Personal Statements for UCAS Applications

There is lots of talk about personal statements and how to get them right, sometime this talk can make you feel a bit daunted when it comes to actually writing it. The truth is though, you should not feel daunted. Actually, if you are serious about going to university the personal statement is a superb opportunity to tell universities about what makes you special, why you would do well on that course and why you want to do a particular subject. That said there are some key things to do in order to maximise the impact of your statement.

Key tips;

•

Just get started, sit down with your phone, laptop, tablet or pen and paper and just start making some notes. Don’t worry about the order of them or how they read just write some stuff down, why you want to go to uni, why you want to study this particular subject, hobbies, work experience, plans for the future and anything else that would help a university understand your application better.

•

Listen to other people, you do not need to produce the personal statement on your own. You can get help and you should ask for help. So, talk to your lecturers, tutors, careers advisors, family, trusted friends. They can all help you to shape your statement and get it to read well. Even if someone just spots a simple spelling mistake it all helps.

•

Draft it once, draft it twice may be a third time as well. You will need to produce a few versions of your statement until you get it right. Save it each time, don’t get disheartened, its normal to do multiple drafts.

•

Use what you have been given, you have 4000 characters without spaces, so roughly speaking about 1-page A4 typed. Don’t undersell yourself by being too brief. By doing different versions you will be able to develop your statement so that it flows nicely using up all the space you have been given.

•

You know you better than anyone else, feel confident when doing the statement. Essentially you are writing it to tell a university about you. You are the expert. Use this as the great opportunity it is to really sell yourself. Cover key things like, why you want to go to university, why you want to student a particular subject, skills you have developed at school or college, how your knowledge has developed whilst doing your level 3 course, what sort of student you are, hobbies, work experience, what you want to achieve at university and what your plans are for the future. Don’t worry if you do not know this last one though.

•

Start early, you will do a much better job if you are not writing the statement in a rush. If you have time on your side, you will be able to tweak it and re draft it in good time. Never copy anyone else’s statement. Make every word original as written by you. Whilst doing this just be yourself, don’t try to make the statement over complicated and something you are not. The university needs to get a sense of who you are when reading the statement so be authentic to yourself.