Describing the Details of Your Experiences in a Personal Statement，這是在PS寫作時需要時刻注意的要點。
Strictly speaking, an experience is an event that you participate in or share that changes you. It’s important to pay attention to the details here: an experience is
In short, the experience part of your personal statement should be a narrative that tells a compelling story. Here’s an example of how not to describe an experience:
‘In the first semester of my second year of college, I took an introductory course in Biology. The teacher, Professor Smith, was really great, and I decided to take more biology courses.’
An introductory course is, by definition, a course open to everyone. It’s going to be hard to tell something specific about yourself when the event (#1) is so general. Make sure that the event you are describing is interesting and unique. A better example would be: was there one particular session of the course where some question or issue was raised? Was there a time you spoke to the professor in office hours or in lab?
Second, there’s nothing participatory about this (#2). There is no involvement on your part: you’re just describing what happened to you instead of describing what you did. “I asked Professor Smith for more readings and he directed me to the book Advanced Biology by Carpenter, which I read with enthusiasm.” That’s what you did, not just what happened to you.
Finally, it’s important to explain how the experience shaped you (#4). What did you believe before that was changed? “I used to believe that Biology was only the study of microbes and organisms visible under a microscope, but Professor Smith’s seminar on zoology and the animal kingdom opened up a whole new part of the field to me”. That explains how the experience was important in shaping your interests.
One word of caution: an overly narrative personal statement isn’t entirely appropriate. I would suggest one, or perhaps two, experiences. The rest should be credentials and vision, which I’ll tackle next.
Evan出生於紐約，他以優異的成績從芝加哥大學畢業，並獲哲學學士學位；同時，他也正在權衡手中兩封分別來自英國牛津大學和劍橋大學的研究生錄取信函。Evan是一個極富激情的公共演說家，曾獲紐約州冠軍辯手稱號，且在芝加哥大學2012年畢業典禮上作為學生代表發表演講。在不久的將來，他將繼續為獲得政治學博士而做出不懈奮鬥。
正文：
Describing the Details of Your Experiences in a Personal Statement，這是在PS寫作時需要時刻注意的要點。
Strictly speaking, an experience is an event that you participate in or share that changes you. It’s important to pay attention to the details here: an experience is
嚴格意義上來講，這裡的“經歷”指的是你過往參與或承擔的一次具有改變人生作用的大事件。注意，這份經歷應當是——
1) an event
1）一次事件；
2) participatory
2）你有參與其中；
3) leads to change
3）最終導致你的改變。
In short, the experience part of your personal statement should be a narrative that tells a compelling story. Here’s an example of how not to describe an experience:
總之，要想漂亮地完成個人陳述的經歷感悟部分，你應該做好的就是講一個鼓舞人心的勵志故事。不過，下面我將要舉的則是一個經典錯誤案例：
‘In the first semester of my second year of college, I took an introductory course in Biology. The teacher, Professor Smith, was really great, and I decided to take more biology courses.’
“大二的第一學期，我上了生物學導論課。授課老師——史密斯教授——非常棒，所以最後我決定多上一些生物相關的課程。”
An introductory course is, by definition, a course open to everyone. It’s going to be hard to tell something specific about yourself when the event (#1) is so general. Make sure that the event you are describing is interesting and unique. A better example would be: was there one particular session of the course where some question or issue was raised? Was there a time you spoke to the professor in office hours or in lab?
導論課是什麼？看定義就知道，導論課對全校學生開放。所以，當你選擇了這樣一個普通的事件（#1），深挖事件背後的意義再聯絡自身就會變得異常困難。一定要確保自己選擇的事件是有趣並且獨特的。這方面好一些的例子諸如：有沒有哪一次上課時出現了問題？你有沒有在辦公室或實驗室與教授當面交流？
Second, there’s nothing participatory about this (#2). There is no involvement on your part: you’re just describing what happened to you instead of describing what you did. “I asked Professor Smith for more readings and he directed me to the book Advanced Biology by Carpenter, which I read with enthusiasm.” That’s what you did, not just what happened to you.
其次，這個例子本身就沒有什麼參與性（#2）。從你這方來看：你只是描述了“當時我面前發生了什麼事”而不是“當時我親自做了什麼事”。“我向史密斯教授詢問是否還有更多（這方面）的閱讀材料，於是他給我推薦了Carpenter的著作，《高階生物學》——事實證明，那是一本非常非常有趣的書。”這才是你做了什麼，而不僅是單純陳述當時發生了什麼。
Finally, it’s important to explain how the experience shaped you (#4). What did you believe before that was changed? “I used to believe that Biology was only the study of microbes and organisms visible under a microscope, but Professor Smith’s seminar on zoology and the animal kingdom opened up a whole new part of the field to me”. That explains how the experience was important in shaping your interests.
最後，闡明這次經歷是如何改變你的才是重中之重（#4）。變化發生之前，你是怎樣想的？“我以前總覺得生物學就是在顯微鏡下面整天觀察細菌和有機體，但是史密斯教授的動物學研討課讓我看到了新世界——動物王國的大門。”這就解釋了這件事在你興趣改變中發揮的重要作用。
One word of caution: an overly narrative personal statement isn’t entirely appropriate. I would suggest one, or perhaps two, experiences. The rest should be credentials and vision, which I’ll tackle next.
但是謹記一句話：敘述性過強的個人陳述反而不那麼恰當。我建議最好只寫一個經歷，或最多兩個。文章的其餘部分則應描述你所做的“準備”和“未來規劃” 。
我們是誰？
Tyler
The University of New South Wales
University of Sydney
University of Western Australia
Ikee
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Duke University
Patrick
University of Colorado at Boulder
Nikki
Yale University
Yale University
MBA
Harvard University
Master of Landscape Architecture
MIT
Nina
Stanford University
Yale University