Advice on writing your Personal Statement

Your Personal Statement is a piece of writing 4,000 characters or 47 lines long. It needs to show motivation and commitment to the course you are applying for, as well as a passion and awareness not only of your course, but your ability.

This is your chance to show the universities you are applying to exactly why you would be the best match for that course at their institution. It could help to persuade an admissions officer to offer you a place. This is your chance to make the case for your admission.

Stand out from the crowd by showcasing who you are and what you can bring to a university as you begin your undergraduate journey.

It can often be hard to put pen to paper and start your Personal Statement so here are some useful tips for when you are unsure of where to begin:

Don’t undersell yourself! Lots of experiences such as part-time jobs can show your key skills such as communication and time management.

Start with simple bullet points or mind maps. Simply list things you may want to include in the statement to build upon later.

Question 1

• Why do you want to study this course or subject?

Question 2

• How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?

Question 3

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Sometimes you will find that you end up significantly over the word count and you don’t know which parts to get rid of – follow these useful steps to help you:

• Remember you don’t need to use every example. Make sure you weigh up the ones which support your statement the most
• Avoid waffle – write clearly and concisely. Stick to the point.
• Let a teacher, friend or relative read your statement. They will be able to give you useful feedback to tell you which parts read stronger than others. Having another set of eyes looking at it is useful after focusing on it for so long yourself!

Here are some skills you may want to highlight and showcase within your statement. They can be shown in many activities you do, such as volunteering, part-time work and any extra-curricular activities:

• Communication
• Self-motivation
• Time management
• Initiative
• Teamwork
• Resilience

Top tip: These skills will change depending on what course you are applying for. Look into your course and possible careers to think about which ones will be most beneficial to you.

Do

Research – Look carefully into the course you want to study, and where

Be enthusiastic and passionate – Portray your interests and love for the subject you want to study – use key examples wherever possible

Proofread your statement – Produce several drafts before handing in your final copy, and read it aloud to make sure it flows well

Get others to check your statement – Getting a fresh pair of eyes to read over your statement will help you find any mistakes

Utilise UCAS for support – UCAS itself has many online resources as well as those around you, who have often written them before or are now!

Don’t

Plagiarise – UCAS will run everyone’s personal statement through a plagiarism detector and will know if work has been copied

Lie – You may be called for an interview where you may be asked about what you have written – don’t get caught out!

Quote for the sake of quoting – You are better to use the word count for talking about your skills and abilities

Use slang – Make sure you write in full sentences and be aware of correct spelling and grammar.

Mention universities directly – All the universities you apply for will receive the same statement, so don’t word it for one university alone