How to write a good UCAS Personal Statement

Write down this vital information and keep checking it as your Personal Statement takes shape. Ask yourself ‘does what I’m saying fit in well with the admissions profile?’ and keep working until you can say ‘yes‘.

• My reasons for choosing the course
• My interests, achievements and experience

Don’t worry about the detail, or quality of expression of what you jot down. You’ll sort those out later. Just write down as many ideas as you can under each heading, in whatever order the ideas come to you.

My reasons for choosing the course:

You need to explain why you have chosen the course you want. Even if it follows directly from one of your A levels you should explain why you want to spend three more years studying that subject. Read the university course descriptions carefully, and if it’s an subject you haven’t studied before you definitely need to show you know what’s involved.  In this part of the Statement you want to show that:

• You’re enthusiastic about the course
• You know what the course involves
• You’ve got the necessary skills to do well in that course

Here are some ideas:

• Reasons related to your A levels. Are there aspects of the A-level subjects you are taking (the content and the approach to learning) which you particularly like and which are relevant to the degree you want to study? If so, write about them in your Statement. It is not enough to say ‘I like History, therefore I’m applying for a History degree’. You need to say why you like History.
• Career plans: Need mentioning, even if you are still undecided. If you have a career in mind you should describe why you are attracted to that career. This is really important for ‘professional’ careers (Law, Medicine, etc.). Just write down what you sincerely feel. Later on you can worry about making your reasons compelling to the reader
• Experience: Include any relevant experience via family and friends, work experience or shadowing, etc. This is essential for medicine-related courses and valuable for any other career- oriented course. Have you any other experiences (such as part-time job) which help reinforce your commitment to your chosen degree?
• Relevant skills: Check the Course Entry Profiles again. Do they mention any specific skills? It might be that there’s something you’ve done outside the classroom which can show you’ve got what admissions tutors want.

If you are applying for more than one subject area you have two choices. One is to emphasise the subject which is most competitive, while at the same time making the point that you have a real interest in the safety-net subject too. The second is to find reasons which are applicable to both courses (but beware of vague generalities). Advice on what to say may be necessary here!

Other interests, achievements and experience:

Work through the checklist below to write down a list of things you might include. Don’t worry about the order at this stage:

• Responsibilities: In school, as a member of a club, in the community
• Voluntary work: For example, with children, old people, the disabled
• Sport: Sport you play in or out of college. Any special achievements such as college/club/ etc teams
• Awards: For example, music, Duke of Edinburgh, sport, drama
• Work: Spare-time jobs, work experience, etc
• Hobbies, etc: The things you get up to in your spare time, activities in or out of school etc
• Other interests: For example, reading, listening to / making music
• Travel: Holidays, field-trips, exchanges, education abroad.

Show the list to friends, teachers, parents, etc. and ask for suggestions. They may well remind you of things you had forgotten or that you thought weren’t important. You are not expected to be an expert in everything you include here, so don’t shy away from mentioning minor interests. On the other hand, the UCAS Personal Statement is a major source of discussion at interview (though interviews are rare in most subjects) , and your referee will read your Personal Statement before finalising your reference, so don’t make stuff up.

Here’s where the course entry profile comes in.  At least half of the UCAS Personal Statement needs to show that you have chosen carefully and that you meet the course entry profile. Your reasons for choosing the subject are directly relevant here, and your ‘other interests’ list might well provide some relevant points too.

The more competitive the course is, the more you need to emphasise your academic and personal suitability.To quote an admissions tutor: “We typically say that about 75-80 per cent should be related to your academic study and interest in the course and for 20-25 per cent to be related to non-academic life.”

Other Achievements, experience and interests will occupy most of the rest of the Statement, leaving a final line or two for a conclusion. You can enter up to 4,000 characters (including spaces) or 47 lines of text (including blank lines between paragraphs), whichever comes first. This limit applies to the official UCAS form you fill in online. If you’re writing offline you may find that your software doesn’t count spaces or uses different line lengths.

With any luck you will find that your points just about fit the space – you don’t have to fill every line, but a half-filled page looks thin.

If you have too much material, drop the points which are old / trivial / repetitive. Thin out points which emphasise the same area of achievement (eg lists of sporting interests, books read etc ).

You can save a surprising amount of space by getting rid of ‘nothing-words’ (as one student puts it) like ‘particularly’ and ‘really’ and ‘very’ and ‘relatively’, and your Statement will have more impact too. In the next stage you will focus on finding the right words for the points you want to make. It’s essential to keep language simple and direct.

If you don’t have enough material, review your lists from Step 1. Did you leave out something because you felt it wasn’t important? You don’t have to be an expert to be able to include an interest – you just need to be able to say a little bit about it.

Another option is simply to say more about each of the points you have got. Supporting detail is an important part of the UCAS Personal Statement anyway (see below). But….it is better to be concise than to fill up space with generalisations – quality is more important than quantity.

If you are asking for ‘deferred entry’ (you have decided you want to have a GAP year) you must include a brief comment on your plans for the year off. This often fits naturally at the very end of the Personal Statement.

Start with your reasons for choosing the course, particularly if you have good supporting information (e.g. helping in a hospital supports an application to study medicine).

Putting the rest of the Personal Statement in order may be more awkward, but the following example shows how to tackle it. Suppose you have these points to fit in:

1. School volleyball team
2. House representative
3. I like reading
4. Scuba diving
5. Have travelled
6. Helped at play-school
7. Got first aid certificate
8. Duke of Edinburgh bronze award.

You could start with 2 leading to 6 (both school-based and responsible), on to 7 and 8 (same sort of things, and 6, 7 might have counted towards the award). Then move onto sport. 1 first (still linked to school), then 4 (personal leisure), which might lead to 5 (places where you dived?). This leaves 3, which doesn’t follow on quite so naturally, but is linked, just about, through it being a leisure activity.

Each person is different, has different points to make, different details to add, but the principle of finding links to make the ideas flow into each other is the same for all.

Finding a good way to start and finish your UCAS Personal Statement needs thought. The first sentence should ease the reader into what follows. Ideally it should say something which makes him or her think “that’s interesting, I’m looking forward to reading the rest”. That’s a tricky sentence to come up with, but don’t get too stressed trying to come up with something startling – it’s the impression the whole statement makes which is important, not just the first line of it.

The ending is probably a bit easier. Like the conclusion to an essay, you need to finish in a way that rounds the writing off . There’s no best approach to this, but a good option is go back to your reasons for choosing that degree, or for going to university generally, especially if you can refer to something relevant that you will do between now and when the course begins.

If you’re finding it hard to come up with a good order for the things you want to say, try putting each chunk of information into a separate paragraph, print out the result, cut it up into paragraphs and move them around on your desk to try different arrangements. You’re looking for a combination which works when you read it out loud to yourself and to others. That may feel like an awkward thing to do but it’s an excellent way to check whether your Personal Statement works.

The best style to aim for is one of relaxed intelligence. Spelling, accuracy of grammar and effective vocabulary are very important in creating the right impression. There’s more about these qualities later.

Supporting detail makes the UCAS Personal Statement individual and convincing. It’s vital to strike a personal note: it makes you stand out from the crowd. Supporting detail makes your writing come alive. For example, don’t just write down ‘I like reading’ but include what you read. Ditto for music: what do you listen to? It doesn’t have to be high-brow.

When describing experiences, add something about what you got out of it – a highlight, an impression, a useful skill. ‘I have had a regular Saturday job’ is not as good as ‘I have a regular Saturday job working as a cashier at a local supermarket. Even better is to add ‘This has given me an insight into the importance of good customer relations and of the potential of information technology to transform jobs.’ This allows your commitment and enthusiasm to show through. ‘Show not tell’ sums this up. “Don’t just tell me what you did – show me how why it’s relevant to the application.”

Avoid clichés, especially if you feel tempted to talk about how travel ‘enables me to experience and understand other cultures’. Everyone says that. Find something fresh to say.

If you have fewer things to say you can go into more detail. However, the writing must remain concise, and it is better to leave empty space than to fill it all with vague sentences.

Helpful comments from admissions tutors include:

• ‘The section should provide insight into the student’s thinking in relation to themselves and their future.’
• ‘It should be more than just a description of experiences; achievement and effect upon the individual should be emphasised.’
• ‘Originality – eg, starting with a quotation from Goethe – should not be discouraged but should only occur where the applicant feels comfortable with the expression of originality. A touch of humour in reflecting on achievement or lack of achievement is probably the simplest and most natural way of making the statement really personal. It is, however, an approach which applicants should use sparingly and with care.’

You know what you want to say and how to order your material. Now put it into effective prose by writing it out as a first draft. Here are some ‘Do’s and ‘Don’ts.

• Do pay attention to the flow of ideas.
• Do ensure that your grammar is correct and that your spelling is accurate. Don’t just rely on spell-check – Admissions staff might be amused by an applicant who promises “I can bare anything I’m asked to” but they won’t be impressed.
• Do use appropriate vocabulary. Use words with precise meanings, but avoid pretentious language or giving the impression you just swallowed a dictionary. When you get others to read your Personal Statement, ask them to pick out anything  they think sounds forced or false.
• Do include supportive detail.
• Do be positive about yourself and show real enthusiasm for and knowledge of your chosen subject area.
• Do use humour if you like, but use it sparingly. An admissions tutor might not share your sense of fun.

• Don’t use repetitive language (I like, I like, etc).
• Don’t use clichés.
• Don’t write things out as long lists. Short but connected sentences are better.
• Don’t ask rhetorical questions. ‘So why am I suited to become a law student?’ is a waste of words.
• Don’t make unsupported claims for yourself. ‘I am the best student you will see all year’ doesn’t go down too well, even if you think you can prove it!
• Don’t strike a negative or apologetic note. If you feel it’s essential to explain something problematic about your background, find a positive way to do so.
• Don’t copy someone else’s UCAS Personal Statement or use something you find on the internet, or pay to get it done! UCAS use plagiarism software to check every Personal Statement for copying – and will penalise you if you do.
• Don’t make mistakes in grammar and spelling.
• Don’t use slang/abbreviations etc.
• Don’t overdo the humour. You want to be taken seriously.
• Don’t spend ages describing things you did when you were much younger. Recent is best.
• Don’t repeat any information that can be found elsewhere on the form (like results) – it is a waste of space.
• Don’t name specific universities in your Statement. The other universities won’t like it

Talk to your adviser about all the above, but don’t expect him or her to write the whole thing for you.

Getting this first draft down on paper is the hardest bit. You may need to polish it up and rewrite it later, but that’s not as tough as this first draft

Read your draft out loud to yourself. That’s the best way to see whether it makes sense and whether it sounds ‘natural’ rather than a lumpy list of statements. Then show your first draft to people whose opinion you respect and ask for feedback. If the feedback makes sense, rewrite the statement! But don’t rewrite every time someone makes a suggestion: it’s your statement after all.

The admissions tutor must ‘hear’ your authentic voice when reading your Statement. 

Very few people get the UCAS Personal Statement right first time. If you find yourself sweating blood over it you will be in good company, but don’t skimp on the effort. You will be lucky to get away with rewriting it only twice.