Advice on Writing Your Personal Statement

Writing Your Personal Statement

If you're at the end of Year 12 or just starting Year 13, you've probably heard something about personal statements. If you're in the stage of writing it and have no idea where to start - keep reading! If you don't even know what they are - keep reading!

In this post I will discuss what personal statements are, why you need to write them and some tips to help you do so. 

I am not a teacher and I don't work for university admissions or UCAS - so I'm not able to tell you exactly WHAT or HOW to write it, I'm just going to be giving some advice about what I wrote.

What is a personal statement?

A personal statement is something you have to write if you want to apply for university. Although they can be written for apprenticeships and jobs, they're most commonly done when applying for a university course. It's basically an opportunity for you to tell the university who you are, why you want to study the subject you've chosen and why they should allow you onto the course. You're basically trying to sell yourself to the university, so that they let you in. 

It's a 4000 character (or 47 lines) document, where you talk about:

• Yourself - your background, hobbies, interests
• Your chosen course - why you want to study, what makes you a good candidate
• Your skill set and education - relevant skills, your education achievements so far, what A-levels you're studying
• Your experience - any relevant work experience, extracurricular activities, interests 

When looking at all the criteria you have to meet, it may seem impossible to fit it into 4000 characters - but it is possible - I did it, and look how much I ramble!

Why do I need to write one?

With your teacher demanding to see your personal statement everyday, you might become fed up and even question why you're doing it. 

It's important, as it gives the university some insight into who you are. Yes, they have your basic information and your education history and all that, but they don't know about your hobbies, interests, skills or ambitions. It's very important to write a personal statement, because it will make you stand out in the thousands of applications they receive each year.

What skills should I mention?

You ideally need to list skills that are essential to the course. Although evidence of any skills are useful and should be mentioned, some courses may want you to show that you have specific skills they're looking for. 

To do this, go on the university website and look at the course content, entry requirements and course descriptions. These should contain skills that you will develop by doing the course, or skills they'd like you to have.

For example, if a course descriptor says something like;

"In this course, you will develop knowledge of the environment, climate change, nature and wildlife..."

You can put in your personal statement something along the lines of;

"I really enjoyed learning about climate change in my Geography lessons"

or;

"Wildlife and nature are things I really enjoy, and love to learn about".

Or if the course descriptors say;

"In this course, you will work on your analytical and critical thinking skills..."

You could put;

"I have strong analytical skills and am definitely a critical thinker, because..."

or;

"I see myself as a critical thinker and I enjoy doing tasks that include using my analytical skills..."

Planning

You may feel tempted to just jump in start writing, and that's fine, but I suggest taking some time to make notes and a rough guideline.

Jot down some bullet points about what you want to include and maybe make a sketch of how you're going to structure it. Write down any important skills or sentences you want to include.

It's best to leave a lot of time between writing your statement and the deadline date. You'll have to write a first draft, have someone proof read it and then make some adjustments. If you're teacher isn't answering their emails or you become unwell or whatever, you don't want to be rushing at the last minute and potentially submit a statement riddled with mistakes and just not structured. 

OK, let's do this - how do I write it?

Great! I've convinced you how amazing and fun personal statements are and now you can't wait to write yours, can you? Here is how I wrote MY personal statement. 

(THIS IS ONLY A GUIDE; NOT INSTRUCTIONS)

First Paragraph

For my first paragraph, I didn't really introduce myself or anything - they have all your details such as your name, where you're from and the school you go to anyway!

I started with a short paragraph explaining:

• Why I want the course
• Why I'm interested in the course
• Why I should be considered

Second Paragraph

For this paragraph, I included details about work experience, any extracurricular activities or extra courses I did, and if I did any community or volunteering work.

Don't worry if this paragraph isn't particularly full - mine was only 59 words! If you don't have much to write for this paragraph - don't worry! Try and think of any sort of work experience or work outside school you've done, and try to think of ways that it can apply to your course.

Third Paragraph

I spoke about my A-levels here, and how they're related to the course. I talked about the skills I learnt from the subjects and how they're relevant to my chosen course. For example, I studied Biology, Geography and Public Services and, as you probably know,  I went on to study Biomedical Science - however, the main course I wanted to pursue was Biology with Psychology, but after doing more research on Biomed, I thought that would be a more interesting and enjoyable course.

Now, biology is clearly related to biomedical science, so I didn't have much trouble writing about that, but geography and public services? I had to think of different skills I was taught in those subjects and then apply them. I spoke about how I've learnt about the NHS in public services, and how I found an interest in one day hopefully working for them. With geography, I wrote about how I did fieldwork and have some experience of different scientific practices and methods which I enjoyed.

So, don't panic if your A-levels don't seem that relevant to the course you've chosen - you pick up a range of skills that can be applied anywhere!

Fourth Paragraph

In this paragraph I spoke about my part-time job and the skills I picked up as a waitress. I also mentioned my interests and hobbies here, just to bulk up the paragraph. As I said above, I was really keen on studying Biology and Psychology initially, so I mentioned interests such as 'watching Making a Murdered and Forensic Files, because I enjoy seeing how the criminal mind works blah, blah, blah...' and 'I enjoy watching science programmes on TV...' See? It is quite easy to include anything you enjoy doing it and applying it to the course you want.

Final Paragraph

To finish, I briefly summarised everything in my main paragraphs and basically just said again why I want to study the course, how I'd be a good fit and my commitment etc. 

Things to remember when writing the statement...

1. You only write one personal statement; which is sent to every uni. you've applied to!

If you are sending an application to different universities or are applying for different courses, do NOT put a course or university name in the personal statement. It does feel like it'd be more personal but it isn't a good idea.

Also, if you're picking courses that aren't the same or aren't even very similar, like Biology and English, do not write in the statement "I'm really looking forward to studying Biology at your institution...". If you are applying for the same course, then you can include it, but if your courses vary, it's best not to be too specific. 

2. Do NOT copy someone else's statement

It may be tempting when you have completely no clue what to write, but don't do it! When you submit a personal statement through UCAS, it runs a check against all the other personal statements they have in their database (every single personal statement that's ever been submitted to them!). If you are completely stuck on what to write, you can ask for help from teachers or tutors or use the UCAS personal statement tool. Of course, you can look for ideas, but don't copy word-for-word. UCAS will know and could even pass the information along to the university you've applied to - not a good impression!

3. Remember to read over it, get someone else to read over it and then read over it again

It's really important that you proof read your statement and get someone else to check over it - mistakes can seem unprofessional! Especially if you've been boasting about how amazing your 'attention to detail' skills are...

Ask a teacher to look over it or a tutor. If you're completely stuck, maybe ask a friend or just someone else you know. A fresh pair of eyes is always good!

This is why another piece of advice is to start writing your personal statement as early as possible. This way you can write the first draft and have enough time for someone to read over it and for you to make any changes.

It's also important to check you haven't gone over the character count, which is 4000 characters.

4. Be enthusiastic and seem interested - but don't lie!

You might've Googled something like 'Best books to read for an English course' or 'Hobbies that show I have an interest in Business' and are now going to include them in you personal statement. That's a great thing to do - if you actually have read those books or engaged in those hobbies!

It's challenging to try and seem interested in a subject, especially if it's one you might not have studied before, but that doesn't mean you have to lie. If you mention some book you didn't read, you might get caught out if you're invited to an interview and the interviewer asks "About that book, what was your favourite chapter?".

It's also important not to exaggerate your skills and experiences. If you make up a story about some amazing work experience you have, you might get quizzed on it later. 

It's great to be enthusiastic and explain how you're interested, but don't lie or exaggerate things. If you can, actually read that book, or take up that hobby. You might get away with lying, but you might not...

5. Try and be original

You may have found examples of personal statements on the internet or you might've looked over someone else's - that's great to have some ideas. The problem with this however, is it can lead to thousands of personal statements looking the same.

The first sentences that are stereotypically included in personal statements are these ones;

"When I was 2 years old and first saw a dog, I knew, in that very moment, that I wanted to become a veterinarian..."

or

"Ever since I learnt how to read, I knew I wanted to study English..."

It may seem like a brilliant sentence, especially when you're frequently reminded to show you interest and enthusiasm for a subject, but these types of sentences are overused - and just silly! 

Of course, maybe when you first started studying chemistry, you haven't looked back and are hell-bent on working for a pharmaceutical company, or when you first started playing for your local football team, you knew that you wanted to study sports science - and that's fine! But everyone knows that your opinions and interests and career goals change over time!

University admissions don't expect you to have been reading 'The Odyssey' when you were 5 years old, just to show your interest in English Literature. It doesn't matter if you've only just found an interest in the course the last year or so - it's just important to show that you're interested and that you're going to be a great addition to the course!

I hope this rough guide has been helpful and that you know now what a personal statement is and how to write it. Remember to just be your authentic self - there's no need to lie or make up stories! Just include your skills, your hobbies and interests, any relevant experience and - most importantly - the reasons you should be on the course and how much of a hardworking, enthusiastic and motivating individual you are!

This is a link for the UCAS Personal Statement Builder Tool!

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/writing-personal-statement/introducing-personal-statement-tool