It’s one thing to tell a new friend about yourself. It’s another thing altogether to write about who you are to a college admission board.
If you think about it, speaking to a friend is easy because you can use an informal language to express your personality in a way they can understand.
On the other hand, writing an essay about yourself to a school admission committee require that you use a formal language express your personality and what makes you unique as a student who looks forward to join the learning institution in question.
The most challenging part in writing an essay about yourself is getting started.
Should you use a strong hook to grab attention? It is okay to start with a short memorable story? Will it make sense if you start with a memorable quote by a public figure or someone you admire?
In this guide, you’ll learn how to start an essay about yourself in a way that makes the introduction interesting to read.
What’s an Essay about Yourself?
An essay about yourself is an assignment completed to share meaningful experiences from a personal perspective. The goal of the essay is to communicate your challenges, strengths, weaknesses, experiences, and achievements in a way that demonstrates that you’re a suitable candidate for the school you’re trying to enroll in.
An essay about yourself does more than show what you’ve been through in the past. It should also demonstrate your current skills and readiness to overcome obstacles in the future.
How Start an Essay about Yourself
There are two ways to start an essay about yourself:
- You can get essay writing help from our team of writers, which is a good way to get the essay done fast. Our team of writers has written hundreds of personal essays and has helped many students secure admissions to the learning institution of their choice.
- You can write the essay yourself. This is often the best option to start your writing journey because an essay about yourself is just one of the papers that you will write in school. Check out our guide on college admission essay to learn more.
What’s the Purpose of Writing an Essay about Yourself?
Every essay has a purpose, and one about yourself is definitely not an exception. An admissions committee will ask you to write an essay about yourself because they want you to:
- Share significant events that have occurred in your life in the past
- Show your achievements and demonstrate your readiness to handle future challenge
- Give them solid reasons to consider you as one of the applicants who would like to join the learning institution in question
- Show that you can create a lasting impression about yourself in writing
3 Ways to Start an Essay about Yourself
1. Write in First Person and Show Personality
Since an essay about yourself is your story, you have to write from your personal perspective. That means writing in first person to demonstrate an art of personalization. In other words, use “I” and ‘me” throughout the essay, as that’s the best way to narrate your story and provide a clear and comprehensive overview of what you have learned over the last few years based on your experience.
Many personal essays are somewhat boring to read because they lack a personal touch. You can make yours different by showing your personality from the introduction all the way to the end of the essay. Remember, showing a personality is all about demonstrating that you’re an interesting personality. You can do that by:
- Using a bit of humor in the essay
- Tap into your own emotions to add a personal touch to the story
Using first person and showing your personality in the essay is the best way to express who you’re. The more personalized your essay is, the easier it gets for the admissions committee to connect with you at a personal level, and this can as easily win you the scholarship or admission opportunity that you’re seeking.
2. Share Your Personal Story
A college essay is 100% about you and your experience, so don’t be afraid or hesitant to share a personal story with the admissions committee. Talk about your strengths, your challenges, and your personal experiences.
Personal stories can be difficult to tell, but if you can let yours shine from the beginning to the end of the essay, you’ll end up giving the committee enough details to know you at a more personal level and see how you’ve growth because of your personal experiences.
Be sure to make your writing as honest as possible. The stories you tell should be easy to verify. And don’t forget that the admissions committee can easily tell if you’re lying from reading the story.
4. Include Personal Examples in the Essay
An essay about yourself needs to be as specific as possible from the start to the very end. It means you need to give precise answers to the questions asked in the very best way you can.
Here’s the deal:
The admissions committee will be looking at the essay to check for personal examples in your writing. So you should include these examples, making sure they are more personalized, not general statements.
Your personal examples should not just mention what you’re good at but also show who inspired you to pursue such interests. Remember, personal examples that are more descriptive will make an essay about yourself stand out among the hundreds of the applications that an admissions committee will receive for review.
Final Thoughts
There are no hard rules on what to include in a personal essay, so you can include the detail that you find to be the most important. Make sure, though, that your essay is interesting to read. After all, the admissions committee has hundreds of essays to review. You want yours to be one of the few essays that they choose to read and respond to accordingly. So make it as interesting as possible to read.