How to write a personal statement for seminary applications

Just start with your shidduch resume and fill in the blanks.

These are just some suggestions of things you can include. you don’t have to fill in any blanks… or you can fill them all. My sem autobiography included some of these topics… just speak from your heart- let them know who you are!

My name is _________, my family is _______ and ______. i learned _____ from the home that i grew up in… my parents have always taught me…. my values include ______ etc, etc… my experience in high school has taught me that_______… In the past i’ve struggled with ____ but now i ______. someone that has really influenced my life is _________ because… I really enjoy doing ______… i’m a talented______ and love to use my kochos by… My friends have helped me ________. In seminary I hope to ______ and ________. My vision for my future________.

like i said, just speak from the heart! hatzlacha!

fkelly, i think it depends on what you’ve struggled with… but i do see what you are saying… the way i see it, depending on the type of struggle, how you’ve overcome it, where you stand now, and how you present it, this bit of information can show strength and open a window for them to see the growing person that you are… of course a girl should not put in info that will shed a more negative light on her!! it happens to be that the struggles i wrote about were not of hashkafic nature and was not something that would make a difference to whether a bais yaakov seminary or non-bais yaakov seminary was reading it…

and just to go off on a little tangent here… what you wrote is so ironic but sadly true (but not of all seminaries!): “seminaries like to pretend they’re taking in girls who are perfect”

…so please don’t write about your struggles because you need to pretend to be perfect in order to be accepted into their “pretend perfect” seminary… why does everyone have to pretend?!?! can’t we face our struggles like adults and deal with them??

I think it’s crazy hodulahashem! But we’re not going to change the world. So if the reality is such you can’t fight it, you gotta go along with it. But I happen to think the whole seminary thing is pretty overrated and seminaries take so much advantage of people in the application/acceptance process.

LOL! Torah613, i just literally laughed out loud!! I’d love to see how the mods would handle a post like that! What a great way to stay anonymous!

wat?!? how cud tht be if no two people r alike

Well that’s the typical one. Oh I forgot some things! I was a counselor in a camp and had a lot of responsibility and was mashpia on my campers. I want to be a teacher and continue to help girls. And you also write about the chessed you do whichc made you into a more caring and patient person.

i wrote none of those things, i wrote a major challenge that i went through, how i dealt with that and how i grew from it

yeah ik… idk y cuz why wud u wanna go somewhere that u have to get in by faking?

I agree with you guys! I think it’s crazy how everyone is putting on a show for seminary! But most people just go along with it…and that’s what their bios look like.

Like what Torah?

Good try, but that sounds too human.

How about you admire this teacher who says the whole sefer Tehillim every day, but it’s too much for you, so after many weeks of working on it you now say sefer Tehillim once a month. By going to ________ seminary, you hope to be inspired to say it once a day, or at least once a week since you are too humble to aspire to such greatness.