Crafting a Powerful Personal Statement for Your Professional School Application
Your personal statement can help distinguish you from other applicants and make you stand out to the admissions committee. When applying to health science programs, graduate schools or other professional education opportunities, this essential part offers a unique glimpse into who you are beyond grades and test scores.
“This is a narrative. This is an abbreviated memoir of your life,” says Lauren Plum, PT, DPT, director of Clinical Education and assistant professor of Physical Therapy at Creighton. “It is one of the only times in the application process that you can put things in your own words and tell your story.”
Faculty and staff who review thousands of applications for graduate health science programs share tips on creating personal statements that stand out positively.
Understanding Program-Specific Approaches
How Different Health Science Programs Evaluate Personal Statements
While the core principles of strong personal statements stay the same across health science programs, each field has its own nuances and expectations.
“PT has one general question that everyone asks. And it’s basically about what skills do you have that are going to make you a good PT,” explains Jessica Richardson, associate director of Recruitment at Creighton.
However, programs do include supplemental questions that allow for more targeted responses. Richardson notes that occupational therapy programs often ask not just “why OT” but “why Creighton’s OTD program specifically. The OT admissions committee finds a lot of importance in making sure that the student has done their research about the program that they’re applying for, making sure that the goals that they want to achieve align with our values and our mission.”
Pharmacy programs take a different approach, asking candidates to explain their choice of pathway and their readiness for doctoral-level work. “What is their plan for transitioning into a doctoral program? What skills have they gained as they move from perhaps working full-time to now being in a full-time doctoral program?” Richardson explains.
Telling Your Story: The Heart of the Personal Statement
Let Your Personality Shine
Your personal statement is a rare opportunity to show admissions committees who you are beyond grades and credentials. “This is where they get to be as creative and as personal as they can possibly get,” says Richardson. “I tell them this is where they get to tell their story.”
Erin Young, OTD, OTR/L, BCPR, assistant professor of Occupational Therapy at Creighton, emphasizes, “This is really the student’s opportunity to let their personality shine through. If we see signs within that personal statement that a student is motivated, would work well on a group project, has persevered through some difficulties in their life and demonstrates leadership. There are so many ways that students can let their personality shine through.”
Plum emphasizes, “We don’t want copycats of the same personality. We look for different strengths that students can bring to the program and their classmates.”
Share Your “Why”
Personal statements should clearly explain why you’ve chosen your specific healthcare path.
Richardson addresses a common challenge: “A very high percentage of PT students become PT students because they got hurt when they were in high school playing sports. They loved their PT. It was a big part of their journey, and then now they want to become a PT. But now, you have to tell us what has happened since then.”
“Help us understand why PT is the choice for you and nothing else,” says Plum.
Colin Truhe, assistant director of Business Career programs in the John P. Fahey Career Center and a former senior admissions counselor in the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions at Creighton, emphasizes the importance of finding that defining moment: “I want to hear that light bulb moment. We want to find that aha experience that made that light flip on.”
Show Your Understanding of the Profession
Your “why” often naturally reveals your understanding of the profession. Whether through reflections on shadowing experiences or personal encounters with healthcare professionals, your statement should demonstrate genuine understanding.
Young explains that in personal statements, we want to see a clear passion, a clear ‘why’ behind choosing the profession, and an understanding of it. This understanding develops when you describe meaningful experiences and reflect on interactions with practitioners in your field.
Responding to the Prompt With Depth and Reflection
Address the Question—Then Go Deeper
Most graduate and professional programs provide specific prompts for personal statements. Your main focus is to answer what’s asked, but memorable statements go beyond surface-level responses. “I think the ones that have stood out to me are folks who have dug deep, gone beyond simply answering a question with a yes or no,” Plum continues. “They provided some details of what they were describing and then went deeper to explain the significance of that in their life.”
Richardson emphasizes, “I tell them quality over quantity. If you feel like somebody is reading your story, and they get a full picture of your passion for the world of PT, that’s the most important thing.”
Use Storytelling Effectively
Stories create connections and make your statement memorable.
Young recalls a memorable applicant. “He talked about his brother, who has autism and how OT can impact not just the individual but also whole family units. It’s just like, ‘Oh, he gets it. He understands what we do.’”
Plum shares a similar example: “One of the most recent examples was a student who talked about their sibling and how their sibling’s challenges had inspired them to become a physical therapist. You went through the full range of human emotion reading that.”
Connect Your Experiences to Your Future
The most effective personal statements bridge your past experiences with your professional aspirations, showing a clear path forward.
Richardson shares an example of unique career transitions: “We have a student in our Regis OT pathway who has been a meteorologist for one of the news stations. His son has been going through some occupational therapy resources. And while working with them, he was like, ‘Well, this is a field I want to go into,’ so he got into some observation hours and wanted to dive in to see, and now he’s become an OT.”
“Very strong ability to connect his life experience with why he wants to be an OT,” Young recalls from a standout application. This connection demonstrates reflection and purposeful career choice—qualities professional programs value.
What Makes a Personal Statement Stand Out?
Authenticity and Self-Awareness
Admissions committees can spot inauthenticity. Your statement should reflect your genuine voice and demonstrate self-awareness.
Young remembers an applicant with a lower GPA who stood out: “He very humbly shared his family’s situation, and the impact it had on his whole family. He made no excuses. He just said, ‘I had to prioritize my family at that time, and now I’m able to prioritize myself and my education.’”
What made this applicant especially compelling was that, in addition to his personal story, he worked at an outpatient therapy clinic with OTs and PTs for the last two years. “So he definitely knows OT from that. And not just that, but interdisciplinary, how does OT work with PT as well,” Young explains. His combination of personal experience and professional exposure showed both understanding and aptitude that went beyond grades.
Compassion and Empathy
When asked if compassion and empathy should be reflected in personal statements, Plum responded: “Definitely. It’s something that we look for. I think it tells us a lot about that person’s ability to connect with patients in a meaningful way. We don’t want just to be healthcare practitioners. We want to build those relationships with our patients.”
Appropriate Depth and Length
Your statement should be substantive enough to convey your journey and qualities.
“If they’re very short, like we’ve had some submitted where it’s like a paragraph or two paragraphs, that’s not sufficient,” Young explains. “We would expect more depth, more reflection in a personal statement than a paragraph or two would be able to provide.”
Writing Authentically
Richardson emphasizes genuine storytelling: “For some of my very Type A students, it needs to be very strict and proper everything. And I tell them, this is your opportunity to tell your story. It’s the heart of your story.”
What to Avoid in Your Personal Statement
While understanding what to include is crucial, knowing what to avoid can be equally important for applicants to graduate health programs.
A Resume in Paragraph Form
“It is not a recap of your resume or CV,” Plum cautions. Young echoes this: “It should be information that we can’t find elsewhere in your application.”
AI-Generated Content
Faculty and staff can identify AI-generated statements which lack authentic personality.
“Admissions committees can tell when it’s a chatbot, or it’s a basic ‘I want to help people’ kind of answer,” Richardson notes. “The ones that mean a lot to admissions committees are their personal experiences and their passion for that field.”
Supplemental Questions: Optional but Important
Beyond the main personal statement, most application systems include supplemental questions that address specific aspects of your application. Richardson explains that PT, OT and pharmacy programs offer optional questions, including one that asks about academic performance, which may not fully reflect your abilities.
“I think a lot of times people don’t want to answer that question because they feel like it’s a red flag,” Richardson notes. “But that’s the point—to tell us the why, not just that you failed, but what happened, what you learned and we should see improvement.”
Her advice: “If it’s optional and you have a story for it, don’t read it as optional.”
The Bigger Picture: Your Statement in Context
Remember that your statement is part of a holistic application process.
“There is no one thing that gets a student admitted to a program,” Plum emphasizes. “There are many things that we look at, and the personal statement is one of them.”
Richardson emphasizes the importance of programs that genuinely review applications holistically. “When you are researching schools, and they have a description of having a holistic admission approach, that should be music to a student’s ears because that means that regardless of whatever’s in your application, it’s going to be read no matter what.”
Truhe adds, “It’s a gateway to the profession. You’re essentially auditioning and trying to convince them that you’re going to be a competent OT or you’re going to be a strong PT.”
As you craft your personal statement for professional school applications, remember that this is your opportunity to speak directly to the admissions committee. Be genuine, specific and reflective. Show them not just what you’ve done but who you are and why you belong in your chosen health science profession.
