Personal Statement

Part of the UCAS application process requires students to submit a personal statement about themselves. After your academic grades, this is perhaps the most important part of the application process and it is vital that you take time to do this properly. Most university courses do not have time to interview prospective students so an impressive personal statement could help make the difference between getting a place and not getting a place. This is especially the case where competition for places is high and applicants have similar grades. Where interviews are held for courses, such as medicine, the personal statement may help the admissions tutors develop their questions.

The personal statement should take up no more than 4000 characters which includes spaces. This equates to 47 lines - roughly a typed A4 page comprising of about five or six paragraphs. Times New Roman 12 point is the default font and font size.

If typing your personal statement in school, do not type it directly into UCAS Apply. The word processing system used for the personal statement box is fairly basic. A better approach is to type up your statement in a more sophisticated one such as Microsoft Word and copy and paste the completed personal statement into the box provided for it on UCAS Apply.

There is no such thing as an ideal personal statement - admissions tutors for different courses will be looking for different things. In general, however, they will be looking for evidence of the following -

What Admissions Tutors are looking for

• The reason the applicant has chosen a particular subject.
• Evidence that the applicant has carefully thought about his or her choice of study.
• The applicant has carefully researched his or her course of study and what it entails.
• The applicant displays a sense of excitement, enthusiasm and curiosity about the subject.
• The applicant displays a clear focus of where they see themselves going in future.
• The applicant displays a range of transferable skills which will enable them to cope at university.
• How things the applicant has done has set them thinking.
• The applicant shows evidence of independent thinking.
• The applicant conveys something about his/her personality and character.

Writing Style

• Make sure you use positive language throughout the personal statement. An example of how positive language can make a difference can be seen in this article, Say the Magic Words(opens new window), published in The Guardian in October 2005.
• Try not to make your sentences too long. It will be easier for admissions tutors to read short sentences rather than long rambling ones.
• Don't use big words you wouldn't normally use to try to impress - you might not fully understand their meaning.
• Admissions tutors set great store on paragraphing and punctuation.

Below is a guide to a suggested layout and some of the information you should consider including in your statement.

A good way to start your statement is to list the suggested paragraph headings below and bullet point the information you want to include in each section. You can then use this as a skeleton to build your statement around.

A Recommended Structure for a Personal Statement*

First 60%: Academic Evidence in Chronological Order

• Brief introduction - how you first became interested in the subject you plan to study.
• How you developed your interest in the subject.
• What you are doing currently to develop your interest further.
• How you researched the course and the aspects of it are you are particularly looking forward to studying.
• What do you intend to do after you graduate?

Remaining 40%: Transferable Skills

• What activities are you involved in at school which give you skills which will help you at university?
• What activities are you involved in outside school which give you skills which will help you at university?

Short, upbeat conclusion looking forward to university.

(If preparing a personal statement for Oxford or Cambridge, applicants' grades and commitment and evidence of passion for their chosen subjects are essential. This passion can be shown through wider reading and relevant work experience. These areas should take at least up 70% of a personal statement. The emphasis is not on the extra-curricular and the remainder of the statement is really of more interest to the other universities.

Medical personal statements should also aim for about 70% reflecting on medical experiences and identifying relevant skills and attributes such as empathy patience, communication and resilience.)

What to Include

Introduction

A short introduction which explains how you first got interested in the subject.
e.g. A personal experience.

The introduction should demonstrate how your interest in your chosen subject originated.

Paragraph 1

How did you develop your interest in the subject?

e.g. Favourite subject at school, inspired by visit to a workplace, work experience, a careers talk, school trip, a foreign holiday etc.

This paragraph should demonstrate how you initially developed your interest in the subject.

Paragraph 2

What are you currently doing to develop your interest?

e.g. Relevant work experience, arranged visits, meetings with relevant professionals, attending conferences or summer schools, reading material over and above school curriculum etc.

This paragraph should demonstrate an intellectual curiosity about your chosen subject.

Paragraph 3

How did you research the university course and which aspects of it are you particularly looking forward to studying?

Research university prospectuses for elements of the course which particularly appeal to you. Why do they appeal to you? If you attended open days, what did you hear? What did you see? Who did you speak to? How did this inspire you?

This paragraph should demonstrate that you have very carefully researched the course. That you have a very clear idea of what is in front of you and that you have a sense of excitement and anticipation about it.

Paragraph 4

What do you intend to do when you graduate?

Show that your degree will help you achieve your ambition to start a particular career or if unsure what you want to do at this stage, show awareness that a degree in your chosen subject could open several career opportunities.

This paragraph should demonstrate that you have a clear idea of the opportunities a degree in your chosen subject will give you once you graduate.

Paragraph 5

What activities are you involved in at school which give you skills which will help you at university?

e.g. School responsibilities and activities
Buddy
Prefect
S6 personal development.
Sporting activities and achievements.
Musical activities and achievements.
Duke of Edinburgh Award.

What benefits, experience and attributes have you gained from these activities?

This paragraph should demonstrate that you have a wide range of transferable skills which will help you cope well at university.

Paragraph 6

What activities are you involved out with school which give you skills which will help you at university?

Sporting activities and achievements.
Musical activities and achievements.
Community and charity work.
Involvement in youth organisations.
Voluntary work
Part time jobs.
Unusual hobbies.

What benefits, experience and attributes have you gained from these activities?

This paragraph should demonstrate that you have a wide range of transferable skills which will help you cope well at university.

Conclusion

A short conclusion

The conclusion should be one or two sentences long and should demonstrate a sense of excitement about the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Warning!

Your personal statement must be unique and personal to you. Do not be tempted to copy sections from examples of personal statements you might find elsewhere such as the internet. UCAS operates a Similarity Detection Service(opens new window) which scans every personal statement submitted against a library of every statement previously submitted, sample statements from websites and other printed sources. Their sophisticated Copycatch system ignores a selection of commonly used words and phrases but will pick up on significant similarities between statements.

Statements showing a level of similarity of 10% or more are reviewed by members of the UCAS Similarity Detection Service Team and if plagiarism is suspected, admissions tutors at the relevant universities will be informed.

Can I use ChatGPT or AI to write my personal statement? Please see https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/writing-your-personal-statement/guide-using-ai-and-chatgpt-your-personal-statement for guidance.