UCAS Personal Statement

The UCAS personal statement is a crucial part of your application. This is your chance to prove to the admission tutors exactly why they should offer you a place. At only 4,000 characters long, including spaces, your personal statement needs to be a thoughtful, planned, and edited piece of writing which concisely and coherently demonstrates exactly what type of student you will be. We have come up with some UCAS personal statement help tips and advice to get you started!

What is the UCAS personal statement?

The UCAS personal statement is used to indicate your motivations for applying to your chosen subject. Not only should you demonstrate your passion for the course, but you can also include details to show how you will contribute to student life. Applicants may receive the same grades and take the same exams and qualifications, but your document is unique to you – it is how you will stand out from those with the same grades.

This makes your application more ‘personal’ and allows admission teams to build on what they know about you from your exam grades and qualifications, and get a real sense of who you are as a student.

If there is a chance that you could be asked to interview, the statement may inform what questions you get asked- so bear this in mind! You want to make the tutors eager to meet you and discuss the topics you have mentioned.

We can help you write your personal statement!

You have to send the same UCAS personal statement to all five universities or colleges you are applying to. This can be tricky, so we have provided help with personal statement below.

While it may be tempting to address a specific university, do not do this. This is a sure way to show the other four universities that they are not your top choice. To enhance your prospects, think about themes that are relevant to all five courses. You can link your personal interests to modules in an indirectly way, without saying “I really want to study the module on…’ Think about discussing areas or topics you wish to study in greater depths instead.

Naturally, it is sensible to start writing your personal statement only once you have decided what and where you want to study. If you haven’t yet found a specific course, you can still get going as long as you know what subject you want to do.

Applying to different subjects is not a good idea, but it can be okay to apply to courses that are similar. For example, you may choose one course on International Relations, and also apply for Politics at another. Find themes that are relevant to both courses so that it does not isolate one subject and prioritise another.

What shall I write about?

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Course descriptions often mention what kind of students they are looking for, so have a look for this. They will likely say what qualities and skills you should have. Make sure you address these points in your statement to indicate that you are the ideal candidate.

• Think about why you want to apply for this course. Is it your love of Chemistry? Do you want to go into Finance as a career? If you are applying for something vocational like Medicine, you should say why you want to be a doctor.

• What interests you about the subject? Is there a topic you have particularly enjoyed studying at school or have discovered through your wider reading? Have you done any research projects or extended essays you could mention?

• What transferable skills do you have? Have you done anything like Duke of Edinburgh? What extra-curricular activities are you committed to? What did they teach you? Although it may not seem that relevant, universities like to see that students are part of clubs and societies, and are likely to contribute to student life.

• What work experience have you done? What did you learn from this? How can you make it relevant to the course you are applying for? Even if you had a job that isn’t directly related to your course, you would have developed key transferable skills such as communication or leadership, being able to handle responsibility or work under pressure.

• What achievements and qualifications have you gained?

• What positions of responsibility have you had?

• Have you attended any courses or programmes outside of school? These could be anything from online courses like MOOCs, or summer school programmes and lecture series.

Top tips!

• Indicate your areas of strength without coming across as arrogant. If you were captain of a sports team, or won a silver medal in the Maths Challenge, mention it!

• Be enthusiastic. You want to show that you are passionate and genuinely interested in the course you are applying to.

• Plan. Write. Edit. Rewrite. Proofread. It won’t be perfect the first time. But it is important to take time to properly go through everything and plan it coherently. Once you have written it, see how the language flows by reading it aloud. Get someone to proofread it to catch any grammatical or spelling mistakes you may have missed.

• Get feedback. Do you have a supervisor or teacher you respect at school? Ask for their feedback on your statement before you submit it.

What you shouldn’t do:

• Include clichés. Admissions tutors read a lot of statements over their careers. Be original when writing yours – it is far more likely to stand out this way. Clichés are often tired and will do more damage to your application than good.

• Plagiarise. There are some great examples on the internet. But these are examples and are accessible to anyone with an internet connection. If there is more than a 10% similarity between your statement and another, it will receive an alert. Universities and UCAS use a plagiarism catching software called ‘Copycatch’. You do not want to risk your application by simply being lazy and copy-and-pasting someone else’s work. If your work is found to be a copy, you will lose out on a place on your chosen course.

• Mention grades. You can of course demonstrate your academic capability, but don’t waste valuable characters on things that the university will know anyway from your application. All your grades will already have been seen.

• Exaggerate. There are numerous horror stories of students who boasted about this book or that position, only to be caught out when being interviewed. It is not worth lying in your statement.

• Rely on a spell checker. It is much better to proofread your document yourself, and also get someone else to check it before you submit it. Spelling and grammar checking programmes will often miss things that admission tutors won’t.

• Write your autobiography. Yes, the statement should be about you, but it should be about demonstrating why you should be accepted onto the course, and not about your life story.

• Use flowery language. Using big and fancy words does not mean you are smart. When writing your statement, think about what it is like to read. You are aiming for a piece that reflects your intelligence but also flows naturally and is easy to read. Trying to use grandiose language can also take away from the point you are actually trying to make.

• Leave it till the last minute. It is obvious when a statement is rushed. The greater the preparation you put into your statement, the better it will be. It’s a good idea to start working and planning your statement as soon as you know what you want to apply for.

Whilst there is no set structure, we have come up with a solid format which you may find useful:

• Motivation. Start out by saying why you want to study the subject you are applying for. It’s good to be original, but at the same time, you don’t want anything too unusual. Admission tutors may not have the sense of humour you may hope for, so be careful to attempt to be too funny or witty.

• Evidence. Can you demonstrate that you are actually interested in this course? Are there any topics you have studied at A Level which you found particularly interesting? Have you read any engaging books which perhaps transformed your perspective? It’s also important you can prove you’ve got what it takes to be a successful student at university, so be confident in explaining the academic skills you have developed throughout your studies.

• Any relevant work experience or voluntary work. Try and link this to the course, and if this is difficult to do, remember you can talk about the lessons you learnt, such as the importance of teamwork or the need for good communication skills. Think about what transferable skills you gained.

• Your skills and achievements. This is the bit where you can tell the admissions tutor about all your extracurricular activities, giving an impression of how you will contribute to student life. Being captain of a sports team or teaching dance classes are experiences which demonstrate your character.

• End paragraph. This is the final section of your statement. What lasting impression do you want to leave? You could conclude the main points you mentioned, or give an indication of where a degree may lead you.

Before you submit, remember to check the character spacing. Some word processors may record character spaces differently, so make sure your document is no more than 4000 characters, including spaces! It should also total no more than 47 lines. Remember, different fonts and sizes may affect this!

Applying for deferred entry?

If you are applying for deferred entry and plan on taking a gap year, you should reflect this in your personal statement.

Admissions tutors will want to know what you’re doing on your gap year. Make sure you demonstrate that you are doing something productive during your time away.

Mature students

If you are applying for study and are over the age of 21, you are considered a mature student. Depending on your stage of life, you will have gained different qualifications and life experiences. Use these! What courses have you taken? What have you learned from various jobs and positions? Remember to check with the university to see what they require from you if you do not meet the standard entry requirements.