I've revised hundreds of personal statements and as a result I've met hundreds of passionate and driven students and yet most of the personal statements I look at--at least when they're first shown to me--don't reflect that enthusiasm. At all. 

In other words, most of the folks I encounter are intelligent and highly engaged students who will doubtlessly benefit whatever institution or job they apply to and yet their personal statement is written in a way that none of that will be communicated to the admissions committee. This greatly decreases their chances of acceptance even if their numbers (their test scores and grade point average's) are up. 

So how do you write an effective and engaging personal statement that ups the odds of your application?

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