how specific should my personal statement be

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Well this is for a summer research program not graduate school but I’m sure the personal statements are similar. Well if there are differences I’d like to know because I’m planning on applying to graduate school anyways. Well, I’m a structural engineering student and I eventually want to work on buildings but I want to research something in this field. I’m interested on seismic design nonlinear behavior so it would probably be a good idea to tailor my essay around a topic in this field but i’m not sure how specific to go. For instance, I can say my interest is:</p>

<p>a) seismic behavior and design of structures.
b) seismic behavior and design of steel structures.
c) seismic behavior and design of steel shear connections.
d) seismic behavior and design of building steel shear connections. </p>

<p>each succeeding one is more and more niched. I’m afraid that if i go too specific i’m interested (in their eyes) in one professor and if that professor isn’t available they wouldn’t consider me for something else. I’d honestly be happy working with a number of topics.</p>

2

<p>Have you done any nonlinear structural analysis work? If so, be specific and tie it into your previous research.</p>

3

<p>Take a look at the faculty and see how specific each of their interests are. I don’t think you’ll find many schools that have one professor working on just steel shear connections and another professor just working on steel moment connections.</p>