[转帖]如何写一份印象深刻的ps

发信人: ohwin (出国文书写作), 信区: Go_Abroad
标  题: 如何写一份印象深刻的ps
发信站: 京师网事 (Thu May  8 19:59:50 2003), 转信
 
Effective Truman Personal Statements
An effective Truman personal statement reveals clearly and memorably your st
ory emphasizing your achievements, your passions, your motivation for public
service, and your potential as a "change agent."
No matter how strong your record of activities and achievements (Items 2-6 o
f the Nominee Information Form) and your grades, nor how well-prepared your
Policy Proposal may be, together they are not sufficient to get you invited
to an interview. Through your responses to Items 7-15, you must convince the
Truman Scholarship Finalists Selection Committee that you are a potential T
ruman Scholar deserving of an interview. The Truman personal statement -- co
llectively, the contents of Items 7-9 and 13-15 of the Nominee Information F
orm -- is a critical factor in determining your advancement in the Truman co
mpetition.
A compelling personal statement will enable you to stand out in a field with
other high-achieving persons. It will help you overcome any gaps or inadequ
acies in your record. It can predispose the interview panel to want to give
you a Truman Scholarship rather than to merely hear your case and then decid
e. The passions, accomplishments, ambition, and creativity that you present
in a carefully prepared personal statement will go a long way toward success
in the Truman competition. Your ability to portray well these characteristi
cs should be of enormous value in competitions next year for graduate fellow
ships and admissions to highly selective graduate schools. Writing an effect
ive personal statement is difficult. Points in this section should help you,
but count on a lot of thought, effort, feedback from the Truman Faculty Rep
resentative, rewriting and editing to produce an outstanding personal statem
ent. The skills that you develop in writing an excellent personal statement
for the Truman competition will likely be skills that you will employ throug
hout your professional career. "The secret of good writing is to strip every
sentence to its cleanest components."
William Zinsser from
On Writing Well Recognize that the people who read your Truman application a
nd decide whether you advance in the Truman competition are pros. Veteran me
mbers of the Truman Scholarship Finalists Selection Committee have read hund
reds of Truman applications. They distinguish easily between the sincere and
the insincere, the truth and the puffery, the carefully prepared and the ha
stily prepared, the substantive and the superficial. Don't try to guess what
they want to read. Just write honestly, simply, and clearly about yourself
and your aspirations. Understand your motivations for a career in public ser
vice. Think about why you want to be in the public sector as opposed to the
potentially more lucrative and less emotionally challenging private sector.
Get a mentor/critic to help you with the Personal Statement. Generally, this
will be the Truman Faculty Representative. If you are in a study-abroad pro
gram, find a professor to assist you and to encourage you when you bog down
in telling your story. Before answering any of the items, think strategicall
y about yourself and your candidacy. Ask yourself: "What are the most import
ant characteristics and values, goals and ambitions, life experiences and se
rvice activities that define who I am?" Then decide which of these you wish
to emphasize in your Truman personal statement. Don't try to cover every asp
ect. Everybody has a special story - some people just tell their story bette
r. Perhaps you have not had any traumatic experiences nor come from a financ
ially challenged family environment. Still, you have likely had experiences
that are interesting to relate and that have been formative in your developm
ent as a potential change agent. Share them. In telling your story, you want
to use your responses to Items 7-9 and 15 to bring out some dimensions that
are not obvious from reading your list of activities (responses to Items 2-
4). Reveal why you are committed to public service. Read some good personal
statements to see how effective and revealing they can be. The Foundation's
Guidance to Candidates Page contains links to excellent examples from nomine
es of responses to Items 7, 8, 9, 12, and 15. To the extent possible, develo
p a unified, integrated set of responses. The policy proposal should be rela
ted to the areas identified in Items 9, 12, 13, and 14. General guidelines:
In completing items 7-9 and 13-15 of the Nominee Information Form, you shoul
d strive to:
Be absolutely honest. Don't overstate accomplishments, claim credit for what
should be shared, imply something other than the truth, nor propose a gradu
ate study plan or ambitions only for the Truman competition.
Be yourself. In a "blind reading" (e.g., your name removed) of your applicat
ion with other good applications, your family and your teachers would identi
fy you. The set of responses to these items ought to be one that only you ca
n write.
Make it interesting. Consider having an approach that introduces some pertin
ent unusual features of you or your experiences to reveal your unique indivi
duality and to help distinguish you from the other candidates.
Avoid undue repetition. Don't make the personal statement a narrative descri
ption of all of your activities previously identified in Items 2-4. Highligh
t the most important.
Answer the questions concretely and specifically. Except for Item 15, you sh
ould have precise, well-focused answers responsive to the Item. Depth is bet
ter than breadth.
Engage the reader quickly. Have intriguing or compelling opening and closing
sentences in your narrative responses to Items 7, 8, and 15.
Be current. If you cite statistics or political developments or provocative
writings, they should be up to date. Be careful about examples from high sch
ool days or early childhood.
Understand the goal of the personal statement. The main goal of the written
material is to get an invitation to the interview and to present some lines
of questioning. An outstanding personal statement won't win a Truman Scholar
ship for you . . . but a poorly prepared one will deny you the chance to int
erview for the scholarship.
Maintain a sharp focus. Have precise responses to each item. Don't try to sh
are every interest, every societal concern, every accomplishment, every ambi
tion, every passion.
Maintain a degree of modesty, especially in Item 15. Hold down the use of "I
". If you have had a rare accomplishment (e.g., member of a National team, w
inner or high finisher in a national competition, board for an international
organization), share it. Be careful in trumpeting high school accomplishmen
ts -- many Truman Scholar candidates have been high school class presidents,
varsity athletes, debate champions and the like.
Be realistic in Items 13 and 14. Be bold but not unrealistically ambitious.
Reveal your motivations for a career in public service.
Avoid repeating experiences. Use different examples for your responses to It
ems 7, 8, 9, and 15 if possible. Let the Finalists Selection Committee membe
rs see your various dimensions.
Dealing with major challenges. If discrimination, poverty, family breakdown,
severe illness or another problem beyond your control has been a major fact
or in your development and the establishment of your ambitions, write about

it. Avoid playing for sympathy. Truman Scholars are selected on the basis of
accomplishment -- not endurance.
Explain "understandable" gaps or weaknesses. If you had a serious illness or
unusually heavy family obligations that temporarily affected your grades or
limited your participation in public service, please share it (or have your
Faculty Representative bring it out).