个人陈述
大多数奖学金申请都需要一份个人陈述. 术语和具体要求各不相同, 但一般来说，它们是用来传达的, 大约1分钟后,000个单词, 你是谁, 什么样的经历塑造了你, 还有你接下来想做什么. As you're learning about the different fellowships you may be interested in applying for, 注意其具体要求的差异. 在你的申请过程中, you'll want to leave yourself plenty of time to tailor your essay to fit the particular fellowship you're applying for. 但是在这个过程的开始, you shouldn't worry about a Marshall statement versus a Rhodes statement versus a Mellon statement: you should be thinking of your task as simply to write your statement.
开始
如何开始? 开始! 尽早并经常起草. Draft and redraft, revise, throw away, start over, and then maybe you'll be getting somewhere. 听起来令人沮丧? 这不是故意的. This process can be incredibly illuminating and a pleasure in its own right—assuming you're not under tremendous time pressures as you're doing it. 因此，及早开始很重要!
在这个过程的早期阶段, it's important to keep before you the three crucial questions: Who are you? 你是怎么变成现在这样的人的? 你接下来想做什么?之后又想做什么? 最终, 你是谁 should mostly be implied by what you say in addressing the other two questions—and just as importantly, 怎么说?.
此外，这些由协会内部人士撰写的指南提供了一个 useful distillation of the characteristics of successful personal statements. 阅读它们，打印出来，当你有疑问的时候参考它们.
我的陈述应该多“个人化”?
The personal statement can be a bit of misnomer: it's relatively easy to get too personal in these essays! Fellowship selection committees are interested in your development as a thinker, 读者, 作家, 实干家, 领袖. 所有这些术语都应该被表示出来，尽管不是平等的. If you're a literary critic who will someday lead a scholarly revolution by publishing a groundbreaking book on the little-known 作家 Anna Kavan, 然后你要强调思考, 阅读, 和写作. But you're also going to need to demonstrate a genuine interest in and ability at influencing others. If, 另一方面, 你想改变这个国家公共教育的运作方式, 你会更加强调做事和领导. 但你仍然需要展示其他人的工作方式, 至少有一些是作家和学者, 是否塑造并启发了你的激情背后的思想.
初稿
Early in the process, ignore the 1000-word limit (that's about 4-5 pages, double-spaced). If it seems too daunting, just write 2 pages; if too constrictive, go ahead and write 8. 最终, 1000字的限制并没有什么神奇之处, but it seems to have emerged as a form long enough for you to say something meaningful and short enough for selection committees to read without going crazy!
在早期膨胀阶段, think—and write—about the significant experiences of your life thus far—and especially your life as a college student. 哪些课程对你对所在领域的思考影响最大, 以及你对自己在这个领域的看法? 什么书? 你做了什么工作——无论是写作, 研究, 实验, 一个演示, a实习安置, 等? What connections exist between two or more of these significant experiences? How do your plans for future study and work in the field emerge from and build on what you’ve done before?
到这个时候，对于一篇1000字的文章来说，你可能有太多的材料了. 这里需要一定程度的修辞技巧. 很多个人陈述都是以“啊哈”开头的!或者“我找到了。!瞬间——描述一切事物都井然有序的时刻, 联系变得清晰, 你看到了一些重要的、新的、属于你自己的东西出现了. Using the description of a moment like that works because it can simultaneously be presented as a typical moment and an exceptional one. It represents who you always are—a student of literature—and 你是谁 at your best—a deeply insightful critic and 作家.
让读者想要了解更多
以那种方式, the personal statement is a snapshot of your life; it allows you to show rather than tell. 它会引起读者的好奇心——甚至是悬念. 它应该让你的读者想见你, after all most of these fellowships include interviews in the second round of the selection process. 如果你被选中参加面试, you'll probably realize drafting all those personal statements didn't just help you get an interview—it will also help you do well in the interview!
编辑与反馈
You’re definitely going to need some help and feedback as you go through this process. Once you’ve got something coherent that discusses some specific experiences and outlines what you want to do next, 是时候寻求反馈了. 如果你给他们足够的时间, most faculty are happy to read personal statements and give you comments, 书面的或亲自的. Ask a few different people: someone you've worked closely with in the past, 在你感兴趣的领域工作的人, 一个完全不同学科的人. 写作中心 还有别的好地方吗. 最后, I am more than happy to read and give feedback on personal statements at any stage of the process.
在布林莫尔有内部舞台的奖学金, 导致机构提名, members of the 奖学金 Committee on campus will generally have some comments on your personal statement. They may give you these comments themselves; otherwise, I will pass them on to you when we meet briefly after your on-campus interview.
Note: For fellowships where the number of nominees from Bryn Mawr is limited, 我仍然很乐意提供反馈. However, until our nominees are selected, my feedback will remain on a fairly general level.
确定并描述你的目标
而大多数研究员都想知道你去过哪里, they vary greatly in terms of what they want to know about where you're going. 因此，很难给出标准的建议. Coming up with a good well-informed proposal for a course of study and 研究 requires a lot more than just introspection. You're going to have to do a lot of 研究, and you're going to have seek a lot of advice. 在这方面，也要趁早开始! The Rhodes and especially the Marshall websites have links to good resources for study in Britain. The Fulbright and Watson require you to take more initiative in learning about your options. 申请美国研究生奖学金.S. (the Mellon, the NSF), faculty in your department are your best initial sources of advice.
最后编辑
不要忽视最后的修饰. 一旦你基本上有了它，它仍然没有完全完成. 就像你起草和重新起草一样，你需要编辑和重新编辑. 你编辑的不仅仅是错误和错误, 虽然你肯定想纠正这些错误, 但是对于抛光. 去掉无用的词和模糊、无意义的句子. 摆脱陈词滥调. 寻找单词的重复, 句子结构——如果重复是有意的和有效的, 保持它. 如果不是，重新措辞. This is what you should be doing a week from the deadline—not writing the statement, but simply ensuring that it’s the best possible statement that you can submit.
最后, 即使你没能赢得奖学金, you should have a portrait of yourself as you are on the verge of the rest of your intellectual life. 这是一份你想要保存的文件. When that first year of graduate school—or that first year of writing your dissertation—or that first year of working for that nonprofit—starts to seem meaningless and wrong, 回顾一下你的个人陈述. It may help you understand anew what you're doing—or it may help you see what you want to change