I recently said the following:
Growing up in an upper-middle class environment made me take for granted that I would do some kind of post-college education. In college, I initially planned on going to medical school, but had a better time in my philosophy classes than in my honors biology classes (see transcript).
Aside from the parenthetical “see transcript remark,” this is something I could have told an acquaintance while swing dancing, or to one of my girlfriend’s friends. But it came in response to a question on the following grad school application:
Personal Statement (500 word limit)How have your background and life experiences, including cultural, geographical, financial, educational or other opportunities or challenges, motivated your decision to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Michigan?
For example, if you grew up in a community where educational, cultural, or other opportunities were either especially plentiful or especially lacking, you might discuss the impact this had on your development and interests. This should be a discussion of the journey that has led to your decision to seek a graduate degree.
Please do not repeat your Academic Statement of Purpose.
In such a context, there is an expected sort of response. By giving it, I’d be signalling my ability and willingness to pick up on such little games of the grad school process. By not giving it, I invariably come off as (1) clueless (2) lazy (3) confrontational. The truth is a mix of all three: I know what’s going on but don’t know how to write the exact kind of desired response, I am being lazy, and I think the question is stupid and am hoping the admissions committee feels the same way (I think the people on it will be different from the people who wrote the question). But funny thing is, some below the surface message will get conveyed no matter what I do.
I believe that it is generally the case for philosophy that the most important item in your application is your writing sample. I was told by a very trustworthy source that the year I was accepted to UCSB, that was the only thing they looked at from the applicants. When I transferred out of UCSB I sent different writing samples to different places, and saw an interesting correlation between which sample I sent and what kind of response I got (I wish I’d known in advance which paper was going to go over better so I could have sent it to everyone, though I’m pretty happy that I ended up at Brown, so I guess the important thing is that they got the right one).
Of course, letters of recommendation likely matter in some cases (probably who they’re from mattering more than what they say, for good or ill). And early in the process when they’re looking for applicants to discard to narrow things down, low GRE scores or grades are likely to contribute to early culling. But there’s no stage in the process where personal statements are likely to matter a lot.
Heck, most philosophers are clueless, lazy, and confrontational; you may end up making the people on your committee think you remind them of themselves when they were younger.