Writing a Personal Statement for a UK University
When should I begin work on my personal statement?
At latest, two years before you hope to start University, you should be preparing for what you will be able to write in your 'PS'. Try to decide at least what kind of subject you want to study, if not the specific subject. Your choice of subjects to study for your final school leaving certificate (e.g A levels, IB, Abitur) should be related to what you want to study later. And remember that you will need to show an interest in your chosen course which goes beyond school, so some of your extra-curricular activities and hobbies should be related in some way to what you will study at university. You will also need to demonstrate your personal qualities, like working with people, leadership, organisation skills and planning ability. So you should seek positions of responsibility at school and in your other pastimes, and take an active part in events like charity events, sports or school or other performances. Another thing which impresses the admission officers is some evidence of your achievements, so entering competitions, academic or others, is a good thing to try. Anything that you can do that makes you stand out for the crowd will support your university application, so start acquiring good experience as early as you can. You do not want to be sitting so down to write your PS and then realising you have done nothing interesting that you can write about.
What is the goal of a Personal Statement?
Places at UK universities are hard to get: they have many more applicants than they can take. Of course, your exam results are important, but they are not the only consideration. Even if you are expected to get the results needed for the course, it does not mean that you will get an offer. You have to show that you are in some way BETTER THAN OTHER EQUALLY WELL QUALIFIED APPLICANTS. This is what your PS should do. It should show (by the examples of what you have done already) :
- that you are sufficiently motivated to do the course
- that you are well-enough organised to succeed
- that you have outstanding personal qualities that will make you success at university and after
- that you will be an asset to the university while you are there.
What shouldn't I say in my PS?
Do not waste time flattering the university or the UK. Saying that the UK is a wonderful country and that UK universities are the best in the world will not help you at all. Similarly, saying how wonderful your parents or teachers are is of no interest to the admission officers. You only have 4000 characters, and you must use all of to to talk about YOU, to prove that you are the special applicant they should take.
Structure of a PS
You can structure your PS any way you want, and an unusual structure will be one thing that will make your PS stand out from the rest. But whatever you do, you must achieve the goals set out above. Here is one structure which you can use which will do that:
- what I want to study and why
- my school subjects, why I chose them to fit my chosen university course, my academic successes
- my personal qualities and how I have been developing at school, through extra-curricular activities and in my other pastimes, my achievements in these activities
- how I can make a unique contribution to the academic and social life of the university
Final note
Start your PS early, at the beginning of your last school year, and apply early to UCAS. Universities will make offers to good applicants before the closing date for applications, so the earlier you send the application the more opportunities there are.
copyright 2010 James Gault