Write down a list of all your best qualities. Read them over and select the ones that can be described with one or two sentences at most. Write those sentences on a separate sheet of paper and discard the rest of the list.
Open the personal statement with a strong declaration, and then keep things short and simple. Grab the reader with an interesting fact or personal quality. Many personal statements have a word count limit, but even the ones that don't should be concisely written. Double-space the lines for clarity, and keep your paragraphs to no more than four or five lines.
Use the personal qualities you've selected from your list to apply specifically to the school for which you're writing the statement. Pick one or two facts about the school that you admire, and describe how your personal qualities match well with those facts. For example, if the school is known for graduating business leaders, describe how attending the institution can enhance your leadership qualities. Use stories or recollections from your past sparingly, and point out how those experiences contributed to strengthening your character.
Make the statement active. Don't spend a lot of time detailing your childhood and how you've changed. Keep the focus on the present. Express what you are today. Turn your past triumphs into future possibilities. If you were an honor student, for example, explain how that made you a more confident, self-assured person who is ready to take on bigger challenges.
Include anything unusual or distinctive about yourself that makes you stand out from other applicants. If you have traveled the world, been on a mission trip or helped build houses for a nonprofit organization, write that into the statement. Express how those experiences give you a different perspective other applicants may lack.
Close strong. Finish the statement with a short but emphatic declaration about your potential for success at the institution. Think of this as your closing argument in a trial, and state the reasons the "jury" should give you a positive verdict. Don't brag or sound arrogant, but express your confidence about the qualities that make you an ideal candidate for acceptance into the university.