The history of personal statements (school, best, score, internships)

[tvdxer]

Applicants to grad school (or to summer research internships, or even some jobs, etc.) are usually required to submit a personal statement, sometimes called "statements of purpose", the writing of which is an obnoxious and exacting process. I'm not posting this thread looking for personal statement tips or advice, but rather to inquire:

When did universities start requiring applicants to submit personal statements? Who was behind their inception? When did you apply for college / grad school, and did you have to compose one?

[dubfan]

I don't know when or who started it but I've found it's largely an American phenomenon. I did my undergrad in Canada and I did not need to write a personal statement, but I did need to take a writing proficiency exam (they get lots of students from foreign countries, especially China). I did write a personal statement for an AmeriCorps application very recently.

[flyers29]

I personally don't see the problem with showing that you can express yourself outside of rote memorization.

[getmeoutofhere]

Because when you have two applicants with almost exactly the same GPA, test score, etc., it comes down to which person whould you rather have in the school? And the person who can best express what they can bring to the school to enrich it or offer a different point of view will win that spot.