The Personal Essay seems to be astray from all essay forms written in the academic world. A typical academic essay takes research and studying and learning of a new topic and is then completely reiterated on paper for the teacher to see how much you have learned. A personal essay, in my opinion, does take some research, but in a different way. Instead of studying books and websites, you have to study yourself deep within. And surprisely similar to an academic essay, I think you learn more about your subject of study, which is yourself.
The bigger difference, which Lopate stresses on, is the relationship between the writer and the reader of a personal essay. Rather than the reader learning about a topic, they learn extermely personal and deep thoughts. This builds a friendship between people that might not even know each other. The reader is expected not to judge the writer based on their feelings and thoughts, similar to a good friend. The reader is expected to be influenced by the writer similar to the way friends influence each other. The reader may learn and grow from the experiences and mistakes the writer made and live their life in a different way.
Lopate’s view has put a different light on a personal essay for me. Whenever I think of a personal essay, I think of a personal statement for an admission packet to a school. I think of it as a way to impress and as it was put in the post, “sell yourself”, to the admissions committee. However, now I realize it is much more meaningful than that. It is a way to get people to understand the way you think. And for them to learn the lessons you have learned without being judging you for being in the wrong. In terms of personal statements, now I understand that admissions committees want to learn about you, not just about what you want to be.
WRT 303.01: The Personal Essay 
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