Essential Tips for Writing a Personal Statement for Architecture Graduate School

Ian Mutuli
Updated on
Ian Mutuli

Ian Mutuli

Founder and Managing Editor of Archute. He is also a graduate architect from The University of Nairobi, Kenya.
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Regardless of which architecture graduate school you want to apply to, the one aspect that they all have in common is that they will all require a personal statement. In general, whether you decide to write your own personal statement or get the professional help of a personal statement writer service – AdvancedWriters, a personal statement requires you to include quite a lot of detailed information in a  small number of words (usually around 500). Ultimately, your personal statement needs to outline who you are to the admissions team. It also needs to explain what your goals are, why your goals are important and what you have done to date in order to achieve your goals.  Finally, a personal statement also needs to outline what you have left to do in order to hit your goals. If you can manage to include all of these points, then your personal statement will have hit its purpose.

Below we will take a more detailed look at how to set out your personal statement for an architecture graduate school.

The first paragraph

This is the personal part of your statement. By personal information, we don’t mean the kind of information that you would have in a private diary. Instead, you need to mention when you came to the realization that you wanted to pursue your particular goals. Remember to be specific when you write this information and the reason why it is important to be specific is that architecture graduate schools are looking for students who are interested and passionate about their goals. These schools don’t want to have a student who’s just avoiding the world of work. Ultimately. this first paragraph is your chance to show your chosen architecture graduate school why you want to achieve the goal you have in mind.

The second paragraph

In this paragraph, you will need to explain what you have done so far in order to display your interest in architecture. For instance, did you take art classes or perhaps you took other relevant classes whilst at school or college? This is the paragraph where you will need to talk about your experiences, as well as anything specific that you have done to show your interest in architecture. It is important, however, not to just re-outline your C.V as your chosen Graduate school will already have your C.V to hand so they don’t need to see this information again.  Instead, you want to mention those things that aren’t on your C.V, for example,  you could highlight specific things that have occurred during your internship and how you will apply these things to what you have learned. The reason why you need to do this is that all architecture graduate schools are looking for students who already have the knowledge and the information, so this is the perfect opportunity to outline what you have discovered so far.

The third paragraph

In this paragraph, you need to discuss why you actually want to go to architecture graduate school. Explain what you still don’t know and yet need to discover. Mention what skills you still need to improve on or master. For example, it could be that you want to improve your understanding and knowledge related to technology so that you can use this information to help you create bigger and better things. You also need to take a step back and consider your goal and what you need to improve in order to ensure that you meet your goal.

The one thing you don’t want to worry about is coming across as too confident. An architecture graduate school will want students who are aware of themselves and know their own strengths and weaknesses. In this paragraph, you want to be able to explain to the school that you are aware of what your weaknesses are, what you need to do in order to meet your goal(s).

The fourth paragraph

This is the paragraph where you outline why you have chosen the specific school that you have applied to. You need to make sure that you make it clear why you have chosen a particular graduate school. For instance, mention aspects such as specific clubs, classes or professors and explain how these aspects will help you to meet your goals. The reason why you need to do this is so that you show why you want to go to a particular graduate school. If you give details about a specific school, you then show that you have researched the graduate school effectively and this can only come across as a positive from a student. Also, it’s worth bearing in mind that this will also be very helpful when you get an interview as it means you will have plenty to talk about.

The final paragraph

The final paragraph consists of your conclusion. In your conclusion write about how you will help your chosen architecture graduate school and how they will help you.

Ian Mutuli

About the author

Ian Mutuli

Founder and Managing Editor of Archute. He is also a graduate architect from The University of Nairobi, Kenya.
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