Writing your personal statement

I've gotten questions or been asked to talk about writing personal statements in the past week, so I thought why not talk about it here? Various sponsors ask for personal statements from PI's, especially for career development grants. But, the personal statement is a mainstay of the NIH biosketch.

So what goes in the personal statement? How personal should it be? How do you put it together?

Of course, the answer to these questions, as with everything in grant development is... it depends. The first thing to realize about a personal statement is that you should not just copy and paste the same one into each grant you submit that calls for one. Depending on the type of grant for which you're applying, you should mold your personal statement to position yourself as the ideal candidate to conduct the project or develop your career.

Having said this, below are some elements to consider incorporating into your personal statement, especially if you are an early career investigator:

Describe your preparation
It's important in your personal statement to give background. Tell the story of how you got to where you are now. Particularly, focus on your productivity and successes you've seen as you've developed as a researcher.

Describe your commitment to career
Reviewers want to understand not only who you are as a researcher, but where you're heading and that you are committed to the research you're doing . With limited grant funding available, sponsoring agencies want to invest in those researchers with the most promise and commitment to their work.

Explain choices
Although sponsors are generally not looking for long explanations for why you did what you did in your career, the personal statement is a good place to briefly address possible points of confusion. If there is a gap in your productivity or you made certain choices because of a need for family leave or due to visa requirements, the personal statement is a good place to share your brief reasoning.

Highlight opportunities
As you discuss your past work and aspirations, show how you have seized past opportunities and how you plan to seize those in the future. Because a research grant is a huge opportunity, reviewers want to see your track record on how you've succeeded with opportunities you received in the past and get a sense of how you will succeed with future opportunities.

State goals 
Along with your commitment to your career, strengthen that commitment by offering both short and long-term goals in your personal statement. Offering long-term goals shares your vision, and short-term goals show your reviewers a realistic path toward that vision.

Incorporating these components into your personal statement can paint a solid picture of you as the researcher and give reviewers a sense of your promise and why an investment in you and your research will be worthwhile.

Resources:
Personal Statement Workshop - University of Alabama at Birmingham
NIH Personal Statement Template - Ball State University