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Graduate School Personal Statement Tutoring
Lauren Hammond is our grad school admissions essay expert tutor and has been helping people write their graduate school personal statements for several years. Whether you just want some feedback on a draft, or you're staring at a blank Word doc and don't know where to begin, she is happy to help you write a compelling statement that actually increases your chances of acceptance.
She works with people online via Zoom and via email / Google Docs.
Contact Lauren directly at 951-395-4646 (phone or text), or send us an email.
What a graduate school personal statement is (and what it isn’t)
The graduate school personal statement can seem like the most daunting and difficult part of your application.
Silver lining, though: a well-written essay can:
- Wake up a bored admissions committee (most essays they'll read are extremely similar)
- Convey your real personality and make you come alive to your readers
- Depict your experiences in movie-like clarity and detail
- Show your best qualities and values
- Help the reader see why you and their program are such a great fit
Simply put, the essay is not a to-do; it's a powerful tool to help you get accepted!
A lot of applicants treat the personal statement like a résumé in paragraph form. That’s usually a mistake.
A strong graduate school personal statement does three things at once:
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It shows who you are (in a way that feels real, not corporate).
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It shows what you want (and why that goal makes sense for you).
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It shows fit (why this program is a smart match, not just “a good school”).
What it’s not:
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a chronological list of everything you’ve ever done
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a “hero story” where you learned 12 life lessons
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a generic motivational essay that could be sent to any program with the name swapped out
If your statement can be pasted into 10 different applications with only minor edits, it’s probably not doing its job.
How the process works
Lauren works with you on Zoom and in Google Docs, so you get both real-time coaching and clean, trackable revisions. Most people fall into one of two camps:
1) You already have a draft
Great. We’ll:
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tighten the structure (what goes where, and why)
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cut the “nice but useless” parts
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make the voice sound like you, not like a grant proposal
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improve clarity, flow, and sentence-level polish
2) You have nothing yet
Also fine. We’ll:
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figure out the few experiences that actually belong in the essay
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build a simple outline that doesn’t collapse on page 2
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get a first draft written quickly
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revise until it feels sharp and honest
You can use sessions for brainstorming, restructuring, trimming, line-editing, or all of the above—depending on where you are in the process.
Meet Lauren Hammond
Lauren: I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Literature and Writing, with a concentration in Writing, at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) and my Master’s Degree in English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University (SDSU). I recently completed my PhD in English at the University of California Riverside (UCR) in September 2023. Upon graduating, I began my current position as UCR's Graduate Writing Center Specialist and Fulbright Program Advisor last summer.
I have been a writing consultant for nearly 10 years now, and I've helped people with research writing, thesis/dissertation projects, rhetorical and literary analyses, writing in the humanities, grammar/sentence mechanics, and more. My focus for VKTP centers on graduate school application materials– including personal statements, diversity statements, and research statements– as well as job market materials for academic and alt-academic positions– resumes, CVs, cover letters, etc.
During my downtime, I love hanging out with my husband, 2-year-old daughter, and our two dogs, Link and Leia! My favorite activities are going on the boat, cruising on the golf cart, and making our way through all of the local eateries. When we aren’t out and about, I typically enjoy reading and watching movies.
Working with Lauren is $225 per hour or $995 for a package purchase of 5 hours. You can reach her at 951-395-4646 (phone or text), or by sending us an email.
P.S. Our partner Julie can also help you prepare for your grad school admissions interviews! Learn more about her professional voice training for interview prep.
Love For Lauren
Types Of Graduate School Personal Statements We Help With
Different schools call these essays different names, but you’ll usually see some combination of:
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Personal Statement / Personal History Statement
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Statement of Purpose (SOP)
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Diversity Statement
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Research Statement (especially for PhD programs)
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Why This Program? / “Fit” essay
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Scholarship / fellowship essays
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Addenda (low GPA, gap in education, career change, etc.)
If you’re applying to multiple programs, we’ll also help you create a “core story” that stays consistent—while still tailoring each version so it doesn’t read like a copy/paste job.
Lauren can help with:
- MS in Business Analytics personal statements
- MBA personal statements
- Law School personal statements
- PsyD personal statements
- Physician Assistant personal statements
- Physical Therapy personal statements
- Speech-Language Pathology personal statements
- Occupational Therapy personal statements
- Marriage and Family Therapy personal statements
- Master's degree personal statements
- Masters of Public Health personal statements
- Master's of Public Policy personal statements
- Nursing School personal statements
- Veterinary School personal statements
- PhD personal statements
- Post Doc personal statements
- Fellowships and Grants personal statements
She is, of course, happy to work with people applying to any type of graduate program.
P.S. We also offer GRE prep!
Video: 7 Ways to Write a Crappy Graduate School Personal Statement
Here are 7 reliable ways to sabotage your personal statement:
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Write a vague essay about “passion.” (Everyone is passionate. Nobody knows what you mean.)
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Try to cover your whole life. You’ll end up saying a lot and showing nothing.
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Sound “professional” instead of human. This is how you create a perfectly competent, forgettable essay.
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Tell the reader what you are… without showing it. (“I’m resilient.” Cool—where’s the proof?)
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Hide the point until the last paragraph. The reader shouldn’t have to hunt for your direction.
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Write in generalities about the field. Admissions readers already know what their field is.
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Make it all about hardship with no growth or fit. Difficulty isn’t the problem. Meaning is the missing piece.
Do the opposite of the above, and you’re already ahead of most applicants.
Frequently Asked Questions
We generally recommend about 4-8 weeks - 6 weeks is a good sweet spot. It takes time to come up with ideas and get those ideas onto paper in a compelling form.
Other than Google, I really like the sample admissions essays in Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher. If you're a DIY kind of person, Asher's advice for the entire graduate admissions process is very good.
Note: The above links are Amazon affiliate links and I earn a commission if you purchase things through them. However, any commission I earn comes at no additional cost to you, and you pay nothing extra. My recommendation is based on extensive experience using this book's advice with dozens of people over the years, and I recommend it because it's helpful and useful, not because of the small commission I receive if you choose to buy it.
No. But we will absolutely help you build it—ideas, structure, clarity, voice, and revision strategy.
MOST personal statements are BORING! Not because the person writing them is boring, but perhaps because:
- Their focus is too broad. They try to cover everything they've done, and nothing ends up standing out.
- They're impersonal. It's a personal statement - the reader needs to get a sense of who you are and what you're actually like - not some sanitized "professional" version of you.
- They're too safe. Ironically, a statement that takes no risks can be the riskiest thing you can do. We're not applying to a program with the intent of blending in with all the other applicants!
Granted, the above things can be overdone, or done wrong. But most statements make no impact, so it's worth thinking about how yours actually can.
It depends on where you’re starting:
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Draft already exists: often 1-2 focused sessions can take it from “fine” to “sharp.”
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Starting from zero: you’ll usually want more time for brainstorming + structure + multiple revision passes. 5 hours or so is typical.
Either way, the process becomes much faster once the core story and structure are right.
Not if you explain it cleanly.
Career-change essays go wrong when they turn into either:
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“I’ve always loved this field since I was five,” or
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“I hate my current job and I’m escaping.”
A strong essay shows a believable bridge: what you learned, what you want next, and why grad school is the right move.
Sometimes, yes—but briefly and strategically.
If there’s a real explanation (health issue, life event, early immaturity + strong upward trend, etc.), we’ll help you address it.
A personal statement is more about you: the experiences and values that shaped your path.
A statement of purpose is more about the plan: what you want to study, why, and why this program is the right place to do it.
What are the basics of applying to master’s degree programs?
Most grad applications come down to a few moving parts:
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Your academics: transcript + trend (not just GPA)
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Your fit: why this program, why now, why you
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Your readiness: evidence you can do the work (research, internships, relevant job experience, writing sample, portfolio—depending on the field)
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Your recommenders: people who can actually say something specific about you
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Your essays: the only part of the application where your personality and judgment can show up clearly
Here’s the key: admissions readers aren’t looking for “a perfect person.” They’re looking for someone who seems like a smart bet—someone with direction, maturity, and a believable reason to be in that program.
That’s why the personal statement matters so much: it’s where the story gets connected.