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How to Write an Excellent Personal Statement: An Illustrated Guide on Writing a University or College Admissions Essay Paperback – October 8, 2023

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From the Founder of PlaceCoach — who has helped 1,000+ students secure places at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial and numerous top universities around the world.

Get into your dream university with How to Write an Excellent Personal Statement — an illustrated step-by-step guide. With engaging illustrations, helpful diagrams and lots of crucial information and analysis, you will unlock the secrets of writing a brilliant admissions essay that will impress admissions tutors at top universities.

In How to Write an Excellent Personal Statement , Quincy Washington, an alumnus of the London School of Economics and the Founder of PlaceCoach — a trusted leader for university applications — guides you along each step of the writing process for your college admissions essay. You will benefit from insider knowledge and tips, as well as real-life examples from students’ personal statements and college admissions essays.

Each chapter is designed to inform, guide and encourage you throughout the entire process, with the goal of reducing the anxiety associated with writing a personal statement.

This book focuses on personal statements, but is equally applicable to statements of purpose, supplemental essays, Common App essays, motivation letters and other application documents.

In How to Write an Excellent Personal Statement , you will discover:

• How to conduct thorough research to provide context for your personal statement.
• The necessary requirements that you must follow.
• Strategies you can use to infuse a compelling narrative and storyline into your writing.
• The gold-standard structure for an excellent personal statement.
• What makes a great introduction and how to make your introduction stand out from the crowd.
• How to write reflectively and persuasively.
• How to demonstrate interesting and illuminating insights within your writing.
• How to improve the flow, consistency, logic and coherence of your writing.
• The art of refining your personal statement, receiving feedback and being diligent about the fine details.
• Tips and tricks to enhance your writing to perfection.

Plus, you will benefit from reading over 30 example personal statements and countless excerpts from across a range of subjects with the author’s expert commentary and remarks on each essay.

There is no doubt that an education at the world’s leading institutions can unlock many doors, and your personal statement will play a decisive role in securing the highly-coveted places that only a select few will achieve. Today is the day to save yourself from the pain of unrealised potential by getting to grips with the best way to write a personal statement.

Take this chance to harness your full potential and secure a spot on the university course of your dreams.

Read How to Write an Excellent Personal Statement now!

• Print length 532 pages
• Language English
• Publication date October 8, 2023
• Dimensions 5 x 1.33 x 8 inches
• ISBN-10 1739396146
• ISBN-13 978-1739396145
• See all details

From the Publisher

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ StoryBush Books (October 8, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 532 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1739396146
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1739396145
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.47 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1.33 x 8 inches
• #103 in Graduate School Preparation Test Guides
• #265 in Teen & Young Adult College Guides
• #274 in Teen & Young Adult College Entrance Aids

About the author

Quincy washington.

Quincy Washington is the author of 'How to Write an Excellent Personal Statement' and the founder of PlaceCoach — a trusted leader for university and job applications. He is also the creator and host of Talk to the Nation — an educational media platform with over 250,000 subscribers. As a teenager, Quincy won BBC One's BAFTA-winning political TV series, Election, where he interviewed the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street.

Quincy's other written works include:

70 Things Your 70-Year-Old Self Wants You to Know

30 Mistakes You Need to Stop Making in an Argument

10 Things to Remember If You Feel Like Giving Up

21 Ways You're Loving Wrong

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3 Essential Books for Writing the Personal Statement

1. The Elements of Style,  E.B. White and William Strunk, Jr.

We know what you’re thinking. “A grammar book? Who even reads this?!” But it’s a classic for anyone who wants to brush up on the rules of standard American usage. Plus, it’s super short and you’ll know exactly where to look for answers to your trickiest syntax questions.

2. On Writing the College Application Essay,  Harry Bauld

This is the definitive book on the college essay – and believe it or not it’s actually a really entertaining read. Even though it was written in the 80s (literally before you were born) it offers amazing advice that is still applicable today. It’s also a great companion read for College Essay Academy , and will help you reinforce what you learn from each video lesson.

3. On Writing,  Stephen King

Yes! You get to read a Stephen King book where no one gets murdered or haunted. Even though the book generally describes King’s approach to fiction, the writer of some of the world’s most riveting stories has some amazing advice about storytelling. (And some bold opinions on adverbs.) He also shares details about his life and personal anecdotes that might just inspire you in your own personal writing.

BONUS pick for parents: Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be,  Frank Bruni

Are you already freaking out? Don’t. Frank Bruni’s honest take on the value of a college education sheds new light on this stress-filled and high-pressure topic. You will be fine. You all will.

About Thea Hogarth

View all posts by Thea Hogarth »

Give College Essay Academy a Try.

Written by Thea Hogarth

Category: Essay Tips

Tags: advice , college admissions , college application , college essay , common application , elements of style , frank bruni , harry bauld , personal statement , recommended reading , Stephen King , strunk and white , tips , writing

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What books can I read to help me write my college personal statement?

What is a personal essay? What does a college personal statement sound like? You’ve looked at tons of sample personal statements, but none of them are particularly inspiring. How do you find your voice as a writer?

The most important part of a personal statement is trusting your own voice, which is why these examples of confident, strong writers will help you find out who you want to be.

Here are three beautifully written, fascinating books of essays that will help you discover how to turn your life into a compelling story. These aren’t examples of personal statements that were written for college applications: they’re books by writers who have discovered how to turn nonfiction into a compelling story. Reading these essays instead of, or in addition to, your stereotypical “admissions essay” collection will help show you how you can come alive on the page by having the guts to write from confidence, rather than to try and fit into some sort of “perfect” college applicant mold.

John McPhee, Pieces of the Frame .

McPhee has been a New Yorker writer for decades, and he’s mastered the form of the long-form, well-researched, narrative, nonfiction essay. Even though McPhee usually writes pieces that are far longer than your personal statement will be, every essay is a masterpiece in structure and concision: he tells the full story, but he doesn’t include anything that doesn’t need to be there .

Important tips to take from McPhee’s writing:

1. Write about places that are important to you.

Check out “The Search for Marvin Gardens” (about Atlantic City, New Jersey) and “Travels in Georgia” for two examples of essays that tell stories by focusing on particular locations. If you have a place that’s particularly important in your life—your grandparents’ ranch in Montana, the community theater where you auditioned for your first show, your elementary school that burned down— try describing the location itself , and what makes it so special.

2. Use direct quotations.

Part of what makes McPhee such a compelling writer is how gracefully he brings in other people’s voices. Like a great dance partner, he makes other people look and sound terrific, and the quality of dialogue makes the people in the essay come to life. Instead of summarizing what people say, let them say it directly .

3. Senses are your friends.

McPhee often makes a scene pop by suddenly putting in a smell, or a sound, or a texture, when every image until that point has been visual. Remember that we exist in the world in three dimensions . What does the salt water in the ocean taste like? What do the weathervanes on the barn sound like? What’s the texture of the gravel driveway?

Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams .

Jamison balances clarity and laser-sharp prose with harrowing, deeply personal subject matter: her writing never flinches from brutally honest self-examination, but she also never relies on sentimentality or clichés to get her emotions across. Check out the title essay, “The Empathy Exams,” for a brilliant example of writing gracefully and delicately about a very intense subject matter: that is, the author’s abortion.

Important tips to take from Jamison’s writing:

1. Let the subject matter speak for itself.

When you’re talking about something very private, write as specifically as you can , without zooming out to give morals or justify your actions.

2. Details are important, but always keep the point of the story in mind.

The only person who can tell your story is you, because you were the only one on the ground for it. So you want to bring us into the scene of the action. But you’ve also got to remember that you only have a really limited space. Why are you telling this story? What’s its purpose? What takeaway message are you sending?

3. Chronological order is your friend.

Often, when you’re trying to craft an essay, it can be easy to fall into the trap of trying to find the one best way to tell the tale without even being aware of what the story you’re telling is.

Stephen Jay Gould, Bully for Brontosaurus .

Gould was a groundbreaking biologist who made major discoveries about the way evolution works, but he was perhaps most famous for his essays, which made complex scientific issues accessible to all readers. You don’t have to come up with new theories of evolution to write a personal statement -- but you can let your own passions, whatever they are, shine through as you write.

Important tips to take from Gould’s writing:

1. Don’t underestimate your reader.

Gould is a master at explaining very complex concepts in simple terms, but he never dumbs down his argument for the masses . The very thing that makes him so engaging is the way that he’s unafraid to present unfamiliar ideas . If you’ve worked hard at something -- lacrosse, trumpet, Rubik’s cubes -- and you’re passionate about what you do, let that come through in your college personal statement!

2. Write about what you love.

Gould has a terrific prose style—he’s witty and light without going overboard—but what shines through most clearly in his writing is that he’s passionate about his subject matter.

3. You don’t need to be complicated to sound smart.

The most knowledgeable writers are often the ones who are the clearest to follow. Writing coherently about something very technical or very theoretical doesn’t mean that you don’t get it—actually, it means just the opposite.

While it might seem like the best books to read before you write your college personal statement would be books of other admissions essays, these can get claustrophobic and paralyzing. You might feel like everything under the sun has already been written, or you might come up with some sort of cookie-cutter false “ideal” version of a college applicant. Reading well-crafted personal essays by writers unafraid to let their voices shine will help inspire you to let your own passions come through, which will help you pop on the page.

Adrienne received her English PhD from Harvard University, her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and her BA from Princeton University. She is a nonfiction writer and poet, and teaches in the Writing Program at Princeton University.

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How to Write a Winning Personal Statement

Unveiling the secrets to stand out, publisher description.

"How to Write a Winning Personal Statement" is your essential guide to mastering the art of crafting compelling, authentic personal statements that stand out in the competitive landscape of university and graduate school applications. Authored by an experienced consultant with a rich history of guiding students to admissions success, this book demystifies the process of writing personal statements that resonate with admissions committees. Through a combination of expert advice, actionable tips, and real-life examples, readers will learn how to highlight their unique strengths, articulate their aspirations, and convey their passion in a way that is both genuine and persuasive. From understanding what admissions officers are truly looking for, to avoiding common pitfalls that can undermine your application, this book covers every aspect of the personal statement writing process. Whether you're applying to undergraduate programs, graduate schools, or professional courses, "How to Write a Winning Personal Statement" provides you with the tools you need to tell your story effectively. Discover how to craft statements that not only meet the expectations of admissions panels but also reflect your individual journey and academic ambitions. Make your application unforgettable with this indispensable guide to personal statement success.

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How to Write an Amazing Personal Statement (Includes Examples!)

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Zach Skillings is the Scholarships360 Newsletter Editor. He specializes in college admissions and strives to answer important questions about higher education. When he’s not contributing to Scholarships360, Zach writes about travel, music, film, and culture. His work has been published in Our State Magazine, Ladygunn Magazine, The Nocturnal Times, and The Lexington Dispatch. Zach graduated from Elon University with a degree in Cinema and Television Arts.

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The personal statement. It’s one of the most important parts of the entire college application process. This essay is the perfect opportunity to show admissions officers who you are and what makes you stand out from the crowd. But writing a good personal statement isn’t exactly easy. That’s why we’ve put together the ultimate guide on how to nail your personal statement, complete with example essays . Each essay was reviewed and commented upon by admissions expert Bill Jack. Let’s dive in!

Related: How to write an essay about yourself  

What is a personal statement? 

A personal statement is a special type of essay that’s required when you’re applying to colleges and scholarship programs. In this essay, you’re expected to share something about who you are and what you bring to the table. Think of it as a chance to reveal a side of yourself not found in the rest of your application. Personal statements are typically around 400 – 600 words in length. 

What can I write about? 

Pretty much anything, as long as it’s about you . While this is liberating in the sense that your writing options are nearly unlimited, it’s also overwhelming for the same reason. The good news is that you’ll probably be responding to a specific prompt. Chances are you’re applying to a school that uses the Common App , which means you’ll have seven prompts to choose from . Reviewing these prompts can help generate some ideas, but so can asking yourself meaningful questions. 

Below you’ll find a list of questions to ask yourself during the brainstorming process. For each of the following questions, spend a few minutes jotting down whatever comes to mind. 

• What experiences have shaped who you are? 
• What’s special or unique about you or your life story? 
• Who or what has inspired you the most? 
• What accomplishments are you most proud of? 
• What are your goals for the future? How have you arrived at those goals? 
• If your life was a movie, what would be the most interesting scene? 
• What have been some of the biggest challenges in your life? How did you respond and what did you learn? 

The purpose of these questions is to prompt you to think about your life at a deeper level. Hopefully by reflecting on them, you’ll find an essay topic that is impactful and meaningful. In the next section, we’ll offer some advice on actually writing your essay. 

Also see:  How to write a 500 word essay

How do I write my personal statement? 

Once you’ve found a topic, it’s time to start writing! Every personal statement is different, so there’s not really one formula that works for every student. That being said, the following tips should get you started in the right direction:  

1. Freewrite, then rewrite 

The blank page tends to get more intimidating the longer you stare at it, so it’s best to go ahead and jump right in! Don’t worry about making the first draft absolutely perfect. Instead, just get your ideas on the page and don’t spend too much time thinking about the finer details. Think of this initial writing session as a “brain dump”. Take 15-30 minutes to quickly empty all your thoughts onto the page without worrying about things like grammar, spelling, or sentence structure. You can even use bullet points if that helps. Once you have your ideas on the page, then you can go back and shape them exactly how you want. 

2. Establish your theme 

Now that you’ve got some basic ideas down on the page, it’s time to lock in on a theme. Your theme is a specific angle that reflects the central message of your essay. It can be summarized in a sentence or even a word. For example, let’s say you’re writing about how you had to establish a whole new group of friends when you moved to a new city. The theme for this type of essay would probably be something like “adaptation”. Having a theme will help you stay focused throughout your essay. Since you only have a limited number of words, you can’t afford to go off on tangents that don’t relate to your theme. 

3. Tell a story

A lot of great essays rely on a specific scene or story. Find the personal anecdote relevant to your theme and transfer it to the page. The best way to do this is by using descriptive language. Consult the five senses as you’re setting the scene. What did you see, hear, taste, touch, or smell? How were you feeling emotionally? Using descriptive language can really help your essay come to life. According to UPchieve , a nonprofit that supports low income students, focusing on a particular moment as a “ revised version of a memoir ” is one way to keep readers engaged. 

Related: College essay primer: show, don’t tell  

4. Focus on your opening paragraph

Your opening paragraph should grab your reader’s attention and set the tone for the rest of your essay. In most cases, this is the best place to include your anecdote (if you have one). By leading with your personal story, you can hook your audience from the get-go. After telling your story, you can explain why it’s important to who you are. 

Related:  How to start a scholarship essay (with examples)

5. Use an authentic voice 

Your personal statement reflects who you are, so you should use a tone that represents you. That means you shouldn’t try to sound like someone else, and you shouldn’t use fancy words just to show off. This isn’t an academic paper, so you don’t have to adopt a super formal tone. Instead, write in a way that allows room for your personality to breathe. 

6. Edit, edit, edit…

Once you’re done writing, give yourself some time away from the essay. Try to allow a few days to pass before looking at the essay again with fresh eyes. This way, you’re more likely to pick up on spelling and grammatical errors. You may even get some new ideas and rethink the way you wrote some things. Once you’re satisfied, let someone else edit your essay. We recommend asking a teacher, parent, or sibling for their thoughts before submitting. 

Examples of personal statements 

Sometimes viewing someone else’s work is the best way to generate inspiration and get the creative juices flowing. The following essays are written in response to four different Common App prompts: 

Prompt 1: “Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.”

When I was eight years old, I wanted a GameCube very badly. For weeks I hounded my dad to buy me one and finally he agreed. But there was a catch. He’d only get me a GameCube if I promised to start reading. Every day I played video games, I would have to pick up a book and read for at least one hour. At that point in my life, reading was just something I had to suffer through for school assignments. To read for pleasure seemed ludicrous. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about this proposed agreement. But I figured anything was worth it to get my hands on that shiny new video game console, so I bit the bullet and shook my dad’s hand. Little did I know that I had just made a life-changing deal. 

At first, the required hour of reading was a chore — something I had to do so I could play Mario Kart. But it quickly turned into something more than that. To my complete and utter surprise, I discovered that I actually enjoyed reading. One hour turned into two, two turned into three, and after a while I was spending more time reading than I was playing video games. I found myself captivated by the written word, and I read everything I could get my hands on. Lord of the Rings , Percy Jackson , Goosebumps — you name it. I was falling in love with literature, while my GameCube was accumulating dust in the TV stand. 

Soon enough, reading led to writing. I was beginning to come up with my own stories, so I put pen to paper and let my imagination run wild. It started out small. My first effort was a rudimentary picture book about a friendly raccoon who went to the moon. But things progressed. My stories became more intricate, my characters more complex. I wrote a series of science fiction novellas. I tried my hand at poetry. I was amazed at the worlds I could create with the tip of my pen. I had dreams of becoming an author. 

Then somewhere along the way my family got a subscription to Netflix, and that completely changed the way I thought about storytelling. My nose had been buried in books up until then, so I hadn’t really seen a lot of movies. That quickly changed. It seemed like every other day a pair of new DVDs would arrive in the mail (this was the early days of Netflix). Dark Knight, The Truman Show, Inception, Memento — all these great films were coming in and out of the house. And I couldn’t get enough of them. Movies brought stories to life in a way that books could not. I was head over heels for visual storytelling. 

Suddenly I wasn’t writing novels and short stories anymore. I was writing scripts for movies. Now I wanted to transfer my ideas to the big screen, rather than the pages of a book. But I was still doing the same thing I had always done. I was writing, just in a different format. To help with this process, I read the screenplays of my favorite films and paid attention to the way they were crafted. I kept watching more and more movies. And I hadn’t forgotten about my first love, either. I still cherished books and looked to them for inspiration. By the end of my junior year of high school, I had completed two scripts for short films. 

So why am I telling you all this? Because I want to turn my love of storytelling into a career. I’m not totally sure how to do that yet, but I know I have options. Whether it’s film production, creative writing, or even journalism, I want to find a major that suits my ambitions. Writing has taken me a long way, and I know it can take me even further. As I step into this next chapter of my life, I couldn’t be more excited to see how my craft develops. In the meantime, I should probably get rid of that dusty old GameCube. 

Feedback from admissions professional Bill Jack

Essays don’t always have to reveal details about the student’s intended career path, but one thing I like about this essay is that it gives the reader a sense of the why. Why do they want to pursue storytelling. It also shows the reader that they are open to how they pursue their interest. Being open to exploration is such a vital part of college, so it’s also showing the reader that they likely will be open to new things in college. And, it’s always fun to learn a little bit more about the student’s family, especially if the reader can learn about how the students interacts with their family. 

Prompt 2: “The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”

I remember my first impression of Irvine: weird. It was foggy, stock-full of greenery and eucalyptus trees, and reminded me of my 5th grade trip to a “science camp” which was located in the San Bernardino mountains. Besides Irvine, that was one of the few places in Southern California where you’d find so many non-palm trees. 

Of course, perhaps my initial impression of Irvine was biased, motivated by a desire to stay in my hometown and a fear of the unknown. While that was true to an extent, Irvine was certainly still a little peculiar. The city itself was based on a “master plan” of sorts, with the location of each of its schools, parks, shops, and arguably its trees having been logically “picked” before the foundation was poured. Even the homes all looked roughly the same, with their beige, stucco walls almost serving as a hallmark of the city itself.

Thus, this perfectly structured, perfectly safe city seemed like a paradise of sorts to many outsiders, my parents included. I was a little more hesitant to welcome this. As I saw it, this was a phony city – believing that its uniformity stood for a lack of personality. My hometown, although not as flawlessly safe nor clean as Irvine, was where most of my dearest memories had occurred. From the many sleepovers at Cindie’s house, to trying to avoid my school’s own version of the “infamous” cheese touch, to the many laughs shared with friends and family, I shed a tear at the prospect of leaving my home.

Moving into the foreign city, remnants of the hostility I held towards Irvine remained. Still dwelling in my memories of the past, I was initially unable to see Irvine as a “home.” So, as I walked into my first-ever Irvine class, being greeted by many kind, yet unfamiliar faces around me, I was unable to recognize that some of those new faces would later become some of my dearest friends. Such negative feelings about the city were further reinforced by newer, harder classes, and more complicated homework. Sitting in the discomfort of this unfamiliar environment, it started to seem that “change” was something not only inevitable, but insurmountable.

As the years went on, however, this idea seemed to fade. I got used to my classes and bike racing through Irvine neighborhoods with my friends, watching the trees that once seemed just a “weird” green blob soon transform into one of my favorite parts of the city. While I kept my old, beloved memories stored, I made space for new ones. From carefully making our way over the narrow creek path next to our school, to the laughs we shared during chemistry class, my new memories made with friends seemed to transform a city I once disliked into one I would miss. 

Through this transformation, I have come to recognize that change, although sometimes intimidating at first, can open the door to great times and meaningful connections. Although Irvine may have once seemed like a strange, “phony” place that I couldn’t wait to be rid of, the memories and laughs I had grown to share there were very real. As I move onto this next part of my life, I hope I can use this knowledge that I have gained from my time in Irvine to make the most of what’s to come. Even if the change may be frightening at first, I have learned to embrace what’s on the other side, whether green or not.

One huge plus to writing an essay that focuses on a place is that you might have it read by someone who has been there. Yet, what’s really helpful about this essay is that even if someone hasn’t been there, a picture is painted about what the place is like.  Admission officers have the hard task of really understanding what the student sees, so the use of adjectives and imagery can really help.  It’s also really clever to see that the green that’s mentioned at the beginning is mentioned at the end.  It’s a nice way to bookend the essay and tie it all together.

Prompt 6: “Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?”

I like getting lost. Not literally, of course, but figuratively. Whether it be in the story of a love song by Taylor Swift, or in the memories brought back by listening to my favorite childhood video game’s background music, I’ve always appreciated music’s ability to transport me to another place, another time, another feeling. 

Alas, I cannot sing, nor have I practiced an instrument since my middle school piano class days. So, perhaps Kurt Vonnegut was right. As he puts it, “Virtually every writer I know would rather be a musician.” While I cannot speak for others, I have certainly not debunked his theory. Writing allows many, including myself, to attempt to mimic the transformative power of music – even if our singing voices aren’t exactly “pleasant.” Just as you can get lost in music, you can do so in a story. Whether it is in George Orwell’s totalitarian Oceania, or Little Women’s Orchard House, the stories outlined in novels can provide an amazing look into the lives and worlds of others, and an escape from the worries and problems of those in your own.

While I am certainly not claiming to have the storytelling abilities of the Orwells or Alcotts before me, I’ve had fun trying to recreate such transformative feelings for others. When I was nine, I attempted to write a story about a little girl who had gotten lost in the woods, only managing to get a couple pages through. As I got older, whenever I was assigned a creative writing assignment in school, I wrote about the same pig, Phil. He was always angry: in my 8th grade science class, Phil was mad at some humans who had harbored his friend captive, and in my 9th grade English class, at a couple who robbed him. 

Thus, when I heard about a writing club being opened at my school in 11th grade, I knew I had to join. I wanted to discern whether writing was just a hobby I picked up now and then, or a true passion. If it was a passion, I wanted to learn as much as possible about how I could improve. Although my high school’s writing club certainly wasn’t going to transform me into Shakespeare, I knew I could learn a lot from it – and I did. The club challenged me to do many things, from writing on the spot, to writing poetry, to even writing about myself, something that’s hopefully coming in handy right now. 

From then on, I started to expand into different types of writing, storing short ideas, skits, and more in appropriately-labeled Google Drive folders. At around the same time, I became interested in classic literature, which largely stemmed from a project in English class. We had been required to choose and read a classic on our own, then present it to the class in an interesting way. While my book was certainly interesting and unique in its own right, nearly everyone else’s novels seemed more captivating to me. So, I took it upon myself to read as many classics as I could the following summer.

One of the books I read during the summer, funnily enough, was Animal Farm, which starred angry pigs, reminiscent of Phil. I had also started going over different ideas in my head, thinking about how I could translate them into words using the new skills I learned. While the writing club helped reaffirm my interest in writing and allowed me to develop new skills, my newfound affinity for classics gave me inspiration to write. Now, I am actually considering writing as part of my future. In this endeavor, I hope that Phil, and the music I inevitably listen to as I write, will accompany me every step of the way.

Admission officers might read 70 (or more!) essays in one day. It’s not uncommon for them to start to blend together and sound similar. This essay might not make you laugh out loud. But, it might make the reader chuckle while reading it thanks to the subtle humor and levity. Being able to incorporate a little humor into your essay (if it is natural for you to do… do not force it), can really be a great way to shed additional light into who you are. Remember, the essay isn’t merely about proving that you can write, but it should also reveal a little bit about your personality.

Prompt 5: “Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.”

I learned a lot of things during the summer I worked at Tropical Smoothie. I discovered the value of hard work. I figured out how to save money. I even mastered the art of the Mango Magic smoothie (the secret is lots of sugar). But most importantly, I learned the power of perspective. And I have Deja to thank for that. 

Deja was my shift supervisor, and one of Tropical Smoothie’s best employees. She was punctual, friendly, and always willing to lend a helping hand. She knew the store from top to bottom, and could handle pretty much any situation thrown her way. She made everyone around her better. On top of all that, she was four months pregnant! I was always impressed by Deja’s work ethic, but I gained an entirely new level of respect for her one day.

It was a Friday night, and Deja and I were working the closing shift together. It was very busy, and Deja and I were the only ones on shift. We managed to get by, but we were exhausted by the end of the evening. After wiping down the counters and mopping the floors, we closed up shop and went our separate ways. I was eager to get home. 

I walked a couple blocks to where I had parked my car. Well, it wasn’t my car actually. It was my dad’s ‘98 Chevy pickup truck, and it was in rough shape. It had no heat or A/C, the leather seats were cracked beyond repair, and the driver’s side door was jammed shut. I sighed as I got in through the passenger side and scooted over to the driver’s seat. The whole reason I was working at Tropical Smoothie was to save up enough money to buy my own car. I was hoping to have something more respectable to drive during my senior year of high school. 

I cranked the old thing up and started on my way home. But soon enough, I spotted Deja walking on the side of the road. There was no sidewalk here, the light was low, and she was dangerously close to the passing cars. I pulled over and offered her a ride. She got in and explained that she was on her way home. Apparently she didn’t have a car and had been walking to work every day. I couldn’t believe it. Here I was complaining about my set of wheels, while Deja didn’t have any to begin with.

We got to talking, and she confessed that she had been having a tough time. You would never know from the way she was so cheerful at work, but Deja had a lot on her plate. She was taking care of her mother, her boyfriend had just lost his job, and she was worried about making ends meet. And of course, she was expecting a baby in five months. On top of all that, she had been walking nearly a mile to and from work every day. The whole thing was a real eye opener, and made me reconsider some things in my own life. 

For one, I didn’t mind driving my dad’s truck anymore. It was banged up, sure, but it was a lot better than nothing. My mindset had changed. I appreciated the truck now. I began to think about other things differently, too. I started making mental notes of all the things in my life I was thankful for — my family, my friends, my health. I became grateful for what I had, instead of obsessing over the things I didn’t. 

I also gained more awareness of the world outside my own little bubble. My encounter with Deja had shown me first-hand that everyone is dealing with their own problems, some worse than others. So I started paying more attention to my friends, family members, and coworkers. I started listening more and asking how I could help. I also gave Deja a ride home for the rest of the summer. 

These are all small things, of course, but I think they make a difference. I realized I’m at my best when I’m not fixated on my own life, but when I’m considerate of the lives around me. I want to keep this in mind as I continue to grow and develop as a person. I want to continue to search for ways to support the people around me. And most importantly, I want to keep things in perspective.

Too often we can be focused on our own problems that we fail to realize that everyone has their own things going on in their lives, too.  This essay showcases how it’s important to put things in perspective, a skill that certainly will prove invaluable in college… and not just in the classroom.  Another reason I like this essay is because it provides deeper insight into the student’s life.  Sure, you might have mentioned in your activities list that you have a job.  But as this essay does, you can show why you have the job in the first place, what your responsibilities are, and more.

A few last tips

We hope these essay examples gave you a bit of inspiration of what to include in your own. However, before you go, we’d like to send you off with a few (personal statement) writing tips to help you make your essays as lovely as the memories and anecdotes they’re based off of. Without further ado, here are some of our best tips for writing your personal statements:

1. Open strong

College admissions officers read many, many essays (think 50+) a day, which can sometimes cause them to start blending together and sounding alike. One way to avoid your essay from simply fading into the background is to start strong. This means opening your essay with something memorable, whether an interesting personal anecdote, a descriptive setting, or anything else that you think would catch a reader’s attention (so long as it’s not inappropriate). Not only might this help college admissions officers better remember your essay, but it will also make them curious about what the rest of your essay will entail.

2. Be authentic

Perhaps most important when it comes to writing personal statement essays is to maintain your authenticity. Ultimately, your essays should reflect your unique stories and quirks that make you who you are, and should help college admissions officers determine whether you’d truly be a good fit for their school or not. So, don’t stress trying to figure out what colleges are looking for. Be yourself, and let the colleges come to you!

3. Strong writing

This one may seem a little obvious, but strong writing will certainly appeal to colleges. Not only will it make your essay more compelling, but it may show colleges that you’re ready for college-level essay writing (that you’ll likely have to do a lot of). Just remember that good writing is not limited to grammar. Using captivating detail and descriptions are a huge part of making your essay seem more like a story than a lecture.

4. Proofread

Last but not least, remember to proofread! Make sure your essay contains no errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. When you’re done proofreading your essay yourself, we would also recommend that you ask a teacher, parent, or other grammatically savvy person to proofread your essay as well.

Final thoughts 

With those in hand, we hope you now have a better sense of how to write your personal statement. While your grades and test scores are important when it comes to college admissions, it’s really your essays that can “make” or “break” your application. 

Although this may make it seem like a daunting task, writing an amazing personal statement essay is all about effort. Thus, so long as you start early, follow the advice listed above, and dedicate your time and effort to it, it’s entirely possible to write an essay that perfectly encapsulates you. Good luck, and happy writing!

Also see:  Scholarships360’s free scholarships search tool

Key Takeaways

• It may take some people longer than others to know what they want to write about, but remember that everyone, including you, has something unique to write about!
• Personal statements should be personal, which means you should avoid being too general and really strive to show off what makes you “you”
• Time and effort are two of the most important things you can put into your personal statement to ensure that it is the best representation of yourself
• Don’t forget to ask people who know you to read your work before you submit; they should be able to tell you better than anyone if you are truly shining through!

Frequently asked questions about writing personal statements 

How do you write a powerful personal statement, what makes an amazing personal statement, how do you start an amazing personal statement, scholarships360 recommended.

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How to Write a Strong Personal Statement

• Ruth Gotian
• Ushma S. Neill

A few adjustments can get your application noticed.

Whether applying for a summer internship, a professional development opportunity, such as a Fulbright, an executive MBA program, or a senior leadership development course, a personal statement threads the ideas of your CV, and is longer and has a different tone and purpose than a traditional cover letter. A few adjustments to your personal statement can get your application noticed by the reviewer.

• Make sure you’re writing what they want to hear. Most organizations that offer a fellowship or internship are using the experience as a pipeline: It’s smart to spend 10 weeks and $15,000 on someone before committing five years and $300,000. Rarely are the organizations being charitable or altruistic, so align your stated goals with theirs
• Know when to bury the lead, and when to get to the point. It’s hard to paint a picture and explain your motivations in 200 words, but if you have two pages, give the reader a story arc or ease into your point by setting the scene.
• Recognize that the reviewer will be reading your statement subjectively, meaning you’re being assessed on unknowable criteria. Most people on evaluation committees are reading for whether or not you’re interesting. Stated differently, do they want to go out to dinner with you to hear more? Write it so that the person reading it wants to hear more.
• Address the elephant in the room (if there is one). Maybe your grades weren’t great in core courses, or perhaps you’ve never worked in the field you’re applying to. Make sure to address the deficiency rather than hoping the reader ignores it because they won’t. A few sentences suffice. Deficiencies do not need to be the cornerstone of the application.

At multiple points in your life, you will need to take action to transition from where you are to where you want to be. This process is layered and time-consuming, and getting yourself to stand out among the masses is an arduous but not impossible task. Having a polished resume that explains what you’ve done is the common first step. But, when an application asks for it, a personal statement can add color and depth to your list of accomplishments. It moves you from a one-dimensional indistinguishable candidate to someone with drive, interest, and nuance.

• Ruth Gotian is the chief learning officer and associate professor of education in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and the author of The Success Factor and Financial Times Guide to Mentoring . She was named the #1 emerging management thinker by Thinkers50. You can access her free list of conversation starters and test your mentoring impact . RuthGotian
• Ushma S. Neill is the Vice President, Scientific Education & Training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She runs several summer internships and is involved with the NYC Marshall Scholar Selection Committee. ushmaneill

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5 Books to Read Before Writing Your Personal Statement

Looking for some reading suggestions to get stuck in to before tackling your Personal Statement? Here are our top recommendations!

In your Personal Statement , demonstration of wider reading around Medicine is something few students think about, and yet it can make a real difference to your application. Stuck on what to read? Here are five books I read when I applied to Medical School to strengthen my knowledge of Medicine.

Written by Ben Fox

1. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat – Oliver Sacks

This book was mentioned in numerous application talks I attended when applying. It is written by the neurologist Oliver Sacks and describes some of the weirdest and wonderful conditions that exist in the medical profession.

Admittedly, the extensive use of medical terminology makes this book difficult to read in the initial stages, but I found it an inexhaustible source of discussion when asked about it at interview.

I stated the name of the book in my Personal Statement and discussed how exciting it was that every individual was unique in their presentation and type of illness. I would like to mention at this point that if you do explicitly mention a book in your Personal Statement, you WILL be asked about it. This doesn’t mean that you need to have memorised every page of the book, but be prepared to provide an example of one or two extracts of the book, and how they helped you decide on a career in Medicine.

2. Life at the Extremes – Frances Ashcroft

This was my favourite to discuss in this article, as it focuses on what happens to your body when it is pushed to the very limits of what it is capable of.

This book was useful when writing my Personal Statement as it helped me appreciate the extent to which the body has developed mechanisms to cope in the world around us, and again I explicitly mentioned this in my Personal Statement as an example of my desire and enthusiasm to undertake a career in Medicine.

3. Do No Harm – Henry Marsh

This is another book focused on neurology, but this time through the eyes of a decorated neurosurgeon, Mr Henry Marsh. This book is unusual in that the author is honest about the realities and challenges of Medicine; something I think that most doctors shy away from.

He admits to some of his worst mistakes and showed to me how even the best doctors can’t get everything right 100% of the time. With regards to my Personal Statement, I didn’t mention this book in my final draft, but I found that I was able to gain a greater understanding of empathy and the importance of communication from the stories published in here, which I found to be very useful at interview stage.

4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot

Recently adapted into a film, this title may be familiar to some of you. This story follows the life of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman who’s cells were unsuspectingly taken and used to create a successful human cell line. Ultimately, Lacks’ cells positively contributed to major breakthroughs in areas such as cancer research and gene mapping.

This book will provide insight into some serious questions that still need to be raised in regards to medical ethics, something you may want to demonstrate awareness of in your Personal Statement. Medical ethics also plays a key part in the interview stage, so this book may help you in this aspect of the admissions process too.

5. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer – Siddhartha Mukherjee

This is a detailed and very comprehensive book written by cancer physician and researcher, Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Mukherjee discusses the early history of cancer care, transitioning into modern oncology later on in the book. It is a read that will help demystify cancer and will leave aspiring medics inspired by Mukherjee’s accounts of his patient interactions. This is another recommendation that will help with understanding the need for empathy as a medical professional, a key attribute that aspiring medics should possess and discuss in their Personal Statements.

Regardless of which books you choose to read, remember that this is just one component of a wide range of achievements and experiences that you need to include to make that Personal Statement perfect. 

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Personal Statements: How to Write a UCAS Personal Statement Paperback – 4 Jun. 2005

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Paul Telfer is a teacher and award-winning writer. He has been guiding sixth-formers through their personal statements for over 25 years.

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What was Trump found guilty of? See the 34 business records the jury decided he falsified

Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after prosecutors successfully convinced a jury he disguised hush money reimbursement as legal expenses. He is the first former president to be convicted of a crime.

Each count is tied to a different business record that prosecutors demonstrated Trump is responsible for changing to conceal or commit another crime .

Those records include 11 checks paid to former lawyer Michael Cohen , 11 invoices from Michael Cohen and 12 entries in Trump's ledgers.

The jury found that Trump authorized a plan to reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment issued to Stormy Daniels and spread the payments across 12 months disguised as legal expenses.

Live updates: Former President Donald Trump found guilty on all counts in hush money case

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Breakdown of 34 counts of falsifying business records

Here are the 34 business records Trump was found guilty of falsifying, as described in Judge Juan Merchan 's jury instructions :

• Count 1: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Feb. 14, 2017
• Count 2: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated Feb. 14, 2017
• Count 3: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated Feb. 14, 2017
• Count 4: A Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account check and check stub dated Feb. 14, 2017
• Count 5: Michael Cohen's invoice dated March 16, 2017
• Count 6: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated March 17, 2017
• Count 7: A Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account check and check stub dated March 17, 2017
• Count 8: Michael Cohen's invoice dated April 13, 2017
• Count 9: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated June 19, 2017
• Count 10: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated June 19, 2017
• Count 11: Michael Cohen's invoice dated May 22, 2017
• Count 12: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated May 22, 2017
• Count 13: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub May 23, 2017
• Count 14: Michael Cohen's invoice dated June 16, 2017
• Count 15: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated June 19, 2017
• Count 16: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated June 19, 2017
• Count 17: Michael Cohen's invoice dated July 11, 2017
• Count 18: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated July 11, 2017
• Count 19: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated July 11, 2017
• Count 20: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Aug. 1, 2017
• Count 21: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Aug. 1, 2017
• Count 22: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Aug. 1, 2017
• Count 23: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Sept. 11, 2017
• Count 24: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Sept. 11, 2017
• Count 25: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Sept. 12, 2017
• Count 26: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Oct. 18, 2017
• Count 27: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Oct. 18, 2017
• Count 28: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Oct. 18, 2017
• Count 29: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Nov. 20, 2017
• Count 30: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Nov. 20, 2017
• Count 31: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Nov. 21, 2017
• Count 32: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Dec. 1, 2017
• Count 33: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Dec. 1, 2017
• Count 34: A check and check stub dated Dec. 5 2017

Jurors saw copies of these records entered as evidence. Evidence from the entire trial is available on the New York Courts website .

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi

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Caleb Carr, Author of Dark Histories, Dies at 68

His own dark history prompted him to write about and investigate the roots of violence, notably in his best-selling novel “The Alienist.”

By Penelope Green

Caleb Carr, a military historian and author whose experience of childhood abuse drove him to explore the roots of violence — most famously in his 1994 best seller, “The Alienist,” a period thriller about the hunt for a serial killer in 19th-century Manhattan — died on Thursday at his home in Cherry Plain, N.Y. He was 68.

The cause was cancer, his brother Ethan Carr said.

Mr. Carr was 39 when he published “The Alienist,” an atmospheric detective story about a child psychiatrist — or an alienist, as those who studied the mind were called in the 1890s — who investigates the murders of young male prostitutes by using forensic psychiatry, which was an unorthodox method at the time.

Mr. Carr had first pitched the book as nonfiction; it wasn’t, but it read that way because of the exhaustive research he did into the period. He rendered the dank horrors of Manhattan’s tenement life, its sadistic gangs and the seedy brothels that were peddling children, as well as the city’s lush hubs of power, like Delmonico’s restaurant. And he peopled his novel with historical figures like Theodore Roosevelt, who was New York’s reforming police commissioner before his years in the White House. Even Jacob Riis had a cameo.

Up to that point, Mr. Carr had been writing, with modest success, on military matters. He had contributed articles to The Quarterly Journal of Military History, and he had written, with James Chace, a book about national security and, on his own, a well-received biography of an American soldier of fortune who became a Chinese military hero in the mid-19th century.

Mr. Carr had also been a regular contributor to the letters page of The New York Times; he notably once chastised Henry Kissinger for what Mr. Carr characterized as his outdated theories of international diplomacy. He was 19 at the time.

“The Alienist” was an immediate hit and earned glowing reviews. Even before it was published, the movie rights were snapped up by the producer Scott Rudin for half a million dollars. (The paperback rights sold for more than a million.)

“You can practically hear the clip-clop of horses’ hooves echoing down old Broadway,” Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote in his review in The Times . “You can taste the good food at Delmonico’s. You can smell the fear in the air.”

Magazine writers were captivated by Mr. Carr’s downtown cool — he lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, had been in a local punk band, wore black high-top sneakers and had shoulder-length hair — and by his literary provenance. His father was Lucien Carr, a journalist who was muse to and best friends with Beat royalty: the writers Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Beautiful and charismatic as a young man, “Lou was the glue,” Ginsberg once said, that held the group together.

The elder Mr. Carr was also an alcoholic, and Caleb grew up in bohemian chaos. The Carr household was the scene of drunken revelries, and much worse. Mr. Carr raged at his wife and three sons. But he directed his most terrifying outbursts at Caleb, his middle child, whom he singled out for physical abuse.

Caleb’s parents divorced when he was 8. But the beatings continued for years.

“There’s no question that I have a lifelong fascination with violence,” Caleb Carr told Stephen Dubner of New York magazine in 1994 , just before “The Alienist” was published, explaining not just the engine for the book but why he was drawn to military history. “Part of it was a desire to find violence that was, in the first place, directed toward some purposeful end, and second, governed by a definable ethical code. And I think it’s fairly obvious why I would want to do that.”

Lucien Carr had also been abused. Growing up in St. Louis, he was sexually molested by his Boy Scout master, a man named David Kammerer who followed him to the East Coast, where Lucien entered Columbia University and met Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs. One drunken night in 1944, Mr. Carr killed his longtime predator in Riverside Park, stabbing him with his Boy Scout knife and rolling him into the Hudson River. Kerouac helped him dispose of the knife. Lucien turned himself in the next day and served two years for manslaughter in a reformatory.

The killing was a cause célèbre, and became a kind of origin story for the history of the Beats . Kerouac and Burroughs rendered it in purple prose in a novel they archly titled “And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks,” which was rejected by publishers and then mired in legalities before finally being published in 2008, when all the principals were dead. (It was panned by Michiko Kakutani in The Times.) In 2013, it was the subject of a film, “Kill Your Darlings,” starring Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg.

Caleb Carr and his family found “Kill Your Darlings” more than flawed, taking issue with the film’s thesis that Lucien was a conflicted gay man in a repressive society — and that Kammerer was the victim and their relationship was consensual.

“My father fit perfectly ‘the cycle of abuse,’” Mr. Carr told an interviewer at the time . “Of all the terrible things that Kammerer did, perhaps the worst was to teach him this, to teach him that the most fundamental way to form bonds was through abuse.”

He added: “When I confronted him many years later about his extreme violence toward me, after I had entered therapy, he at length asked (after denying that such violence had occurred for as long as he could, then conceding it), ‘Doesn’t that mean that there’s a special bond between us?’ And I remember that my blood had never run quite that cold.”

Caleb Carr was born on Aug. 2, 1955, in Manhattan. His father, after being released from the reformatory, worked as a reporter and editor for United Press International, where he met Francesca von Hartz, a reporter. They married in 1952 and had three sons, Simon, Caleb and Ethan. After they divorced a decade later, Ms. von Hartz married John Speicher, an editor and novelist with three daughters. The couple and their six children moved to a loft on East 14th Street, a dangerous area in the late 1960s and ’70s. It was another chaotic household overseen by alcoholics, and the children often referred to themselves as “the dark Brady Bunch.”

Caleb attended Friends Seminary, a Quaker school in the East Village, where his interest in military history made him an outlier and a misfit. His high school transcript described him as “socially undesirable.” After graduating, he attended Kenyon College in Ohio and then New York University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and studied military and diplomatic history.

In 1997, Mr. Carr published “The Angel of Darkness,” a sequel to “The Alienist.” It featured many of the same characters, who reunite to investigate the case of a missing child. It, too, was a best seller, “as winning a historical thriller” as its predecessor, The Times’s Mr. Lehmann-Haupt wrote .

Mr. Carr was the author of 11 books, including “The Italian Secretary” (2005), a Sherlock Holmes mystery commissioned by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle; “Surrender, New York” (2016), a well-reviewed contemporary crime procedural that nonetheless sold poorly; and “Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians” (2002), which he wrote in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Even in those pre-Twitter days, “Lessons of Terror” caused an internet ruckus. It was at once vociferously praised and bashed — and became a best seller, to boot — and Mr. Carr derided his critics on Amazon. Many challenged his contention that some “conventional” warfare — like General Sherman’s barbarism during the Civil War and Israel’s behavior toward the Palestinians — was equivalent to terrorism, a thesis that annoyed military historians , as well as The Times’s Ms. Kakutani .

What propelled Mr. Carr in all his work was the origins of violence, the mysteries of nature and nurture. In his own life, he was determined to end the cycle of his family’s dark legacy by not having children. That choice restricted his romantic life, and as he got older, he grew more solitary. When he bought 1,400 acres in Rensselaer County, N.Y., in 2000, and built himself a house near a ridge called Misery Mountain, he became even more so.

“I have a grim outlook on the world, and in particular on humanity,” he told Joyce Wadler of The Times in 2005 . “I spent years denying it, but I am very misanthropic. And I live alone on a mountain for a reason.”

His last book, published in April, was “My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me.” It’s both a memoir of his time there and a love story to the creature who was his most constant and sustaining companion during the last decades of his life.

“But how could you live for such a long time,” he said friends asked him, “alone on a mountain with just a cat?” He took umbrage at the phrase “just a cat.”

“It needs to be understood that, for Masha, I was always enough,” he wrote. “How I lived, what I chose to do, my very nature — all were good enough for her.”

Masha, like her human roommate, had suffered physical abuse at some point, and as Mr. Carr and his companion aged, their early horrors had devastating physical repercussions. Mr. Carr’s beatings had created scar tissue in his organs that led to other serious ailments. They were each diagnosed with cancer, but Masha died first.

In addition to his brother Ethan, Mr. Carr is survived by another brother, Simon; his stepsisters, Hilda, Jennifer and Christine Speicher; and his mother, now known as Francesca Cote. Lucien Carr died in 2005.

Despite the early hoopla, “The Alienist” never made it to the big screen. Producers wanted to turn it into a love story or otherwise alter Mr. Carr’s creation. But after decades of fits and starts, i t found a home on television , and in 2018 it was seen as a 10-episode mini-series on TNT. James Poniewozik of The Times called it “lush, moody, a bit stiff.” But it was mostly a success, reaching 50 million viewers and earning six Emmy Award nominations. (It won one, for special visual effects.)

“If I had known that nothing would have come out of this book other than the advance,” Mr. Carr said in 1994 as “The Alienist” was poised for publication, “I still would have written it exactly the same. But if you were to ask me to trade this book, this whole career and have my childhood be different, I probably would.”

An earlier version of this obituary misstated part of the name of the hamlet in New York State where Mr. Carr lived. It is Cherry Plain, not Cherry Plains.

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Penelope Green is a Times reporter on the Obituaries desk. More about Penelope Green