The Meaning You’ve Made out of Your Education

The meaning you’ve made out of your education A reader of your Academic Statement should be able to get a sense of you. You might link the bigger sections of your academic or co-curricular achievements by framing your time at Evergreen with who you are personally.

• Personal Stories and Anecdotes

Personal stories can add intrigue and investment in your narrative if they’re done well and appropriate for your intended audience. • Personal Values and Passions

Bring your path to life. What makes you invested in the work that you do?

Where do your passions and goals come from? How have you held yourself to your own high standard throughout your education? • Common Life Themes

What important things keep coming up in your life? How do these things connect to common themes and connections in your education?

What impact have they had on your decisions at Evergreen? • Relevant Personal History

What in your life has pushed you here?

What experience do you have with your area of emphasis from before

Evergreen? How does your past inform your education and uniquely qualify you to accomplish your goals?

*Note: For a discussion of the pros and cons of including very personal information, see Including Personal Information on page 36.

Extras These are mostly cosmetic additions to add weight to a point or narrative or guide the reader in a certain direction and may or may not strengthen your statement. See the Style Guide on page 62 for notes on how to include these items.

• Epigraph

An epigraph is a short quotation at the beginning of a piece of writing which can set a mood or give background information if used well. • Quotes

You can use quotes in the

Academic Statement the same way that you use them in an essay. • Statistics/Data

It can be hard to work with these in a way that will stand up to time, but a relevant statistic lends a lot of weight to an argument if you choose to make one. • Personal Work

The Academic Statement is accepted exclusively in written form with a strict word limit, but if you feel as though a few lines of poetry or writing sample frame what you have to say particularly well, go for it!