How I wrote a Personal Statement and got into the UT at Austin (MSCSO)
Hi! My name is Egor. I'm a Software Engineer, and I decided to pursue a Master's degree in the UT Austin MSCSO program. I found many students struggling with writing a Personal Statement, so I thought it would be good to write about my experience and how I got in. There will be tips and tricks used in my Personal Statement to increase the chances of getting in. It's just my opinion. I'm not affiliated with anybody from UT and never worked in admissions.
P.S. First, read the official UT at Austin guide before this article
1. Background:
Let's gather some data about the competency in this program from the official statistics.
- Selectivity of UT at Austin is about 29% (Overall, all programs, US News)
- Selectivity is about 30% for Computer Science Option III (relevant as of July 2025)
- No limits on the number of students for MSCSO
(Computer Science Option III is just the official name of the MSCSO)
So, I assume that MSCSO admissions try to hit the overall selectivity, and that‘’’s why we have 30%. So their goal is to get a batch of applications and filter out 70% of the weakest applications. This means that our goal is to get to the top 30% of the applications.
Is it hard to get to the top 30%?
Actually, no. It shouldn’t be hard. It’s a fair acceptance rate, especially if we compare it with other top US universities, like:
- Harvard~3.5%
- Rice University~7.8%
- UT Austin (Computer Science, on campus)~5%
And it’s nice. We have very good chances to get in!
2. The structure
One of the most important parts of your resume is the structure. It will determine how it looks and feels.
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I decided to take ideas from the classic American resume structure. Because it works and it works well.
- One-page Personal Statement. Everybody wants to see why you are cool 😎, and at the same time, nobody wants to read five pages of somebody’s stories. Don’t be boring. One page is more than enough for 95% of people.
- Put the numbers in action. Any numbers, they weigh a lot. And if you have big numbers, don’t even hesitate to show them. And include it in your story. (ofc if you’re not under NDA, and it’s ethically ok to give this data)
- Put the real names in action. It makes the story authentic and genuine. Use the names of the companies you’re working with/worked with. Use the names of the professors, the names of your supervisors, or just the people you were working with.
- Write the best of what you have, and if you have a lot of things to write. Use the best of the best. Remember, we have only one page.
- Add APA References page. I don’t count it as a page, but as just supportive information to amplify and prove our statements.
And at the end will get a paragraph like:
In the first year at this position, my supervisor, CTO John Smith, and I have developed an AI service that helps campaigns and people gather photos of cute kittens. The service is used by many companies like KittyX, KittyY, and KittyD. The service was also mentioned in the NewYorkKittens journal. These companies and people download more than 10 million kitten photos every day by using my app. I believe that the course “Deep Learning” can help me amplify my app and improve the paw detection system.
Why is this paragraph good? Because it proved
- The importance of the job we’re doing is that we affect and influence people. We proved its importance by the numbers, mentions, and usage of well-known companies. It would be even better if we put the links that prove it on the references page.
- The reason why we should get into the program. The courses we take will improve our service and help us and the people and companies that use the service.
3. Create numbers and abilities you have
The idea is simple: using your background, you can create a unique story about yourself. You can calculate numbers and prove it.
Example:
A person who did his bachelor's and got a 3.85 GPA
And… How can we make a unique and authentic story? Looks pretty normal. We can create the numbers and make ourselves top students. Don’t believe? It’s easy.
Find the numbers, and if you can’t calculate them.
For example, we can convert our GPA to a % of the students who got the same GPA or higher. For example, we’re in the top 10%
Then, we can take other numbers, for example, the acceptance rate or the graduation rate. Let’s say your university is online and has a low graduation rate (mine was, 25%). It’s low, let’s say, because of the self-control ability.
So basically, we can say now that we’re in the top 2.5% (25%*10%) of students because of our ability to self-control and achieve goals. Sounds cool, doesn’t it?
Instead of saying that we have a 3.85 GPA, which is high, but not enough to impress anybody. We can now say that we have a unique ability to achieve the goals, and because of our unique ability to self-control in online environments, we’re in the top 2.5% students. The most interesting thing here is that everything is absolutely true. We didn’t make up anything; the numbers are real, and we can prove it easily.
4. Conclusion. Numbers and proofs.
As you can see in this article, I talk a lot about numbers and proofs. There are many reasons why it is vital to do.
- With proof and numbers, your words become powerful and trusted.
- With proof and numbers, you can easily find vague and weak paragraphs that need to be removed
Also, I just believe that if you create one page something, like a resume or a personal statement, numbers are very distinct. It shows that you can compress the information.
Overall, I think this guide can be used by anyone to get into any program. It doesn’t matter if it’s MSCSO or a top Harvard program. But here’s a quote at the end I find interesting.
A good Personal Statement shows how good you are from others’ perspectives
The best Personal Statement tells why you’re the best from your own perspective
