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• How To Write Your Undergraduate Personal Statement

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• How to start a personal statement: The attention grabber

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• Introducing the personal statement tool
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What to include in a personal statement

• Using AI and ChatGPT to help you with your personal statement
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What's on this page?

What’s a personal statement, preparing to write your personal statement, how to open your personal statement, your personal skills and achievements, work experience and future plans.

An undergraduate personal statement is a chance to get noticed for the unique talents and experiences you have. It’s an important part of the application process as it’s an opportunity to talk about yourself and your passions, outside of your grades.  

In this article, we’re going to talk you through how to write an undergraduate personal statement that stands out, without leaving you feeling overwhelmed.

Chloe Ng, HE Career Coach, Manchester Metropolitan University

You’ll have heard the saying preparation is key, and that’s no different when you’re tackling your personal statement. There are two things to think about when you’re planning. The practical and factual information you need to get across, and the more emotional, human parts of you that make you different to everyone else.  

Before you start writing, take some time to think about the key things you’d want an admissions tutor to know about you, and get them down on paper. Don’t worry too much about making your notes perfect – this is more about making sure you know why you should be offered a place.

You can also look at the course description as this’ll help you with what to include and give you a good idea of what each uni is looking for. 

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Here are a few questions you can answer to help you get started:.

• Why have you chosen this course?
• What excites you about the subject? 
• Is my previous or current study relevant to the course?
• Have you got any work experience that might help you?
• What life experiences have you had that you could talk about?
• What achievements are you proud of?
• What skills do you have that make you perfect for the course?
• What plans and ambitions do you have for your future career?

Admissions Tutors will be reading a lot of personal statements so it’s important to grab their attention right from the start. 

Remember, it can only be 4,000 characters, which is about two sides of A4. So, you’ll need to use your words wisely to fit everything in.

You can find a full guide on How to start a personal statement: the attention grabber , but here are the main things to think about . 

• Don’t overthink the opening. Just start by showing your enthusiasm for the subject, showcasing your knowledge and understanding, and sharing your ambitions of what you want to achieve.
• Avoid cliches! Remember, this opening part is simply about introducing yourself, so let the admissions tutor reading your personal statement get to know you. 
• Keep it relevant and simple. You’re limited on how much you can include so avoid long-winded explanations. Why use 20 words when 10 can make your point? 

Annabell Price, L’Oréal degree apprentice (Professional Products Division)

Next, you’ll need to write about your personal skills and achievements. Universities like to know the abilities you have that’ll help you on the course, or generally with life at university.

Don’t forget to include evidence to back up why you’re so excited about the course(s) you’ve chosen.

• Be bold and talk about the achievements you’re proud of.
• Include positions of responsibility you hold, or have held, both in and out of school.
• What are the things that make you interesting, special, or unique? 

Your work experience and future plans are important to include. You should share details of jobs, placements, work experience, or voluntary work, particularly if it's relevant to your course. 

• Try to link any experience to skills or qualities that’ll make you successful.
• If you know what you’d like to do after as a career, explain how you plan to use the knowledge and experience that you’ll gain to launch your career.

It’s always good to connect the beginning of your statement to the end and a great way to reinforce what you said at the start.

You want to see the ending as your chance to finish in a way that’ll make the admissions tutor remember you. 

This final part of your personal statement should emphasise the great points you’ve already made and answer the question of why you should be offered a place on the course. 

Read our full guide on How to finish your statement the right way.  

The personal statement tool image

Don’t be tempted to copy or share your statement.

UCAS scans all personal statements through a similarity detection system to compare them with previous statements.

Any similarity greater than 30% will be flagged and we'll inform the universities and colleges to which you have applied. 

Find out more

Want to read more.

Check out our full list of Personal Statement Dos and Don’ts

See how you can use a personal statement beyond a university application

Now you’ve written your undergraduate personal statement, you’ll need to do a couple of final things before you submit it. 

• Have you proofread it?

Don’t just rely on spellcheckers. We’d recommend reading it out loud as that’s a great way to spot any errors as well as checking it sounds like you. 

• Have you asked for feedback?

Ask friends, family or a careers advisor to have a read through your personal statement and take their feedback on board.

Want more advice on your personal statement? Use the links below.

More advice

Use the UCAS’ personal statement tool alongside this guide to help you structure your ideas. Are you interested in how you can turn you Personal Statement into your CV?  Read our advice here

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• Knowledge Base
• Applying to graduate school
• 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.

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How to write a UCAS personal statement

Writing a great personal statement

Read our guide on what it is, what to include, how to start, length and what makes a good personal statement 

Once you've decided which universities and courses to apply for, completing your application is pretty simple – until it comes to how to write your UCAS personal statement.

This guide covers everything you need to know about how to write a personal statement for university. We look at what it is and how you can start your personal statement. We've also got questions to guide you and a suggested personal statement structure you can use so you know what to put in it.

If you'd like even more resources, support and UCAS personal statement examples, you can sign up to access our personal statement hub .

What is the UCAS personal statement?

How universities use your ucas personal statement, how to start a ucas personal statement.

• Get feedback on your UCAS personal statement

The personal statement is part of your UCAS application. It's how you show your chosen universities why you'll make a great student and why they should make you an offer.

Your personal statement also helps you think about your choice of course and your reasons for applying, so you know you’ve made the right decision.

Get feedback on your personal statement

Sign up to our personal statement hub to get feedback on your draft. You'll also get access to videos, help sheets and more tips.

Sign up now

UCAS personal statement word limit

Your personal statement length can be up to 4,000 characters long. 

This may sound a lot, but it's a word limit of around 550–1000 words with spaces and only about 1 side of typed A4 paper.

You need to keep it concise and make sure it's clear and easy to read.

Applying for multiple courses

Although you can apply for up to 5 courses on your UCAS application, you can only submit 1 personal statement. So it needs to cover all your course choices.

If you really want to show your commitment to applying for different courses, we will accept a second personal statement from you to reflect your application e.g. if you are applying for Law elsewhere, but Criminology and Criminal Justice with us.

Lots of students who apply to university have achieved the basic entry requirements and many more students apply than there are places available. Admissions teams can use your UCAS personal statement to get to know you and decide why you're more suitable than other applicants.

Some universities read every personal statement and score them. Then they use them alongside your qualifications and grades to decide whether to offer you a place or interview. Other universities put less emphasis on the personal statement and use it with students who have borderline entry requirements.

Universities might refer to your personal statement again on results day if you don't get the grades you need. So a good personal statement could clinch you a uni place even if your grades aren't what you hoped for.

Starting your personal statement can seem scary when you're staring at a blank screen. But, things will seem less daunting once you start.

• Set aside some time in a place where you're comfortable and won't be disturbed. Grab a notepad or computer.
• Write down anything and everything that's influenced your decision to go to university and study your chosen subject. Jot down your skills and experience too.
• Use the questions below to guide you. Don't worry about the personal statement length at this point – you can cut things out later.

When to start your UCAS personal statement

Ideally, you want to leave yourself plenty of time – a few weeks or even months – to plan and write your personal statement.

Try not to leave it to the last minute, as tempting as this may seem when you've got so many other things to think about.

Questions to guide you

Your motivation.

• Why do you want to study at university?
• Why do you want to study this subject?
• How did you become interested in this subject?
• What career do you have in mind after university?

Academic ability and potential

• How have your current studies affected your choice?
• What do you enjoy about your current studies?
• What skills have you gained from your current studies?
• How can you demonstrate you have the skills and qualities needed for the course?
• What qualities and attributes would you bring to the course and university?

Your experience

• What work experience (including part-time, charity and volunteer work) do you have and what have you learnt from it?
• What positions of responsibility have you held? (For example, prefect, captain of a team or member of a committee)
• What relevant hobbies or interests do you have and what skills have they helped you develop?
• What transferable skills do you have, such as self motivation, team working, public speaking, problem solving and analytical thinking?

Research and reading

• How do you keep up with current affairs or news in your chosen subject?
• What journals or publications relevant to your chosen subject do you read?
• Which people have influenced you, such as artists, authors, philosophers or scientists?

Now it's time to write your personal statement using your notes. It's best to draft it on a computer, and remember to save it regularly.

You can copy and paste it into your UCAS application when you're happy with it.

Personal statement structure

While there's no set template for a personal statement, you may find it useful to follow this personal statement structure when you decide what to put in your statement.

What to include in a personal statement

• Reasons for choosing this subject(s)
• Current studies and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Experiences and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Interests and responsibilities and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Your future after university
• Summary including why you'll make a great student

Further tips for a good UCAS personal statement

• Use information on university websites and the UCAS website. This often includes the skills and qualities universities are looking for in applicants
• Ask friends, family and teachers to remind you of activities you've participated in. They might remember your successes better than you do
• Don’t include lists in your application, like a list of all your hobbies. Focus on 1 or 2 points and talk about them in depth to show their relevance to your application
• Explain and evidence everything. It’s easy to say you have a skill, but it's better to demonstrate it with an example of when and how you’ve used it
• Avoid clichéd lines such as ‘I've always wanted to be a teacher’ as it says nothing about your motivations or experiences
• If you’re applying for a joint degree or different subjects, give equal time to each area and try to find common aspects that show their similarities
• Never lie or plagiarise another statement – you'll be caught and it could result in your application being automatically rejected
• Proofread your personal statement by reading it out loud and ask friends, family or a teacher to check it for you

Sign up to our personal statement hub

Watch videos, get top tips and download our help sheets – that's what our personal statement hub is for. It's for you to write your story, so you can show your strengths, ideas and passion to your chosen universities.

You'll also be able send us your draft, so you can get feedback and feel confident about what you've written.

We are aware that this form may not be fully accessible. If you are experiencing technical issues which mean you cannot read the form, please contact  [email protected]  and we’ll provide a copy within 10 working days. Please also read our Website Accessibility Statement .

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How to Write an Amazing Personal Statement (Includes Examples!)

Lisa Freedland is a Scholarships360 writer with personal experience in psychological research and content writing. She has written content for an online fact-checking organization and has conducted research at the University of Southern California as well as the University of California, Irvine. Lisa graduated from the University of Southern California in Fall 2021 with a degree in Psychology.

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Zach Skillings is the Scholarships360 Newsletter Editor. He specializes in college admissions and strives to answer important questions about higher education. When he’s not contributing to Scholarships360, Zach writes about travel, music, film, and culture. His work has been published in Our State Magazine, Ladygunn Magazine, The Nocturnal Times, and The Lexington Dispatch. Zach graduated from Elon University with a degree in Cinema and Television Arts.

Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.

Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

The personal statement. It’s one of the most important parts of the entire college application process. This essay is the perfect opportunity to show admissions officers who you are and what makes you stand out from the crowd. But writing a good personal statement isn’t exactly easy. That’s why we’ve put together the ultimate guide on how to nail your personal statement, complete with example essays . Each essay was reviewed and commented upon by admissions expert Bill Jack. Let’s dive in!

Related: How to write an essay about yourself  

What is a personal statement? 

A personal statement is a special type of essay that’s required when you’re applying to colleges and scholarship programs. In this essay, you’re expected to share something about who you are and what you bring to the table. Think of it as a chance to reveal a side of yourself not found in the rest of your application. Personal statements are typically around 400 – 600 words in length. 

What can I write about? 

Pretty much anything, as long as it’s about you . While this is liberating in the sense that your writing options are nearly unlimited, it’s also overwhelming for the same reason. The good news is that you’ll probably be responding to a specific prompt. Chances are you’re applying to a school that uses the Common App , which means you’ll have seven prompts to choose from . Reviewing these prompts can help generate some ideas, but so can asking yourself meaningful questions. 

Below you’ll find a list of questions to ask yourself during the brainstorming process. For each of the following questions, spend a few minutes jotting down whatever comes to mind. 

• What experiences have shaped who you are? 
• What’s special or unique about you or your life story? 
• Who or what has inspired you the most? 
• What accomplishments are you most proud of? 
• What are your goals for the future? How have you arrived at those goals? 
• If your life was a movie, what would be the most interesting scene? 
• What have been some of the biggest challenges in your life? How did you respond and what did you learn? 

The purpose of these questions is to prompt you to think about your life at a deeper level. Hopefully by reflecting on them, you’ll find an essay topic that is impactful and meaningful. In the next section, we’ll offer some advice on actually writing your essay. 

Also see:  How to write a 500 word essay

How do I write my personal statement? 

Once you’ve found a topic, it’s time to start writing! Every personal statement is different, so there’s not really one formula that works for every student. That being said, the following tips should get you started in the right direction:  

1. Freewrite, then rewrite 

The blank page tends to get more intimidating the longer you stare at it, so it’s best to go ahead and jump right in! Don’t worry about making the first draft absolutely perfect. Instead, just get your ideas on the page and don’t spend too much time thinking about the finer details. Think of this initial writing session as a “brain dump”. Take 15-30 minutes to quickly empty all your thoughts onto the page without worrying about things like grammar, spelling, or sentence structure. You can even use bullet points if that helps. Once you have your ideas on the page, then you can go back and shape them exactly how you want. 

2. Establish your theme 

Now that you’ve got some basic ideas down on the page, it’s time to lock in on a theme. Your theme is a specific angle that reflects the central message of your essay. It can be summarized in a sentence or even a word. For example, let’s say you’re writing about how you had to establish a whole new group of friends when you moved to a new city. The theme for this type of essay would probably be something like “adaptation”. Having a theme will help you stay focused throughout your essay. Since you only have a limited number of words, you can’t afford to go off on tangents that don’t relate to your theme. 

3. Tell a story

A lot of great essays rely on a specific scene or story. Find the personal anecdote relevant to your theme and transfer it to the page. The best way to do this is by using descriptive language. Consult the five senses as you’re setting the scene. What did you see, hear, taste, touch, or smell? How were you feeling emotionally? Using descriptive language can really help your essay come to life. According to UPchieve , a nonprofit that supports low income students, focusing on a particular moment as a “ revised version of a memoir ” is one way to keep readers engaged. 

Related: College essay primer: show, don’t tell  

4. Focus on your opening paragraph

Your opening paragraph should grab your reader’s attention and set the tone for the rest of your essay. In most cases, this is the best place to include your anecdote (if you have one). By leading with your personal story, you can hook your audience from the get-go. After telling your story, you can explain why it’s important to who you are. 

Related:  How to start a scholarship essay (with examples)

5. Use an authentic voice 

Your personal statement reflects who you are, so you should use a tone that represents you. That means you shouldn’t try to sound like someone else, and you shouldn’t use fancy words just to show off. This isn’t an academic paper, so you don’t have to adopt a super formal tone. Instead, write in a way that allows room for your personality to breathe. 

6. Edit, edit, edit…

Once you’re done writing, give yourself some time away from the essay. Try to allow a few days to pass before looking at the essay again with fresh eyes. This way, you’re more likely to pick up on spelling and grammatical errors. You may even get some new ideas and rethink the way you wrote some things. Once you’re satisfied, let someone else edit your essay. We recommend asking a teacher, parent, or sibling for their thoughts before submitting. 

Examples of personal statements 

Sometimes viewing someone else’s work is the best way to generate inspiration and get the creative juices flowing. The following essays are written in response to four different Common App prompts: 

Prompt 1: “Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.”

When I was eight years old, I wanted a GameCube very badly. For weeks I hounded my dad to buy me one and finally he agreed. But there was a catch. He’d only get me a GameCube if I promised to start reading. Every day I played video games, I would have to pick up a book and read for at least one hour. At that point in my life, reading was just something I had to suffer through for school assignments. To read for pleasure seemed ludicrous. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about this proposed agreement. But I figured anything was worth it to get my hands on that shiny new video game console, so I bit the bullet and shook my dad’s hand. Little did I know that I had just made a life-changing deal. 

At first, the required hour of reading was a chore — something I had to do so I could play Mario Kart. But it quickly turned into something more than that. To my complete and utter surprise, I discovered that I actually enjoyed reading. One hour turned into two, two turned into three, and after a while I was spending more time reading than I was playing video games. I found myself captivated by the written word, and I read everything I could get my hands on. Lord of the Rings , Percy Jackson , Goosebumps — you name it. I was falling in love with literature, while my GameCube was accumulating dust in the TV stand. 

Soon enough, reading led to writing. I was beginning to come up with my own stories, so I put pen to paper and let my imagination run wild. It started out small. My first effort was a rudimentary picture book about a friendly raccoon who went to the moon. But things progressed. My stories became more intricate, my characters more complex. I wrote a series of science fiction novellas. I tried my hand at poetry. I was amazed at the worlds I could create with the tip of my pen. I had dreams of becoming an author. 

Then somewhere along the way my family got a subscription to Netflix, and that completely changed the way I thought about storytelling. My nose had been buried in books up until then, so I hadn’t really seen a lot of movies. That quickly changed. It seemed like every other day a pair of new DVDs would arrive in the mail (this was the early days of Netflix). Dark Knight, The Truman Show, Inception, Memento — all these great films were coming in and out of the house. And I couldn’t get enough of them. Movies brought stories to life in a way that books could not. I was head over heels for visual storytelling. 

Suddenly I wasn’t writing novels and short stories anymore. I was writing scripts for movies. Now I wanted to transfer my ideas to the big screen, rather than the pages of a book. But I was still doing the same thing I had always done. I was writing, just in a different format. To help with this process, I read the screenplays of my favorite films and paid attention to the way they were crafted. I kept watching more and more movies. And I hadn’t forgotten about my first love, either. I still cherished books and looked to them for inspiration. By the end of my junior year of high school, I had completed two scripts for short films. 

So why am I telling you all this? Because I want to turn my love of storytelling into a career. I’m not totally sure how to do that yet, but I know I have options. Whether it’s film production, creative writing, or even journalism, I want to find a major that suits my ambitions. Writing has taken me a long way, and I know it can take me even further. As I step into this next chapter of my life, I couldn’t be more excited to see how my craft develops. In the meantime, I should probably get rid of that dusty old GameCube. 

Feedback from admissions professional Bill Jack

Essays don’t always have to reveal details about the student’s intended career path, but one thing I like about this essay is that it gives the reader a sense of the why. Why do they want to pursue storytelling. It also shows the reader that they are open to how they pursue their interest. Being open to exploration is such a vital part of college, so it’s also showing the reader that they likely will be open to new things in college. And, it’s always fun to learn a little bit more about the student’s family, especially if the reader can learn about how the students interacts with their family. 

Prompt 2: “The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”

I remember my first impression of Irvine: weird. It was foggy, stock-full of greenery and eucalyptus trees, and reminded me of my 5th grade trip to a “science camp” which was located in the San Bernardino mountains. Besides Irvine, that was one of the few places in Southern California where you’d find so many non-palm trees. 

Of course, perhaps my initial impression of Irvine was biased, motivated by a desire to stay in my hometown and a fear of the unknown. While that was true to an extent, Irvine was certainly still a little peculiar. The city itself was based on a “master plan” of sorts, with the location of each of its schools, parks, shops, and arguably its trees having been logically “picked” before the foundation was poured. Even the homes all looked roughly the same, with their beige, stucco walls almost serving as a hallmark of the city itself.

Thus, this perfectly structured, perfectly safe city seemed like a paradise of sorts to many outsiders, my parents included. I was a little more hesitant to welcome this. As I saw it, this was a phony city – believing that its uniformity stood for a lack of personality. My hometown, although not as flawlessly safe nor clean as Irvine, was where most of my dearest memories had occurred. From the many sleepovers at Cindie’s house, to trying to avoid my school’s own version of the “infamous” cheese touch, to the many laughs shared with friends and family, I shed a tear at the prospect of leaving my home.

Moving into the foreign city, remnants of the hostility I held towards Irvine remained. Still dwelling in my memories of the past, I was initially unable to see Irvine as a “home.” So, as I walked into my first-ever Irvine class, being greeted by many kind, yet unfamiliar faces around me, I was unable to recognize that some of those new faces would later become some of my dearest friends. Such negative feelings about the city were further reinforced by newer, harder classes, and more complicated homework. Sitting in the discomfort of this unfamiliar environment, it started to seem that “change” was something not only inevitable, but insurmountable.

As the years went on, however, this idea seemed to fade. I got used to my classes and bike racing through Irvine neighborhoods with my friends, watching the trees that once seemed just a “weird” green blob soon transform into one of my favorite parts of the city. While I kept my old, beloved memories stored, I made space for new ones. From carefully making our way over the narrow creek path next to our school, to the laughs we shared during chemistry class, my new memories made with friends seemed to transform a city I once disliked into one I would miss. 

Through this transformation, I have come to recognize that change, although sometimes intimidating at first, can open the door to great times and meaningful connections. Although Irvine may have once seemed like a strange, “phony” place that I couldn’t wait to be rid of, the memories and laughs I had grown to share there were very real. As I move onto this next part of my life, I hope I can use this knowledge that I have gained from my time in Irvine to make the most of what’s to come. Even if the change may be frightening at first, I have learned to embrace what’s on the other side, whether green or not.

One huge plus to writing an essay that focuses on a place is that you might have it read by someone who has been there. Yet, what’s really helpful about this essay is that even if someone hasn’t been there, a picture is painted about what the place is like.  Admission officers have the hard task of really understanding what the student sees, so the use of adjectives and imagery can really help.  It’s also really clever to see that the green that’s mentioned at the beginning is mentioned at the end.  It’s a nice way to bookend the essay and tie it all together.

Prompt 6: “Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?”

I like getting lost. Not literally, of course, but figuratively. Whether it be in the story of a love song by Taylor Swift, or in the memories brought back by listening to my favorite childhood video game’s background music, I’ve always appreciated music’s ability to transport me to another place, another time, another feeling. 

Alas, I cannot sing, nor have I practiced an instrument since my middle school piano class days. So, perhaps Kurt Vonnegut was right. As he puts it, “Virtually every writer I know would rather be a musician.” While I cannot speak for others, I have certainly not debunked his theory. Writing allows many, including myself, to attempt to mimic the transformative power of music – even if our singing voices aren’t exactly “pleasant.” Just as you can get lost in music, you can do so in a story. Whether it is in George Orwell’s totalitarian Oceania, or Little Women’s Orchard House, the stories outlined in novels can provide an amazing look into the lives and worlds of others, and an escape from the worries and problems of those in your own.

While I am certainly not claiming to have the storytelling abilities of the Orwells or Alcotts before me, I’ve had fun trying to recreate such transformative feelings for others. When I was nine, I attempted to write a story about a little girl who had gotten lost in the woods, only managing to get a couple pages through. As I got older, whenever I was assigned a creative writing assignment in school, I wrote about the same pig, Phil. He was always angry: in my 8th grade science class, Phil was mad at some humans who had harbored his friend captive, and in my 9th grade English class, at a couple who robbed him. 

Thus, when I heard about a writing club being opened at my school in 11th grade, I knew I had to join. I wanted to discern whether writing was just a hobby I picked up now and then, or a true passion. If it was a passion, I wanted to learn as much as possible about how I could improve. Although my high school’s writing club certainly wasn’t going to transform me into Shakespeare, I knew I could learn a lot from it – and I did. The club challenged me to do many things, from writing on the spot, to writing poetry, to even writing about myself, something that’s hopefully coming in handy right now. 

From then on, I started to expand into different types of writing, storing short ideas, skits, and more in appropriately-labeled Google Drive folders. At around the same time, I became interested in classic literature, which largely stemmed from a project in English class. We had been required to choose and read a classic on our own, then present it to the class in an interesting way. While my book was certainly interesting and unique in its own right, nearly everyone else’s novels seemed more captivating to me. So, I took it upon myself to read as many classics as I could the following summer.

One of the books I read during the summer, funnily enough, was Animal Farm, which starred angry pigs, reminiscent of Phil. I had also started going over different ideas in my head, thinking about how I could translate them into words using the new skills I learned. While the writing club helped reaffirm my interest in writing and allowed me to develop new skills, my newfound affinity for classics gave me inspiration to write. Now, I am actually considering writing as part of my future. In this endeavor, I hope that Phil, and the music I inevitably listen to as I write, will accompany me every step of the way.

Admission officers might read 70 (or more!) essays in one day. It’s not uncommon for them to start to blend together and sound similar. This essay might not make you laugh out loud. But, it might make the reader chuckle while reading it thanks to the subtle humor and levity. Being able to incorporate a little humor into your essay (if it is natural for you to do… do not force it), can really be a great way to shed additional light into who you are. Remember, the essay isn’t merely about proving that you can write, but it should also reveal a little bit about your personality.

Prompt 5: “Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.”

I learned a lot of things during the summer I worked at Tropical Smoothie. I discovered the value of hard work. I figured out how to save money. I even mastered the art of the Mango Magic smoothie (the secret is lots of sugar). But most importantly, I learned the power of perspective. And I have Deja to thank for that. 

Deja was my shift supervisor, and one of Tropical Smoothie’s best employees. She was punctual, friendly, and always willing to lend a helping hand. She knew the store from top to bottom, and could handle pretty much any situation thrown her way. She made everyone around her better. On top of all that, she was four months pregnant! I was always impressed by Deja’s work ethic, but I gained an entirely new level of respect for her one day.

It was a Friday night, and Deja and I were working the closing shift together. It was very busy, and Deja and I were the only ones on shift. We managed to get by, but we were exhausted by the end of the evening. After wiping down the counters and mopping the floors, we closed up shop and went our separate ways. I was eager to get home. 

I walked a couple blocks to where I had parked my car. Well, it wasn’t my car actually. It was my dad’s ‘98 Chevy pickup truck, and it was in rough shape. It had no heat or A/C, the leather seats were cracked beyond repair, and the driver’s side door was jammed shut. I sighed as I got in through the passenger side and scooted over to the driver’s seat. The whole reason I was working at Tropical Smoothie was to save up enough money to buy my own car. I was hoping to have something more respectable to drive during my senior year of high school. 

I cranked the old thing up and started on my way home. But soon enough, I spotted Deja walking on the side of the road. There was no sidewalk here, the light was low, and she was dangerously close to the passing cars. I pulled over and offered her a ride. She got in and explained that she was on her way home. Apparently she didn’t have a car and had been walking to work every day. I couldn’t believe it. Here I was complaining about my set of wheels, while Deja didn’t have any to begin with.

We got to talking, and she confessed that she had been having a tough time. You would never know from the way she was so cheerful at work, but Deja had a lot on her plate. She was taking care of her mother, her boyfriend had just lost his job, and she was worried about making ends meet. And of course, she was expecting a baby in five months. On top of all that, she had been walking nearly a mile to and from work every day. The whole thing was a real eye opener, and made me reconsider some things in my own life. 

For one, I didn’t mind driving my dad’s truck anymore. It was banged up, sure, but it was a lot better than nothing. My mindset had changed. I appreciated the truck now. I began to think about other things differently, too. I started making mental notes of all the things in my life I was thankful for — my family, my friends, my health. I became grateful for what I had, instead of obsessing over the things I didn’t. 

I also gained more awareness of the world outside my own little bubble. My encounter with Deja had shown me first-hand that everyone is dealing with their own problems, some worse than others. So I started paying more attention to my friends, family members, and coworkers. I started listening more and asking how I could help. I also gave Deja a ride home for the rest of the summer. 

These are all small things, of course, but I think they make a difference. I realized I’m at my best when I’m not fixated on my own life, but when I’m considerate of the lives around me. I want to keep this in mind as I continue to grow and develop as a person. I want to continue to search for ways to support the people around me. And most importantly, I want to keep things in perspective.

Too often we can be focused on our own problems that we fail to realize that everyone has their own things going on in their lives, too.  This essay showcases how it’s important to put things in perspective, a skill that certainly will prove invaluable in college… and not just in the classroom.  Another reason I like this essay is because it provides deeper insight into the student’s life.  Sure, you might have mentioned in your activities list that you have a job.  But as this essay does, you can show why you have the job in the first place, what your responsibilities are, and more.

A few last tips

We hope these essay examples gave you a bit of inspiration of what to include in your own. However, before you go, we’d like to send you off with a few (personal statement) writing tips to help you make your essays as lovely as the memories and anecdotes they’re based off of. Without further ado, here are some of our best tips for writing your personal statements:

1. Open strong

College admissions officers read many, many essays (think 50+) a day, which can sometimes cause them to start blending together and sounding alike. One way to avoid your essay from simply fading into the background is to start strong. This means opening your essay with something memorable, whether an interesting personal anecdote, a descriptive setting, or anything else that you think would catch a reader’s attention (so long as it’s not inappropriate). Not only might this help college admissions officers better remember your essay, but it will also make them curious about what the rest of your essay will entail.

2. Be authentic

Perhaps most important when it comes to writing personal statement essays is to maintain your authenticity. Ultimately, your essays should reflect your unique stories and quirks that make you who you are, and should help college admissions officers determine whether you’d truly be a good fit for their school or not. So, don’t stress trying to figure out what colleges are looking for. Be yourself, and let the colleges come to you!

3. Strong writing

This one may seem a little obvious, but strong writing will certainly appeal to colleges. Not only will it make your essay more compelling, but it may show colleges that you’re ready for college-level essay writing (that you’ll likely have to do a lot of). Just remember that good writing is not limited to grammar. Using captivating detail and descriptions are a huge part of making your essay seem more like a story than a lecture.

4. Proofread

Last but not least, remember to proofread! Make sure your essay contains no errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. When you’re done proofreading your essay yourself, we would also recommend that you ask a teacher, parent, or other grammatically savvy person to proofread your essay as well.

Final thoughts 

With those in hand, we hope you now have a better sense of how to write your personal statement. While your grades and test scores are important when it comes to college admissions, it’s really your essays that can “make” or “break” your application. 

Although this may make it seem like a daunting task, writing an amazing personal statement essay is all about effort. Thus, so long as you start early, follow the advice listed above, and dedicate your time and effort to it, it’s entirely possible to write an essay that perfectly encapsulates you. Good luck, and happy writing!

Also see:  Scholarships360’s free scholarships search tool

Key Takeaways

• It may take some people longer than others to know what they want to write about, but remember that everyone, including you, has something unique to write about!
• Personal statements should be personal, which means you should avoid being too general and really strive to show off what makes you “you”
• Time and effort are two of the most important things you can put into your personal statement to ensure that it is the best representation of yourself
• Don’t forget to ask people who know you to read your work before you submit; they should be able to tell you better than anyone if you are truly shining through!

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What Is a Personal Statement? Everything You Need to Know About the College Essay

College Admissions , College Essays

In addition to standardized test scores and transcripts, a personal statement or essay is a required part of many college applications. The personal statement can be one of the most stressful parts of the application process because it's the most open ended.

In this guide, I'll answer the question, "What is a personal statement?" I'll talk through common college essay topics and what makes for an effective personal statement.

College Essay Glossary

Even the terminology can be confusing if you aren't familiar with it, so let's start by defining some terms:

Personal statement —an essay you write to show a college admissions committee who you are and why you deserve to be admitted to their school. It's worth noting that, unlike "college essay," this term is used for application essays for graduate school as well.

College essay —basically the same as a personal statement (I'll be using the terms interchangeably).

Essay prompt —a question or statement that your college essay is meant to respond to.

Supplemental essay —an extra school or program-specific essay beyond the basic personal statement.

Many colleges ask for only one essay. However, some schools do ask you to respond to multiple prompts or to provide supplemental essays in addition to a primary personal statement.

Either way, don't let it stress you out! This guide will cover everything you need to know about the different types of college essays and get you started thinking about how to write a great one:

• Why colleges ask for an essay
• What kinds of essay questions you'll see
• What sets great essays apart
• Tips for writing your own essay

Why Do Colleges Ask For an Essay?

There are a couple of reasons that colleges ask applicants to submit an essay, but the basic idea is that it gives them more information about you, especially who you are beyond grades and test scores.

#1: Insight Into Your Personality

The most important role of the essay is to give admissions committees a sense of your personality and what kind of addition you'd be to their school's community . Are you inquisitive? Ambitious? Caring? These kinds of qualities will have a profound impact on your college experience, but they're hard to determine based on a high school transcript.

Basically, the essay contextualizes your application and shows what kind of person you are outside of your grades and test scores . Imagine two students, Jane and Tim: they both have 3.5 GPAs and 1200s on the SAT. Jane lives in Colorado and is the captain of her track team; Tim lives in Vermont and regularly contributes to the school paper. They both want to be doctors, and they both volunteer at the local hospital.

As similar as Jane and Tim seem on paper, in reality, they're actually quite different, and their unique perspectives come through in their essays. Jane writes about how looking into her family history for a school project made her realize how the discovery of modern medical treatments like antibiotics and vaccines had changed the world and drove her to pursue a career as a medical researcher. Tim, meanwhile, recounts a story about how a kind doctor helped him overcome his fear of needles, an interaction that reminded him of the value of empathy and inspired him to become a family practitioner. These two students may seem outwardly similar but their motivations and personalities are very different.

Without an essay, your application is essentially a series of numbers: a GPA, SAT scores, the number of hours spent preparing for quiz bowl competitions. The personal statement is your chance to stand out as an individual.

#2: Evidence of Writing Skills

A secondary purpose of the essay is to serve as a writing sample and help colleges see that you have the skills needed to succeed in college classes. The personal statement is your best chance to show off your writing , so take the time to craft a piece you're really proud of.

That said, don't panic if you aren't a strong writer. Admissions officers aren't expecting you to write like Joan Didion; they just want to see that you can express your ideas clearly.

No matter what, your essay should absolutely not include any errors or typos .

#3: Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances

For some students, the essay is also a chance to explain factors affecting their high school record. Did your grades drop sophomore year because you were dealing with a family emergency? Did you miss out on extracurriculars junior year because of an extended medical absence? Colleges want to know if you struggled with a serious issue that affected your high school record , so make sure to indicate any relevant circumstances on your application.

Keep in mind that in some cases there will be a separate section for you to address these types of issues, as well as any black marks on your record like expulsions or criminal charges.

#4: Your Reasons for Applying to the School

Many colleges ask you to write an essay or paragraph about why you're applying to their school specifically . In asking these questions, admissions officers are trying to determine if you're genuinely excited about the school and whether you're likely to attend if accepted .

I'll talk more about this type of essay below.

What Kind of Questions Do Colleges Ask?

Thankfully, applications don't simply say, "Please include an essay about yourself"; they include a question or prompt that you're asked to respond to . These prompts are generally pretty open-ended and can be approached in a lot of different ways .

Nonetheless, most questions fall into a few main categories. Let's go through each common type of prompt, with examples from the Common Application, the University of California application, and a few individual schools.

Prompt Type 1: Your Personal History

This sort of question asks you to write about a formative experience, important event, or key relationship from your life . Admissions officers want to understand what is important to you and how your background has shaped you as a person.

These questions are both common and tricky. The most common pit students fall into is trying to tell their entire life stories. It's better to focus in on a very specific point in time and explain why it was meaningful to you.

Common App 1

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Common App 5

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

University of California 2

Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

University of California 6

Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

Prompt Type 2: Facing a Problem

A lot of prompts deal with how you solve problems, how you cope with failure, and how you respond to conflict. College can be difficult, both personally and academically, and admissions committees want to see that you're equipped to face those challenges .

The key to these types of questions is to identify a real problem, failure, or conflict ( not a success in disguise) and show how you adapted and grew from addressing the issue.

Common App 2

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Harvard University 7

The Harvard College Honor Code declares that we “hold honesty as the foundation of our community.” As you consider entering this community that is committed to honesty, please reflect on a time when you or someone you observed had to make a choice about whether to act with integrity and honesty.

Prompt Type 3: Diversity

Most colleges are pretty diverse, with students from a wide range of backgrounds. Essay questions about diversity are designed to help admissions committees understand how you interact with people who are different from you .

In addressing these prompts, you want to show that you're capable of engaging with new ideas and relating to people who may have different beliefs than you.

Common App 3

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Johns Hopkins University

Tell us about an aspect of your identity (e.g., race, gender, sexuality, religion, community) or a life experience that has shaped you as an individual and how that influenced what you’d like to pursue in college at Hopkins.  This can be a future goal or experience that is either [sic] academic, extracurricular, or social.

Duke University Optional 1

We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community. 

Prompt Type 4: Your Future Goals

This type of prompt asks about what you want to do in the future: sometimes simply what you'd like to study, sometimes longer-term career goals. Colleges want to understand what you're interested in and how you plan to work towards your goals.

You'll mostly see these prompts if you're applying for a specialized program (like pre-med or engineering) or applying as a transfer student. Some schools also ask for supplementary essays along these lines. 

University of Southern California (Architecture)

Princeton Supplement 1

Prompt Type 5: Why This School

The most common style of supplemental essay is the "why us?" essay, although a few schools with their own application use this type of question as their main prompt. In these essays, you're meant to address the specific reasons you want to go to the school you're applying to .

Whatever you do, don't ever recycle these essays for more than one school.

Chapman University

There are thousands of universities and colleges. Why are you interested in attending Chapman?

Columbia University

Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia.

Rice University

Based upon your exploration of Rice University, what elements of the Rice experience appeal to you?

Princeton University

Princeton has a longstanding commitment to understanding our responsibility to society through service and civic engagement. How does your own story intersect with these ideals?

Prompt Type 6: Creative Prompts

More selective schools often have supplemental essays with stranger or more unique questions. University of Chicago is notorious for its weird prompts, but it's not the only school that will ask you to think outside the box in addressing its questions.

University of Chicago

“Vlog,” “Labradoodle,” and “Fauxmage.” Language is filled with portmanteaus. Create a new portmanteau and explain why those two things are a “patch” (perfect match).

University of Vermont

Established in Burlington, VT, Ben & Jerry’s is synonymous with both ice cream and social change. The “Save Our Swirled” flavor raises awareness of climate change, and “I Dough, I Dough” celebrates marriage equality. If you worked alongside Ben & Jerry, what charitable flavor would you develop and why?

What Makes a Strong Personal Statement?

OK , so you're clear on what a college essay is, but you're still not sure how to write a good one . To help you get started, I'm going to explain the main things admissions officers look for in students' essays: an engaging perspective, genuine moments, and lively writing .

I've touched on these ideas already, but here, I'll go into more depth about how the best essays stand out from the pack.

Showing Who You Are

A lot of students panic about finding a unique topic, and certainly writing about something unusual like a successful dating app you developed with your friends or your time working as a mall Santa can't hurt you. But what's really important isn't so much what you write about as how you write about it . You need to use your subject to show something deeper about yourself.

Look at the prompts above: you'll notice that they almost all ask you what you learned or how the experience affected you. Whatever topic you pick, you must be able to specifically address how or why it matters to you .

Say a student, Will, was writing about the mall Santa in response to Common App prompt number 2 (the one about failure): Will was a terrible mall Santa. He was way too skinny to be convincing and the kids would always step on his feet. He could easily write 600 very entertaining words describing this experience, but they wouldn't necessarily add up to an effective college essay.

To do that, he'll need to talk about his motivations and his feelings: why he took such a job in the first place and what he did (and didn't) get out of it. Maybe Will took the job because he needed to make some money to go on a school trip and it was the only one he could find. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for screaming children, he kept doing it because he knew if he persevered through the whole holiday season he would have enough money for his trip. Would you rather read "I failed at being a mall Santa" or "Failing as a mall Santa taught me how to persevere no matter what"? Admissions officers definitely prefer the latter.

Ultimately, the best topics are ones that allow you to explain something surprising about yourself .

Since the main point of the essay is to give schools a sense of who you are, you have to open up enough to let them see your personality . Writing a good college essay means being honest about your feelings and experiences even when they aren't entirely positive.

In this context, honesty doesn't mean going on at length about the time you broke into the local pool at night and nearly got arrested, but it does mean acknowledging when something was difficult or upsetting for you. Think about the mall Santa example above. The essay won't work unless the writer genuinely acknowledges that he was a bad Santa and explains why.

Eloquent Writing

As I mentioned above, colleges want to know that you are a strong enough writer to survive in college classes . Can you express your ideas clearly and concisely? Can you employ specific details appropriately and avoid clichés and generalizations? These kinds of skills will serve you well in college (and in life!).

Nonetheless, admissions officers recognize that different students have different strengths. They aren't looking for a poetic magnum opus from someone who wants to be a math major. (Honestly, they aren't expecting a masterwork from anyone , but the basic point stands.) Focus on making sure that your thoughts and personality come through, and don't worry about using fancy vocabulary or complex rhetorical devices.

Above all, make sure that you have zero grammar or spelling errors . Typos indicate carelessness, which will hurt your cause with admissions officers.

Top Five Essay-Writing Tips

Now that you have a sense of what colleges are looking for, let's talk about how you can put this new knowledge into practice as you approach your own essay. Below, I've collected my five best tips from years as a college essay counselor.

#1: Start Early!

No matter how much you want to avoid writing your essay, don't leave it until the last minute . One of the most important parts of the essay writing process is editing, and editing takes a lot of time. You want to be able to put your draft in a drawer for a week and come back to it with fresh eyes. You don't want to be stuck with an essay you don't really like because you have to submit your application tomorrow.

You need plenty of time to experiment and rewrite, so I would recommend starting your essays at least two months before the application deadline . For most students, that means starting around Halloween, but if you're applying early, you'll need to get going closer to Labor Day.

Of course, it's even better to get a head start and begin your planning earlier. Many students like to work on their essays over the summer, when they have more free time, but you should keep in mind that each year's application isn't usually released until August or September. Essay questions often stay the same from year to year, however. If you are looking to get a jump on writing, you can try to confirm with the school (or the Common App) whether the essay questions will be the same as the previous year's.

#2: Pick a Topic You're Genuinely Excited About

One of the biggest mistakes students make is trying to write what they think the committee wants to hear. The truth is that there's no "right answer" when it comes to college essays . T he best topics aren't limited to specific categories like volunteer experiences or winning a tournament. Instead, they're topics that actually matter to the writer .

"OK," you're thinking, "but what does she mean by 'a topic that matters to you'? Because to be perfectly honest, right now, what really matters to me is that fall TV starts up this week, and I have a feeling I shouldn't write about that."

You're not wrong (although some great essays have been written about television ). A great topic isn't just something that you're excited about or that you talk to your friends about; it's something that has had a real, describable effect on your perspective .

This doesn't mean that you should overemphasize how something absolutely changed your life , especially if it really didn't. Instead, try to be as specific and honest as you can about how the experience affected you, what it taught you, or what you got out of it.

Let's go back to the TV idea. Sure, writing an essay about how excited you are for the new season of Stranger Things  probably isn't the quickest way to get yourself into college, but you could write a solid essay (in response to the first type of prompt) about how SpongeBob SquarePants was an integral part of your childhood. However, it's not enough to just explain how much you loved SpongeBob—you must also explain why and how watching the show every day after school affected your life. For example, maybe it was a ritual you shared with your brother, which showed you how even seemingly silly pieces of pop culture can bring people together. Dig beneath the surface to show who you are and how you see the world.

When you write about something you don't really care about, your writing will come out clichéd and uninteresting, and you'll likely struggle to motivate yourself. When you instead write about something that is genuinely important to you, you can make even the most ordinary experiences—learning to swim, eating a meal, or watching TV—engaging .

#3: Focus on Specifics

But how do you write an interesting essay? Focus.

Don't try to tell your entire life story or even the story of an entire weekend; 500–650 words may seem like a lot, but you'll reach that limit quickly if you try to pack every single thing that has happened to you into your essay. If, however, you just touch on a wide range of topics, you'll end up with an essay that reads more like a résumé.

Instead, narrow in on one specific event or idea, and talk about it in more depth . The narrower your topic, the better. For example, writing about your role as Mercutio in your school's production of Romeo and Juliet is too general, but writing about opening night, when everything went wrong, could be a great topic.

Whatever your topic, use details to help draw the reader in and express your unique perspective. But keep in mind that you don't have to include every detail of what you did or thought; stick to the important and illustrative ones.

#4: Use Your Own Voice

College essays aren't academic assignments; you don't need to be super formal. Instead, try to be yourself. The best writing sounds like a more eloquent version of the way you talk .

Focus on using clear, simple language that effectively explains a point or evokes a feeling. To do so, avoid the urge to use fancy-sounding synonyms when you don't really know what they mean. Contractions are fine; slang, generally, is not. Don't hesitate to write in the first person.

A final note: you don't need to be relentlessly positive. It's OK to acknowledge that sometimes things don't go how you want—just show how you grew from that.

#5: Be Ruthless

Many students want to call it a day after writing a first draft, but editing is a key part of writing a truly great essay. To be clear, editing doesn't mean just making a few minor wording tweaks and cleaning up typos; it means reading your essay carefully and objectively and thinking about how you could improve it .

Ask yourself questions as you read: is the progression of the essay clear? Do you make a lot of vague, sweeping statements that could be replaced with more interesting specifics? Do your sentences flow together nicely? Do you show something about yourself beyond the surface level?

You will have to delete and rewrite (potentially large) parts of your essay, and no matter how attached you feel to something you wrote, you might have to let it go . If you've ever heard the phrase "kill your darlings," know that it is 100% applicable to college essay writing.

At some point, you might even need to rewrite the whole essay. Even though it's annoying, starting over is sometimes the best way to get an essay that you're really proud of.

What's Next?

Make sure to check out our other posts on college essays , including our step-by-step guide to how to write your college essay , our analysis of the Common App Prompts , and our collection of example essays .

If you're in need of guidance on other parts of the application process , take a look at our guides to choosing the right college for you , writing about extracurriculars , deciding to double major , and requesting teacher recommendations .

Last but not least, if you're planning on taking the SAT one last time , check out our ultimate guide to studying for the SAT and make sure you're as prepared as possible.

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Alex is an experienced tutor and writer. Over the past five years, she has worked with almost a hundred students and written about pop culture for a wide range of publications. She graduated with honors from University of Chicago, receiving a BA in English and Anthropology, and then went on to earn an MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In high school, she was a National Merit Scholar, took 12 AP tests and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT.

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Issues of Length and Form

Normally, the length of a personal statement will be dictated by the application—500 words or 800 words are typical limits, as are one-page or two-page limits. If you’re given, say, a count of 1,500 words, you need not write to the maximum length, but to compose only one-half of the word count might be an opportunity missed. In any case, what matters most is that the material you present conforms as closely as possible to these word or space restrictions—parts of your application might literally not be read if you violate the rules—and that your presentation is aesthetically pleasing and easy to read. To achieve these goals, I promote the following tips:

• If your personal statement is a stand-alone document within your application, open it with a simple heading such as “Personal Statement for Janet Lerner.” Thus, if your documents would get separated somehow, they could more easily be reassembled.
• If there are any pages to your essay beyond one, number them, and perhaps include your name on those pages as well.
• Choose a publishing font that is highly readable, such as Times or Bookman. Some fonts allow for more tightness to the text, which is fine as long as the essay remains readable. Ideally, use no more than a 12-point size and no less than a 10-point size, favoring the larger, and use the same font size throughout the document.
• Allow for ample enough margins that the reader isn’t distracted by cramped-looking text. Margins of at least one inch are standard.
• Single space your text, skipping a line between paragraphs. You can indent paragraph beginnings or not, as long as you’re consistent.

At times, especially when you fill out an application electronically or have to cut and paste, word limits will be defined by physical space. In such a case, keep enough white space between your text and the application text that the material isn’t crowded, and choose a font different from that used in the application if possible. Also, if your application is electronic and requires you to cut and paste text or conform to a word or character count, check the material that you input carefully to be certain that it’s complete and reads just as you wish it to. In some cases, you may lose special characters or paragraph breaks, and words over the maximum allowable count may be cut off. The safest practice is to proofread anything you send electronically within the very form in which it is sent.

Other online sites that give space to the subject of length and form in personal statements are these:

“Applying to Graduate School: Writing a Compelling Personal Statement,” from the International Honor Society in Psychology

“FAQs for Writing Your Graduate Admissions Essay,” from about.com

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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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Top tips for writing your personal statement

Published: 14 April 2021

Your personal statement is your first impression to your prospective university. Discover some tips to writing an impactful personal statement.

Your personal statement is your first impression to your prospective university.

In face-to-face interactions, studies show it takes just  7 seconds for us to make up our minds about someone – including deciding if you are trustworthy, charismatic or leadership material .

Your personal statement is your first opportunity to make an impact on your tutor and showcase who you are and what you want to achieve.

Your job when crafting such an important piece, is to ensure that impact is a positive one.

A successful personal statement helps you to stand out and gives tutors an insight into your personality, strengths and ambitions.

The process of writing your personal statement can be incredibly daunting. They are a critical part of the decision-making process for tutors, and for competitive courses, how you present yourself on the page can be the deciding factor on whether you get to the interview stage.

So, how can you ensure your personal statement leaves a great first impression?

What are universities looking for?

As with any successful piece of writing, you should think about your audience first. The university will be using your personal statement to decide your suitability for the course and so are looking to understand more about you, your reasons for choosing to study a particular subject and what you will bring to the university as a whole.

In particular, your tutor will want to hear about how your prior experience relates to the programme you are applying for – not just the details of the roles but what you learnt about yourself, the skills you have gained and how you will apply this to the course and your future career.

Universities want to enrol students who have a passion for their chosen subject as this usually translates to engaged and enthusiastic students who are fully immersed in their learning. Your personal statement is a chance to let your passion for your chosen field shine through and let your tutor know how the course will help you to achieve your goals.

What should I include in my personal statement?

There are two key areas you need to cover in your personal statement; your motivations and your experience.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What are your motivations for choosing the course?
• Why are you passionate about this subject or vocation?
• Why are you a good fit for the course curriculum?
• What relevant academic, practical and extra-curricular experience do you have?
• Why do you want to study at this particular university?

Try to back up any statements with personal experience and examples. Remember, your previous experience is relevant, whether it is in your chosen field or not.

Consider what it is that equips you to be a suitable candidate. What are your current skills, and how can they be adapted and extended to suit the demands of your chosen subject?

Of course, there are also points to avoid in your personal statement too. You don’t need to cover off your educational or professional CV for example, as this will be included in your application.

Also try not to be too generic – any information you include should be specific and linked back to the course. Don’t just say you take part in a particular club, such as football or chess. Instead explain how your hobbies have helped you to gain valuable skills such as teamwork, or analytical thinking. The more personal to you, the better.

Keep it simple

Every bit of information included in your personal statement should be telling the tutor something relevant. Resist the urge to waffle! Tutors will be reading a lot of applications, so you will want to ensure you have got the main points across clearly and concisely.

Structure is also important. Make sure you plan your statement carefully to cover all the main points, using paragraphs and headings to make the content easy to follow.

Ensure you use positive language and remember; spelling and grammar do matter – so proof, proof and proof again.

A successful sign off

After spending so long constructing the body of your statement and covering all the key points, it can be hard to write your final paragraph. There are two tactics you can employ here.

Firstly, you can tie your conclusion back to statements you made at the beginning. Reiterating experiences, skills and interests you have already touched on gives you another chance to showcase any key points and draw the piece to a satisfying conclusion.

Another option is to talk about your hopes and aspirations for the future. This shows you have thought about your career path and how the course will help you achieve your ambitions, as well as ending your statement on that all-important positive note.

If you would like further guidance on writing an impactful personal statement, or if you have any questions about your application, our admissions team would be happy to help. Please contact our admissions team by phone 0800 904 7258 (UK) or +44 (0)141 278 7247 (international).

First published: 14 April 2021

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How to write a personal statement

Finding the right words to include in your personal statement can be tricky, but we're here to guide you through it.

Writing a first-class statement

You know we’re a good match, now all you’ve got to do is tell us why. Your personal statement is an opportunity to tell us everything about you and how special you are but finding the right words can be tricky. If you’re tired of sitting in front of a blank page for hours on end, searching for the best way to describe yourself, you’ve come to the right place. Here are our top tips for writing a personal statement.

What is a personal statement?

A personal statement forms part of your application to study at university. It’s your chance to articulate why you’d like to study a particular course or subject, and what skills and experience you possess that demonstrate your passion for your chosen field. Your personal statement can be up to 4,000 characters (including spaces) or 47 lines of 95 characters (including spaces); whichever is shorter.

What to write about in your personal statement

You! No one knows you better than you know yourself. You need to tell us why you’re the perfect candidate for the course and what makes you stand out from the crowd.

A helpful way of ensuring you strike the right balance is by splitting your statement into sections:

• At least 75% of your personal statement should be related to what you want to study, and why you want to study that subject. Be genuine and refer to topics you've already studied and your wider interests in the area. It's also worth reflecting on any reading that you’ve done on the subject or relevant work experience.
• The remaining 25% of your statement should cover any other achievements. This is where you show us that you’ve taken full advantage of the opportunities presented to you. Are you on a school sports team? Have you conducted any charity work? Do you have a part-time job? Include relevant examples that demonstrate you have the skills needed during your time at university. It’s time to boast about how brilliant you are! 

However, getting these details down isn't always easy, and some people find it helpful to make notes over time. Carrying a notebook with you or setting up a memo on your phone can be useful. Whenever you think of something useful for your personal statement, jot it down.

Top Tip: It’s important to remember that you only write one personal statement – it remains the same for each course you apply for. So, avoid mentioning any universities by name. If you’re applying for more than one subject (or it’s a combined course) it’s crucial to include common themes or reference the overall skills needed for all subjects.

How to write your personal statement

Just like you, your personal statement should be unique, so there’s no specific format to follow when it comes to putting pen to paper. That said, we have compiled some general guidelines for you to follow:

• Write simply and naturally – don’t use complex language to impress, it often doesn’t read well 
• Be enthusiastic and excited – we want to see your genuine passion (and enjoy reading about it) 
• Structure your personal statement to reflect the skills and qualities universities value most – read the course descriptions for inspiration 
• Read it aloud – this can help you spot any potential mistakes and provides an opportunity to edit the text to make the statement sound more natural 
• Don’t copy – UCAS runs your personal statement through plagiarism software to make sure your statement is original 
• Overwrite then edit – when working on your first draft it’s important to get down as much information as you can, you can refine the copy to suit the character count later 
• Don’t settle on draft one – come back to your statement a few days after completing your first draft, you’ll likely want to redraft certain sections after coming back with ‘fresh eyes’ 
• Ask for advice – get your teachers, advisors and family to take a look and don’t be offended if they offer suggestions or changes, they want to help you succeed 
• Run your statement through a spell-checking programme – then double-check the spelling, punctuation and grammar and correct

We recommend you write your personal statement first, then copy and paste it into your online application once you're happy with it. Make sure you save it regularly, as it times out after 35 minutes of inactivity.

Need more application tips?

Life is full of opportunities and studying at the University of Nottingham could be your biggest yet! If you’re looking for more application guidance, head over to our 'Applying' hub.

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Writing a Personal Statement

Preparing to Write

Brainstorming, don't forget, sample prompts.

A personal statement is a narrative essay that connects your background, experiences, and goals to the mission, requirements, and desired outcomes of the specific opportunity you are seeking. It is a critical component in the selection process, whether the essay is for a competitive internship, a graduate fellowship, or admittance to a graduate school program. It gives the selection committee the best opportunity to get to know you, how you think and make decisions, ways in which past experiences have been significant or formative, and how you envision your future. Personal statements can be varied in form; some are given a specific prompt, while others are less structured. However, in general a personal statement should answer the following questions:

• Who are you?
• What are your goals?
• How does this specific program/opportunity help you achieve your goals?
• What is in the future?

A personal statement is not:

• A variation of your college admissions essay
• An academic/research paper
• A narrative version of your resume
• A creative writing piece (it can be creative, though)
• An essay about somebody else

Keep in mind that your statement is only a portion of the application and should be written with this in mind. Your entire application package will include some, possibly all, of the materials listed below. You will want to consider what these pieces of the application communicate about you. Your personal statement should aim to tie everything together and fill in or address any gaps. There will likely be some overlap but be sure not to be too repetitive.

• Personal Statement(s)
• Transcripts
• Letters of recommendations
• Sample of written work
• Research proposal

For a quick overview of personal statements, you might begin by watching this "5 Minute Fellowships" video!

If you are writing your first personal statement or working to improve upon an existing personal statement, the video below is a helpful, in-depth resource.

A large portion of your work towards completing a personal statement begins well before your first draft or even an outline. It is incredibly important to be sure you understand all of the rules and regulations around the statement. Things to consider before you begin writing:

• How many prompts? And what are they? It is important to know the basics so you can get your ideas in order. Some programs will require a general statement of interest and a focused supplementary or secondary statement closely aligned with the institution's goals.
• Are there formatting guidelines? Single or double spaced, margins, fonts, text sizes, etc. Our general guideline is to keep it simple.
• How do I submit my statement(s)? If uploading a document we highly suggest using a PDF as it will minimize the chances of accidental changes to formatting. Some programs may event ask you to copy and paste into a text box.
• When do I have to submit my statement(s)? Most are due at the time of application but some programs, especially medical schools, will ask for secondary statements a few months after you apply. In these instances be sure to complete them within two weeks, any longer is an indication that you aren't that interested in the institution.

Below is a second 5 Minute Fellowships video that can help you get started!

Before you start writing, take some time to reflect on your experiences and motivations as they relate to the programs to which you are applying. This will offer you a chance to organize your thoughts which will make the writing process much easier. Below are a list of questions to help you get started:

• What individuals, experiences or events have shaped your interest in this particular field?
• What has influenced your decision to apply to graduate school?
• How does this field align with your interests, strengths, and values?
• What distinguishes you from other applicants?
• What would you bring to this program/profession?
• What has prepared you for graduate study in this field? Consider your classes at Wellesley, research and work experience, including internships, summer jobs and volunteer work.
• Why are you interested in this particular institution or degree program?
• How is this program distinct from others?
• What do you hope to gain?
• What is motivating you to seek an advanced degree now?
• Where do you see yourself headed and how will this degree program help you get there?

For those applying to Medical School, if you need a committee letter for your application and are using the Medical Professions Advisory Committee you have already done a lot of heavy lifting through the 2017-2018 Applicant Information Form . Even if you aren't using MPAC the applicant information form is a great place to start.

Another great place to start is through talking out your ideas. You have a number of options both on and off campus, such as: Career Education advisors and mentors ( you can set up an appointment here ), major advisor, family, friends. If you are applying to a graduate program it is especially important to talk with a faculty member in the field. Remember to take good notes so you can refer to them later.

When you begin writing keep in mind that your essay is one of many in the application pool. This is not to say you should exaggerate your experiences to “stand out” but that you should focus on clear, concise writing. Also keep in mind that the readers are considering you not just as a potential student but a future colleague. Be sure to show them examples and experiences which demonstrate you are ready to begin their program.

It is important to remember that your personal statement will take time and energy to complete, so plan accordingly. Every application and statement should be seen as different from one another, even if they are all the same type of program. Each institution may teach you the same material but their delivery or focus will be slightly different.

In addition, remember:

• Be yourself: You aren’t good at being someone else
• Tragedy is not a requirement, reflection and depth are
• Research the institution or organization
• Proofread, proofread, proofread
• How to have your personal statement reviewed

The prompts below are from actual applications to a several types of programs. As you will notice many of them are VERY general in nature. This is why it is so important to do your research and reflect on your motivations. Although the prompts are similar in nature the resulting statements would be very different depending on the discipline and type of program, as well as your particular background and reasons for wanting to pursue this graduate degree.

• This statement should illustrate your academic background and experiences and explain why you would excel in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (UMass Amherst - M.S. in Civil Engineering).
• Describe your academic and career objectives and how the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies can help you achieve them. Include other considerations that explain why you seek admissions to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and your interests in the environmental field (Yale - Master of Environmental Management).  
• Please discuss your academic interests and goals. Include your current professional and research interests, as well as your long-range professional objectives. Please be as specific as possible about how your objectives can be met at Clark and do not exceed 800 words (Clark University - M.A. in International Development and Social Change).
• Write a 500- to 700-word statement that describes your work or research. Discuss how you came to focus on the medium, body of work, or academic area you wish to pursue at the graduate level. Also discuss future directions or goals for your work, and describe how the Master of Fine Arts in Studio (Printmedia) is particularly suited to your professional goals (School of the Art Institute of Chicago - MFA in Studio, Printmaking).
• Your statement should explain why you want to study economics at the graduate level. The statement is particularly important if there is something unusual about your background and preparation that you would like us to know about you (University of Texas at Austin - Ph.D in Economics).
• Your personal goal statement is an important part of the review process for our faculty members as they consider your application. They want to know about your background, work experience, plans for graduate study and professional career, qualifications that make you a strong candidate for the program, and any other relevant information (Indiana University Bloomington - M.S.Ed. in Secondary Education).
• Your autobiographical essay/personal statement is a narrative that outlines significant experiences in your life, including childhood experiences, study and work, your strengths and aspirations in the field of architecture, and why you want to come to the University of Oregon (University of Oregon - Master of Architecture).
• Personal history and diversity statement, in which you describe how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. You may refer to any educational, familial, cultural, economic or social experiences, challenges, community service, outreach activities, residency and citizenship, first-generation college status, or opportunities relevant to your academic journey; how your life experiences contribute to the social, intellectual or cultural diversity within a campus community and your chosen field; or how you might serve educationally underrepresented and underserved segments of society with your graduate education (U.C. Davis - M.A. in Linguistics).
• A Personal Statement specifying your past experiences, reasons for applying, and your areas of interest. It should explain your intellectual and personal goals, why you are interested in pursuing an interdisciplinary degree rather than a more traditional disciplinary one, and how this degree fits into your intellectual and personal future (Rutgers University - Ph.D in Women’s and Gender Studies).
• Your application requires a written statement to uploaded into your application and is a critical component of your application for admission. This is your opportunity to tell us what excites you about the field of library and information science, and what problems you want to help solve in this field. Please also tell us how your prior experiences have prepared you for this next step toward your career goals and how this program will help you achieve them (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Master of Science in Library Science).
• After watching the video, please describe what strengths and preferences as a learner you have that will facilitate your success in this innovative curriculum. What challenges in our curriculum do you anticipate and what strategies might you use to address these challenges? (MGH Institute of Health Professions PT - They recently redesigned their curriculum)
• Your personal goal statement should briefly describe how you view the future of the field, what your goals are to be part of that future, and what brought you to pursue an advanced education degree in your chosen field. You may include any other information that you feel might be useful. (Northeastern PT)
• Personal Statement: In 500 words or less, describe a meaningful educational experience that affected your professional goals and growth and explain how it impacted you. The educational experience does not need to be related to this degree. Focus on the educational experience and not why you think you would be a good professional in this field. (Simmons PT)
• Personal Statement (500 word minimum): State your reasons for seeking admission to this program at this institution. Include your professional goals, why you want to pursue a career in this field and how admission to this program will assist you in accomplishing those goals. (Regis College Nursing)
• “Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to this type of program.” (AMCAS)
• Address the following three questions(Though there is no set limit, most statements are 1–2 pages, single-spaced.): What are your reasons for pursuing this degree? Why do you wish to pursue your degree at this institution? How do you intend to leverage your degree in a career of this field? (Boston University MPH)
• Please submit a personal statement/statement of purpose of no more than 500 words for the department/degree of choice. Professional degree essays require a clear understanding of the _______ field and how you hope to work within the field. Be sure to proofread your personal statement carefully for spelling and grammar. In your statement, be sure to address the following: what interests you in the field of _____ what interests you in a specific degree program and department at this institution and what interests you in a particular certificate (if applicable). Please also describe how you hope to use your ________ training to help you achieve your career goals. (Columbia PhD in Public Health - Epidemiology)
• Because each Home Program requires significant original research activities in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, we are interested in obtaining as much information as possible about your previous research experiences. Those who already have such experience are in a better position to know whether they are truly interested in performing ______ research as part of a graduate program. Please include specific information about your research experience in your Statement of Purpose. You may also use the Statement to amplify your comments about your choice of Home Program(s), and how your past experiences and current interests are related to your choice. Personal Statements should not exceed two pages in length (single spaced). Make sure to set your computer to Western European or other English-language setting. We cannot guarantee the ability to access your statement if it is submitted in other fonts. (Stanford Biosciences PhD)
• Your statement of purpose should describe succinctly your reasons for applying to the Department of ____ at ___ University. It would be helpful to include what you have done to prepare for this degree program. Please describe your research interests, past research experience, future career plans and other details of your background and interests that will allow us to evaluate your ability to thrive in our program. If you have interests that align with a specific faculty member, you may state this in your application. Your statement of purpose should not exceed two pages in length (single spaced). (Stanford Bioengineering PhD)
• Statement of purpose (Up to one page or 1,000 words): Rather than a research proposal, you should provide a statement of purpose. Your statement should be written in English and explain your motivation for applying for the course at this institution and your relevant experience and education. Please provide an indication of the area of your proposed research and supervisor(s) in your statement. This will be assessed for the coherence of the statement; evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study; the ability to present a reasoned case in English; and commitment to the subject. (Oxford Inorganic Chemistry - DPhil)

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7 Tips for Cutting Words from Your Personal Statement

By Brittany Mihalec-Adkins

Adhering to strict word counts in personal statements can be rough. Just when you’ve finally worked in everything you wanted to convey, you realize you’re 40 words over the limit! Well, don’t panic. There are several easy ways to get the word count down – without cutting into your main message. Here are a few to get you started:

1. Eliminate adverbs

When operating on a tight word budget, adverbs are an easy first contender for getting nixed. You can cut a whole word by just replacing the verb/adverb combo with a snazzier verb. For instance, replace “ran quickly” with “sprinted” or “laughed quietly” with “chuckled.” A simple way to do this is to search for “ly” using the Ctrl + F function.

Doing so actually helps your sentences pack more of a punch, too! Double win!

2. Make sure you need every “very”

This is another easy way to cut words fast: ctrl + f for “very” in your document and review to make sure each use is adding something to its sentence. For instance, it’s doing nothing to the phrases, “I had a very great experience” or “I was very excited to have the opportunity to…”

3. Get rid of the word “actually”

Just take my word for it on this one – the word “actually” almost never adds anything to what you’re trying to say (making an easy word to cut when you have to eliminate a few).

4. Double-check how you use “that” and “which”

The space these words take up may be trickier to spot, but it can be worth looking out for if you’re low on space. We often use them unnecessarily in phrases like “I quickly realized that I loved psychology” or “My first thought was that I needed to find that book.” Try reading both of those again without “that” – they’re more concise and one word shorter. Boom.

5. Make better use of apostrophes

Utilizing punctuation is a great way to save on words. Instead of writing about the “taste of coffee,” write about “coffee’s taste.” Instead of writing that you work “in the lab of Dr. So-and-so,” write that you work “in Dr. So-and-so’s lab.” Nifty, right? (Bonus tip: Another easy way to eliminate “of” is to change phrases like “my first year of college” to “my freshman year” – your readers will know what you mean.)

6. Try to hyphenate words whenever possible

Want a way to lower your word count without actually deleting any words? This tip is for you. Change your “long term career goals” to your “long-term career goals,” and your “well known advisor” to your “well-known advisor.” Be careful with this tip, though, because it doesn’t work well for all parts of speech. You can change your “recently completed degree” to your “recently-completed degree,” but it would be incorrect to say that your “degree was recently-completed.” If you’re ever unsure of the rules, just know that you’re almost always safe to hyphenate two words to form an adjective right before a noun: “widely-known song,” “crowd-pleasing speech,” etc.

7. Don’t narrate your own writing

This tip isn’t as quick to address as many of the others on this list, but it can also save you a lot more words. You almost never need to say things like “I will first detail my leadership experience…” or “I have much leadership experience; specifically, I…” Just jump right in to writing about your leadership experiences – “I have held leadership roles in…” You don’t need to tell reviewers that you are writing about your leadership experiences – if you’re writing about it, they know.

While these tips won’t help you cut your personal statement in half, they can certainly help shave off those pesky few extra words.

Brittany Mihalec-Adkins is a first-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and second-year Ph.D. student in Human Development and Family Studies at Purdue University. 

© Victoria Johnson 2017, all rights reserved.

Related Posts:

• How to Respond to Short Answer Questions in Your Application
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Personal Statement Do’s & Don’ts

Your grades and standardized test scores are set by now, so the personal statement is your last chance to add something new to your college applications.

An effective personal statement is well-written, avoids cliches, tells a story about you that shows the admissions committee who you are, and brags a little—but doesn’t show off.

I’ve compiled a list of personal statement ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ to help you as you work your way through your first few drafts.

For even more help with the college admissions process, including boosting that standardized test score, consider taking an SAT prep course or ACT prep course with Prep Expert.

Do Tell A Story

To keep admissions officers interested, tell a story about yourself, rather than write a traditional five-paragraph essay.

Admissions officers read thousands of personal statements every year. You want yours to be compelling and memorable. So, be creative—think about an experience or part of your biography that’s special to you, and write about it.

Avoid topics admissions officers are likely to read about over and over again in other personal statements. Plenty of people have volunteered for Habitat for Humanity or been the captain of their high school basketball team, for example.

Remember, you want to stand out—so, if you do write about something like this, put your own unique spin on it.

Do Brag About Yourself

It’s a personal statement—it’s okay to write about your strengths and accomplishments.

Most people aren’t comfortable bragging about themselves. But that is exactly what to do in your personal statement. Talk about:

• Sccomplishments
• Moments where you made yourself proud

Just be sure to do so tastefully.

How do you strike this balance? Show, don’t tell.

Don’t tell the admissions committee you’re a good person—show them you’re a good person by writing about a good deed that you performed.

Don’t tell them you’re the best basketball player in the state—set the scene and describe how you led your teammates to victory in the championship game.

A good rule of thumb here is to try and use verbs, rather than adjectives.

Do Respect Word Limits

Overworked admissions officers won’t agree that you’re worth more of their time than other applicants—keep your personal statement within the word limit.

Most colleges and universities have a word limit for personal statements. While you might think that you have a particularly compelling story to tell, and need more paragraphs than alotted, don’t give in to this temptation.

Being over by a couple of words isn’t a huge problem—admissions officers aren’t going to count your personal statement word for word—going way over the word limit though will not be a plus for your application.

As mentioned, admissions officers have to read thousands of personal statements every year—so don’t go and give them extra homework.

Besides, you can tell a great story about yourself within the word limit. Being confined to five paragraphs or a couple of pages forces you to write only about the most important and interesting aspects of your story.

If you’re having trouble meeting the word limit, on the other hand, you probably don’t have enough to say about the topic you’ve selected. Go back to the drawing board and try telling a different story.

Do Obey The Rules Of Grammar

It’s okay to use a more personal style of writing, but admissions officers want to know you can write well—check your spelling, and follow the rules of grammar.

Your personal statement is not the place to use slang or casual language. But do show off your command of vocabulary—you want your personal statement to show you’re ready for college-level writing.

Do Personalize Your Statement

Be sure to reference the school you’re applying to in your personal statement— but don’t accidentally tell Yale how much you’re hoping to attend Harvard.

Even if you’re using the Common Application, you should tailor your personal statement to each school to which you’re applying. Mention the school in your closing paragraph, for example.

It’s fine to recycle the same personal statement for several applications—almost everyone does this—but don’t simply use the find-and-replace function to change the name of the school and be done with it.

Do a thorough once-over to make sure you haven’t accidentally mentioned how much you want to attend Duke in the personal statement you’re sending to Georgetown. (This might seem like a no-brainer, but admissions officials report goofs like this do happen all the time.)

Do Get Feedback

Have a few people look over your personal statement for you before you submit it—both to catch typos, and to assess its strengths and weaknesses.

After all the writing you’ll be doing, you’ll need a few other pairs of eyes to help you see what you’ve been missing. So, once you’ve written a draft of your personal statement, it’s a good idea to show it to others—friends, parents, teachers—and ask their opinions.

Do they think you’ve done a good job introducing yourself to the admissions committee? Did you misspell the college’s name or leave a comma out of place? Let someone else’s fresh perspective tighten up what you’ve put together so far and make it as great as possible.

Don’t Restate Your Resume

Don’t use your personal statement to repeat information admissions officers can find in other parts of your application.

You want your personal statement to stand out in a sea of applicants, and you also want to show a side of you that isn’t shown in the other parts of your application. So, don’t make the most common mistake that many applicants make.

That mistake is simply writing a laundry list of your extracurricular activities and academic accomplishments. Admissions officials can already get this information by looking at your application and high school transcript.

[leadmagnet_five]

Don’t Write About Sensitive Topics

Don’t write about anything that might make the reader feel awkward or uncomfortable—your personal statement should be positive and uplifting.

There are certain topics—domestic violence or sexual assault, for example—that might have had a profound impact on your life. You could be tempted to write about these things, to show how you have successfully overcome adversity. Don’t.

Not to downplay these experiences and their personal importance, but these topics, and others like them, are simply too sensitive to write about in a brief personal statement.

It’s not a bad idea to write about how you have overcome adversity, but your personal statement should be positive and leave your reader feeling good, not uncomfortable.

Don’t Have Someone Else Write Your Personal Statement For You

Admissions officers will be able to tell if someone else wrote your personal statement, so make sure the writing is all yours.

This might seem like another no-brainer, but each year, plenty of applicants have someone else write their personal statements for them. These applicants mistakenly think that asking a stronger writer or a native speaker to pen their essay will leave their application in better shape.

However, admissions committees are alert to this practice, and if your ‘voice’ in your personal statement is significantly different from the one in your SAT or ACT essay, admissions officers are going to know they’re not reading your actual writing.

Submitting someone else’s work as your own—better known as plagiarism—is not a good look for your application, and might result in an automatic ding.

Don’t Forget To Show Some Self-Awareness

Show admissions officers that you’re self-aware by avoiding topics that make you look spoiled or insensitive.

Be aware of the advantages you’ve grown up with so far in life. Plenty of students want to write about their life-changing trip to Costa Rica, for example.

But, unless you do so in a way that shows true cultural awareness or engagement with global issues, all you’re really doing is bragging about a really cool vacation that you took.

Unfortunately, that’s not something an admissions officer wants to read about while reviewing a giant pile of applications on their desk.

[leadmagnet_two]

Nor is this type of personal statement likely to reflect well upon you against other applicants, who are writing about topics like being the first in their family to attend college, overcoming an illness, or being an immigrant, for example. Take a minute to think about how your topic choice will come across before writing.

Don’t Wait Until The Last Minute To Write It

If you write your personal statement the same day as its due, it’s not going to be good enough to make a difference in your college admissions chances.

Don’t deprive yourself of the opportunity to write something that’ll catch an admissions officer’s eye, and help you stand out among thousands of other applicants, by procrastinating on your personal statement.

An effective, well-written personal statement takes requires some serious time and thought to do. You should try and get started on it in the summer before your senior year, so when school begins all you have left to do is dot those I’s and cross those t’s.

For more test strategy, college admissions, and scholarship application tips sign up for our FREE class happening right now!

Personal Statement Do’s and Don’ts FAQ

What is a personal statement.

The personal statement is an essay that educates admissions officials about who you are and why you deserve to be admitted to their institution.

What are the elements of an effective personal statement?

How early should i work on writing my personal statement.

You should try and get started on it in the summer before your senior year.

What shouldn’t I do when writing my personal statement?

Don’t restate your resume, wait until the last second, be arrogant, write about controversial topics, or have someone else write it for you.

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750 Word Personal Statement Sample

by Talha Omer, M.Eng., Cornell Grad

In personal statement samples by word limits.

A personal statement is an integral part of any university application. Some programs have strict word limits in place, while others do not have any word limits. Here is an example of a 750-word limit personal statement that was admitted to top programs in the US and Canada.

750 Word Personal Statement Example

Being born and raised in a small village in Indonesia, my younger self could never have imagined that I would be standing where I am today. With farming and trade being the primary earning business within my family, education was never a priority. There were designated roles to be fulfilled by each gender, and if I fulfilled them, there were no other expectations of me. I was never encouraged to achieve more than I already had and was never taught how to plan for my future. There was no career guidance or information on which university to apply to and how to do it. I was not even aware that subjects such as philosophy and psychology existed.

“Blissfully unaware of the struggles of the future” applied to me plenty. Because of this nonchalance, I had to put in twice as much effort later in my professional life. My self-esteem spiraled down when I left my village to pursue higher education. In the alienating classroom environment, I began to fail in almost every subject and activity. My self-confidence shattered. The English language needed to be more decipherable for me, and the students were far from friendly to newcomers like me. It took me several lunch breaks, extra help from teachers, and endless hours in the library to ensure that I would catch up.  

When the time came to apply to an undergrad program, I was presented with a choice. I could either quit my education and walk on the well-trodden road that leads to a non-challenging life or continue to struggle on my own to a seemingly unknown destination where the chances of failure were far greater. I chose the latter. I preferred to trudge through the rocky terrain of the unknown and decided to stick to it no matter how many times I would fall. Today, as I write this essay, I am sitting at a desk in my office, being the first female in my family to have secured employment on her own at a multinational IT company. I had even won a scholarship for one semester on the UGRAD exchange program in the United States, a privilege that not anyone in my home village had granted.

Despite this, I am aware of my shortcomings. I always had to tread a fine line between the goals and ambitions I had crafted for myself and my family’s expectations. Where my classmates went for extra-curricular activities and participated in clubs and research groups, I was not allowed to do any of that. A constant threat of disownment for staying away from home for an extended period hung on my head. With such strict curfews implemented, I had to become very creative with my schedule. I calculated every minute of my time on campus to ensure maximum productivity. When not attending classes, I was fulfilling my duties as a teacher’s assistant, conducting tutorial sessions for the first-year class and organizing lectures for senior-year students. I started participating in different gaming competitions and joined different societies as an administrator. I pushed myself to try and work harder than others because I was no longer going to sit back and let circumstances decide my path.

When graduation came, I knew very late that I would not be joining my classmates in the ceremony, for I had missed a straightforward course in my rush to take over the world. By then, I had already accepted full-time employment at Microsoft. Thus, again I began my race against time by taking a three-hour class in the morning, followed by nine hours of work, and afterward dealing with the demands of my family. But it was worth the effort, for when in class, I could learn so many new things, and when at work, I could work away on my coding applications and would not even realize that time had passed.

Continuously evolving and coding have become my two biggest passions, and I will not give them up for all the hardships in the world. My objective is to become a computer science specialist. Using my expertise in computer systems, I will build on my knowledge and study advanced engineering concepts at the graduate level. Silicon Valley is the CS hub of the world. During my studies, I would also like to work part-time with start-ups to gain valuable industrial experience. Aside from academics, as a swimmer, I look forward to joining the department swimming club to compete and train with the best that UCLA offers.

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100 Word Personal Statement Sample

A personal statement is an integral part of any university application. Some programs have strict word limits in place, while others do not have any word limits. Here is an example of a 100-word limit personal statement that was admitted to top programs in the US and...

150 Word Personal Statement Sample

A personal statement is an integral part of any university application. Some programs have strict word limits in place, while others do not have any word limits. Here is an example of a 150-word limit personal statement that was admitted to top programs in the US and...

800 Word Personal Statement Sample

A personal statement is an integral part of any university application. Some programs have strict word limits in place, while others do not have any word limits. Here is an example of a 800-word limit personal statement that was admitted to top programs in the US and...

1000 Word Personal Statement Sample

A personal statement is an integral part of any university application. Some programs have strict word limits in place, while others do not have any word limits. Here is an example of a 1000-word limit personal statement that was admitted to top programs in the US and...

700 Word Personal Statement Sample

A personal statement is an integral part of any university application. Some programs have strict word limits in place, while others do not have any word limits. Here is an example of a 700-word limit personal statement that was admitted to top programs in the US and...

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Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS: The 10 Big Mistakes Students Should Avoid

James is senior content marketing manager at BridgeU. He writes and directs content for BridgeU's university partners and our community of international schools

• Writing a UCAS Personal Statement for a subject that isn’t the right fit
• Spelling & grammar mistakes
• Avoid pointless cliches
• Endlessly listing extracurriculars
• Over-using quotes or taking them out of context
• Telling the reader something they already know 
• Ignoring word limits
• Unnecessary origin stories
• Making things up
• Controversy

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Writing a UCAS Personal Statement requires a student to convey a lot of information in a short space of time. Mistakes are easy to make. Read our run down of the most common ones and how to avoid them

Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS is, in many ways, like asking a student to tell the story of their life in 4,000 characters or less. 

And if that sounds hard, it’s because it is. 

The UCAS Personal Statement is the  cornerstone of a UK university application . Students need to write a genuine, authoritative and compelling account of who they are and what they want from a UK university degree. They need to quickly grab the attention of the university admissions officer reading their Personal Statement, and they need to make sure they stand out from the hundreds of other applications that will be crossing that admission officer’s desk. 

In order to do this, the Personal Statement will require a student to master form, structure and content in such a way that makes their writing stand out. 

Understandably, students might feel an inordinate amount of pressure to get their Personal Statement right first time. 

Indeed, more often than not, it’s not a case of students being lazy when writing their UCAS Personal Statements. The problem is often that students will have a lot to say and will have put a lot of thought into their Statement, but may make some simple stylistic mistakes that could cost them when they finally submit their application. 

But if these mistakes are easy to make, they’re also easy to avoid. 

So we’re going to take you through the 10 most common (and potentially costly) mistakes that a student might make in their UCAS Personal Statement, and give you some tips on how to help your students avoid them. 

Bonus Resource –  To help your students avoid any major mistakes before they begin, our Personal Statement worksheet helps them to plan and write a truly compelling account of themselves.  Click here to download

1. Writing a UCAS Personal Statement for a subject that isn’t the right fit 

If students have done their research carefully and considerately, then this shouldn’t be a problem. Ideally, in the year leading up to the submission of the Personal Statement, your students will have shortlisted their university and course preferences to the point where they’re applying for a subject area they’re truly passionate about. 

But this first, major mistake is the natural conclusion of a student being pressured into a subject or career path by family, parents or even school peers. Hopefully this won’t happen – but if a student is writing their UCAS Personal Statement for a subject they’re not truly passionate about, then this should set off alarm bells. It will ultimately affect the quality of the Personal Statement. 

And, most importantly, admissions staff will easily spot a Personal Statement where the student’s heart isn’t in it. 

Top tip:  We at BridgeU are big fans of students finding their best-fit universities and courses (after all, it’s why we built our platform!). Students need to put a lot of time into making sure the UK course they are applying for is right for them. Starting a Personal Statement without having thoroughly researched university and course options is one of the most fundamental mistakes a student could make. 

2. Spelling & Grammar Mistakes 

This may seem like a rather obvious mistake, and one your students hopefully shouldn’t be making. 

But the tight time frames associated with a UCAS Personal Statement will make spelling and grammar mistakes more likely, especially if your students aren’t taking the time to proof-read their personal statement before submitting it. 

Spelling and grammar mistakes can really count against students, and can make their writing appear sloppy or poorly thought through. It’s an especially bad look if your students are applying for humanities or social sciences courses, or indeed any degree that requires a lot of extended writing! 

Top tip:  Encourage your students to print out their Personal Statement. Whilst we know that a lot of students do more things digitally these days (and BridgeU is an online platform after all!), reading a UCAS Personal Statement back as a living, printed document can really help students hone their eye for detail! 

3. Avoid exuberant language and pointless cliches 

“My love of Physics began when I used to look up at the night sky as a child, and found it simultaneously breath-taking and awe-inspiring.” 

“I’ve been passionate about the works of William Shakespeare since seeing my first production on stage. I’m fascinated by how Shakespeare remains relevant for today.” 

Can you see what’s wrong with these two examples? 

Whilst they are very positive and well-worded statements about why a student might want to study astrophysics, or Shakespearian literature, both these Personal Statement examples tip very quickly into cliche and generalisation. 

We’re not suggesting you shouldn’t encourage your students to use positive language when writing a UCAS Personal Statement, but this positive language needs to be backed up with clear, specific examples and rigorous analysis. 

Remember – the key to an excellent Personal Statement is showing, not telling. 

So why is Shakespeare still relevant to today? What specific examples could a student writing about a 16th century author use to demonstrate their relevance to the 21st century? 

Likewise, proclaiming a love for the wonders of the night sky is all well and good, but why did it make our example student want to study Physics? 

Top tip:  Encourage students to set a limit on the number of adjectives or descriptive phrases they use in their writing. It’s important to remember a Personal Statement has to accomplish a lot in a relatively short number of words. If students over-use words like ‘passionate’, ‘breathtaking’ and ‘awe-inspiring’ they’re just going to end up repeating themselves. 

4. Endlessly listing extracurricular activities

Extracurricular activities are a vital part of any Personal Statement. If used in the right way, they can help a student to stand out, and seem like a more well-rounded person. Extracurriculars can also help to showcase valuable soft skills that universities value in their students. 

But there’s no point using extracurriculars like a grocery list. Students endlessly describing their extracurriculars will mean nothing if they don’t link them back to the overall narrative of the Personal Statement. 

Again, it’s about showing, not telling. Saying ‘I have captained my school football team for three years’ means nothing if the writer doesn’t explain this activity within the context of the Personal Statement. 

Top tip:  When planning their Personal Statement, students need to think about the extracurricular activities that can demonstrate soft skills. What did they learn from doing this particular extracurricular activity? Do they think it will set them apart in their overall application? If the answer is no, then it’s best not putting it in. 

5. Over-using quotes or taking them out of context

Remember what we said about exuberant language and cliches? 

It’s the same with the use of quotes. 

Quotes can be a powerful tool to back up any argument, be it in a UCAS Personal Statement or any other kind of essay. 

But quotes used clumsily can often have the opposite effect, and make the writer of a Personal Statement seem pretentious or just quoting for the sake of it. 

Many students may feel tempted to open their Personal Statement with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, or Martin Luther King. A student who is submitting an application for psychology may feel it necessary to begin their Personal Statement with a quote from Sigmund Freud. 

The trouble is that many UK university admissions tutors have probably seen the same quotes again and again. Again, if quotes aren’t used in context, or don’t serve the overall narrative of the Personal Statement, then it may be worth not putting them in. 

It’s also important to remember that universities want to hear from the student, not Sigmund Freud! If in doubt, a student writing a Personal Statement should use their own thoughts and insights, not someone else’s. 

Top tip:  Encourage students to use less well-known quotes in their Personal Statement. Quotes from less well-known, specialist thinkers within a subject discipline are more likely to show that a student is widely read and has a deep and rich knowledge of the subject they’re applying for. 

6. Telling the reader something they already know 

Demonstrating subject knowledge and background reading is vital for a UCAS Personal Statement. But this must fit in with the student’s overall story of  why  they want to study that particular degree. 

What students shouldn’t do is explain academic or scientific theories at length, or regurgitate existing arguments that have already been made by other writers in their chosen field of study. 

Students writing a UCAS Personal Statement need to operate from the assumption that the person reading it is probably an expert in their field. It’s only worth students talking about their wider reading, or their take on another piece of academic writing, if they can demonstrate its relevance to them. 

Top tip:  Students should avoid going into depth about other academic or scientific theories unless they have a bearing on the student’s own worldview, and can tell the reader something about why they want to study for that particular course. 

Video: Tips from UCAS on starting a Personal Statement

7. not paying attention to word/character limits .

It’s pretty hard to literally ignore the word/character limit for the UCAS Personal Statement, as there will come a point where students will simply run out of space. 

But some students can fail to pay attention to word/character limits to the extent that they don’t plan the form and structure of their UCAS Personal Statement properly. 

Planning the overall structure and flow of the Personal Statement before writing it is absolutely essential if students are to make the most of the space that UCAS allocates. Half finished thoughts and hastily written conclusions will do more harm than good when someone reads the Personal Statement. 

Top tip:  Run one class/workshop with students where they brainstorm and plan the overall structure of their UCAS Personal Statement. Break the components of a good personal statement down into chunks, and get students thinking about the optimal structure for making their Personal Statements as good as they can be! 

8. Unnecessary origin stories 

Everyone loves an origin story (why else would film studios keep remaking Spiderman?). But origin stories in UCAS Personal Statements can sometimes be a waste of time (this is in sharp contrast to an application like the Common App in the USA), where they love to hear a student’s origin story)

Remember our physics student from Tip no.3 who loved to gaze at the night sky? Childhood anecdotes are great, and can certainly add character to a student’s application. But they’re not always necessary to showcase a student’s devotion to their chosen subject. 

In fact, it’s fair to say that admissions tutors at UK universities are more interested in an applicant’s more recent contributions or achievements in their chosen field of study than snippets of their biography. 

Yet it remains the case that students sometimes feel the need to profess their lifelong devotion to a subject they’re hoping to study at university. It’s really not necessary. 

In fact UCAS themselves once published a list of the  most commonly used opening lines in a Personal Statement . Three of the most frequent openings were 

“I have always been interested in…” (used 927 times)

“For as long as I can remember I have…” (used 1,451 times) 

“From a young age I have always been interested in/fascinated by…” (used 1,779 times) 

Not only does drawing on childhood memories risk losing sight of more relevant information, it’s also something that lots of universities have seen before. 

9. Making things up 

We hope that none of your students would ever lie in their Personal Statement. But if someone feels the pressure to stand out from the crowd and really impress a university, then it could happen. 

Even small, believable exaggerations could come back to haunt a student if they were hypothetically invited to an interview further down the road. It could be as small as pretending to have read a particular book, or quoting/discussing a piece of research in their chosen subject field and not having fully engaged with it. 

Top tip:  When it comes to putting anything untruthful in a Personal Statement, we can only offer you one piece of advice to give to your students. 

Don’t do it! It’s not worth it, students will probably get found out and there’s likely plenty of achievements and skills that students can talk about in their Personal Statement. They just need to think long and hard about what it is! 

10. Being controversial or contrarian for the sake of it 

Being controversial or argumentative can seem like a good way to sit up and get the reader’s attention – but it’s not worth a student doing it unless they’ve really got the evidence and the argument to back it up. 

For example, arguing against a famous essay or piece of research in a student’s chosen subject might seem like a good way to score some brownie points. But why does a student take issue with this particular piece of research? And is it really wise to try and tackle it in the space of a 4,000 character Personal Statement. 

Top tip:  Students should definitely be independent and analytical when discussing their degree subject in their Personal Statement – after all, it’s the most surefire way to stand out. But taking a contrarian position, or trying to make an explosive new contribution to academic discourse in the course of one Personal Statement probably isn’t a good idea. 

Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS – final tips to avoid mistakes

What do these mistakes all have in common? 

The answer is they are the natural consequence of students forgetting some of the core principles of UCAS Personal Statement writing. 

• Students need to ensure their Personal Statements are well-structured and well-planned – so as to avoid spelling mistakes and/or falling foul of the character limit. 
• Students need to keep their Personal Statements as unique to them as possible – this means staying truthful to their own ambitions and worldview, and avoiding generalisations or cliches. 
• A good Personal Statement needs to be rooted in strong analysis and writing that makes good use of evidence and specific examples to back up an argument. 
• A standout Personal Statement needs to be compelling account of a student’s suitability for a course with a good story at the heart of it – it needs to show, not tell. 

Our Personal Statement template is a great resource if you want to help your students plan and write a truly individual Personal Statement, and avoid some of the mistakes we’ve listed here. Download it below! 

Bonus Resource!

How to write a Personal Statement Worksheet & Template

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Personal Statement: Top 10 Rules and Pitfalls

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From Top 10 Rules and Pitfalls // Purdue Writing Lab

Writing the personal statement: top 10 rules.

• Strive for depth rather than breadth. Narrow focus to one or two key themes, ideas or experiences
• Try to tell the reader something that no other applicant will be able to say
• Provide the reader with insight into what drives you
• Be yourself, not the ‘ideal’ applicant
• Get creative and imaginative in the opening remarks, but make sure it’s something that no one else could write
• Address the school’s unique features that interest you
• Focus on the affirmative in the personal statement; consider an addendum to explain deficiencies or blemishes
• Evaluate experiences, rather than describe them
• Proofread carefully for grammar, syntax, punctuation, word usage, and style
• Use readable fonts, typeface, and conventional spacing and margins

WRITING THE PERSONAL STATEMENT: TOP 10 PITFALLS

• Do not submit an expository resume; avoid repeating information found elsewhere on the application
• Do not use the same personal statement for each application. Generic statements are often obvious
• Do not preach to your reader. You can express opinions, but do not come across as fanatical or extreme
• Do not talk about money as a motivator
• Do not discuss systemic and social injustices simply as complaints, but as a relevant source of motivation for your overall goals and intended studies
• Do not remind the school of its rankings or tell them how good they are
• “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is…”
• “This question asks me to discuss…”
• “I would like to thank the admissions committee for considering my application.”
• “It is my sincere hope that you will grant me the opportunity to attend your fine school.”
• “In sum, there are three reasons why you should admit me…”
• Do not use unconventional and gimmicky formats and packages
• Do not submit supplemental materials unless they are requested
• Do not get the name of the school wrong
• Do not incorporate technical language or very uncommon words

Stewart, Mark Alan. Perfect Personal Statements. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996.

Minimum acceptable length of personal statement?

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Nigerian Man Arrested in Alleged $10 Million Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Fraud Scheme

BOSTON – A Nigerian man was arrested on Aug. 13, 2024 upon arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on charges that he, and others, conspired to fraudulently obtain at least $10 million in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.

Yomi Jones Olayeye, a/k/a “Sabbie,” 40, of Lagos, Nigeria, is charged with one count of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He made an initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York on Aug. 14, 2024 and will appear in federal court in Boston tomorrow.  

According to the charging document, between March and July 2020, Olayeye and others defrauded three pandemic assistance programs administrated by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and other states’ unemployment insurance agencies: traditional unemployment insurance (UI), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC). 

Specifically, Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly used personally identifiable information (PII) they purchased over criminal internet forums to apply for UI, PUA and FPUC – falsely representing themselves to be eligible state residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly used the same fraudulently obtained PII to open U.S. bank and prepaid debit card accounts to receive the assistance payments. It is also alleged that Olayeye and his co-conspirators recruited U.S.-based account holders to receive and transfer the fraud proceeds via cash transfer applications. Olayeye and his co-conspirators then allegedly used the fraudulent proceeds to purchase Bitcoin via online marketplaces. It is further alleged that Olayeye and his co-conspirators concealed the conspiracy’s connection to Nigeria by leasing Internet Protocol addresses assigned to computers located in the United States for use in the fraudulent transactions. 

In total, Olayeye and his co-conspirators allegedly applied for at least $10 million in fraudulent UI, PUA and FPUC from Massachusetts, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Montana, Maine, Ohio and Washington and received more than $1.5 million in assistance to which they were not entitled.  

The charges of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, forfeiture and restitution. The charge of aggravated identity theft calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison to be added to any sentence imposed on the wire fraud charge. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case. 

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Special Agent in Charge Andrew Murphy of the U.S. Secret Service Boston Field Office; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B. Kosto, Deputy Chief of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus and https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combatingfraud .       Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form .

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. 

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Fact-Checking Biden’s Speech and More: Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention

We followed the developments and fact-checked the speakers, providing context and explanation.

• Share full article

President Biden praised his administration’s accomplishments and declared his vice president a worthy successor on the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday.

Mr. Biden’s speech capped a night in which Democratic lawmakers and party stalwarts praised Vice President Kamala Harris, warned repeatedly that former President Donald J. Trump was unfit for office and celebrated Mr. Biden’s legacy.

Here’s a look at some of their claims.

“While schools closed and dead bodies filled morgues, Donald Trump downplayed the virus. He told us to inject bleach into our bodies. He peddled conspiracy theories across the country. We lost hundreds of thousands of Americans, and our economy collapsed.”

— Representative Robert Garcia of California

This is exaggerated.

Mr. Trump’s comments, in April 2020, about the efficacy of disinfectants and light as treatments for the coronavirus elicited uproar and confusion . He did not literally instruct people to inject bleach, but raised the suggestion as an “interesting” concept to test out.

At the April 2020 news conference , a member of Mr. Trump’s coronavirus task force said that the virus dies under direct sunlight and that applying bleach in indoor spaces kills the virus in five minutes and isopropyl alcohol does so in 30 seconds.

Mr. Trump responded: “Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too.”

He added: “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”

Jeanna Smialek

“Trump talks big about bringing back manufacturing jobs, but you know who actually did it? President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.”

— Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York

This needs context .

It is true that manufacturing employment is up sharply under the Biden administration, but much of the gains are simply a recovery from job losses early in the coronavirus pandemic. Manufacturing employment is just slightly above its 2019 level. And factory employment also climbed somewhat from when Donald J. Trump took office in early 2017 and the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

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“Thanks to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we reopened our schools.”

— Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina

This needs context.

President Donald J. Trump and President Biden took different approaches to school reopenings during the coronavirus pandemic, with Mr. Trump encouraging schools to stay open and Mr. Biden emphasizing the need to contain the virus before reopening classroom doors. While they could signal policy preferences, developments in how the virus spread and how states and school districts reacted were sometimes out of their control.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned schools to prepare for disruption in February 2020, and a high school in Washington State became the first to close its doors that month . More schools across the country followed in adopting online instruction, but by the fall of 2020, some schools — often in states with Republican governors — returned to in-person instruction.

One audit found that by the fall of 2020 more schools had reverted to a traditional or hybrid model than remained virtual. A C.D.C. study found that school closures peaked in 2021, under the Biden administration, when the Omicron variant spread. By the fall of 2021, though, 98 percent of public schools were offering in-person instruction full time, according to the Education Department .

“Donald Trump wants to put our 1787 constitution through his Project 2025 paper shredder.”

— Representative Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas

Project 2025, a set of conservative policy proposals assembled by a Washington think tank for a Republican presidential administration, does not directly come from Mr. Trump or his campaign.

Still, CNN documented instances where 140 people who worked for the Trump administration had a role in Project 2025. Some were top advisers to Mr. Trump in his first term and a re all but certain to step into prominent posts should he win a second term.

Mr. Trump has also supported some of the proposals, with even some overlap between Project 2025 and his own campaign plans. Among the similarities: undercutting the independence of the Justice Department and pressing to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And he enacted other initiatives mentioned in Project 2025 in his first term, such as levying tariffs on China and making it easier to fire federal workers.

But Mr. Trump has criticized some elements as “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal” though he has not specified which proposals he opposes. When the director of the project departed the think tank, Mr. Trump’s campaign released a statement that stated: “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign — it will not end well for you.”

“JD Vance says women should stay in violent marriages and pregnancies resulting from rape are simply inconvenient.”

— Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky

Mr. Beshear was referring to comments Mr. Vance made during his 2022 campaign for Senate. Mr. Vance has rejected such interpretations.

In remarks to a Christian high school in California in September 2021, Mr. Vance spoke of his grandparents’ marriage, which he described in his memoir as violent.

“This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that like, ‘Well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term,” he said .

Asked by Vice News about his remarks in 2022, Mr. Vance said, “Any fair person would recognize I was criticizing the progressive frame on this issue, not embracing it.”

He also told Fox News that Democrats had “twisted my words here” and that “it’s not what I believe, it’s not what I said.”

And regarding pregnancies resulting from rape, Mr. Vance told Fox News that he was criticizing the view that such pregnancies are “inconvenient.”

In a 2021 interview , Mr. Vance was asked whether abortion bans should have exceptions for rape or incest. He responded, “At the end of the day, we’re talking about an unborn baby. What kind of society do we want to have? A society that looks at unborn babies as inconveniences to be discarded?”

“Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes will pay $35 a month.”

— President Biden

Mr. Biden signed a law that places a cap of $35 a month on insulin for all Medicare Part D beneficiaries. But he is overstating the average cost before the law.

Patients’ out-of-pocket spending on insulin was $434 on average for all of 2019 — not per month — and $449 per year for Medicare enrollees, according to the Health and Human Services Department .

“The smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years.”

As a percentage of wealth held by white families, Black and Latino families did grow to the largest amounts in 2022 in two decades. But the disparity in absolute dollar value actually increased.

“He called them ‘suckers and losers.’”

The claim that, as president, Donald J. Trump called veterans “suckers” and “losers” stems from a 2020 article in The Atlantic about his relationship to the military.

The article relied on anonymous sources, but many of the accounts have been corroborated by other outlets, including The New York Times, and by John F. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general who served as Mr. Trump’s White House chief of staff. Mr. Trump has emphatically denied making the remarks since the article was published. Here’s a breakdown .

“Trump wants to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

This is misleading..

Mr. Trump has said repeatedly during his 2024 presidential campaign that he would not cut Social Security or Medicare, though he had previously shown brief and vague support for such proposals.

Asked about his position on the programs in relation to the national debt, Mr. Trump told CNBC in March, “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements.”

But Mr. Trump and his campaign clarified that he would not seek to cut the programs. Mr. Trump told the website Breitbart , “I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare.” And during a July rally in Minnesota, he again vowed, “I will not cut one penny from Social Security or Medicare, and I will not raise the retirement age by one day, not by one day.”

Still, Mr. Trump has not outlined a clear plan for keeping the programs solvent. During his time in office, Mr. Trump did propose some cuts to Medicare — though experts said the cost reductions would not have significantly affected benefits — and to Social Security’s programs for people with disabilities. They were not enacted by Congress.

“He created the largest debt any president had in four years with his two trillion dollars tax cut for the wealthy.”

Looking at a single presidential term, Donald J. Trump’s administration did rack up more debt than any other in raw dollars — about $7.9 trillion . But the debt rose more under President Barack Obama’s eight years than under Mr. Trump’s four years. Also, when viewed as a percentage increase, the national debt rose more under President George H.W. Bush’s single term than under Mr. Trump’s.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that Mr. Trump’s tax cuts — which passed in December 2017 with no Democrats in support — roughly added another $1 trillion to the federal deficit from 2018 to 2021, even after factoring in economic growth spurred by the tax cuts. But other drivers of the deficit include several sweeping measures that had bipartisan approval. The first coronavirus stimulus package , which received near unanimous support in Congress, added $2 trillion to the deficit over the next two fiscal years. Three additional spending measures contending with the coronavirus pandemic and its economic ramifications added another $1.4 trillion.

It is also important to note that presidents do not hold unilateral responsibility for the debt increase under their time in office. Policies from previous administrations — and programs such as Social Security and Medicare — continue to drive up debt, as do unexpected circumstances.

Watch CBS News

Hackers may have stolen your Social Security number in a massive breach. Here's what to know.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: August 19, 2024 / 9:51 AM EDT / CBS News

A new lawsuit is claiming hackers have gained access to the personal information of "billions of individuals," including their Social Security numbers, current and past addresses and the names of siblings and parents — personal data that could allow fraudsters to infiltrate financial accounts or take out loans in their names. 

The allegation arose in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Christopher Hofmann, a California resident who claims his identity theft protection service alerted him that his personal information had been leaked to the dark web by the "nationalpublicdata.com" breach. The lawsuit was earlier reported by Bloomberg Law.

The breach allegedly occurred around April 2024, with a hacker group called USDoD exfiltrating the unencrypted personal information of billions of individuals from a company called National Public Data (NPD), a background check company, according to the lawsuit. Earlier this month, a hacker leaked a version of the stolen NPD data for free on a hacking forum, tech site Bleeping Computer reported . 

That hacker claimed the stolen files include 2.7 billion records, with each listing a person's full name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and phone number, Bleeping Computer said. While it's unclear how many people that includes, it's likely "that everyone with a Social Security number was impacted," said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at The National Cybersecurity Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes online safety.

"It's a reminder of the importance of protecting yourself, because clearly companies and the government aren't doing it for us," Steinhauer told CBS MoneyWatch.

In a statement posted to its website, NPD said the breach involved a "third-party bad actor that was trying to hack into data in late December 2023, with potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024."

The company added that it is working with law enforcement and government investigators. NPD said it "will try to notify you if there are further significant developments applicable to you."

Here's what to know about the alleged hack. 

What is National Public Data? 

National Public Data is a data company based in Coral Springs, Florida, that provides background checks for employers, investigators and other businesses that want to check people's backgrounds. Its searches include criminal records, vital records, SSN traces and more information, its website says.

There are many similar companies that scrape public data to create files on consumers, which they then sell to other businesses, Steinhauer said.

"They are data brokers that collect and sell data about people, sometimes for background check purposes," he said. "It's because there's no national privacy law in the U.S. — there is no law against them collecting this data against our consent."

What happened with the USDoD hack?

According to the new lawsuit, USDoD on April 8 posted a database called "National Public Data" on the dark web, claiming to have records for about 2.9 billion individuals. It was asking for a purchase price of $3.5 million, the lawsuit claims. 

However, Bleeping Computer reported that the file was later leaked for free on a hacker forum, as noted above. 

How many people have been impacted?

The number of people impacted by the breach is unclear. Although the lawsuit claims "billions of individuals" had their data stolen, the total population of the U.S. stands at about 330 million. The lawsuit also alleges that the data includes personal information of deceased individuals.

Bleeping Computer reports that the hacked data involves 2.7 billion records, with individuals having multiple records in the database. In other words, one individual could have separate records for each address where they've lived, which means the number of impacted people may be far lower than the lawsuit claims, the site noted.

The data may reach back at least three decades, according to law firm Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe, which said on Monday it is investigating the breach.

Did NPD alert individuals about the hack? 

It's unclear, although the lawsuit claims that NPD "has still not provided any notice or warning" to Hoffman or other people affected by the breach. 

"In fact, upon information and belief, the vast majority of Class Members were unaware that their sensitive [personal information] had been compromised, and that they were, and continue to be, at significant risk of identity theft and various other forms of personal, social, and financial harm," the lawsuit claims. 

Information security company McAfee reported that it hasn't found any filings with state attorneys general. Some states require companies that have experienced data breaches to file reports with their AG offices. 

However, NPD posted an alert about the breach on its website, stating that it believes the information breached includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and mailing addresses.

Can you find out if your data was part of the hack?

There are tools available that will monitor what information about you is available on the dark web, noted Michael Blair, managing director of cybersecurity firm NukuDo. Commonly breached data includes your personal addresses, passwords and email, he added.

One such service is how Hofmann, who filed the lawsuit, found out that his information has been leaked as part of NPD breach.

"Make sure to use reputable companies to look that up," Blair said. 

What should I do to protect my information?

Security experts recommend that consumers put freezes on their credit files at the three big credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Freezing your credit is free, and will stop bad actors from taking out loans or opening credit cards in your name. 

"The biggest thing is to freeze your credit report, so it can't be used to open new accounts in your name and commit other fraud in your name," Steinhauer said. 

In its statement, NPD also urged people to put free fraud alerts on their accounts, which "tells creditors to contact you before they open any new accounts or change your existing accounts," it said. You'll have to contact just one of the three credit bureaus to create a fraud alert, and that agency will alert the others.

Steinhauer recommends consumers take several additional steps to protect their data and finances:

• Make sure your passwords are at least 16 characters in length, and are complex. 
• Use a password manager to save those long, complex passwords.
• Enable multifactor authentication, which Steinhauer calls "critical," because simply using a single password to access your accounts isn't enough protection against hackers. 
• Be on alert for phishing and other scams. One red flag is that the scammers will try to create a sense of urgency to manipulate their victims.
• Keep your security software updated on your computer and other devices. For instance, make sure you download the latest security updates from Microsoft or Apple onto your apps and devices. 

You can also get a tracking service that will alert you if your data appears on the dark web. 

"You should assume you have been compromised and act accordingly," Steinhauer said. 

• Data Breach
• Social Security

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-warnings-from-democrats-about-project-2025-and-donald-trump

Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and Donald Trump

This fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact .

Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

And it was front and center on Night 1.

WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC

“This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point.

“Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona.

Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups.

Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president.

Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign.

PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions.

Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?

To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.)

The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023.

Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document.

WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors

However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document.

Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail access

The Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.”

The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access.

What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.”

It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023.

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.

WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare

“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program.

Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views.

In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False.

Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements.

The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees.

Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare.

Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supports

The Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies.

Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures.

Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet.

In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress.

What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime pay

In the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.”

The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.

The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said.

The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said.

It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages.

Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime.

Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year.

But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama.

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162 lies and distortions in a news conference. NPR fact-checks former President Trump

Domenico Montanaro

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Aug. 8. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

There were a host of false things that Donald Trump said during his hour-long news conference Thursday that have gotten attention.

A glaring example is his helicopter emergency landing story, which has not stood up to scrutiny .

But there was so much more. A team of NPR reporters and editors reviewed the transcript of his news conference and found at least 162 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies in 64 minutes. That’s more than two a minute. It’s a stunning number for anyone – and even more problematic for a person running to lead the free world.

Politicians spin. They fib. They misspeak. They make honest mistakes like the rest of us. And, yes, they even sometimes exaggerate their biographies .

The expectation, though, is that they will treat the truth as something important and correct any errors.

But what former President Trump did this past Thursday went well beyond the bounds of what most politicians would do.

Here’s what we found, going chronologically from the beginning of Trump’s remarks to the end:

1. “I think our country right now is in the most dangerous position it’s ever been in from an economic standpoint…” 

The U.S. economy has rebounded from the pandemic downturn more rapidly than most other countries around the world. Growth has slowed in recent months, but gross domestic product still grew at a relatively healthy annual clip of 2.8% in April, May and June – which is faster than the pace in three of the four years when Trump was president. — Scott Horsley, NPR chief economics correspondent

2. “…from a safety standpoint, both gangs on the street…”

We don’t have great, up-to-date data on gang activity in the U.S., but violent crime trends offer a good glimpse into safety in the country. Nationally, violent crime – that includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – has been trending way down after a surge in 2020, according to the most recent data from the FBI . That data is preliminary and incomplete, covering around three-quarters of the country, but other crime analysts have found similar trends. Crime levels, of course, vary locally : murders are down in Philadelphia, for instance, but up in Charlotte, N.C. — Meg Anderson, NPR National Desk reporter covering criminal justice

3. “...and frankly, gangs outside of our country in the form of other countries that are, frankly, very powerful. They’re very powerful countries.”

The U.S. is not in the “most dangerous position” from a foreign-policy standpoint than ever before. Biden pulled troops out of Afghanistan in his first year in office — though the withdrawal itself was chaotic and a target of much criticism — and since then, U.S. troops have not been actively engaged in a war for the first time in 20 years. The U.S. is supporting Ukraine and Israel, of course, and has troops in Iraq and Syria, but they’re not fighting on any regular basis.

What’s more, however, FBI Director Christopher Wray has said the greatest threat to the country is domestic extremism . And beyond organized groups the very definition of extremism is changing, as fringe ideologies move into the mainstream, and radicalization takes hold amongst parts of the populace. Consider: the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and the assassination attempt on Trump’s life, even with a motive that remains murky at best. Regardless, the call is coming from inside the house, domestic extremism experts warn. Many polls show a sobering degree of support for political violence to drive change. — Andrew Sussman, NPR supervising editor for national security

4-5. “ We have a lot of bad things coming up. You could end up in a Depression of the 1929 variety, which would be a devastating thing, took many years– took many decades to recover from it, and we’re very close to that.”

There is nothing to suggest that a 1930s style Depression is on the horizon for the United States. And the Depression did not take “many decades to recover from.” It ended during World War Two , in 1941. — Scott Horsley

6. “And we’re very close to a world war. In my opinion, we’re very close to a world war.”

No serious person thinks that the U.S., Russia and China are about to start a world war. Right now, Russia appears to be having a hard time defending Russia, given Ukraine’s recent incursions. While there are concerns about things like the potential for regional conflagrations in the Middle East, only Trump is talking about world war. — Andrew Sussman

7. “ Kamala's record is horrible. She's a radical left person at a level that nobody's seen.” 

It’s debatable how liberal Harris is. Some in California didn’t like her record on criminal justice and thought she was not progressive enough. She’s clearly liked by progressives and her voting scores as a senator are on the liberal end of the spectrum, but is she “radical left” and “at a level that nobody’s seen”? There are plenty of people alive and in history who would be considered far more liberal and more radical.

8. “She picked a radical left man.”

Few, if any, reasonable people would say Walz is a “radical left man.” He had a progressive record as governor with a Democratic legislature, but the things passed are hardly radical – free school lunch, protecting abortion rights, legalizing marijuana, restricting access to certain types of guns. All of these things have majority support from voters. What’s more, that “progressive” record ignores Walz’s first term as governor when he worked with Republicans because Democrats didn’t control the legislature. And it ignores Walz’s time as a congressman when he was considered a more moderate member given that he was from a district that had been previously held by a Republican.

9. “He's going for things that nobody's ever even heard of. Heavy into the transgender world.” 

Last year, Walz championed and signed a bill that prevented state courts of officials from complying with child-removal requests, extraditions, arrests or subpoenas related to gender-affirming health care that a person receives or provides in Minnesota. “Heavy into the transgender world” is vague and misleading.

10. “He doesn't want to have borders. He doesn't want to have walls.”

Walz has never called for having no borders. He has voiced opposition to a wall because he doesn't think it will stop illegal immigration. He told Anderson Cooper on CNN , for example, that a wall "is not how you stop" illegal immigration He called for more border-control agents, electronics and more legal ways to immigrate.

11. “He doesn't want to have any form of safety for our country.”

Trump himself praised Walz’s handling of the aftermath of the George Floyd murder at the hands of a police officer. And it’s certainly hyperbole to say he “doesn’t want any form of safety for our country.” Walz served in the U.S. National Guard for 24 years, so clearly, he’s interested in the country having national security. And domestically, he’s never been a “defund the police” advocate. Walz opposed a ballot measure that would have gotten rid of minimum police staffing levels, for example. That angered advocates. He signed police reforms into law , but that does not prove wanting no safety.

12. “He doesn't mind people coming in from prisons.”

Walz has not said he wants people coming in from prisons. Trump is trying to tie his claim that other countries are sending prisoners to the United States to Democrats’ immigration policies.

13. “And neither does she, I guess. Because she's not, she couldn't care less.”

Harris has said a lot to the contrary of not caring about the levels of migrants coming across the border, let alone people coming in from prisons. In fact, when in Guatemala, she said her message for people thinking of immigrating to the United States was: " Do not come. Do not come ."

14. “She's the border czar. By the way, she was the border czar, 100%. And all of a sudden, for the last few weeks, she's not the border czar anymore, like nobody ever said it.”

Harris was never appointed “border czar.” That’s a phrase that was used incorrectly by some media outlets. Biden tasked Harris with leading the “ diplomatic effort ” with leaders in Central American countries, where many migrants are coming from.

Biden said he wants Harris “to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.” He added that Harris “agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those nations to accept — the returnees, and enhance migration enforcement at their borders — at their borders.”

Harris herself that day spoke of “the need to address root causes for the migration that we’ve been seeing.”

15. “We have a very, very sick country right now. You saw the other day with the stock market crashing. That was just the beginning. That was just the beginning.”

The stock market did not “crash.” The stock market fell sharply at the end of last week as investors fretted about a softening job market. This was amplified on Monday when Japan’s stock market tumbled 12%, sparking a selloff around the world. Stocks in Japan and elsewhere have since regained much of this ground, however. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 683 points on the day of Trump’s news conference. — Scott Horsley

16. “Fortunately, we've had some very good polls over the last fairly short period of time.”

Most good polls have shown Harris gaining not just nationally, but also in the swing states, though these same polls show a very close race.

17. “Rasmussen came out today. We're substantially leading.” 

Trump is not substantially leading, and Rasmussen is viewed as one of the least credible pollsters in the country.

18. “And others came out today that we're leading, and in some cases, substantially, I guess, MSNBC came out, or CNBC came out also, with a poll that was, you know, has us leading.” 

Polls have not shown substantial leads. CNBC had Trump leading by 2, unchanged from his 2-point lead in July.

19. “And leading fairly big in swing states. In some polls, I'm leading very big in swing states… .”

Again, polls in swing states have shown a tightened race.

20. “But as a border czar, she's been the worst border czar in history, in the world history.”

Vice President Harris was never asked to lead immigration policy. That’s the job of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Again, the term “border czar” was used inaccurately by some media outlets, and it’s a term conservatives have been using to attack her, in part, because she has only visited the Southern U.S. border a few times since 2021. But in reality, Harris was tapped by President Biden to address the root causes of migration . Her approach has focused on deterrence. She’s told migrants to not come to the U.S., and she has been able to secure more than $5 billion in commitments from private companies to help boost the economy in Central American countries. — Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, NPR immigration correspondent based in Texas 

21. “I think the number is 20 million, but whether it's 15 or 20, it's numbers that nobody's ever heard before. 20 million people came over the border in the last– during the Biden-Harris administration. Twenty-million people. And it could be very much higher than that. Nobody really knows what the number is.”

It’s unclear where Trump is getting this number from. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection , since 2021 agents have had more than 7.3 million encounters nationwide with migrants trying to cross into the country illegally. Under Biden, unlawful crossings hit an all-time high last year, but that number has decreased significantly, in part, due to Biden’s asylum restrictions at the Southern U.S. border. An April report from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics found there’s nearly 11 million unauthorized migrants in the country. — Sergio Martínez-Beltrán

22. “Just like far more people were killed in the Ukraine-Russia war than you have reported.”

Neither Russia nor Ukraine is revealing its own casualty figures, so there are only very broad estimates. — Andrew Sussman 

23. “A lot of great things would have happened, but now you have millions and millions of dead people. And you have people dying financially, because they can't buy bacon; they can't buy food; they can't buy groceries; they can't do anything. And they're living horribly in our country right now.”

Grocery prices actually jumped sharply during Trump’s last year in office, as pandemic lockdowns disrupted the food supply chain and Americans were suddenly forced to eat more of their meals at home. Grocery inflation in June 2020 hit 5.6%. This was masked, however, by a plunge in other prices, as the global economy fell into pandemic recession.

As the economy rebounded, prices did, too. Inflation began to rise in 2021, and spiked in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent food and energy prices soaring. Inflation has since moderated, falling from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3% in June 2024 . (July’s inflation figures will be released next week.) Grocery prices have largely leveled off in the last year, although they remain higher than they were before the pandemic – a potent reminder of the rising cost of living.

Economists have warned that Trump’s proposed import tariffs and immigration restrictions could result in higher inflation in the years to come. Researchers from the Peterson Institute for International Economics estimate the tariffs alone would cost the typical family about $1,700 a year . — Scott Horsley

24. “We've agreed with NBC, fairly full agreement, subject to them, on Sept. 10th.”

This is ABC, not NBC.

25. “She can't do an interview. She's barely competent and she can't do an interview.” 

Harris hasn’t done interviews since getting into the campaign, but she has done them in the past, so saying “she can’t do” one or that she is “barely competent” are just insults. Trump tends to revert to questioning the intelligence of Black women who challenge him. In fact, Trump did it nine times in this news conference, saying either Harris is not that “smart” (five times) "incompetent” (three times) or “barely competent,” as he did here.

26-27. “Why is it that millions of people were allowed to come into our country from prisons, from jails, from mental institutions, insane asylums, even insane asylums, that's a– it's a mental institution on steroids. That's what it is.”

Immigration experts have said they have not been able to find any evidence of this. Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, told FactCheck.org : “It’s hard to prove a negative — nobody’s writing a report saying, ‘Ecuador is not opening its mental institutions’ — but what I can say is that I work full-time on migration, am on many coalition mailing lists, correspond constantly with partners in the region, and scan 300+ RSS feeds and Twitter lists of press outlets and activists region wide, and I have not seen a single report indicating that this is happening. … As far as I can tell, it’s a total fabrication.”

Notably, a version of this did happen in 1980 during the Mariel boatlift from Cuba . The Washington Post noted three years later: “Back in 1980, it seemed to be a humanitarian and patriotic gesture to accept provisionally, without papers or visas, all those fleeing from the port of Mariel. More than 125,000 came. Most were true refugees, many had families here, and the great majority has settled into American communities without mishap. But the Cuban dictator played a cruel joke. He opened his jails and mental hospitals and put their inmates on the boats too.”

Without a question, some migrants who have come into the U.S. have committed crimes, but the data show the vast majority do not. According to Northwestern University , immigrants are less likely to commit a crime than U.S.-born people and certainly at no higher rates that the population writ large. (Trump goes on to repeat this claim minutes later in the news conference as well, so it is included in our count here.)

28. “We have a president that's the worst president in the history of our country.”

Trump may have this opinion, but he says it as if it’s fact, and a 2022 survey of historians ranked Biden in the top half of presidents. Trump, on the other hand, was No. 43. The two below Trump were James Buchanan, who did little to stop the impending U.S. Civil War, and the impeached and nearly convicted Andrew Johnson.

29. “We have a vice president who is the least admired, least respected, and the worst vice president in the history of our country.” 

A recent rating of vice presidents did not show this. Harris was in the bottom half of vice presidents, but Spiro Agnew, Dan Quayle, Henry A. Wallace and were toward the bottom of the list.

30. “The most unpopular vice president.”

This might have been true about a year ago or so, but not anymore. An NBC poll then showed Harris had the lowest favorability rating of any modern VP they’d tested. But her numbers have turned around. The NPR poll had Harris with a 46%/48% favorable to unfavorable rating, which was higher than Trump’s and his running mate, JD Vance, who is among the least popular running mates in recent history .

31. “Don't forget, she was the first one defeated. As I remember it, because I watched it very closely, but she was the first one.”

Harris was not “defeated,” because she dropped out of the Democratic presidential race before Iowa. But even if one considers her dropping out on Dec. 3, 2019, a defeat, she was not the first of the Democratic candidates in that primary campaign to do so. At least 10 others dropped out sooner .

32-34. “And I'm no Biden fan, but I'll tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you're looking at, they took the presidency away. … And they took it away.” 

There’s nothing in the U.S. Constitution about picking presidential candidates. This is a party process, and everything has been done within party rules. And, again, the presidency wasn’t taken away: Biden is still president.

35. “They said they're going to use the 25th Amendment.”

This was never floated as a possibility to get Biden to withdraw from the race. Biden’s Cabinet members are all people he appointed and who are loyal to him. In addition, the 25th Amendment outlines a procedure for removing a sitting president from office, not from running for a second term.

36-39. "They're going to hit you hard. ‘Either we can do it the nice way. I heard, I know exactly, because I know a lot of people on the other side, believe it or not. And, they said, ‘We'll do it the nice way, or we'll do it the hard way.’ And he said, ‘All right.”

This was not said; he did not hear; no Democrats in the know are talking to Trump; and this dialogue is made up.

40. “We're leading, we're leading.”

The race is statistically tied in national polls and in the states. In some national polls, Harris leads. In some, Trump does.

41-42. “I'm saying it's a–, for a country with a Constitution that we cherish, we cherish this Constitution to have done it this way is pretty severe, pretty horrible. … But to just take it away from him, like he was a child.”

Again, this is Trump talking about how Biden stepped aside, and there’s nothing in the Constitution about how the political parties should pick candidates. And nothing was taken away.

43-46. “And he's a very angry man right now, I can tell you that. He's not happy with Obama, and he's not happy with Nancy Pelosi. Crazy Nancy, she is crazy, too. She's not happy with any of the people that told him that you've gotta leave. He's very unhappy, very angry, and I think he, He also blames her. He's trying to put up a good face, but it's a very bad thing in terms of a country when you do that. I'm not a fan of his, as you probably have noticed, and he had a rough debate, but that doesn't mean that you just take it away like that.” 

Trump can’t speak to Biden’s state of mind; all evidence is that Nancy Pelosi is perfectly sane – see her recent multiple rounds of interviews about her book, including with NPR ; again, Trump doesn’t know Biden’s state of mind; and again, nobody took it away.

47-51. “She's trying to say she had nothing to do with the border. She had everything. She was appointed to head the border. And then they said border czar. Oh, she loved that name. She loved that name. But she never went there. She went to a location once along the border, but that was a location that you would love to go and have dinner with your husband or whoever. That was a location that was not part of the problem. That was not really going to the border. So I– essentially she never went to the border.”

(1) As previously noted, she was not put in charge of the border and certainly did not have “everything” to do with it; (2) she was not appointed to head the border; (3) if “they” is the White House, then “they” did not call her “border czar”; (4) Trump doesn’t know what Harris might have thought about the term; (5) Harris did not go to a place at the border “you would love to go and have dinner with your husband or whoever.”

In 2021, Harris toured border patrol facilities in El Paso, Texas, visited an area where asylum seekers were screened, and met with migrants. Republicans criticized her at the time for not going to the Rio Grande Valley.

52. “Now we have the worst border in the history of the world.” 

World history is filled with cases where one country has crossed a border and invaded a neighboring country.

53. “She destroyed San Francisco. She destroyed California as the A.G. But as the D.A. She destroyed it. She– San Francisco. … She destroyed– no cash bail, weak on crime, uh, she's terrible.”

As San Francisco’s district attorney from 2004 to 2011, and then California’s attorney general until 2017, it’s true that Kamala Harris was deeply connected to how crime was prosecuted during that particular period. However, no single person is responsible for destroying any city or state, not to mention that both are not destroyed.

There are just too many factors that contribute to why crime rises and falls. What’s more, according to the FBI , both violent and property crime rates in California more or less mirrored national trends during her tenures. As a prosecutor, Harris was largely seen as aligning more with law-and-order tendencies, though she has supported some progressive reforms, like offering certain criminal defendants drug treatment instead of going to trial. She also tweeted support for a Minnesota bail fund after the 2020 protests of George Floyd’s murder. — Meg Anderson

During her campaign for the 2020 nomination, she rolled out a plan that would have phased out cash bail , and she pledged to eliminate it as president because “no one should have to sit in jail for days or even years because they don’t have the money to pay bail.” But in the same campaign, during a debate, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard criticized Harris for keeping cash bail in place as district attorney.

54. “And yet they weaponized the system against me.” 

The justice system was not weaponized against Trump. Biden went through pains to not show any interference with the Justice Department. And Trump was found guilty by a jury of his peers in New York in a state case.

55-58. “I won the big case in Florida. I won the big case. … Nobody even wrote about it. The big case.” 

(1) Trump did not “win” the classified documents case against him in Florida; (2) this was not “the big case” against him; (3) there was plenty of coverage of it; and (4) he goes on to repeat that he won the case later.

For context: the judge in the case controversially dismissed it, claiming the special counsel was unconstitutionally appointed despite Supreme Court decisions upholding independent counsels. The Justice Department has signaled it will appeal by the end of August but by the time the decision comes back, the election will be over.

Trump had four criminal cases against him including the classified documents case – the fraudulent business practices case in New York, for which he was convicted on 34 felony counts; an election interference case in Georgia; and the other federal case dealing with Jan. 6. If there was a biggest case, it was the last one.

59. “The judge was a brilliant judge, and all they do is they play the ref with the judges. But this judge was a fair but brilliant judge.”

There has been lots of criticism of the judge in the case, Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed. She had very little experience as a trial judge, made several decisions that were questioned by legal experts and early in this case, had a ruling, in which she called for a special master to review classified documents first, overturned by the 11th Circuit.

60. “Now Biden lost it because he didn't have presidential immunity. He didn't have the Presidential Records Act. He lost it.”

This was not “Biden’s case.” It was to be tried by special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. The Biden White House has made efforts to keep an arms-length distance from the investigation. Biden often declined to comment on the Justice Department’s and state investigations into Trump when it would likely have been politically advantageous for him to talk about it on the campaign trail.

61. “But the– I call it prosecutors, special counsel, special prosecutor to me. He–, appointed by him and appointed by Garland. He said the man's incompetent. He can't stand trial, but he can run for president.” 

This appears to be a misrepresentation of what special counsel Robert Hur said of Biden in a report he released investigating the president’s handling of classified documents. Hur said he wouldn’t be charging Biden, called the president “an elderly man with a poor memory" and said a jury might find sympathy with him because of it. He did not say Biden was incompetent and could not stand trial.

62. “She couldn't pass her bar exam.”

This is false. Harris passed her bar exam on the second try . She failed on first attempt, which is not unusual for California’s bar exam given its difficulty.

63. “I was doing very well with Black voters, and I still am. I seem to be doing very well with Black males. This is according to polls, as you know. 

Trump was not doing “very well” with Black voters. Biden was not doing as well with Black voters as he did in 2020, according to most surveys, but that didn’t mean Black voters were moving heavily toward Trump. Many seemed more likely not to vote. There were signs that Trump was doing better with Black men, but there wasn’t much good evidence to support this in polling, considering most national polls have such high margins of error with voter groups. A typical national survey might have 1,000 voters and 100 or so Black voters, give or take. That’s typically a margin of error upward of +/- 10 percentage points, meaning results could be a whopping 10 points higher or lower.

64. “Extremely well with Hispanic.”

Like with Black voters, it’s difficult to tell in most national surveys exactly how well a candidate is doing with Latino voters because of high margins of error. “Extremely well” depends on how it’s defined, but this is an exaggeration.

65. “Jewish voters, way up.”

Jewish voters traditionally vote roughly 2-to-1 for Democrats in presidential elections, so this seems more like a hope than reality.

66. “White males, way up. White males have gone through the roof. White males, way up.” 

It’s just not the case that Trump is “way up.” NPR polling finds that while Trump is doing as well as ever with white men without college degrees, Harris – and Biden before her – is actually leading with white men with college degrees, a group Trump won in 2020, according to exit polls .

67. “It could be that I'll be affected somewhat with Black females. Well, we're doing pretty well. And I think ultimately they'll like me better, because I'm gonna give them security, safety and jobs.”

Trump is not doing well with Black females. Black women are a key pillar Democratic voting group, and Black voters have moved more in Harris’ favor since she’s gotten in.

69. “We have a very bad economy right now. We could, we could literally be on the throes of a depression. Not recession, a Depression. And they can't have that. They can't have that.”

This is not the case. See earlier fact check. (He repeats this again later in the press conference, so it is included here in the count.)

70. “I know Josh Shapiro. He's a terrible guy. And he's not very popular with anybody.” 

A Fox News poll last month showed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a finalist to be Harris’ running mate, had a 61% approval rating in the state. Other polls also found him with a net-positive rating, though, not quite as high.

71. “Listen, I had 107,000 people in New Jersey. You didn't report it.”

It was reported that the numbers come from faulty information about the size of a crowd at Trump’s rally. More accurate estimates appear to be anywhere from 30,000 to 60,000 . Still, a very large crowd, but Trump is exaggerating here.

72-77. “What did she have yesterday? 2,000 people? If I ever had 2,000 people, you'd say my campaign is finished. It's so dishonest, the press. … When she gets 1,500 people, and I saw it yesterday on ABC, which they said, ‘Oh, the crowd was so big.’ … I have 10 times, 20 times, 30 times the crowd size. And no, they never say the crowd was big. … I think it's so terrible when you say, ‘Well she has 1,500 people, 1,000 people,’ and they talk about, oh, the enthusiasm.” 

(1-3) Trump gave at least three incorrect estimates here, downplaying Harris’ crowd sizes (2,000, 1,500 and 1,000); (4) He also far overestimated how big his crowd sizes are compared to Harris’; (5-6) He twice said the press is dishonest about her crowd size and about his.

For context, the Harris campaign’s estimate was 10,000 or more at each rally. What the exact number is might be unclear — as is often the case with crowd-size estimates — but they were bigger than 2,000 and 1,500. Reporters have often commented on the size of Trump’s crowds. Frequently, they are very large, certainly larger than ones that Hillary Clinton drew in 2016 or Joe Biden this year, but Trump also regularly exaggerates their sizes.

78. “If I were president, you wouldn't have Russia and Ukraine, where it never happened. Zero chance. You wouldn't have had Oct. 7th of Israel.”

This is speculation, and that there is simply no way to know what would have happened in either case if he'd been reelected.

79. “You wouldn't have had inflation. You wouldn't have had any inflation because inflation was caused by their bad energy problems.” 

Again, this is speculative. Energy and food prices jumped sharply around the world following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions on Russian energy. Gasoline prices in the U.S. hit a record high topping $5 a gallon. But domestic energy production has not suffered during the Biden administration. In fact, U.S. oil and natural gas production hit record highs last year. AAA reports the average price of gasoline today is $3.45/gallon. — Scott Horsley

80. "I don't know if you know, they're drilling now because they had to go back because gasoline was going up to $7, $8, $9 a barrel."

Oil and gas production has largely been determined by energy companies. They were disciplined about not expanding production when prices were low but have become more aggressive as prices climbed. While Kamala Harris opposed “fracking” for oil and gas during her 2019 presidential campaign, she now says she would not try to outlaw the practice – which is important in battleground states such as Pennsylvania. — Scott Horsley

81. “Everybody's going to be forced to buy an electric car, which they're not going to do because they don't want that. It's got a great market. It's got a market. It's really a sub market.”

The Biden administration has set a goal of having 50% of new vehicle sales be electric by 2030 . It has primarily tried to achieve this through carrots rather than sticks, offering incentives to make electric cars more affordable, encouraging the development of electric charging stations and using the federal government’s own purchasing power to create demand. — Scott Horsley

82. “We don't have enough electricity. We couldn't make enough electricity for that.”

A shift to electric vehicles will require a rapid updating and expansion of the U.S. power grid, according to the Electric Power Research Institute . However, as EVs become more efficient, the increased demand could be reduced by as much as 50% per mile traveled over the next three decades. — Scott Horsley

83. “The weight of a car, the weight of a truck, they want all trucks to be electric. Little things that a lot of people don't talk about. The weight of a truck is two-and-a-half times, two-and-a- half times heavier.” 

Electric vehicles are typically heavier than gasoline-powered vehicles, because of the batteries. But the weight difference is about 30% , not 250% as Trump said. What’s more, American vehicles have been getting heavier for decades, long before the move to EVs, thanks to the popularity of pickup trucks and SUVs.

84. “You would have to rebuild every bridge in this country, if you were going to do this ridiculous policy.”

While many bridges and other transportation infrastructure need improvement , the additional weight of EVs is just one of many factors that will need to be considered. Another challenge is that bridges and highways are typically funded through gasoline taxes. The shift to EVs, which don’t use gasoline, will require an alternate source of highway funding.

85-90. “So, but on crowd size in history, for any country, nobody's had crowds like I have, and you know that. And when she gets 1,000 people and everybody starts jumping, you know that if I had a thousand people would say, people would say, that's the end of his campaign. I have hundreds of thousands of people in, uh, South Carolina. I had 88,000 people in Alabama. I had 68,000 people. Nobody says about crowd size with me, but she has 1,000 people or 1,500 people, and they say, oh, the enthusiasm's back.”

There were at least six different misstatements here – (1) Trump has had large crowds, but “in history,” there certainly there have been people with larger crowds, from Barack Obama and others; (2, 3) her crowds have been larger than 1,000, which he repeats twice; (4) no serious analysts have said this is the end of Trump’s campaign. This race is very close; (5) there’s no evidence for crowds of the size Trump notes in South Carolina and Alabama; (6) people do talk about Trump’s crowd sizes.

91. “They wanna stop people from pouring into our country, from places unknown and from countries unknown from countries that nobody ever heard of.”

Someone has likely heard of whatever the unnamed country is.

92-93. “We're leading in Georgia by a lot. We're leading in Pennsylvania by a lot.”

The races in Georgia and Pennsylvania are within the margin of error, according to an average of the polls.

94. “So I won Alabama by a record. Nobody's ever gotten that many votes. I won South Carolina by a record. You don't win Alabama and South Carolina by records and lose Georgia. It doesn't happen.”

It does, and here’s why. Demographically, Georgia has become very different from South Carolina and Alabama. Georgia’s population is now majority-minority, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Alabama and South Carolina are 64% and 63% white, respectively.

Georgia’s Black population is also significant politically — 33% of the state’s population is Black. By comparison, Alabama is 27% Black, South Carolina 26%. Latinos also make up 11% of Georgia’s population and Asian Americans are 5%, both of which are higher than Alabama and South Carolina. And Georgia’s population is marginally younger — 15% of Georgia’s population is older than 65% compared to 18% in Alabama and 19% in South Carolina.

95. “If we have honest elections in Georgia, if we have honest elections in Pennsylvania, We're gonna win them by a lot.”

Winning them by a lot is highly unlikely, considering how close the states have been in recent elections, but perhaps more pressing is Trump’s insinuation that there were voting problems in the two states, which there were not. That’s why Trump is upset with Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, for example, because he upheld the valid 2020 election results even in the face of pressure from Trump.

96. “Of course there'll be a peaceful transfer. And there was last time.”

This wholly ignores the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol, which took place because of Trump’s election lies.

97. “Because I'm leading by a lot.”

Again, this is a very close race.

98. “We have commercials that are at a level I don't think that anybody's ever done before.”

This is false. Since Super Tuesday, Democrats have outspent Trump’s campaign and outside groups supporting him by more than double, according to data provided by AdImpact and analyzed by NPR — $373.5 million to $150.6 million.

99. “She's not smart enough to do a news conference.”

There is plenty of evidence that Harris is “smart enough to do a news conference,” as she has done in the past.

100. "We're in great danger of being in World War III. That could happen." 

Again, no serious analyst believes this.

101. “I think those people were treated very harshly, when you compare them to other things that took place in this country where a lot of people were killed.”

The Justice Department investigation into the events of Jan. 6, 2021, is the largest and most complex federal criminal probe in U.S. history, the attorney general has said. More than 140 law enforcement officers were injured that day, in what U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves has described as the biggest mass casualty event involving police. It’s hard to find any comparable event in recent American history.

As of Aug. 6, 2024, according to Graves’s office, prosecutors have charged more than 160 people with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. Prosecutors have also secured convictions on the rarely-deployed charge of seditious conspiracy, or attempting to overthrow the government by use of force, against top leaders of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

Even so, only a small number of Jan. 6 defendants have been held in federal custody while they await trial. Mostly, these are the rioters who allegedly used the most violence on that day more than three years ago. Republican members of Congress have toured the jail facilities and decried conditions there, expressions of support that defendants facing ordinary charges in D.C. have not received. — Carrie Johnson, NPR national justice correspondent

102. “Nobody was killed on Jan. 6th.” 

Conservatives were upset at the time that one of the rioters, Ashli Babbitt, was killed when she was shot by police, as she was trying to force her way into the Speaker’s Lobby of the Capitol, which leads to the House chamber, with a crowd of others. Many officers were injured that day; one died of a stroke as a result of Jan. 6; and others later died by suicide that their families say was also a result of Jan. 6.

103-105. “And, you know, it's very interesting, the biggest crowd I've ever spoken to. … The biggest crowd I've ever spoken before was that day. … The biggest crowd I've ever spoken. … I've spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me.” 

It was not the biggest crowd he’s ever spoken to. His inauguration would have topped that. And others have had bigger crowds, as noted earlier.

106. “I said peacefully and patriotically.”

While Trump did utter those words, it is misleading. Trump also said the word “fight” multiple times , and he told the already angry crowd because of the election lies he fed them: “We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Trump aides testified that he “refused” to tweet the word “peaceful” in the days leading up to the rally because he thought it might discourage people from being there, and he was concerned about his crowd size.

107-108. “If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same, everything, same number of people. If not, we had more. …You look at the picture of his crowd, my crowd, uh, we actually had more people.”

First, the speeches did not take place at the “same real estate.” Trump spoke from a position just south of the Ellipse. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Second, the crowds were not the same size and Trump’s was certainly not larger. It is an extraordinary claim and shows just how much Trump cares about crowd size.

109. “We have a Constitution. It's a very important document, and we live by it. She has no votes.” 

Again, there’s nothing in the Constitution about how parties should pick their presidents.

110-111. “They said, ‘You're not going to win, you can't win, you're out.’ And at first they said it nicely, and he wasn't leaving, and then you, you know, the, you know it better than anybody. … At first, they were going to go out to another vote, they were going to go through a primary system, a quick primary system, which it would have to be. And then it all disappeared, and they just picked a person.”

As explained earlier, this is not how Biden wound up stepping aside. The story is yet another Trump invention. He also lies here in saying that “they were going to go through a primary system” and “it would have to be” a quick primary system.” There’s no requirement that a primary is held. In fact, for many years, candidates’ selection as party nominees had nothing to do with primaries, and they were not as prevalent as today.

112-113. “That was the first out. She was the first loser, OK? So, we call her the first loser. She was the first loser when– during the primary system, during the Democrat primary system, she was the first one to quit. And she quit.”

As explained earlier, Harris was not the first one out in the 2020 Democratic primary race. And “first loser” appears to be a name Trump made up at this news conference, as Harris has not been referred to that way as a result of her run for the 2020 nomination.

114. “She did, obviously, a bad job. She never made it to Iowa. Then for some reason, and I'm, I know he regrets it, you do too, uh, he picked her, and she turned on him too. She was working with the people that wanted him out."

Once again, this is a false conspiracy invented by Trump.

115. “She was the first one out.” 

Trump repeats this false line again.

116. “I think the abortion issue is written very much tempered down, and I've answered I think very well in the debate, and it seems to be much less of an issue, especially for those where they have the exceptions.”

Abortion rights as a political and social issue has certainly not “tempered down.” There are millions of women, especially across the South, who do not have access to abortion and women who have experienced pregnancy losses with the inability to access medications for those necessary procedures.

117. “As you know, and I think it's when I look for 52 years, they wanted to bring abortion back to the states. They wanted to get rid of Roe v. Wade and that's Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, and everybody. Liberals, conservatives, everybody wanted it back in the states. And I did that.”

Everybody absolutely did not want that. It was actually quite unpopular for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe . And he again repeats that it has become less of an issue.

118-119. “I think that abortion has become much less of an issue. It's a very small.” 

“I think it's actually going to be a very small issue. What I've done is I've done what every Democrat and every Every Republican wanted to have done.” 

“I think the abortion issue has been taken down many notches. I don't think it's of– I don't think it's a big factor anymore, really.”

Minutes apart from each other, he repeats these three false claims. Abortion rights is not a “very small” issue for millions of voters. Democrats are organizing around it, and it has been seminal to Biden and Harris’ campaigns.

120. “Previous to [Virginia Gov.] Glenn [Youngkin], the governor, he said the baby will be born, we will put the baby aside, and we will decide with the mother what we're going to do. In other words, whether or not we're going to kill the baby.”

This is a distortion Republicans continue to push about what former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said. This has been fact-checked by others multiple times .

121-122. “I think the abortion issue has been, uh, taken down many notches. I don't think it's of, uh, I don't think it's a big factor anymore, really.”

“Everybody wanted it in the states.”

“But that issue has is very much subdued.”

He once again returns to the issue of abortions, which remains a “factor,” not everybody wanted it in the states, the issue is not “very much subdued.”

123-124. “ She wants to take away everyone's gun.” 

Harris has not proposed taking away all guns. She has proposed banning assault-style weapons, something that was in place for a decade. Some surveys had shown majority support for this. Others show a split. (Trump makes this case later, as well, so that is also included in the count.)

125. “Some countries have actually gone the opposite way. They had very strong gun laws and now they have gone the opposite way, where they allowed people to have guns, where in one case they encouraged people to go out and get guns, and crime is down 29%.”

It’s difficult to compare gun violence and gun laws in the United States to other countries, simply because of the staggering amount of guns we have here. Although the U.S. has less than 5% of the world’s population, it holds almost 40% or more of the world’s civilian-owned guns. And it has “the highest homicide-by-firearm rate of the world’s most developed nations,” per the Council on Foreign Relations . Norway, Canada and Australia all tightened their gun restrictions after shootings. — Meg Anderson

126. “On July 4th, 117 people were shot and 17 died. The toughest gun laws in the United States are in the city of Chicago. You know that. They had 117 people shot. Afghanistan does not have that.” 

Though Trump didn’t get the numbers exactly right, Chicago did have an incredibly violent July 4th holiday weekend this year. According to Mayor Brandon Johnson, more than 100 people were shot and 19 of those people died. Chicago does have strict gun laws, in part because its state does: Everytown For Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control, ranks Illinois third in the nation for the strength of its gun-control laws. However, no state or city exists within a bubble, and Illinois is surrounded by states with much weaker laws, including Indiana, which is just a short drive from Chicago. — Meg Anderson

127. “For 18 months, not one American soldier was shot at or killed, but not even shot at.” 

This is, to put it charitably, misleading. It appears that he’s actually referencing the period when the Trump administration signed the deal with the Taliban, in advance of U.S. troops leaving. The deal said the U.S. would be out in 14 months, and in exchange the Taliban wouldn’t harbor terrorists and would stop attacking U.S. service members. Needless to say, the deal didn’t hold. But as the AP notes , “There was an 18-month stretch that saw no combat, or ‘hostile,’ deaths in Afghanistan: from early February 2020 to August 2021.” – Andrew Sussman

128. “Kamala is in favor of not giving Israel weapons. That's what I hear.”

Harris does not support an Israel weapons embargo. A Biden administration official posted on social media that Harris "has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.” A leader of the uncommitted movement said Harris “expressed an openness” to a meeting about an embargo, but the Biden administration official said Harris "will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law,” not that she would support an embargo.

129. “She's been very, very bad to Israel, and she's been very bad and disrespectful to Jewish people.”

Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish. The couple has hosted Passover Seders.

130. “Well, I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together and there was an emergency landing.”

This claim has not held up to scrutiny. Politico reported that Trump did have to make an emergency landing in a helicopter with a Black California politician decades ago, but it wasn’t Willie Brown, the former San Francisco mayor and state assembly speaker. It was Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles city councilman and state senator.

131-132. “This was not a pleasant landing, and Willie was— he was a little concerned. So I know him. I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven't seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about her.”

“He was not a fan of hers very much at that point.”

This is something Trump repeated twice, minutes apart from each other. Brown strongly denies having been on a helicopter with Trump or telling Trump negative things about Harris, whom he dated in the mid-1990s and supports now for president. The relationship ended in 1995.

133. “Our tax cuts, which are the biggest in history… .”

The 2017 tax cuts were not the biggest in history. As a share of the economy, they barely make the top 10 . They were big enough, however, to blow a big hole in the federal budget, which is why Trump was overseeing a nearly $1 trillion dollar annual deficit before the pandemic. — Scott Horsley

134. “It'll destroy the economy.”

This is what Trump said will happen if his tax cuts are not renewed. But The 2017 tax cut did not deliver the economic boom that its supporters promised, and there’s no reason to think reversing a portion of the cut would cause economic destruction. — Scott Horsley

135. “I've never seen people get elected by saying, 'We're going to give you a tax increase.'”

Vice President Harris has echoed President Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000. However, Biden has called for raising taxes on wealthy individuals and raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% – halfway back to where it was before the 2017 cut. — Scott Horsley

136. “These guys get up, think of it. ‘We're going to give you no security.’ …”

No Democratic presidential candidate has advocated “no security.”

137. “We're going to give you a weak military… .’ ”

An analysis by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, showed a “review of historical defense budget trends shows there is more at play in determining overall investments in defense than just which party is in the White House.” Indeed, since the year 2000, U.S.-led wars overseas have resulted in a surge of spending by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

138-139. “…We're going to give you no walls, no borders, no anything.”

Harris, Walz and the Democratic Party have never said they want “no borders.” They certainly oppose Trump’s wall/fence along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, citing the exorbitant cost and its relative ineffectiveness, they say, compared to using other methods. (Trump later says that Harris wants “open borders,” so that’s included in the count here.)

140. “...We're going to give you a tax increase.”

Again, this is misleading and suggests Harris wants to increase taxes across the board when they have consistently talked about increasing taxes only on the wealthy. In Harris’ view, those making more than $400,000 a year .

141. “They're gonna destroy Social Security.”

Democrats have consistently advocated for keeping Social Security and making it solvent.

142. “They've weaponized government against me. Look at the Florida case. It was a totally weaponized case. All of these cases, by the way, the New York cases are totally controlled out of the Department of Justice. They sent their top person to the various places. They went to the A.G.'s office, got that one going, then he went to the D.A.'s office, got that one going, ran through it. No, no, this is all politics, and it's a disgrace.”

In congressional testimony this year, Attorney General Merrick Garland told lawmakers that President Biden had never called him to discuss any of the cases against Trump. Garland also had aides review Justice Department leaders’ email for any correspondence with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In a letter to Congress in June 2024, the Justice Department said it had found no such contacts.

In that same letter, Justice Department legislative affairs chief Carlos Uriarte said the department did not “dispatch” former acting Associate Attorney General Matthew Colangelo to New York to join Bragg’s team prosecuting Trump. “Department leadership was unaware of his work on the investigation and prosecution involving the former president until it was reported in the news,” Uriarte wrote. — Carrie Johnson

143. “Any time you have mail-in ballots, you're gonna have problems. ... We should have one-day voting; we should have paper ballots; we should have voter ID; and we should have proof of citizenship.” 

Trump continues to spread baseless claims about mail ballots. There’s no proof of widespread fraud with the voting method. When it comes to paper ballots, they're standard. One estimate found that in the 2024 general election, "nearly 99% of all registered voters will live in jurisdictions where they can cast a ballot with a paper record of the vote."

The proof of citizenship comment echoes a Republican push on the issue , though studies have shown voting by non-U.S. citizens in federal elections to be exceedingly rare. The GOP-led House has passed a bill to require such documentary proof, but it’s likely to go no further in a Senate led by Democrats who are opposed to adding new voting restrictions. — Ben Swasey, voting editor

144. “The polls have suggested, there are some polls that say we're going to win in a landslide.” 

There are no polls that suggest Trump will win in a landslide. By all accounts, this is a very close race.

145. “...they're paying 50, 60, 70 percent more for food than they did just a couple of years ago.”

The rise in grocery prices is a common complaint , but Trump exaggerates the scale of the increase. According to the Consumer Price Index, grocery prices have risen 25% since before the pandemic and 21% since President Biden took office. (At the same time, average wages have risen 23% since before the pandemic and 17% since President Biden took office.)

146-149. The Strategic National Reserve is “virtually empty now. We've never had it this low.”

“He's sucked all of the oil out.”

“Essentially the gasoline to keep the, to keep the price down a little bit. … But you know what? We have no strategic national reserves now. He's emptied it. It's almost empty. It's never been this low.”

“They've just, for the sake of getting some votes, for the sake of having gasoline–. You know, that's meant for wars. It's meant for, like, tragedy. It's not meant to keep a gasoline price down, so that somebody can vote for Biden or, in this case, Kamala.” 

The strategic oil reserve is actually up in the past year . Biden has since repurchased about 32 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As of this month, the reserve held about 376 million barrels of oil. The reserve was lower when Trump left office than when he got in.

150. “I see it right now, I see her going way down on the polls now.”

The opposite is true. Harris has continued her momentum since getting into the race.

151-152. “...now that people are finding out that she destroyed San Francisco, she destroyed the state of California.” 

As addressed earlier, Harris is not entirely responsible for San Francisco or the state of California. Crime trends there were similar to national crime trends during her time as district attorney in San Francisco and as the state’s attorney general. What’s more, preliminary data for this year indicates that many cities in California, including San Francisco, are seeing murder rates falling. (Trump repeats the claim one more time later in the news conference, so it is included in the count here.) — Meg Anderson

153. “She was early, I mean, she was the first of the prosecutors, really, you know, now you see Philadelphia, you see Los Angeles, you see New York, you see various people that are very bad, but she was the first of the bad prosecutors, she was early.”

Although Harris did refer to herself in her 2019 memoir as a “progressive prosecutor,” her legacy has largely been seen as tougher on crime. She has supported some progressive reforms, such as pretrial diversion, which offers certain criminal defendants things like drug treatment instead of going to trial. — Meg Anderson

154. “You know, with Hillary Clinton, I could have done things to her that would have made your head spin. I thought it was a very bad thing – take the wife of a president of the United States, and put her in jail. And then I see the way they treat me. That's the way it goes. But I was very protective of her. Nobody would understand that. But I was. I think my people understand it. They used to say, lock her up, lock her up. And I'd say, just relax, please.”

Trump called for Clinton’s imprisonment multiple times , including going along with crowd chants of “lock her up.”

155. “Don't forget, she got a subpoena from the United States Congress, and then after getting the subpoena, she destroyed everything that she was supposed to get. 

Clinton aides requested emails be deleted months before the subpoena, and the FBI said there’s no evidence the messages were deleted with a subpoena in mind. — Carrie Johnson

156. “I thought it was so bad to take her, and put her in jail, the wife of a president of the United States. And then, when it's my turn, nobody thinks that way.”

The Justice Department closed an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct some State Department business in 2016. Then-FBI Director Jim Comey gave a press conference to explain his reasoning in July of that election year. Comey said, “We did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information,” but he criticized Clinton and her aides for being “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information” that flowed through the server.

By contrast, prosecutors in the Florida case against former President Donald Trump said Trump had flouted requests from the FBI and a subpoena for highly classified materials he stored in unsecure spaces like a ballroom and a bathroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The indictment in that case accuses Trump of unlawfully retaining government secrets and of intentionally obstructing justice with the help of an aide who moved boxes of materials and otherwise allegedly thwarted the FBI probe. Trump and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department says it is appealing the district court’s decision to toss the case on constitutional grounds. — Carrie Johnson

157. “A lot of the MAGA, as they call them, but the base. And I think the base is, I think the base is 75% of the country, far beyond the Republican Party.”

Rounding up, Trump won 46% of the vote in 2016 and 47% of the vote in 2020. He has a high floor, but a low ceiling politically. Majorities continue to say they have an unfavorable rating of Trump, which has been consistent for years. No American presidential candidate has ever gotten 75% of the vote in this country, dating back to 1824 since data was kept for popular votes. Lyndon B. Johnson got 61% in 1964, Richard Nixon slightly less than 61% in 1972, Ronald Reagan 59% in 1984. Since then, Barack Obama got nearly 53% in 2008 and 51% in 2012, the first candidate since Eisenhower to win at least 51% of the vote twice.

158. “My sons are members, and I guess indirectly I'm a member, too.”

Trump here is talking about membership in the National Rifle Association. Another family member being an NRA member does not make someone else an NRA member “indirectly.”

159. “She served 24 years for being on a phone call having to do with drugs. You know who I'm talking about. She was great. And she had another 24 years to go. And it was largely about marijuana, which in many cases is now legalized, OK?”

Presumably, Trump is talking about Alice Marie Johnson, who had been convicted on cocaine conspiracy and money laundering charges . Kim Kardashian advocated for Johnson and won a pardon for her from Trump.

160. “They're either really stupid, and I don't believe they're stupid, because anybody that can cheat in elections like they cheat is not stupid.”

More than 60 court cases proved there was not widespread fraud or cheating that would have made any difference in any state.

161. “Lately I've seen where they're trying to sign these people up to vote. And they have to stop. They cannot let illegal immigrants vote in this upcoming election.”

This is a conspiracy not based in fact. Immigrants in the country illegally cannot vote in presidential elections, and there’s no evidence there is an intentional effort to sign them up in mass numbers to sway elections.

162. “If you go to California, and you ask the people of California, do they like the idea of sanctuary cities? They don't like it.”

The subject of sanctuary cities actually mostly splits Californians. Slim majorities have actually said that they favor the sanctuary-state law and are against their cities opting out of the law. Of course, this breaks down along party lines, and since California is heavily Democratic, those results might not be surprising. But it’s more divided than Trump suggests.

• 2024 presidential election