At any level of higher education, the ability to convey your candidacy in writing is an essential skill. For prospective graduate students, understanding the ins and outs of a personal statement is the first step toward increasing your chances of admission.

With that in mind, let’s compare a familiar ‘known’ (the college essay) to a relative unknown (the personal statement). Here are three ways in which the two are distinct from one another:

• A grad school personal statement will tend to have more of a long-term, vocational focus. In other words, how grad school will impact your future goals. Conversely, your past college essay probably adopted more of a short-term lens in regards to your next four years on campus. In both cases, the content and style of your writing needs to reflect the purpose of the education.
• Many college essays will have a narrative, story-like quality to them. This can include unique experiences that tie into who they are as a person. A grad school personal statement will tend to be more direct – this is who I am, this is why I’m qualified – and this is how I will succeed as a result. It’s a bit more professional and to-the-point.
• Just as your writing should reflect the purpose of your education, it should also reflect the atmosphere of it. For instance, a college essay will likely speak to a variety of things that come with an undergraduate experience – campus culture, community activism, the student body, location and the principles of the university. It’s important to remember that when applying to graduate school, you are applying to a single program with a single concentration, not the entire university. As such, your essay needs to focus on the specific details of your intended program.

The bottom line: Admissions officers have thousands of applications to read and only so many hours in a day. With an 8-10 minute first read of a student’s application, it’s important to make a lasting impression as quickly as you can.