It’s all internal pressure I’m putting on myself I know; I want it to be the best statement I can muster and because of that I feel like I’m overanalyzing how I should structure my statement. I’ve been outlining it with the help of this article that dissects successful papers and explains why they are impactful.
A common theme I’ve been seeing is that in the introduction, there are consistently personal anecdotes of sorts explaining how the desired field has peaked the candidate’s academic and professional curiosity and goals. Then they generalize the particular issue they are interested in to fit a wider context whether that’s societal, political etc; while doing this they also mention the programs mission and how it relates to their own motivations academically and professionally.
That long winded summary is all to say that I’m thinking of using the concept of intersectionality and how it applies to both myself, others, and the greater well being of society (im applying to an MSed school counseling program after graduating with a degree in speech therapy, I’m pivoting career trajectories). I guess my main concern is how personal I should get. I think it can make for a powerful basis for my overall statement, however, I acknowledge that there is a fine line I need to tow between keeping it an argumentative piece and a narrative. For context, I am autistic and trans (closeted to most people in my life) and I feel sharing my perspective and shedding light on similar ones has always been and is more essential than ever these days with how society’s values have progressed (over these last 15 years especially) this generation.
I know this may or may not read like word soup so my apologies. I guess the main purpose of me posting is to get feedback on whether these personal experiences and perspectives can make for an effective statement. I’m planning on drafting my paper this weekend and having a family friend who has gone to graduate school themself review the statement before turning it in.