As an alumnus of UGRAD Fall’15 batch and after having reviewed the statements of many applicant friends, I now know the chief points that selectors look in the application. These are some tips and advices which if you people incorporate in your personal statement would Insh-Allah shine you out among other contestants.

• First , write the Personal Statement yourself. I mean it. Every word of it. If you simply copy paste and seek the help of an English teacher to embellish your application , your application will stand rejected. Believe me. I had a friend who wrote an extra-ordinary application with beautiful words and sentences but he was not selected. And , I wrote a simple essay and got the call.
• Do write a paragraph on your leadership activities in college. This can include President-ship of societies, organisation of events and even helping out in elections in your community.
• The very important point. Do mention about your Community Activities. The committee looks for students who are active in community and hence can implement their learning by form of community projects. Blood donation is one example.
• Your statement should describe your role as a Cultural Ambassador. Tell them that you are immensely interested in American Culture and would like to explore more by interacting with Friendship families and participating in American events ,etc.
• Above all , tell them how would you implement what you will learn in US after you come back home. This is a golden point which will outshine your statement. Tell them that you would organise various community projects through USAID funding(give examples if you can) and utilize social networking tools to aid you. Anything from Environmental awareness sessions to educating the children of backward societies would suffice. Be creative!
• Academic record and GPA does NOT matter. I have seen people with as low GPA as 2.0’s getting selected. They need Cultural Ambassadors of the country not nerds or geeks.
• I advice you to give an interesting and catchy starting to your personal statement. Don’t start in a normal way. Add a quote or share a relevant interesting story. Moreover , your statement should be concise , brief and should not exceed more than 1.5 page. Just to give you a rough idea , my statement was one page long only with three solid paragraphs. No one wants to read your longish boring stories. Make every word and every sentence of your statement count !!

I hope these suggestions might help you out. Good luck UGRAD Warriors !!