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Sample Personal History Statement
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For reasons beyond my immediate grasp, I have always harbored special fondness for the period roughly described as the European Renaissance. I can recall briefly studying this era during a world history class in my elementary years. But any interests that may have been ignited were soon squelched in high school by the curriculum's necessary emphasis on American history, government and politics. My interests in early modern Europe did not truly blossom until I chanced upon a Western Civilization class my first year of college. Immediately, larger-than-life characters like Henry VIII and Leonardo da Vinci, and mass movements such as the Reformation and the French Revolution, took hold of my imagination in ways not anticipated. Though I tested my enthusiasm for history by exploring other epochs and geographies--even taking a course on race in Latin America--I always returned to that period which so held me spellbound.⁷

Yet I had no one with which to discuss my newfound passion. Far too timid to talk to my professors about anything other than homework and writing assignments, I turned to my father, a history enthusiast like myself. But my father, who knew much about the Mexican history and important Latin American figures like Porfio Diaz and Che Guevara, could hardly be expected to sustain a conversation about my growing infatuation for the likes of Catherine de Medici and Louis VIV. Sadly, I experienced difficulty relating my background and identity to the people whose history I studied. My concept of history had always entailed a special, patriotic bond between the people of the past and their descendants. And I, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, had no immediate ties to the fathers of Western civilization. Never had I even visited London, Rome, or Paris; only Mexico City, Guadalajara, and the tiny village where my father was born, Churintzio.⁸

As my understanding the early modern period matured, however, my poetic concept of history changed dramatically. Indeed, there exists marked disparity between the history inculcated in grammar and high school which is heroic and uncritical and the analytical history university professors require students to practice. I eventually realized that I could study the early modern period from the position of a scholar interested in the ways that people of the past interacted with one another and reacted to the events that shaped their lives. In a sense, I assumed the role of an anthropologist who studies and dissects a foreign culture not only to better comprehend that culture and its symbols, but to gain unorthodox perspective on the world we inhabit today. Regardless of my ethnic background and origins, my analytical skills and flair for writing are strictly my own. However, my work ethic, I am proud to say, derives from my family, from a father who doggedly pursued the American dream, and from field-laboring grandparents.⁹

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⁷ Note how the use of verbs like "ignited," "squelched," and "blossom" coupled with the naming of specific historical figures and events like Henry VIII and the French Revolution, make her writing come to life. The phrase "I tested my enthusiasm" is far more interesting than something as prosaic as "I tried taking other courses."

⁸ In this paragraph, the writer begins to paint the portrait of her family and culture. She identifies the cultural and psychic dissonance of her anomalous condition in a deeply personal narrative involving her opportunities and the lack there as well as the relationship with her father.

⁹ This is the turning point of the essay, wherein the writer argues with eloquent vehemence the relevance of her ethnic background and her academic interests. She begins by explaining the maturation of the "poetic" amateur student of history to a professional one with an "analytical" understanding of history--a process which, she contends, had little to do with her ethnic background. As well, she discusses that her penchant for the "unorthodox" reading of history as well as her "flair" for writing are entirely hers. In so doing, she is quietly debunking the notion that there is anything orthodox or predictably knowable about this Latina. What is relevant to her background is her work ethic--the one she picked up from her Mexican father who doggedly pursued the American dream.