Personal Statement 教程

Personal Statement

What is a personal statement?

How long should a personal statement be?

Why is your personal statement important?

How do you structure a personal statement?

What must you include in your personal statement? 10 tips

10 things NOT to put in your Ucas personal statement

What not to write in your personal statement

The overkill opening & Some tutors’ suggestion

Five cliche beginnings to avoid

Hobbies in your personal statement

work experience: make your experience count

10 more things to put in your Ucas personal statement (提升品质)

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No two personal statements should be the same (the clue's in the 'personal'). But

there ARE certain rules including it needs to achieve, length and more...

What is a personal statement?

A personal statement is like a short reflective essay you write about why you’re the

perfect candidate for the undergraduate degree course/s you’re applying to.

It’s a key part of your Ucas application – alongside your predicted or achieved

A-level, Scottish Higher, BTEC etc. grades – and is read by admissions tutors at the

universities you apply to, who’ll decide whether to offer you a place or not.

It’s important to note that you only write one personal statement, which is seen by all

the universities you apply to.

Also, a university personal statement works differently to a personal statement you'd

write when applying to a job – so don't confuse the two.

How long should a personal statement be?

You have a maximum of 4,000 characters and 47 lines to write your personal

statement.

That might seem a lot (or maybe not enough) from the outset, but your perspective

might change as you begin writing and have to boil down all those relevant thoughts,

skills and experiences.

It’s best to draft your statement and get it finalised in a Word document, and then

copy this over to Ucas’ system to submit it, rather than make changes afterwards.

Some admissions tutors will recommend that you leave a blank line to separate

paragraphs, as any indentation or formatting will be stripped out. Others will argue

that each blank line will count as one of your 47 lines to play with. Rather than leave

a blank line, try and finish your paragraphs midway along the line. That way it looks

as if it’s still a paragraph.

Why is your personal statement important?

While many students may apply to the same university course with the same grades

as you, they aren’t you as a person, with your skills, experiences and thoughts. You

need to stand out as a real person to an admissions tutor, as opposed to one of the

many applicant numbers that will pass before their eyes.

Your personal statement is where you can distinguish yourself from these other

candidates. It’s where you can fill in the picture a tutor has of you in their head, and

where you can leave a real impression that makes them want to meet you, or offer

you a place.

How do you structure a personal statement?

Your personal statement should show have you’ve made an effort to engage with

your subject already, what you’ve learned, and how this relates back to the course

(and possibly other future plans). This is known as the ‘ABC rule’: Action, Benefit

and Course.

Introduction: why you want to study this course at university. Remember, your

personal statement is seen by all your Ucas choices; so don’t make references to a

specific institution.

Section one: academics – specifically subjects that are relevant to the

course/subject you’re applying to. If you’ve taken an EPQ, this is the place to talk

about it.

This section should make up the majority of your personal statement – around 75%

according to some careers experts – but this might vary depending on where/what

you’re applying to. For example, Oxbridge are more interested in your academic

interests than extracurricular activities.

Meanwhile, a law or medicine applicant may want to invest more time talking about

relevant experience they've accumulated, to stand out from those applying with

similarly high grades.

Section two: interest in and engagement with your subject beyond the classroom

(thus demonstrating your deep interest). This could be through books you’ve read,

events you’ve been to etc.

Section three: relevant work experience (paid or unpaid) that has developed either

your understanding of the subject, or the skills that applicants should have. To get an

idea of what these are, read the course description for all the courses you’re applying

to – search for a course on Which? University to find this in one place - and see

what's common across all.

Section four: hobbies and interests – this section should be brief, sticking to the