Change the personal statement for each school? Forum

[Concept2]

Just wondering if you should plug each schools name in your PS. "and that is why I want to attend X school" or if you should actually add the program emphasis etc.. you are interested in. Or.....none of the above one PS.

[Flanker1067]

I am under the impression that schools see this so often that they are indifferent. Maybe somewhere, deep down, admissions really does like to see it because everyone is vain.

[Concept2]

So add the school in ____________ or not ??

[rookhawk]

Here's my closing line for the PS:

I will bring these traits with me to Cooley—I don’t know any other way to be. With a degree from Cooley I will metamorphose, thrust my life forward and, once again, transform.

Perhaps not *exactly* what I use, but rather minus the "Cooley".

You get to say the school name twice, which makes it not look copy/paste. (e.g. say Berkeley first, and then follow it up with University of California) It makes it look thoughtfully tailored.

[Zapatero]

I think it sounds terrible and is painfully obvious. There's no way it will help you unless you tailor the entire statement.

[flyingpanda]

Personally, I did not write anything specific to any of the schools I was applying to. I don't think it ever really hurts your application to add something specific, but it's not going to help much unless it's a compelling reason and you didn't just wikipedia/google the school's famous programs.

[kabutar]

Personally, I did not write anything specific to any of the schools I was applying to. I don't think it ever really hurts your application to add something specific, but it's not going to help much unless it's a compelling reason and you didn't just wikipedia/google the school's famous programs.

Yes, but... does it hurt to have something that's NOT a specific reason (semi-general)? You can see me having this freak out in my other topic, lol.

[los blancos]

FWIW Ivey rails against this in her book. I took her advice and basically sent an identical PS to every school but Berk.

Not sure if it's the right move or not, but in my head the cost/benefit analysis seemed to favor my approach. Just not worth the time of having to change every PS ever so slightly, plus it increases the chance you tell Chicago how bad you want to go to Columbia.

My advice is free, treat it as such.