ATTN: ALL English Majors

[nathanielmark]

wow, i guess i caught you right at the last moment.  if you cant get to it no sweat.  but i def appreciate your willingness to help.  it must be a fun trip, you going it alone?  i love road trips more then nearly anything.  NoVA to Houston is the furthest ive gone though.

Yes, but I'm on the road moving cross-country from Atlanta to California for law school.  I meant to email you back and tell you I'd get to it ASAP, but the hotels I've stayed in haven't had great internet.  I get to CA tomorrow night, I'll try and email you my comments this weekend if that's ok! 

I'm sitting in a hotel lobby in AZ using their wireless connection as we speak, so I'll download the file onto my computer and take it back to my room to keep me company tonight!    lol

[swifty]

I'm not an English major, but my teachers have always drilled it into me that I shouldn't start sentences with coordinating conjunctions. Then again, they also beat the passive voice out of me, and I've never really understood that one.

Ditto.  My whole family is in the printing business and I've had proofreaders read over my work hundreds of times...no starting sentences with "but" or "and," and my other pet peeve...no contractions (don't, I'm, can't).  This is formal writing people...unless you have a reason to break the rules (for effect or something I guess), I'm against breaking them in the personal statement.

Old school also tells me to write in the third person, ie, absolutely never use I, you, or we unless told to do otherwise.  I understand that your PS should use "I", but what about "you" or "we" ?

[shortbus]

No contractions?? The problem with most academic / "formal" writing is it trains you to be boring and self-important in your prose. The goal of writing is to communicate. The right rules depend on the context & the audience.

I disagree that the personal statement is formal writing. It is a *personal* statement intended to illustrate who you are. It is not a research paper on yourself.