Personal Statement?

In the past few years, I've known a lot of people who have applied for grad school, and a few of them asked me to look over and edit their personal statement on their application. I don't know whether it's because they think I'm a good writer, because they don't trust their own writing, or simply wanted someone else's opinion.

Whatever reason it was, these people were asking me for a favor, and I tried to help them out as best I could. But the interesting thing is, as I read each one of those personal statements, I found myself wishing that I could turn around ask them for help instead.

Why?

Well, reading these personal statements by other people made me wonder about myself, and what I would write in my own personal statement. As I've talked about many times before in my blog, ever since I graduated college and started working, I have been trying to figure out what exactly my personal statement is. What is my "next step", and when and how do I take it?

See, even though some of these personal statements I was reading weren't the most organized or grammatically correct, they all described at least some sort of definite direction. A clear sense of a personal mission, specific goals, and ideas on how to achieve those things.

One person felt that pursuing an advanced degree in Electrical Engineering would help them towards a life of researching cutting edge technologies to help people. Others wanted to study certain fields of medicine to help specific groups of patients they felt were most suited to their talents and interests. All of them had stories and experiences they could point to that helped to explain how they came to choose their paths.

Now, it is entirely possible that all of these personal statements were filled with layers of BS, laid on thick for the sake of whatever admissions officer was going to read it. But from what I could gather, most of their statements seemed very genuine and sincere.

And I guess that is something I really envy. I don't know if there is one single thing that is more valuable in life, than to know exactly what your life's purpose is.

In my entire life I don't think I have ever written a personal statement. For undergrad I only applied to U of I and I'm pretty sure there was no personal statement required there, just the basic stuff like test scores and class rank. It's just as well, because I wouldn't know what to write or even where to start. I certainly don't have any stories or experiences in mind to draw from, that would inspire me to write a personal statement around it.

As a graduating senior at U of I back in 2002, I was definitely tired of school and felt that it was time to get a job and step into the "real world" instead of applying for grad school. While I still feel that was the right decision, I've always had a feeling in the back of my mind that eventually I would pursue some sort of higher degree. The plan was to work for a few years, figure out what I'm interested in, and then go from there.

Well now I have been working for those "few years". And I kind of thought I would have gotten inspired by something by now, but I really haven't. The thing is, I still think I will eventually go back to school for something, at least part time. I just don't know when, where, and most importantly, what I want to study.

Should I get a Masters in EE? If so, what field? Analog, Digital, RF, Power...? Should I get an MBA? What about law school or medical school? The worst would be to waste a couple years pursuing some degree, only to discover that I really wanted to do something else. Especially now with the house, grad school would be a huge committment even if my company pays my tuition.

But going back to what I was saying about personal statements, I guess reading all those other people's statements made me realize how important it is to have direction in your life. In their cases, they were forced to write them because of the application process for grad school. But I think ideally, everyone should take the time to write a personal statement, whether applying for something or not. After all, Jerry Maguire wrote one, right?

Anyways, if you don't have a personal statement (like me), then I suppose your personal statement should be: "To come up with my personal statement". Kind of like if you don't have a job, your job becomes: "To find a job".

In both cases, you probably need to work just as hard at finding a personal statement/job as you would at executing your personal statement/job if you had one, because unless you're lucky, you aren't going to just stumble upon it. So yeah, I need to find my personal statement.

*****

Actually, I think I've got it. I think my personal statement is to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. With the recent passing of Chief Justice Rehnquist, I was watching the discussion on the news and it just seems like a really good job to have.

I mean the Supreme Court is hands down the coolest club in the world, and as Chief Justice you basically get to be the top dog of this club. On top of that you get to wear those really sweet looking robes, and if you're the Chief you even get those stripes on your sleeve. That's right, if I was Chief Justice I would make people call me "the Chief", just because I could.

The best part is once you're in, you're in for good and you pretty much have to answer to nobody. Say you get pulled over for speeding, what are they gonna do, try you in a village court? I'd just keep appealing that shiznit until it gets up to my court, and then what? That's right, I reign SUPREME baby. That's what sign on the building says. Call me the Chief.