{"id":22957,"date":"2014-02-19T14:36:44","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T21:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=22957"},"modified":"2014-02-19T14:36:45","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T21:36:45","slug":"personal-statement-fatal-flaw-1-lack-of-substance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/personal-statement-fatal-flaw-1-lack-of-substance\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Statement Fatal Flaw #1: Lack of Substance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"5<\/a>Writing about nothing tends to bore, like a trite sitcom or movie with no plot. They lack substance and so will your essay if it isn\u2019t based on:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Substantive self-reflection.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Use of specifics, examples, and anecdotes.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Willingness to reveal your thought processes and feelings.<\/p>\n

So start your writing process with self-knowledge. You don\u2019t have to search the internet or a large library. Start with your experiences<\/a> and your dreams. Search your head and your heart. That is where the substance of a good personal statement is stored.<\/p>\n

Then use anecdotes, specifics, and examples to reveal what\u2019s in your heart and show that your dreams are grounded in experience. Good examples can bring your essays to life and engage the reader.<\/p>\n

At the same time, recognize that essays with only examples and anecdotes don\u2019t reveal your thought processes and consequently are also superficial. Make sure you balance your stories with insight and analysis.<\/p>\n

Avoid Fatal Flaw #1:<\/strong> Bring your essays to life with self-reflection and astute use of examples balanced by analysis.<\/em><\/p>\n

This tip is an excerpt from Five Fatal Flaws: Eliminate the 5 Most Common Flaws in your Application Essays and Personal Statements<\/em>. To view the entire free special report, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"5<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Accepted.com\"<\/a> Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Accepted.com's experienced admissions consultants<\/a> can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages<\/a>, <\/i><\/b>or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs<\/a> to designing a dazzling resume<\/a>, constructing engaging essays<\/a>, or preparing for intense interview<\/a>s<\/a>\u2026and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 \u2013 we know what works and what doesn't, so contact us<\/a> to get started now!
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog<\/a>, the official blog of Accepted.com.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing about nothing tends to bore, like a trite sitcom or movie with no plot. They lack substance and so will your essay if it isn\u2019t based on: \u2022 Substantive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,939,775,113],"tags":[87,941],"class_list":["post-22957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","tag-personal-statement","tag-personal-statment","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22959,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22957\/revisions\/22959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}