How to write the perfect personal statement
What is a personal statement?
A personal statement is an essential part of your UCAS application for university. It is 4000 characters long, including spaces and punctuation.
You should use your personal statement to showcase your abilities, skills, and experience, and demonstrate the interest you have into your chosen course.
Read on to learn more about how to create an excellent personal statement!
Why do I need a good personal statement?
Your personal statement forms a significant part of your UCAS application. The universities that you apply to will pay particular attention to your statement when deciding whether to offer you a place in their institution or not. Of course, your predicted grades and teacher references are also relevant, but your personal statement is an opportunity to build upon the other aspects of your application.
The statement is also an opportunity to discuss the skills and experience you have, as there is no other option to do this during your application. Therefore, it is important to showcase what you have done to ensure your application is as strong as can be.
It is important to have a well-written personal statement, with no grammatical or spelling errors, as well as a logical and thoughtful structure. This will demonstrate your communication and writing abilities to your university, further strengthening your application.
Which things should I include?
Motivation:
It is essential to demonstrate your interest in the subject you are applying for, and hence your motivation.
Take time to consider which aspects of the course you like most, why they appeal to you, and how this course will aid you in your future studies or career.
Reading:
You should do reading into your subject, or a sub-topic of your subject.
This will demonstrate you have a genuine interest in the topic, evidenced by spending extracurricular time researching the subject.
You should discuss the key things that interest you from what you have read, and use this opportunity to showcase your subject-related skillset.
Experience:
Having completed work experience, extracurricular courses, or similar activities allows you to further demonstrate your interests and commitment to the course, and also allows you to discuss the skills you’ve gained!
You should briefly mention what your role was or what interested you most from the experience, and subsequently talk about how this will advantage you when studying at university.
Should I include extracurricular interests?
Yes!
The best personal statements employ an 80:20 ratio, whereby 80% of content is academic-focused, and the other 20% is extracurricular-based.
Firstly, extracurricular interests, such as sporting or musical achievements, can demonstrate transferrable skills that will benefit you in your degree, and subsequently strengthen your application. For example, teamwork, self-discipline and commitment.
Secondly, when you apply for university, you are applying for more than just your course – you are also applying to be a member of that community! Therefore, if you have the ability or desire to join a university team, club, or society, noting this in your application can also strengthen your application holistically.
Is there a framework I can use?
A successful personal statement will be personalized to you, your interests, and experience. Based on this, there is no ‘one-fits-all’ structure that can or should be used when writing your personal statement.
However, a useful framework can be to consider:
What do I want to study and why? (motivation)
What extra reading have I done to demonstrate this interest?
What work experience/courses have I taken to ensure this is for me?
What other work experience /voluntary experience do I have that has developed relevant skills for my degree?
What extracurricular activities do I do that would appeal to the universities I’m applying for?
What if I’m still confused?
Personal statements can be difficult!
If you’re still unsure of where to begin, get in touch with one of our experts today for top-quality advised from our experienced writers!