses the key points in the job description but rewrites them so the customization is natural and flows well. It’s personalized for the open role and uses similar terms with a few strategically placed keywords, such as “social media content” and “project management.”  

How Long Should a Resume Summary Be?

As you read the resume summaries above, you probably noticed there are some short single-paragraph resume summary examples and much longer career summaries that are two to three paragraphs plus bullet points. So how long should YOUR professional summary be? If you have relevant work experience, keep your summary to one or two paragraphs. The piece you really want the hiring manager to read is your most recent work experience (and you should make sure you tailored that info to fit the job description). The resume summary is just a “bridge” to get the hiring manager into your experience.

If I were writing my own career summary right now, I’d likely use one single paragraph packed with skills, accomplishments, and exactly why I’m ready to step into the job I’ve applied for and be successful!

Even for a manager resume summary, I recommend a very short length. However, if you’re changing careers, or you’re looking for jobs without any work experience , the summary section needs to stand on its own, and should be longer. That’s why some examples above are a bit longer.

Formatting Your Resume/CV Career Summary

You may have noticed a variety of different formats in the career summary examples above. There isn’t one “right” way to format this section on your resume or CV. However, I recommend either using one or two brief paragraphs, or combining a short sentence or paragraph with bullets. Avoid writing three or four long paragraphs with no special formatting like bullet points. That’s simply too much text for your summary section and will cause recruiters and hiring managers to skip over it in some cases.

Should You Include a Resume Objective?

You do not need to include an objective on your resume, and doing so can make your resume appear outdated. Use a resume summary instead of an objective. Follow the resume summary examples above and focus on discussing your skills, qualifications, and achievements, rather than stating your objective. Employers know that your objective is to obtain the position you’ve applied for, and the resume objective has no place on a modern resume/CV in today’s job market.

Examples of Bad Resume Summaries

Now that we’ve seen a few exemplary resume summaries, let’s look at some that you should avoid at all cost.

1. Typos and Grammatical Errors

“Experienced cashier who knows how to run the register cash. Responsible with the money and can talk with the customer. Knows when to stoc up the invenory and checks it all the time. Can count change and run credit card tranactions. Get the customer happy by good service. I am always cheerful and organized.”

Why this resume summary is bad:

If you read the summary carefully, you’ll notice several spelling errors. The words “stock,” “inventory,” and “transactions” are all spelled wrong. Grammatical errors make the summary choppy and difficult to follow (“Get the customer happy by good service”).  A summary like this probably won’t fly with a company looking for a detail-oriented cashier responsible for managing in-person sales.

2. Lacks Relevant Keywords

“Talented worker with experience managing a team of staff. Creative and responsible with knowledge of organizational processes. Can keep up with the busiest of environments. Stays focused when at work, ensuring prompt task completion. Dependable and willing to collaborate with a team to get things done.”  

In this example, the chef doesn’t use keywords relevant to cooking, restaurants, or kitchens. The summary is very generic and can apply to nearly any job. A manager who receives the application isn’t likely to understand what value the candidate can bring to the restaurant.  To fix the summary, the applicant must rewrite it to include relevant keywords and phrases. 

3. No Numbers to Quantify Achievements

“An experienced and hardworking manager ready to align procedures for maximum revenue and profits. Proven track record of streamlining and strengthening processes, resulting in higher sales and better customer satisfaction. Collaborate well with sales team members, ensuring they have the resources and knowledge to support customer purchases and inquiries. Develop strong rapport with clients and maintain ongoing relationships.”

This isn’t a terrible summary for a sales manager, but it has room for improvement. For one, the first two sentences essentially duplicate each other, mentioning an aptitude for improving processes with the objective of higher sales. The other issue is a lack of quantifying achievements. 

The applicant mentions they have a proven record of increasing sales, but they could strengthen the summary by quantifying their results. For example, they might say, “Proven track record of streamlining and strengthening processes, resulting in a 25% increase in sales over the past year.” The quantifier provides additional credibility. 

4. Not Targeting the Specific Job

“Looking for work in a role that requires great customer service, project management, and communication skills. Able to collaborate with people from diverse and varying backgrounds. Highly organized and reliable worker with a strong work ethic. Responsible and reliable worker you can count on.”

While the candidate lists various skills they have, including customer service and project management, there’s no indication of prior roles held or what position they’re applying for. The summary could apply to numerous positions in a variety of industries. To improve the resume summary, the applicant must specify the job they’re applying for and indicate their prior experience in a similar role, if they have any.

After You Start Getting Interviews, Make Sure to Take Advantage…

If you follow the advice above, you’ll have a great professional resume summary to make your qualifications stand out to employers. But landing the interview is only half the battle… So make sure you go into every interview ready to convince employers that they should hire you, too! If you write a great resume summary example that gets employers excited to interview you, they’re going to ask you questions like, “tell me about yourself” early in the interview to learn more about your background. So make sure you’re prepared with an answer.

I also recommend you review the top 20 interview questions and answers here.

Your resume caught their interest, so naturally, they’re going to follow up with a variety of questions to learn more about your professional background.

The bottom line is: A strong professional resume summary, followed up by other well-written resume sections will get you the interview, but your interview performance is what determines whether you get the job offer!

About the Author

Read more articles by Biron Clark

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I would recommend to customise the skills section of your resume, and ensure that it matches the job posting. The higher the number of phrases within the resume matching the job requirements the more are the chances that the recruiter will pick you for the job.

I just wanted to say, “thank you!”. This was very helpful. Instead of jumping from one website to the next there’s so much useful, relevant information right here.

Hi, I have been having trouble creating a resume as My old one is so long, I’ve worked for a government agency for the past 14 years and held multiple positions doing many different duties for each and now I have to relocate to another area where they do not have an agency like mine in my new area within a 3 hour drive, how can I squeeze all my experience and duties on one page and where do I even start, I’m so nervous, it’s been so long since I’ve attempted the job hunt. So I’m wondering, I do not want to cut anything out that may hurt my chances and I can’t afford to have my resume rewritten by a professional. Can you guide me as to where you think would be a good place to start, I’ve been staring at this laptop for weeks trying to decide on a resume template, there are so many. I thank you for your time and any input will help.

Hi, I am a new graduate and do not have any experience in my field which is Nursing. I want to apply for the jobs but I have no idea about what to mention in my resume.

Hi, this article should help with the resume summary, at least: https://careersidekick.com/summary-for-resume-no-experience/

Other than that, you need to put your academic experience. And internships/part-time jobs if you’ve had any.

Dear Biron,, Thanks for sharing the 10 examples of professional summaries in your article, and especially the reasons why they were considered to be good. However, as a HR professional, I would most likely skip over most of them and would not read much past the first or second sentence. The summaries were mostly too wordy and boring, and did not demonstrate ‘oomph’ at first cursory reading. Simply indicating certain skills or behaviors does not give an idea of the level of expertise, and could simply be wishful thinking on the part of the resume writer.

Just goes to show that there are many ways to see what makes a good summary.

I am a chemical engineer and project management professional with 15+years experience. My experience is between process engineering and project management . How can I marry the two in my profile summary?

It’s not about showing everything you’ve done. It’s about showing employers evidence you’ll succeed in their job. You can show a bit of both but focus heavily on what’s most relevant for the jobs you’re applying for right now. 80/20.

This was absolutely helpful and amazing! Thank you very much!

Hello, I am an active job seeker. I hold a law degree from a foreign country and currently in college for an associate degree. My question is, how do I blend both my foreign job experience with that of the United States in my resume. Thank you.

I’d put your work history in chronological order, starting with the most recent up top. That’s what I’d recommend for 95% of people actually. Then it doesn’t matter where you held each job.

And then in your Education section, I’d include your foreign degree and the current degree you’re pursuing in the US, too (for the US degree, you can say “in progress” or “graduating May 2019” for example).

I am 40 years old & B.A degree holder I have experience in many fields.I would like to join any one fields

I am a fresh graduate, who has five years teaching experience and some months customer service representative experience. Pls kindly assist me to put the resume summary together

I’m an active duty service member and finding in a little difficult creating a good transitional summary from 20 year profession in tactical communications to a drug and alcohol counselor. Do you have any recommendations how I should approach this? Any assistance would be helpful. Thanks

Great piece

How to write the CAREER ABSTRACT in resume for ware super visor retail business?

Just wanted to say thank you.Your advise and information was clear and easy to understand , sometimes there is nothing pertaining to what im looking fot in particular, buy you have sermed to cover everything I n a short quick easy to understand method.It will help tremendously.

Thanks! Glad to hear it helped :)

Very informational

What if you have work experience, but the job your going for(teachingeducation) has nothing to do with warehouse work? How should I build my resume?

In the summary, describe yourself and then say, “…looking to transition into ___” (the type of work you want to be doing now).

This is a bit like a resume “Objective”. I normally don’t recommend an Objective section (and I recommend a Summary section instead), however the one time an Objective does make sense is when you’re trying to change industries or make a big change in the type of role you have.

So that’s why my advice here might seem like I’m telling you to combine an Objective with your resume Summary.

Then “tailor” your previous work to be as relevant as possible. Even if you worked in a different industry you can still show things like leadership, accountability, progress/improvement, hard work, achieving goals, strong teamwork skills, etc. You can do all of that in your resume bullets and work history.

Don’t u have Resume Summary of legal secretary/legal assistant?

No, sorry about that. There are hundreds of different professions/job titles, and we aren’t able to include an example for every scenario out there. These resume summary examples are designed to give you a general idea of how to write yours.

The summaries listed are excellent example and have helped me develop a stand out summary for a new position.

Hello, I been trying to land the job of my dreams. I need help with my resume if i want the recruiters in airlines to notice me. I’ve applied before but haven’t had complete success to making it to a face-to Face Interview. It is a career change – yet i feel i am a great candidate bc i have had many customer service and I even attended an academy for that specific position. Can you please tell me what I am doing wrong on my resume ?

what if i never had a job experience?

Great question. If you don’t have any work experience, take one of the formats/examples above and put your accomplishments and qualifications from your academic studies.

Your headline could say: “Motivated Bio-Sciences Graduate With Expertise in ____”.

And then you might talk about accomplishments in school, group projects you worked on or led, etc.

Basically, when you have no work experience, your school/studies BECOMES your recent work. You should talk about that like it’s a job, because that’s the experience you do have.

really amazing article and too useful , thanks

Hi Mr. Clark, I have been out of the work force for about 18+years and I have been a small business owner for the same number of years. However, I want to go back to the work force. But my problem is that, I don’t know how to prepare my resume or resume summary statement. I had a degree in Communication,Arts and Sciences and a postgraduate degree in Public Administration. I’m a bit confused as to how to incorporate all these experiences into my resume. Please can you help?

Hi Dorothy, I can recommend a professional resume writer if you want. But they’re typically not cheap, so it’s something you’d have to be willing to invest in. If not, there’s a lot of free info online about how to “tailor” your resume for specific jobs. I can’t help one-on-one unfortunately, but I’d recommend thinking about which type of jobs you want, and think of what experience you have that is most relevant. that’s what to put on your resume. Your resume isn’t only about you, it’s about them – what do they want/need? (if you want to get a ton of interviews, that’s how to do it :) ).

Can I have a professional resume writer?

I use a similar format when writing my opening statement for my coverletter. How do you recommend differentiating the two? Or is it ok to use largely the same language?

I think it’s okay to use something similar. I might be more brief in the cover letter… it needs to be about them just as much as it’s about you. Whereas the resume is all about you, at least in the summary section. (The later sections should still be tailored to THEIR needs..)

Struggling to write a Summary Statement for a Secretary/Administrative Assistant position. I have 15 years government experience but have been away from the government since 9/1993 and have spent 15 years as a Substitute Teacher after taking off for 10 years to raise my children.

Hiya! I am a mother of three attempting to return to the workforce. I have been a stay at mom for about 13 years, so I have a (large) gap in my employment history; which doesn’t look great. I have a college education and have obtained a few certifications whilst not employed, plus many volunteer hours. I know that I should probably use a functional resume format. Would love some advice on what I should include in my summary statement.

Hi Juniper,

I rarely like functional resumes, but it might be worth trying. I’d “split-test” it (a marketing term). Create two resume styles, send out 50% one way, 50% the other way, and track results for a week.

I’d treat the resume summary statement just like any other resume. Highlight your skills and past wins/accomplishments.

how do i explain long term gaps in employment? leave them out?

Hi Paulette,

Don’t mention them on a resume summary. But do mention the gaps on a cover letter or lower down on the resume. Here’s an article on how to explain gaps in employment:

https://careersidekick.com/explaining-gaps-in-employment/

I am student in civil engineering field. Have 1.5 yrs of work ex. How should i structure my resume. Thanks.

Hello My name is Shataka and I’m a current job seeker trying to land my dream job as a Counselor. I have Master degree in Counseling Psychology and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. My experience lies in many different fields. I’m currently a Substance Abuse Counselor, with a teaching background and over 5 years of social service experience. I guess my question is how would I sum up all my experience to help me find a job as a Counselor.

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A working parent's summer survival guide: overcome the summer scramble.

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Randi Braun, CEO of Something Major, is the Wall Street Journal Bestselling author of Something Major: The New Playbook for Women at Work.

What do you think about when you think about the summer?

Personally, my brain flashes through a pre-kids montage of idyllic days spent on the beach and nights spent having barbecues and Italian ices on my native Long Island.

Thinking about summer nearly a decade into working parenthood, my brain goes to a very different place: calendars, camp drop-offs and Hunger-Games-level jockeying to get my kids into those camps (and the hefty credit card bill that comes with it) just so they have care during the day. All while I have less work time, and a schedule that changes day to day and week to week.

The "Summer Scramble" Hits Working Moms Harder

According to Stanford University , that change in routine—or what I’ve called the "summer scramble" for many years in my house—is systemic. It’s not just an issue in my family or yours, but a labor force issue affecting moms disproportionately compared to dads.

While the research shows that caregivers of all genders reduce working hours in the summer (note: mostly due to childcare demands, not fabulous vacations, no matter what TikTok says) those drops in caregiver participation in the workforce hit moms hardest, with "the steepest drops in summer employment...among moms with young school-age children, who require substantial supervision." Drops in women’s employment, the research shows, are "tightly synchronized with the start and duration of school summer breaks."

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Adding insult to injury, the research also concludes that this drop in women’s participation and productivity during the summer season, particularly in the form of unpaid time off or leaving the workforce permanently or temporarily, contributes to the long-term gender gap in lifetime earnings and adversely impacts women’s promotion potential.

Yes, this is a systemic issue that requires systemic solutions, but it’s not going to be solved before the 4th of July.

That’s why every working parent—especially moms—needs a Summer Survival Guide to make the most of the season. I’ve included three strategies to help caregivers transform their summer scramble into summer sanity (Italian ices optional, but highly recommended).

1. Audit Your Calendar

The best way to get ahead of the summer scramble on your calendar is to audit it:

• On what days/weeks do you have care gaps that need to be plugged?

• What summer-specific work and personal or family commitments do you need to plan around, and have you started that process?

• What times of day, or days of the week, do you have standing work commitments that are fine during the school year but conflict with summer parenting duties?

• What are the things that make summer feel fun, and how/when will you get them on your calendar?

It sounds really simple, but many of us avoid asking these questions because the answers are so overwhelmingly stressful.

Sitting down with your calendar, alongside your partner, co-parent or any relevant day-to-day caregiving stakeholders in your family is essential to understanding your family's care/work gaps so you can make a plan to fill them in advance (instead of stressing out when the calendar reminder for your all-hands meeting pops up while you're in the carpool line).

2. Make A Game Plan

Took your audit even though it was scary and overwhelming? Fabulous! Now you can make a plan.

• Plug care holes. Actively build out your care infrastructure to fill them, and don’t be shy about relying on others, whether that means asking a friend or neighbor to carpool, paying the high-schooler down the block to babysit for an hour or relying on family (something that has never been an option for us, as the closest grandparents live 250+ miles away).

• Don’t make individual decisions, build systems. Rather than playing whack-a-mole every single day, systematize a new schedule, understanding who is "on" for which commitments. For example, who does drop-offs or pick-ups on what days? Who is responsible for watching the kids between 8am and 9am or 3pm and 6pm?

• Make adjustments at work and communicate about them in advance. Instead of being consistently late or flakey for three months, determine what adjustments you need to make to your hours, in-office days or even specific meetings (e.g., does your monthly team meeting work when your kids are in school but not when they’re out?) and co-design a plan with your supervisor or other stakeholders in advance.

• Prioritize your own self-care. Every single study out there has concluded that taking time for ourselves is good for us—our productivity, happiness, health and parenting. So combat the urge to tell yourself, "I just need to get through this season" and make a plan (as I wrote about recently ) so you can enjoy the season of longer days.

Yes, plans will change, but having them builds structure and predictability into your routine.

3. Release Yourself From Guilt

It’s not your fault the system wasn't designed to support parents (especially working moms), so don't take that on as your personal guilt trip; it will sap your joy and your energy.

More specifically, don't take the failures of the system as a referendum on your parenting. Hold yourself to the standard of doing the best you can, making your kids feel loved and doing good work. That is enough.

To that end, don’t fall prey to FOPO, Fear of Other People’s Opinions. It can be tempting to compare yourself to others or worry about what others think of you. You are doing the best you can and have nothing to prove to anybody. Period.

Make plans to enjoy your summer as a family and manage reasonable expectations around them: What are the fun things you want to do with your kids? Remember, whether it’s playing catch, grabbing an ice cream or going on a vacation, it’s not all going to be Instagrammable. Hold yourself to the standard of being present, not picture-perfect.

The summer can be an absolute scramble, but it doesn’t have to be when we take charge of our priorities, calendars and goals.

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