Best way to write a personal statement?

You've got questions about applying for uni, we've got the answers. Step inside...

Announcements Posted on
TSR launches Learn Together! - Our new subscription to help improve your learning 16-05-2013
The Universities forums need new moderators - nominations please! 06-05-2013
IMPORTANT: You must wait until midnight (morning exams)/4.30AM (afternoon exams) to discuss Edexcel exams and until 1pm/6pm the following day for STEP and IB exams. Please read before posting, including for rules for practical and oral exams. 28-04-2013
Sign in to Reply
  1. Potally_Tissed's Avatar
    • Section Leader
    • PS Helper
    • Wiki Support Team
    • Posts: 24,356
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    (Original post by Jorddds)
    Well I can only go on what I was drilled in by my school and that was getting across that you have as many skills as possible whilst trying to relate things to your subject.
    Yeah that really isn't the best approach Primarily you need to show your interest in your chosen subject. Relevant skills aren't as important; irrelevant skills are even less important. Things like teamwork tends to get mentioned a lot but it isn't really going to help on a course with little or no groupwork, for example.

    My PS must have gone down well I got 5/5 offers within 2 weeks so I guess there are several ways to approach it.
    I haven't seen your PS so I'm not saying it's bad here, but it is entirely possibly to get offers despite not having a great PS. You could write a deliberately bad statement using all of the things we advise people not to do and probably still get some offers if the rest of your application was up to scratch, but it isn't going to help your chances :nah:
  2. Jorddds's Avatar
    • Exalted Member
    • Location: Lincolnshire
    • Posts: 251
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    (Original post by Potally_Tissed)
    Yeah that really isn't the best approach Primarily you need to show your interest in your chosen subject. Relevant skills aren't as important; irrelevant skills are even less important. Things like teamwork tends to get mentioned a lot but it isn't really going to help on a course with little or no groupwork, for example.



    I haven't seen your PS so I'm not saying it's bad here, but it is entirely possibly to get offers despite not having a great PS. You could write a deliberately bad statement using all of the things we advise people not to do and probably still get some offers if the rest of your application was up to scratch, but it isn't going to help your chances :nah:
    Im pretty sure I showed my interest whilst I spoke about experience/skills I acquired. For example when I stated that I was a school mentor I mentioned that I used leading questions and reading body language techniques which was very satisfactory putting them to use after studying them in AS Psychology.

    I think I hinted at this in my 'note' section, but I dunno, just putting some input that I thought worked for me
  3. RibenaRockstar's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Posts: 1,500
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    Also there is advice not to use fire words 'ignite' etc
  4. Potally_Tissed's Avatar
    • Section Leader
    • PS Helper
    • Wiki Support Team
    • Posts: 24,356
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    (Original post by RibenaRockstar)
    Also there is advice not to use fire words 'ignite' etc
    Or "passionate". Hugely over-used word :sadnod:
  5. irish1362's Avatar
    • New Member
    • Posts: 3
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    (Original post by nsolma1)
    Hello everyone I am currently struggling to write down a decent personal statement.
    Im finding myself constantly deleting text, repeating myself or rewriting all the time. It is so time consuming and I am getting worried that I am not doing it the right way.
    Can anyone please give some advice as to what is the best way to write a personal statement?
    Hi, Although this is medicine, there is lots of good advice here and advice about writren english.

    http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki...nal_Statements
  6. BeccaAnne94's Avatar
    • Benevolent Member
    • Location: Stoke-on-Trent
    • Posts: 604
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    When I started mine I made a list of things I'd like to mention and how I could relate it to how well suited I am to the course.
    I then started writing (my first draft was 6000 characters) so then I kept redrafting until it was an acceptable number of characters whilst retaining the most important information. I related my work experience to the course (I applied for nursing so mentioned how important patience and empathy is in a nursing home etc.).

    Once I felt confident with it (after about 15 redrafts) I had 3 teachers and my mum read it over and then redrafted a few more times to incorporate some of their ideas .

    I got 4/5 interviews and following that offers for my 2 favourite courses (I applied twice to Notts so they rejected me for one course but gave me an offer for the other )
  7. dean01234's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Posts: 1,281
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    Just get something down, and even if at the time you think that is complete **** but don't delete it just yet.

    Then go back to it later on and read through, change things and you will find that some of what you got down was actually pretty good.

    As for the repeating yourself I made a brief mind map of what I wanted to include and how much emphasis I wanted on particular topics. I found that this meant I wan't rambling on.
  8. rattusratus's Avatar
    • Benevolent Member
    • Location: durham
    • Posts: 799
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    Im a mature student so a bit different but i planed it in paragraphs:

    intro - a bit of creative writing explaining how i very first got interested in the subject (over exaggerate a bit)

    personal history - things in my life that link to the subject

    'quote' - pick a catchy quote that sums up your point

    work/education/training - write about work, your qualifications, training and extracurricular activity's

    future - explain why your doing this course, where are you going, what are doing after (only do this if you know the exact job you want)
  9. Trollolollol's Avatar
    • Exalted Member
    • Posts: 285
    Re: Best way to write a personal statement?
    depends on uni

    Oxford said to us that : "Don't bother putting D of E gold on your PS, it's a waste of space"
Sign in to Reply
Share this discussion:  
Article updates
Moderators

We have a brilliant team of more than 60 volunteers looking after discussions on The Student Room, helping to make it a fun, safe and useful place to hang out.

Reputation gems:
The Reputation gems seen here indicate how well reputed the user is, red gem indicate negative reputation and green indicates a good rep.
Post rating score:
These scores show if a post has been positively or negatively rated by our members.