The personal statement. Three words that get uttered, muttered and give one cause to shudder more than any other part of the UCAS application form. Admittedly, a blank screen and the job of selling yourself to your university and college choices in no more than 4,000 characters and 47 lines can seem a daunting one but it should also be an exciting one.
This is your opportunity to make your application stand out. In amongst all the dates, grades and contact details is a massive chunk of the application that you can dedicate to showing your character, your passion, your interests and personality. In short, you can show them what makes you such a good candidate for your chosen course and why you should be offered a place. Some students will find it hard to talk positively and glowingly about themselves - that's natural - but it's something that should be overcome and then embraced.
But what's my view worth? Hopefully five years' experience of working at UCAS will be of some value but there's no escaping that my views will be but a few more drops into the vast ocean of advice and offers of assistance (some useful, some not so much) you'll be getting from various parties right now. And all this advice, especially when some of it can be conflicting, can be confusing when you're setting out. In the end though, you have to ask yourself who'll be reading the personal statements. The answer, quite obviously, is your universities.
So, to help provide some clarity on this, we thought it best to go direct to them and ask what they're looking for! Bear in mind that each writer will have their own individual preferences just as much as they'll share some of the same views. Ultimately though, remember that it should be your own personal work. You will find countless good tips and advice from here on in but you need to decide what works best for you by the time you start writing it.
Dr
Roseanna Cross - Head of Undergraduate
Admissions, University of Bristol
At
Bristol, we pay a great deal of attention to the personal statement, as it
provides important indications of ability, motivation and potential. We will look for evidence of your interest in the subject and make sure that this
aligns with the kind of programme we offer. We will also take account of your extra-curricular interests and achievements,
where these provide evidence of skills that will be relevant to the programme.
The detailed
criteria for each of our programmes are published on our website in our
Admissions Statements.
We also
explain the selection process in our Entry Profiles. When it comes to writing your personal
statement, you should make sure that it aligns with the selection criteria for
the programme. Everything in your personal statement should aim to show that you have
the skills and qualities we are looking for, and convince us to offer you a
place on the programme. If it doesn't do
this, then leave it out.
Before
you write your statement, it's essential to understand why you want to study a
particular subject. Whatever the reason, make
sure your passion and enthusiasm comes across. Don't just tell us that you
like something, show us that you do. What is it that interests you
specifically? Why does it interest you? What have you done to pursue that
interest?
Similarly,
when writing about relevant experience and achievements, make sure that you
give concrete examples of the skills and qualities that they demonstrate. Don't be tempted to expand the truth, as it
will catch you out in the long run!
Finally,
make sure that you have allowed enough
time to check your work before you submit your application. It's useful to ask friends and family to help
check the statement, but be careful that they don't try and force you to write
it in the way they think it should be written.
It is important that you write it in your own style rather than trying
to conform to what someone else thinks is right, as there is no model way to
write a personal statement. When it
comes to spelling, however, there is only one 'right' way.
Sean
Threlfall - Student Recruitment and
International Development Division, University of Manchester
You
should consider your personal statement as important as gaining the relevant
entry qualifications for your chosen course. It’s the only chance you get to express your personality alongside your
academic abilities.
A successful
personal statement usually opens with positive intent and demonstrates a clear
enthusiasm for the course in question. A common query from students is often on
what to include in their personal statement. The answer is a simple one, if
it’s relevant to your chosen course then include it and if it’s not then leave
it out.
Quotes can be a useful way of demonstrating what has inspired you,
whether that’s an author of a book you’ve read or a famous philosopher. However, ensure
the quote is relevant to a certain aspect of your particular course. It’s also a good idea to write in the first
person, this provides evidence of an individual personal statement and helps
once again to portray your enthusiasm for the course you’re applying for.
If there’s one key point to
remember when writing your personal statement, remember the letters ABC!
Activity, Benefit, Course! Universities want to see examples of the
transferable skills you have obtained and how you plan to develop these skills
at university. So, this is where ABC
comes into play:
Activity
Maybe
you’ve volunteered in your local charity shop or played in a sports team
Benefit
What
are the transferable skills you’ve acquired by doing this activity? For
example, leadership, communication or self-motivation skills.
Course
So you’ve done the activity and reaped the benefits, how does this relate to the
course you’re applying for?
Good communication skills are vital for many
university courses especially during group work. You also need a lot of self-motivation
in order to succeed on any undergraduate degree programme.
Equally as important is a strong
conclusion. Bear
in mind, this is the last couple of lines in which you have to impress the
admissions tutor. So make it count! Try to summarise your personal statement in
a few lines and finish with a positive outlook on your future.
So
remember, when writing your personal statement keep the writing style personal
and use ABC where relevant!
Richard
Emborg - Director of Student Recruitment
& Admissions, Durham University
A
personal statement is an opportunity for you to demonstrate why you think you
would be a good student for the programme you’re applying to, what you can
contribute to the university and why the university should select your
application over other equally excellent candidates. With many students applying to the University with very strong academic
results and predictions, the personal statement is crucial in helping
admissions tutors identify students with the greatest merit and potential.
Personal statements are used to help make a number of admissions decisions:
including whether to invite an applicant to an interview, make an offer, accept
an applicant who’s narrowly missed the conditions of their offer, and at Durham
even what college an applicant made an offer will be allocated to. Investing time into making sure your personal
statement is as strong as it can be is therefore time well spent.
Whilst
there's no template we can give you for your personal statement – it should be
personal to you -we do recommend that you answer three main questions in your
personal statement in the following order and priority:
1) Why do you want to study this subject?
2) What makes you someone particularly
suitable to study the subject?
3) How will you contribute to the course
and the university community and what makes you an interesting and unique individual?
At Durham University we
particularly value personal statements that combine both an academic focus and
consideration of your non-academic attributes and achievements. Other universities may be more
interested purely in your academic achievements and potential.
Stating
any paid or voluntary work that you have done is a good idea if you can relate
it to the programme you’re applying for and/or to show your potential to
contribute to the University community as a whole. The same is true for
achievements in sport, music and the arts and involvement in any national or
international competitions, including academic ones. Extra-curricular
activities can provide proof of successful time management skills and a strong
work ethic.
Remember to draft and re-draft
your personal statement. Watch
out for spelling mistakes (spellcheckers are not a guarantee) and missing or
repeated words: doing this shows your commitment to the application and
attention to detail. An admissions tutor will be impressed by the use of good
English; a personal statement needs to be well written, in straightforward
English, and laid out carefully. If you
try too hard to impress with clever language you’ll normally make your
statement harder to read and your reasons for wanting to study a particular
programme less clear.
It can
help to have someone else to look over your statement, to provide another
opinion and to look for anything you may have missed, but don’t lose your uniqueness by allowing others to write the statement
for you or by copying what others have written. UCAS run similarity detection checks and report to universities if
any similarities between personal statements are identified, which could result
in an offer not being made.
Make sure the personal statement
is accurate. It is an academic statement for an academic programme of study so
choose an appropriate tone.
Attempts at humour are best avoided, as it doesn’t always translate well in
writing. Be enthusiastic and promote yourself. Do your research about the
courses you want to apply to so you use your five UCAS choices wisely and your
personal statement is tailored towards them.
Alix
Delany - Assistant Head of Admissions,
University of East Anglia
After
many years of reading personal statements and writing one myself (a long time
ago) I know that this can seem daunting so here are my 3 tips to writing a good
statement.
Be Bold
More
often than not we’re modest about our achievements. Don’t be!
You don’t necessarily have to pack the personal statement full of
them. What I like to see is some well
thought out examples and most importantly how they might relate to the subject
you’d like to read at university. Ensure
that you have clearly reflected on the skills and knowledge gained from the
chosen experiences. Concrete examples rather than a ‘wish’ or a ‘dream’ to study a subject
will get you noticed.
Structure
Universities
are reading a lot of personal statements and so I really like the first few
lines to clearly outline the intended area of study and the reason why. The end of your personal statement should
also reinforce this. Although you are
working in a restricted space I find it helpful when students use paragraphs so
that the statement flows well and it’s easy to identify key points. If you’re going to be interviewed for a
course, the interviewer will read the statement beforehand and may even refer
to it during the interview so a well-structured statement is imperative.
Audience
It’s
very difficult to know who’s going to read your personal statement. Indeed it’s likely that a number of people in
each university will and they’ll have their own interpretation of what you’re
saying. Show your personal statement to
as many people as you can and ask them if the key messages are coming through
loud and clear. See if they can ‘paint a
picture’ of you from the words written down and use their feedback to refine
the statement.
In my
view a personal statement is your chance to promote yourself and the contribution
you can make to a university. Look on it
as a positive experience, giving you the opportunity to talk about the next
steps in your life and career.
