The Personal Statement
The Personal Statement is the part of the UCAS application which allows a student to market themselves to university admissions tutors. You can write up to 4000 characters including punctuation and spaces. The one statement covers all choices and you should be aiming to write as near to the limit as you can.
It is comprised of three questions:
Question 1 Why do you want to study this course or subject?
Question 2: How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
Question 3: What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
The key words are Evaluation and Reflection
A very simple plan would be
Box 1 reasons and motivations,
Box 2 Analysis of your supercurricular activities (see below) and
Box 3 extracurricular activities and the skills developed while doing them
There is no right or wrong way to approach this – but it does need to be your own work – UCAS have introduced software to detect copying. Aside from this, admissions tutors are interested in you.
Where to start.
The first question to answer is why you have chosen to study a particular subject or subjects. The balance of the statement should generally be about 75-80% academic, as this is the most important aspect, although for more vocational subjects such as sport, teaching and medicine etc., more detail will be needed about the student's experience and achievements directly relating to the subject.
If you have decided to apply for different subjects at different institutions it is sensible to get some advice about how to approach writing the statement.
It is advisable to word-process the statement and cut and paste it when completed. It will take several drafts to get right.
Planning - Points to identify:
What you want to study at university and why
Aspects of current studies that you particularly enjoy
Extra involvement with your chosen subject(s). Most importantly, the things you have done to find out about your chosen course subject - such as extra reading, listening to podcasts or online lectures, articles, websites and so on. However it's not enough to list them or provide a summary - you need to convey what you learned. This has been termed supercurricular.
Relevant work experience or voluntary work and what was learnt from it
Personal experiences which led to the decision to take this subject
Where it is hoped a degree in this subject will lead.
The other aspect of the Personal Statement Box 3 focuses on achievements outside the classroom - interests, hobbies, community work and so on. It is important not only to list them but to highlight what was gained from the experience.
Things to consider are:
Positions of responsibility:
Prefect duties
Helping out at school events and open days.
Young Enterprise, World Challenge, Duke of Edinburgh award, Debating societies and so on and what was gained from these experiences.
Part-time job
Community and charity work
Interests and skills
Sport and leisure activities
Clubs and societies you are involved in
Musical instruments played and levels of achievement
Subjects studied which are not examined
Languages spoken
Prizes won or positions achieved in interests
It is advisable to outline any plans for your career or for a gap year (especially if applying for deferred entry).
Language
It is vital that the statement does not contain mistakes in spelling, punctuation or grammar. Do not rely on the computer spell checker – it does not always pick up errors such as ‘there’ and ‘their’ for example.
In addition, use plain simple English – many students suddenly start using flowery, poetic language - to be avoided.
Essentials
Take the time and structure the statement well
Don’t embellish or lie
Don't mention a specific university in the statement - the other 4 choices won't be impressed!
Check spelling
There are lots of websites offering advice and examples and even offering to write the statement for a fee, but it is important that nothing is copied as (as mentioned above) UCAS takes plagiarism very seriously, scanning each statement with CopyCatch software. Ultimately this could result in the student not getting their place at university.
If you need more help there is a personal statement building tool once you have registered on the UCAS hub.
It is comprised of three questions:
Question 1 Why do you want to study this course or subject?
Question 2: How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
Question 3: What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
The key words are Evaluation and Reflection
A very simple plan would be
Box 1 reasons and motivations,
Box 2 Analysis of your supercurricular activities (see below) and
Box 3 extracurricular activities and the skills developed while doing them
There is no right or wrong way to approach this – but it does need to be your own work – UCAS have introduced software to detect copying. Aside from this, admissions tutors are interested in you.
Where to start.
The first question to answer is why you have chosen to study a particular subject or subjects. The balance of the statement should generally be about 75-80% academic, as this is the most important aspect, although for more vocational subjects such as sport, teaching and medicine etc., more detail will be needed about the student's experience and achievements directly relating to the subject.
If you have decided to apply for different subjects at different institutions it is sensible to get some advice about how to approach writing the statement.
It is advisable to word-process the statement and cut and paste it when completed. It will take several drafts to get right.
Planning - Points to identify:
What you want to study at university and why
Aspects of current studies that you particularly enjoy
Extra involvement with your chosen subject(s). Most importantly, the things you have done to find out about your chosen course subject - such as extra reading, listening to podcasts or online lectures, articles, websites and so on. However it's not enough to list them or provide a summary - you need to convey what you learned. This has been termed supercurricular.
Relevant work experience or voluntary work and what was learnt from it
Personal experiences which led to the decision to take this subject
Where it is hoped a degree in this subject will lead.
The other aspect of the Personal Statement Box 3 focuses on achievements outside the classroom - interests, hobbies, community work and so on. It is important not only to list them but to highlight what was gained from the experience.
Things to consider are:
Positions of responsibility:
Prefect duties
Helping out at school events and open days.
Young Enterprise, World Challenge, Duke of Edinburgh award, Debating societies and so on and what was gained from these experiences.
Part-time job
Community and charity work
Interests and skills
Sport and leisure activities
Clubs and societies you are involved in
Musical instruments played and levels of achievement
Subjects studied which are not examined
Languages spoken
Prizes won or positions achieved in interests
It is advisable to outline any plans for your career or for a gap year (especially if applying for deferred entry).
Language
It is vital that the statement does not contain mistakes in spelling, punctuation or grammar. Do not rely on the computer spell checker – it does not always pick up errors such as ‘there’ and ‘their’ for example.
In addition, use plain simple English – many students suddenly start using flowery, poetic language - to be avoided.
Essentials
Take the time and structure the statement well
Don’t embellish or lie
Don't mention a specific university in the statement - the other 4 choices won't be impressed!
Check spelling
There are lots of websites offering advice and examples and even offering to write the statement for a fee, but it is important that nothing is copied as (as mentioned above) UCAS takes plagiarism very seriously, scanning each statement with CopyCatch software. Ultimately this could result in the student not getting their place at university.
If you need more help there is a personal statement building tool once you have registered on the UCAS hub.
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