Helping Your Students Write Personal Statements: Framing the Narrative for Fellowships and Other Opportunities

This practical book is a timely and comprehensive guide designed for college advisors and instructors who are supporting and coaching students into successful internships, fellowships, graduate programs, and professional schools. This book emphasizes the most important part of any application, the personal statement: how to prepare to write it, how to draft it, how to revise it—and why to invest time in the process of developing it. Helping Your Students Write Personal Statements analyzes the components of the effective personal statement and provides examples from many successful essays by actual college students, as well as exercises for students. It also gives advisors the tools to help engage students who might not ordinarily consider themselves credible candidates for nationally competitive fellowships. This book uniquely takes a developmental approach, offering college advisors and teachers a concrete, step-by-step plan to help any student craft the best, most persuasive personal statement they can write, helping transform their students into compelling, competitive candidates.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Preface Chapter 1: What Our Students Don’t Know: What Is a Fellowship, and Why Apply for One? Chapter 2: Common Denominators: What It Takes to Be a Successful Applicant Chapter 3: "Who Are You?" Helping Your Students Know Who They Are Chapter 4: What a Fellowship Committee Wants to Know about Your Student: Helping Your Students Understand How to Present Themselves Chapter 5: Framing the Narrative: Authenticity in the Personal Statement Chapter 6: Where to Begin? Getting Your Students Started on Writing Their Personal Statements Chapter 7: Revising and Ending: Helping Your Students Understand the Importance of Refining Their Personal Statements Conclusion: Recruiting, Cultivating, and Retaining Student Talent, and Faculty Collaboration Index

About the Author :
Stephen Lassonde is Director of the Newman Office of Prestigious Scholarships & Fellowships at Hunter College, City University of New York. He was formerly Dean of Student Life at Harvard College, Deputy Dean of the College at Brown University, and an Assistant Dean at Yale College. Lassonde has previously published on the history of childhood and education in the United States.

Review :
“This must-read book for fellowship advisors should be shared with their students. Lassonde’s success with first-generation college students has produced a “developmental” guide to writing the personal statement emphasizing applicant growth, rather than a singular focus on winning. No matter their starting line, no matter the outcome, your students will gain a sense of who they are, what they care about, articulate their goals, and hone their life’s purpose.” Jonathan F. Fanton, President Emeritus, American Academy of Arts and Sciences "I wish I’d had this book by my side throughout my three decades of advising students. Using clear language and illuminating examples, Lassonde draws a map for advisors to guide their students through what is often an opaque process, showing how the well-executed personal statement enables applicants to learn about themselves, and in so doing, become better versions of the people they hoped to be in the first place." Jonathan Holloway, President, Rutgers University "On my campus I advise many students who begin to think about applying for fellowships sometime during their college years. Stephen Lassonde’s book is chock full of “real world,” super low-cost methods for helping fellowship applicants from modest backgrounds. Faculty and staff at every university should use this book: “a friendly read” and broadly applicable with so many concrete suggestions." Richard J. Light, Pforzheimer Professor of Teaching and Learning, Harvard University “Stephen Lassonde…has just published an exceedingly valuable handbook for helping undergraduates frame the well-executed personal narratives that are central to any successful scholarship application.” Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Education