The Most Helpful Tips on How to Write an Essay about Yourself

November 27, 2019

Everyone has heard this question in everyday life at least once “Tell us more about yourself”, right? We can hear this question anywhere – when having a job interview, when meeting new people, getting acquainted with the parents of our brides and grooms even. But what does this question mean in fact?

This is the question about our life. However, have you ever thought about what information you are required to tell to reply to it? And when you should write an essay about yourself for a grade, this question may sound like the most difficult question in your life. You know so much information about yourself, so what’s the problem? The problem is once you are trying to put all this information in order you are stuck and seem to know nothing at all. Everything is messed up in your head when you are assigned such a task. And we want to help you avoid such problems with your paper and tell you in detail how to start off an essay about yourself. Ready? Then make yourself comfortable and make notes – the information below is crucial for your final grade.

How to Start an Essay about Yourself: A Step-by-Step Guide

Every writing starts with an introduction and a sample essay about yourself is not an exception. To do that, you should first define who is your reader and why do you write for him. Like any introduction, this one aims to grab the reader’s attention. We don’t recommend starting your essay with such obvious phrases as “My name is…I am …years old”, etc. This is surely not a “hook” and after such a beginning, someone will hardly want to read your essay till the end. Instead of writing clichés, you should convince your reader your essay is worth reading. Is your personality outstanding? It definitely is and your task is to convince your reader about that.

How to start a college essay about yourself – Introduce yourself

You can introduce yourself in several ways. As you already know, starting the essay traditionally providing all the data about you, including your name, age, family, education, etc. is not the best thing. Of course, providing this information is a must. But the question is how you should present it. Just imagine how many essays your professor reads every day. And all of them start with the same introduction. Do you think it is interesting for him to read hundreds of college admission essay examples about yourself when he already knows what they are all about? We bet no. So just imagine after browsing tons of such “typical” essays, his eyes are caught by something unusual and not standard. Automatically, your professor who by the way is your main reader will want to read it till the end to find out what’s next!

So starting your introduction traditionally is not the best idea this time. A reader should want to keep reading your essay and that is the main task of your introduction – to make him do that. You should set the tone of your paper from the very beginning. But be careful – the tone of it depends on the purpose of your essay. If you write scholarship essay examples about yourself when applying to college, it is one thing; applying for a job – then the tone of your essay should already be a bit different. Admit what your personality is like, what are your interests and the strongest sides.

Your introduction is your face. And your face should be powerful enough to grab the attention of the admission officer. So here are some core elements you should use when writing your introduction:

Write a hook sentence that will grab the attention of the reader.
Provide one episode from your life that will impress the reader and illustrate the insight.
Intrigue your reader with some solid sensory information.
Add an unpredictable pivot based on your personal story or life experience that probably influenced your personality.
Instead of placing your thesis statement at the end of the introduction, start with it.
Provide witty quotes from well-known people – writers, celebrities, artists, etc.
Include jokes to your story and make readers laugh. Of course, if your story is not supposed to be dramatic.

Some experts even recommend writing your introduction at the very end of your essay after the rest of it is ready. This way, you can think of an excellent opening paragraph. To do it, you should decide which story you will tell throughout your paper and which main points you might need to share. Mentioning why your story and personally you are unique would be helpful too.

You are not obliged to write everything in a certain order. It can be absolutely reversed. At first, you may think of the topic and then write your body and conclusion. And at the very end, create your brilliant and eye-catching introduction paragraph.

How to write a leadership essay about yourself – think about the body paragraphs

Your essay should be good, otherwise, it will be a failure. It should not only tell your reader about yourself but show your presentational skills. You should sound confident. But bragging is not the case. Feel the delicate balance between confidence and arrogance. And it may be a challenge for you if you have never written an essay about yourself example before. Describing yourself is a difficult task for many people while it means telling a story and doing it well. You should sound captivating and make a good impression on the reader.

In the body paragraphs, it’s time to tell a story from your life. It should not be the storytelling of how you spent your summer in a camp. It should be a story about how you went to the camp in summer and saved someone’s life or someone saved your life, for example. This is a very global example, however, it should make it clear that the story should show your good traits and tell how it positively influenced your personality.

Don’t be afraid to write about the conflicts of the situations and how you coped with them; don’t be afraid to tell about the mistakes you made and how you managed to improve the situation. Try to up your game a bit.

It’s time to make a conclusion

Personal essay about yourself examples that you may find online will help you realize how a bright conclusion should look like. Of course, the conclusion requires you to sum up the core ideas of your essay. Don’t be afraid to remind your readers about the main events. Here you can provide from two to four arguments from the body paragraphs. Paraphrase them instead of repeating them. A hook, in the end, would be very helpful, too. Leave a good impression on your reader with your last sentence and make think of what he has just read.

Write about yourself essay tips

We recommend using the following ideas when writing your personal essay:

Include some short personal information, such as educational backgrounds, talents, goals, etc. depending on the topic of your essay.
Include unique details instead of writing general information.
Focus on one specific message you want to convey with your writing.
Avoid bragging, just show your confidence and that you are worthy to read about you.
Avoid covering everything and eventually nothing. Focus on one topic only.
Follow the requirements of the word limit, etc. Otherwise, it may be too long and you risk not depicting the core idea.
Pick up a complex topic and show you are putting efforts.
Be dynamic in your writing so the readers would not lose their interest somewhere in the middle.
When picking up your topic, think of the situations where you had to overcome difficulties and solve the issues with the help of your knowledge or skills.
Add as many details as possible. They should be realistic and bright. At first, enlist them simply. And in the process of writing, you will add the best to your paper.
If you plan to join a business program, provide numbers and statistics.
Just like in your persuasive or argumentative essays, you may start from contradictions.
Put rhetorical questions. If you ask one of such, a hook is guaranteed.
Don’t be afraid to use literary tools, such as allegories or metaphors.

Personal essay topics

We hope the following topics will help you come up with one of the best ideas of your own:

The roots of my personal fears.
My favorite meals.
Why do I love Christmas?
How did my home pet influence my personality?
A treehouse of my dreams.
The most curious thing about me.
The career of my dream.
Interpreting my name.
A thing I want to invent.
The dream place I want to visit.

The bottom line

We hope now you have a clearer idea of how your essay about yourself may and should look like. Your essay can have three or five paragraphs. And if you want it to succeed, use the above-mentioned tips. Make sure to write in simple words and avoid tautology. Also, use those words or idioms, the meaning of which you know for sure. The stories you depict should show a lesson you learned from it. Your story should have a good plot.

When students and even people who have finished their studies a long time ago are asked to tell more about themselves, they often get frustrated. And writing the answer to that question may seem even more complicated. But there is nothing difficult in it for our professionals! We hope our tips help you find out how to write your best personal essay. But if you still have difficulties with it, just apply for the help of the experts. Professional writing help for students who struggle with writing will solve any writing problem. There is no need to be worried and spend sleepless nights if you are not sure about the outcome. Just place an order and get your essay within a matter of days!