Personal Statements (2027 Entry)

You have to write a personal statement for your UCAS application. This is a piece of writing that is separated into 3 questions to be answered. Your 3 answers cannot add up to more than 4000 characters in total (including spaces).

This statement is all about you, and everyone’s is different. There is a standard format that this could follow to make this easier to write – click here for more information on how to write this!

Things to remember:

Your personal statement is all about you! It’s about why you want to study the course, what skills and experience you have that is useful for the course – basically why they should want you to go there.
Everything you include in your statement should be relevant to the course you’re applying for – an engineering admissions tutor probably doesn’t really care if you have a hamster!
You don’t need to tell them your whole life story, just the most important bits that need to be taken into account when considering you for a course.
Keep it positive! You’re selling yourself, so make sure you’re using positive language. Don’t say you’re “quite good” at something, say you’re “excellent” at something for example.
You need to write a minimum of 350 characters in each box - but universities will be expecting to see more than this minimum in each!

ABC method:

Use this method to structure your points and make sure that you’re making the most out of each of your examples:

A – Action / Activity – what you did that you’re wanting to tell them about.
B – Benefit to you – what skills or knowledge you gained from this experience.
C – Course – how will this be useful for you on your chosen course.

Example:

Activity – My last art assignment focussed on using varied media to promote baked beans.
Benefit – This demonstrated my creativity and ability using a range of digital and hand-drawing skills, as my project management ability.
Course – This will help throughout my degree, as creatively interpreting project briefs and producing finished pieces to meet deadlines, are essential skills for success.

So what?

Read each point you make. Ask yourself – does it strengthen your evidence for a place on the course, does it make you look like a stronger applicant?

If yes – keep it
If no – replace it with something more relevant or positive.

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