[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-233625-105":53,"doc-detail-233625-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","mapping-out-the-personal-statement-a-visual-thinking-strategy-for-students","Mapping Out The Personal Statement - A Visual Thinking Strategy for Students","","Mapping Out The Personal Statement presents a visual thinking approach to help students create personal statements that feel authentic rather than formulaic or generic. It addresses common advising challenges, including plagiarism-risk situations and difficulty identifying meaningful story elements. The method uses mind maps (including wandering maps) to help students organize experiences, surface strengths and admissions competencies, and “connect the dots” for personal statements, supplemental essays, and interviews. The document also includes a structured mapping exercise with timing and step-by-step instructions.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":16,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/resumes/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/mapping-out-the-personal-statement-a-visual-thinking-strategy-for-students/233625/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/mapping-out-the-personal-statement-a-visual-thinking-strategy-for-students/233625.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Genevieve","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-03","2026-09-10",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":73},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"Why does the document introduce a visual strategy for personal statements?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"It helps students move beyond forced, formulaic, and generic stories by giving a way to see the big picture and organize meaningful experiences.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"How do mind maps help students craft stronger application essays and interviews?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"They help students identify key strengths and admissions competencies, connect related experiences, and develop an essay only they could have written.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What is the basic structure of the mapping exercise described in the document?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"Students use blank paper and writing tools to complete a “brain dump,” then analyze the resulting map within an outlined time plan (about 45 minutes total).","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},233625,1790993740,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":15,"category_name":16,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":135,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":47,"language":136,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":140,"read_time":73},1374391974585,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Mapping Out The Personal Statement: A Visual Thinking Strategy for Students  \nEileen Tom  \nMs. Tom is Assistant Professor Counseling Services, Orange Coast College, and a member of the NAAHP Communications Committee.  \nAddress correspondence to[etom@occ.cccd.edu](etom@occ.cccd.edu).  \nIn my second year as a health  \nprofessions advisor a student asked me to review his medical school personal statement. It was an essay I’d read before-for another student, verbatim! The original essay’s author successfully matriculated to medical school the prior year. My student explained to me that it was his friend’s essay and since the personal statement had “gotten him accepted” he decided to use it. Years later I faced a similar situation when two applicants asked me to review their essays that contained several identical sentences and phrases. Upon speaking to both students together, the guilty party confessed that her study group partner’s essay was so much better than she felt she could ever write, so she lifted some content. Both of these applicants were well prepared. Why would they risk so much? Why wasn’t their pathway enough? How could I help students feel confident to tell their own story?  \nThese questions and more lingered with me a s I helped students navigate the personal statement each application cycle. With the help of NAAHP publications, articles in The Advisor and several years as an advisor under my belt, I had become adept at helping students refine their essays. I would ask clarifying questions; help to focus their message; suggest organizational strategies; discuss transitions; ask  \nhow the concepts could be linked, themes identified; recommend points that could be strengthened by examples. I was very comfortable helping students with the delivery of their content but not with the content itself. Where some of the essays fell flat was in the story a student chose to tell. I had always talked to students about brainstorming content and identifying what was most important to share in the limited characters allotted but I still sought more effective strategies to help with those essays that felt forced, formulaic, and generic. Enter Mind Mapping!  \nMind Maps, also known as visual maps and wandering maps, area creative way to approach the professional school personal statement and help students see the big picture. Mapping is a method for visual thinking that helps students organize their thoughts and make sense of their experiences. I had taught the use of mind mapping in study skills workshops and student success classes over the years but never thought of using them to help students with their goals until I attended a conference where Maps were used to help students identify possible majors and careers.  \nThe conference speaker was Katharine Brooks, PhD and author of You Majored In What? Mapping Your Path From Chaos to Career. Dr. Brooks outlines the use of a Wandering Map  \nThe Advisor September 2014  \nMapping Out The Personal Statement: A Visual Thinking Strategy for Students (continued)  \ntechnique she employs while working with undecided and liberal art majors who didn’t have a good grasp of their strengths and skills and how they might apply them throughout their lives—not just in a work setting. She found that when students were asked to “list their top ten strengths” they would write one or two things, but then get stuck.“The Wandering Map is a way to get around those mental roadblocks because it invites students to‘discover’ their strengths intuitively through what they have done in the past.”  \nThose same mental roadblocks sometimes hinder preprofessional students. Even students with a clear goal, such as medical school, have trouble reflecting on the qualities, experiences, and strengths that they want to highlight in the application. Pre-professional students have spent so much time checking items off of their “to-do” list and following a self-prescribed formula that they often have trouble crafting a uniqu","cbCaiolp1j6f8L6T","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiolp1j6f8L6T","pdf",172446,8,"English","# Mapping Out The Personal Statement: A Visual Thinking Strategy for Students\n## Problem and motivation for a new approach\n## Mind maps and wandering maps\n## Mapping exercise (time and supplies)\n## Step-by-step instructions\n## Brain-dump prompts","[{\"question\":\"Why does the document introduce a visual strategy for personal statements?\",\"answer\":\"It helps students move beyond forced, formulaic, and generic stories by giving a way to see the big picture and organize meaningful experiences.\"},{\"question\":\"How do mind maps help students craft stronger application essays and interviews?\",\"answer\":\"They help students identify key strengths and admissions competencies, connect related experiences, and develop an essay only they could have written.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the basic structure of the mapping exercise described in the document?\",\"answer\":\"Students use blank paper and writing tools to complete a “brain dump,” then analyze the resulting map within an outlined time plan (about 45 minutes total).\"}]","Mapping Out The Personal Statement - A Visual Thinking Strategy for Students | PDF",1789079413]