Multiple personal statements or not? Forum

[thedude221]

I'm applying to 9 schools in the top 24 or so and I was just curious if I should write multiple personal statements or not.

Also, I noticed they asked for high school gpa at least for the Duke one they do and I was just wondering if a lower high school gpa (2.87ish) would hurt me all that much?

And...when they ask for your secondary school (high school) major what are you supposed to put there? Nothing?

[haydee]

I'm applying to a bunch of schools as well, and was planning on writing just one personal statement. A lot of schools have a "Why here?" component on their applications anyway. For those that don't, I might tweak my PS here and there for different schools, but the bulk of the essay will stay the same.

TBH, writing just one PS is turning out to be kind of a nightmare. I can't imagine writing several.

[calbears619]

You only need one PS but you should edit it for each school since the prompts will have minute differences

[OmbreGracieuse]

I have one with inserts (if that makes sense). I created a why law essay, then have a paragraph or two at the end explaining why XXX school. I am applying to quite a few schools, and have my specific reasons in a spread chart on Excel. It seems to be working for me.

[haydee]

Also, for secondary school "major", I usually put something along the lines of "general education".

I'm not sure about how a low HS gpa would affect you. If I had to guess -- and this is just a guess -- I'd say it doesn't make a too terribly huge difference. You've got so many more recent indicators of your ability.