Avoiding Clichés
Clichés are often used as shortcuts or stand-ins for a more lengthy narrative. While they may help you save on space when you are dealing with limited character counts, over usage may be to your detriment and will not make you stand out. One of the most popular clichés when it comes to personal statements is the use of the word “passion”. Reviewers have read hundreds if not thousands of essays where the applicant talks about their passion for the subject matter or being passionate about a particular topic. How do you avoid this? Think about an experience or story that would serve as a stand-in. Instead of telling us you have always been passionate about something, think of something you have done that would highlight this deep interest.
The example below is pulled from the second paragraph of a Fulbright personal statement for a research award in Germany. Instead of stating that their passion for biology continued during their time at Pitt and then listing a bunch of experiences, the writer focuses on one experience that would fully showcase their interest in the field. It also helped her stand out from other candidates:
"Since moving to Pittsburgh for college, I have had to find more inventive ways of getting close to nature. Last summer, I went to the pet store to purchase a reptile tank and walked out without a reptile or amphibian: I had other uses in mind. I layered the bottom with stones, some charcoal, and finally soil. With plants I transformed the landscape from brown to green, creating a tiny ecosystem in the process. Since then, I let it mold and decay just to see the decomposition process, and have recently cleaned and replaced the former community with a new one, this time including meiofauna—invertebrates that live in the soil and assist in recycling nutrients. For many, a major is just that: a major. They may not practice it in their free time; it is simply the means to an end: their job. For me, my major is part of my life, and during my college career, biology has become a lens through which I see the world around me."