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Writing a Personal Statement for Drama Courses

This blog is generally for those of you that have to write a personal statement as part of a drama school or conservatory application.  Quite often I ask my private drama school audition coaching students in Scotland to let me read their Personal Statement before they send it off.

Look, let me be honest.  My own personal statement was verbose, grandiose and pretentious. I talked about Stanislavski and the art of the actor.  I got into a very good school, but no thanks to my cheesy personal statement.

TIP 1:  Read what it asks you to do.  Many people forget this.  If there’s no instructions, move to Tip 2

TIP 2:  Say why you are interested in applying to study acting/musical theatre/stage management or whatever.

TIP 3:  Keep it SIMPLE!  Don’t use big words and don’t come over like some Grand Old Queen of the Theatre.

TIP 4:  If you don’t have tons of experience, don’t pad it out sound liking some verbose amateur.  Be honest but positive.

TIP 5:  Say WHY you want to do that for a living, think of an intelligent, simple, non-pretentious answer.  But it has to be the truth.

TIP 6:  EVERYONE is passionate and EVERYONE has been doing this since they were a kid, that isn’t a good enough reason.

TIP 7:  Say what you would gain from having a place on the course.

TIP 8:   Say why you would make a good student, talk briefly and without too much self-aggrandizement about your best qualities.

TIP 9:  Don’t talk about your talent.

TIP 10:  Don’t talk about how you were Hamlet in High School and how when you transformed into the Danish Prince, you understood something about humanity.  Yes I have read this.

TIP 11:  Say something about your weaknesses, and why you think the course would help you to address them, say it near the beginning and be willing to answer questions about it.  It has been proven in psychological testing that admitting your faults early and then bolstering your profile later in an application or an interview helps the reader/panel to see past your limitations.

TIP 12:  Put it away, even for an hour or two, then go back and read it aloud.  Does it represent you?

TIP 13:  Do you sound like the kind of student they would want?

TIP 14:  Proof read it, get someone else to proof read it, spell check it and makes sure if you talk about the institution that your information is correct and you aren’t just ASS KISSING.

Any further questions, just get in touch.

To You, The Best!

Mark Westbrook
Senior Acting Coach
ACTING COACH SCOTLAND


Like What You Read? Want to Read More? Mark's eBook is available here
Looking for Acting Classes in Glasgow? Mark Westbrook is a Professional Acting Coach and runs Acting Coach Scotland, a private acting studio offering acting classes in Glasgow, masterclasses, workshops and audition coaching for actors at all levels. His acting studio is based in Glasgow, Scotland, although he teaches all across the United Kingdom. All Blog Posts © Mark Westbrook 2011

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