In our previous posts, we explored some ways AI can help you write your personal statement. We also discussed what to avoid when using AI for personal statements and what to do if your personal statement is incorrectly labelled as fully AI-generated. In this post, we present the top five questions you can ask AI to help you prepare your personal statement. Read on to find out what these questions are.
1. What key skills are required for success in my chosen programme?
AI has information on many undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programmes, and this info is sourced from university websites. When synthesising the information for you, AI can list the top skills you should have to excel at a specific programme. You may learn, for example, that the most critical skills for your selected programme are research and analytics, critical thinking, IT skills, and time management skills. Based on this list, you can craft your personal statement to explain how you possess these skills and how you have developed them.
2. What key skills are required for success in my career?
AI also has info on key skills required for success in different careers. For example, if you ask it about the key skills needed for a career in Law, AI will list analytical, communication, and negotiation skills, as well as ethical judgment and attentiveness to detail. Upon request, AI can help you understand these skills better so you can reflect on them. Do you have them and, if yes, where did you demonstrate them in your educational/professional path? If you ask it, AI can even provide a list of reflective questions on key skills you can use while crafting your personal statement.
3. How can I demonstrate my skills in a personal statement?
After identifying the necessary skills for your degree and reflecting on them, you will want to incorporate them in your statement. AI can be helpful here as it can offer suggestions on incorporating particular skills, such as communication and negotiation skills, into your personal statement. You can introduce to AI the type of educational, work, and other activities you completed and ask it how to align them with the programme you are applying to. Thus, AI can help not only gather information but also teach you how to showcase your unique skills and experiences.
4. Can you give me examples of effective opening paragraphs for a personal statement?
AI can assist you in starting to write your personal statement. Usually, the most difficult part is for students to start writing their statements. Once the opening paragraph is in place, the writing seems to flow of itself. But initiating the writing is always a challenge. To help you with this process, you can ask AI to share examples of opening paragraphs for a personal statement. By browsing through examples, you might get an idea of how to start the statement and create a strong and memorable introduction.
5. What questions can I ask you to help me write a personal statement?
If you are unsure which questions to ask AI while writing a personal statement, you can simply ask it. AI will produce a series of questions or prompts for you to consider while applying for a degree. For instance, it will ask you to reflect on challenges you experienced while studying and how you resolved them or to think of networking events or conferences that you attended and how they are relevant to your application. If you want to get more specific questions, be sure to tell AI which degree you are applying to, and it will craft its answer based on your unique goals.
A key message
The key message of this blog post is that you can interact with AI in a way that will help you write your personal statement without making you a cheater. To assist your writing process, you can ask AI to identify key skills required for success in your chosen programme and career, to explain how to demonstrate skills in your statement, to help you start writing, and to provide you with more questions or prompts to consider while crafting your statement.
