can i reuse my ucas personal statement

Can You Re-use Your Personal Statement For UCAS?

In General , University by Think Student Editor May 10, 2022 Leave a Comment

A personal statement is essentially a description of you. It is used to inform universities of your interests, talents and accomplishments. This will make you seem like a desirable applicant.

Applying to university can be a stressful time. Your personal statement may seem daunting to write. But this article will help to put your mind at ease. By breaking it into steps, it can become much easier.

Your personal statement is an account that you have written yourself. Therefore, you are able to reuse it for different UCAS applications because it is about you and written by you. There are copy catch systems in the personal statement library, owned by UCAS. These detect whether your personal statement is similar to previous entries. However, if your same name is used, then it is not plagiarism and can be reused.

In this article, I will break down the most common questions regarding personal statements to hopefully make them easier for you to understand.

Table of Contents

Can you re-use your personal statement for UCAS if you have applied multiple times?

As I have previously mentioned, UCAS can easily detect whether your personal statement is similar to other entries they have received. If your statement is similar to another by thirty percent or more, UCAS will be notified. To learn more about this, look here at this UCAS guide.

However, if the similar statement was also entered by you, then it will not be classed as plagiarism. Your new personal statement will not be compared to your previous ones. Your statement will only be redundant if it is similar to another applicant’s personal statement.

Do you have to change your personal statement if you are applying to the same university?

You do not have to change your personal statement at all. However, it may be a good idea to do this if you didn’t get in the first time. It is not recommended to use the same personal statement if you didn’t get into your chosen university with it. This may be because certain things are missing. There are plenty of things you could add to make your personal statement even better.

Universities may expect you to add new experiences to your personal statement, which you have collated over the previous year.

If you want to discover how to boost your personal statement and stand out from the crowd, click here to visit the UCAS website.

Should you re-use your personal statement when re-applying to medical school?

The simple answer is no. Medical school universities expect you to write a new personal statement if you didn’t get a place the first-time round. It can of course be similar to your previous personal statement (as you are the same person!) but certain features would be expected to change.

For example, you can write about the same qualities and experiences that have made you want to apply for the course. However, in your new statement, you could write about your experiences in the last year and how you have retained commitment to your goals.

Therefore, if you don’t get into medical school the first time, it may be useful to have a productive gap year, meaning that you can add even more exciting things to your personal statement, which would make the universities want to give you a place.

Why is it important to write your own personal statement?

It is easy to think that writing a good personal statement can easily get you into university . However, you must remember the interviews. If you were to copy ideas from other applicant’s personal statements or write about things that you don’t know about, this could affect your chance of impressing the interviewer.

This is because they may ask you questions about your personal statement. This means that you should never reuse other people’s ideas and should make the content as true to yourself as possible. You need to be prepared to talk about your personal statement, so make sure that you are familiar with what you have written and are ready to impress the interviewer!

If you would like to explore more in-depth tips on how to smash that university interview, check out the Think Student article on top tips for interviews, by clicking this link .

How long does the personal statement for UCAS have to be?

A personal statement needs to contain a lot of information – considering its purpose is to summarise you! However, there is a 4,000-character limit. This results in an average of only 550-1,000 words. Your personal statement will therefore only be about a side of A4.

However, you are only able to submit one personal statement when applying for five courses in one year. This means that your personal statement must be applicable for all of the courses you are applying to. This can be quite a challenging feat to achieve. If you need some guidance, the UCAS website can be helpful if you click here.

What should your personal statement include?

Your personal statement has quite a short word limit, because of this you need to make your sentences short but impactful with plenty of information which puts you in the best light. The best personal statements include reasons about why you want a place on the course. Therefore, it would be best if you check out each individual course’s website, this will show that you have researched the university’s courses and are eager to learn.

You should also highlight any qualities and characteristics you have which you think will be beneficial to bring to the course. It would also be useful to mention any work you have done, for example volunteering, work experience or super curricular activities.

The purpose of your personal statement is to present your best self to persuade a university to give you a place. Therefore, you shouldn’t rush it and you must proofread again and again to give yourself the best possible chance of success. To make sure your personal statement includes everything you need, check out this article on the Think Student website, by clicking this link.

How do you write an Oxbridge personal statement?

Oxford and Cambridge are two of the hardest universities in the world to get into. You must make sure that your personal statement is as good as it can possibly be in order to stand out from the crowd. It is best not to reuse any previous personal statements and focus on new experiences which could help you get into the course.

The best tip for writing an Oxbridge personal statement is to start writing as early as possible. This is because it requires an immense amount of preparation. You also need to focus on being original and not falling into the trap of using clichés.

The number of applications that say, “I’ve always been interested in this” and “ever since I was young” is too many. You should aim to stand out. Focus on your academic success and try and immerse yourself in as many experiences as possible. Tell them about unique hobbies you have and your goals for the future. Personal statements are your chance to look your best.

Good luck with writing your personal statements!

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• Mature Student Personal Statements
• Personal Statements By University
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• 10 Personal Statement Don'ts
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• Frequently Asked Questions
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• Personal Statement Questions 2025
• Personal Statement Changes 2024

Personal Statement FAQs

Our personal statement FAQs will help ease the pain of writing a personal statement for your UCAS form . More advice can also be found on our blog .

What can I find in this article?

1. When should I start writing my personal statement?

It's never too early to start thinking about it! Unfortunately, UCAS deadlines have a tendency to creep up on most students, especially if you are applying to Oxbridge where the deadline is much earlier than other universities ( 15th October ).

However, you probably want a good idea of what course you're going to apply for before you launch in to actually writing the thing .

Check out Choosing A Degree if you're still deciding what subject to take.

On the other hand, don't leave it too late - you'll probably need a few weeks to write it and a week or so to get a reference written.

As a general guide we would say start writing it when you come back to school or college after the summer, though it might be worth jotting down a few ideas during the holidays.

We know some people are extremely organised and get at least their first draft done by the end of the summer!

2. How long can the personal statement be?

There is no actual word limit - instead, you have a maximum of 47 lines or 4000 characters to work with.

This is all the space UCAS give you on their online system, Apply . You can check that your statement will fit in the area provided by using our handy Personal Statement Length Checker .

3. How do I start writing my personal statement?

Most people won't be able to just start writing their personal statement off the top of their head - so it's a good idea to jot down a few notes first.

The main things to think about are:

• why do you want to study your chosen course?
• how do your skills, experiences and interests prove you are passionate about and committed to taking this course?

These are the two main things to start with, and if this still doesn't help you can look at a few more detailed starting points .

Many people have trouble writing about themselves and their personal qualities.

So if you're having trouble pop down to a library or bookstore and get a book on writing CVs that will go into this process in much more depth.

4. What are admissions tutors looking for?

Usually the sort of things you've written about for the part above!

Obviously the things admissions tutors are looking for will differ but in general: "Do we want this student on this course?" And "Do we want this student at this university?".

The idea of your personal statement is to show this - so once you've written it, have a read through and see if it answers these questions.

Individual universities and departments often publish information on applying and writing personal statements, so surfing the admissions scetion of their website should turn up more specific information on exactly what they're looking for.

Our blog post, 8 Things Not To Put In Your Personal Statement , will help you avoid making any obvious errors. Then check out What You Should Include In Your Personal Statement to make sure you don't miss anything important.

Read through our Personal Statement Writing Tips and How To Write A Personal Statement Guide for more comprehensive information and advice.

5. What's the most important part of the personal statement?

From our days of GCSE English, we would say either the beginning or the end.

A good first sentence will get the reader interested and ensure they actually read your statement rather than skim it.

A good ending will ensure the reader remembers your personal statement, though it also helps to have a good middle section as well.

The first line is probably the most important thing to work on. Most people put their reasons for studying the subject at the top, and this is generally regarded to be the most crucial part of the statement, as you need to hook the reader and make them want to read more.

However, the rest of your statement should make you shine as a candidate too, so there isn't really a definite answer to this question!

Just try to make your personal statement as interesting and polished as you can.

6. How do I write a statement for two different courses?

There's no easy way to write a personal statement for two totally unrelated courses.

If the courses are similar (i.e. Business Studies and Economics ) you may find you can write a personal statement that is relevant to both subjects without mentioning either subject by name.

If the courses are totally unrelated it may be impossible to write for both subjects without your personal statement sounding vague and unfocused.

Instead, you will need to concentrate on just one subject and just ignore the other, although you may want to question whether it's a good idea to apply for such different course, and re-think your subject choice .

7. Should I talk about what I want to do after university?

You could, but only if you have a good idea of what you want to do.

If you sound sure about what you want to do after university , it gives the impression that you've thought carefully about your course and what you want to do with it.

It is also a nice way to round off your personal statement , rather than just finishing on less important stuff like extra curricular activities.

If you don't have any future plans then leave it out - you don't want to be asked about them at interviews .

8. How should I structure my personal statement?

Most people write their personal statement in an essay style, usually starting off with the course and why they want to do it, then talking about their relevant work experience and skills, and finishing off with extra curricular activities.

However, you can use any style that you feel works best for you.

As a guide, spend around 50% of the space talking about your course and how you're suited to it and 50% on your work experience and other activities.

Exactly how you write your personal statement depends on your subject - generally people write more about work experience for vocational subjects like Medicine and Law than they would for Maths or English , where work experience is less important.

9. Is it worth doing loads of extra-curricular stuff to make my statement sound good?

There's no point doing extra things just to try and make yourself look good to universities - you won't enjoy it and it probably won't help much either.

From what we've seen, an interest and aptitude for the course is more important to admissions tutors than lots of extra curricular activities.

If you do want to do something to boost your application, read relevant books or do work experience related to the subject instead.

10. Should I talk about my qualifications?

No. There's already a section on the UCAS form for this, so don't waste space talking about them on your personal statement.

If you have something important that doesn't go in the qualifications section, ask your referee to put it down in your reference - it will sound better if it comes from them than from you.

11. Where can I see some example personal statements?

We have loads of free personal statement samples that you can browse through, broken down into subject categories so you can hopefully find what you are looking for quite easily!

Looking at what other students have written and submitted on their application is a useful way of seeing what makes a great personal statement (and what doesn't!).

Just make sure you don't copy sentences or whole chunks of these examples though, as UCAS has plagiarism detection software and your application will be rejected if it's found you've cheated!

12. What should I do after I've written my statement?

Ask for opinions on it!

Show it to your friends, parents, teachers, career advisors, etc and note down their comments.

The most useful comments are likely to come from your teachers in the subject and the people at your school or college who handle UCAS applications.

If you have enough time, leave your personal statement for a couple of weeks or a month and come back to it - if you're not still happy with what you wrote, it's time to start redrafting.

13. Should I post my personal statement online?

It's generally not a good idea to post it on an internet forum or discussion board before you've started university.

Anyone can steal information off a website and pass it off as their own, and with something as important as a personal statement, you don't want that to happen.

You should be OK sending it to people you trust by email - see the next question for a better way of getting people to look at it.

14. Where can I ask for feedback on my personal statement?

To get people to look at your personal statement without the risk of plagiarism visit the personal statement review section.

You can also get your personal statement professionally edited and reviewed here at Studential, through one of our very popular personal statement editing and critique packages.

We offer a range of services covering a variety of prices, so there's bound to be a package suited to you.

15. I'm still stuck with my personal statement - where can I find more in-depth advice?

Some people say writing a personal statement is easy – maybe it is, but it’s difficult to write a personal statement well. As this is such a big topic to cover, we suggest taking a look at our personal statement examples to help give you some inspiration for what to write, and then read through our  personal statement writing guide  when you’re ready to put pen to paper. Browse through the  other information and advice  we have in our personal statements section, and if you still feel you need a little extra help, you can always get your personal statement  professionally edited and reviewed  by one of our editors. We offer a range of UCAS personal statement editing and critique services , so there’s bound to be one suited to your needs. Don’t forget to ask your family, friends, teachers and careers adviser to look through your personal statement drafts, and incorporate any feedback they give you until you are 100% happy with it. Remember - it doesn’t matter how many times you have to redraft your personal statement – the most important thing is you get it right so you give yourself the best possible chance of being offered places by your chosen universities/colleges.

IMPORTANT:  When writing your personal statement, it’s vital you remember  not to copy from anyone else’s personal statement  (not even just a sentence!). Not only is it wrong and unfair, but any plagiarism will be detected by the Copycatch Similarity Detection Software. If UCAS discover you have plagiarised your personal statement, whether you have copied someone else’s entirely or parts of it, they will cancel your application.

You can also try looking through our personal statement guide for extra guidance.

This takes you through how to write a personal statement step-by-step, and goes into far more detail than this FAQ does.

If you feel you need more help, check out our personal statement editing and critique services  where our professional editors will review your statement to make it a success.

16. How do I write a personal statement if I'm a mature student?

Don't worry if you're a mature student applying to university - your qualifications, skills and extra experience will count as an advantage! Universities want to take on students from all walks of life, and this includes mature ones with more life experience.

Focus on what you can bring to the university if they offered you a place on the course, and how your degree fits into your future plans.

Read through some of our Mature Student Personal Statement Examples for inspiration.

17. How do I write a personal statement if I'm an international student?

As mentioned previously, universities want students from a range of backgrounds, and this includes those who want to study at their institution from abroad.

Again, try to convey how your experiences in your own country will benefit you on your course, and how they make you a valuable asset to the university.

To give you an idea of what other international students have written in the past, read through some of our International Student Personal Statement Examples for inspiration (but please remember not to copy them, or your application will be penalised!).

A few last tips

What have you done, relevant to your subject, that is unique and no one else is likely to put down?

Many people have the same old boring interests and work experience - you need something to separate you from the crowd, and while it's a gamble to make an individual personal statement, anything individual you do related to your chosen field can only look good.

Have a think - what makes you so special? If you can't think of anything then you can't complain if you get rejected! Finally, remember it's your personal statement, and you can write whatever you want in it.

If everything in this guide conflicts with what you've got already but you think you still have a killer personal statement, then use that.

A personal statement is about you, and you shouldn't let anyone tell you what to put in it - sticking blindly to the formula mentioned here will just stop your true personality showing through.

Further information

For more tips and advice on writing your personal statement, please see:

• The 15th January UCAS Deadline: 4 Ways To Avoid Missing It
• Analysis Of A Personal Statement
• Personal Statement Editing Services
• Top 10 Personal Statement Writing Tips
• Personal Statement Advice From A Teacher
• Personal Statement Writing Guide
• What To Do If You Miss The 15th January UCAS Deadline .

Best of luck with your personal statement!

Has lots of valuable

Mon, 19/09/2011 - 05:17

Has lots of valuable information

Thu, 06/10/2011 - 20:30

very good site!! Helped a lot!!!!

Wed, 12/10/2011 - 17:21

Great info, i appreciate it.

Fri, 14/10/2011 - 14:35

i wana apply for a science

Tue, 25/10/2011 - 10:22

i wana apply for a science faculty but what i did in the past were only related to English (eg:joining competitions in sos verse speaking,public speaking;volunteered to teach english;being chairman of english society at school./) and seems almost nth for science.... so should i write those experience also?but how can i link them to the content.... thanks

Wed, 26/10/2011 - 22:56

Excellent website, I have searched high and low for a website like this. Very impressed.

wow this has just simply

Fri, 28/10/2011 - 21:15

wow this has just simply saved my life:)

Sun, 30/10/2011 - 11:11

Thank you for the guidance, its very simple and straight forward

Disabilities

Fri, 04/11/2011 - 06:38

I have Aspergers should I include this in my PS because it has affected my involvement in extra curricular activities

like to point out that it is

Wed, 09/11/2011 - 15:13

like to point out that it is 47 lines and not 37 :) that aside, very helpful - thanks!

The best site I have found to

Fri, 02/12/2011 - 22:29

The best site I have found to help with personal statements, got so much useful infomation and straight to the point, will definately recommend to others in my class who are in the middle of their personal statments!

I have read that you should

Tue, 06/12/2011 - 14:57

I have read that you should write about why you wish to study at university and what inspires you to, and i want to but the real reason i want to study at uni is because of a very personal reason and im not sure wether to mention it as i feel i may come across as an attention seeker? the real reason i want to go is because of a very abusive relationship with an ex boyfriend that made me realise i should make the most of my life and do exactly what i want and never let anyone bring me down... do u think it would be too much if i said this - I was very unsure whether to write about the real reason I want to pursue what I’m passionate about, because its very personal. The truth is that is wasn’t a good experience. A traumatising abusive relationship with an ex boyfriend woke me up and made me see I should make the most out of my life.

Tue, 06/12/2011 - 15:03

Tue, 06/12/2011 - 15:08

Amazing Stuff

Mon, 13/02/2012 - 13:06

I'm so glad I found this site

Thu, 01/03/2012 - 15:46

I'm so glad I found this site. It's helped alot.

I'm so glad I found this site. It's helped alot. :)

Thu, 01/03/2012 - 15:47

Lying on your personal statement

Tue, 10/07/2012 - 20:27

I was very disappointed to see this included in your FAQs. Even more to see it answered in the way it was. If someone can lie and "get away with it" does that not suggest we could potentially have a generation of useless, brainless, incompetent potential lawyers, doctors, politicians heading our way? Oh, wait...how long have you been giving this advice out?

do we have to write about our

Tue, 31/07/2012 - 19:13

do we have to write about our interests and hobbies???

if yes what if we dont have enough space and gone over max line limit??

thx a lot for the post..lots

Thu, 13/09/2012 - 23:21

thx a lot for the post..lots of info :)

you get 47 lines not 37 as it

Thu, 20/09/2012 - 11:35

you get 47 lines not 37 as it says

Wed, 17/04/2013 - 11:16

Some of the universities I'm applying to offer different courses to other unis I'm also applying to. Is it possible to send two different personal statements depending on which uni? For Edinburgh and Manchester, I want to apply for English Literature, but for Aberystwyth, East Anglia and Manchester Metropolitian they offer English Lit and Creative Writing.

Any advice would be great, thanks!

Wed, 24/07/2013 - 03:11

Say, you got a nice article.Much thanks again. Awesome.

Wrong information

Thu, 25/07/2013 - 16:15

The maximum on UCAS for personal statements is 47 lines and 4000 characters, not 37 lines as stated on this page.

This is really helpful and

Fri, 27/09/2013 - 14:15

This is really helpful and informative but I'm fairly sure the number of lines allowed is 47, not 37 as written here.

Retaking year 12

Sun, 29/09/2013 - 12:22

I have recently retook year 12 and I am now in the process of writing my personal statement. Having gathered differing opinions on this matter i was wondering for your input on whether or not its worth putting it down on my personal statement.I have changed subjects, left one out for a year and returned to it and retaken a subject. This now leaves me with 5 As levels.

Mon, 30/09/2013 - 20:06

"Have a think - what makes you so special? If you can't think of anything then you can't complain if you get rejected!"

As if we're not under enough stress already!

Previous Work

Tue, 29/10/2013 - 20:33

can I put links in to websites I have professionally made

wow very good much

Fri, 15/11/2013 - 09:25

wow very good much informative

Very informative. I really

Wed, 15/01/2014 - 14:57

Very informative. I really appreciate your site.

Not required

Mon, 30/06/2014 - 14:27

Comment Content

Oxford Summer School 2024 – Final Places Left

The Ultimate Guide To UCAS And Personal Statements

by The Oxford Scholastica Team | 31 Jan, 2024 | Blog Articles , Get the Edge

Table of Contents

What does UCAS stand for?

UCAS stands for Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. It is the centralised online service in the UK that everyone has to use in order to apply to any undergraduate University course in the UK.

How many courses can you apply to on UCAS?

Through UCAS, you can select up to five different courses to apply to. These can be at the same university, different ones, or a combination of both. It’s completely up to you! If you’re struggling to choose what to study, read our guide on how to find the right university course for you .

How does UCAS work?

You write and submit your application via UCAS, and UCAS sends this to the admissions teams for each of the courses you’ve selected. They will then consider your application along with all the others they have received from different students around the world, and decide who they would like to offer places.

So, UCAS is effectively the link between you and the universities you’re applying to. This means you have to sell yourself as best you can on your UCAS application, since this may be all that the admissions teams are basing their decisions on.

UCAS deadlines

UCAS have two major deadlines for undergraduate application submissions. The earlier deadline is for anyone wanting to apply to Oxford or Cambridge, and for most medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry courses across the country. This early deadline is usually 15th October . But be sure to double check that this is true for your year! The deadline for all other undergraduate courses is usually 15th January . However, many universities and colleges continue to accept applications from international students until later in the year as part of the regular college admissions cycle .

There’s quite a big gap between these two deadlines. This is because all courses with the earlier cut off point require you to go for an interview before they make their offers, so they need time to schedule these. This means you need to decide quite early in the year (by the summer before your deadline) whether you’re going to apply to any of the courses with the 15th October cut off, so that you have enough time to write your application!

UCAS application

You fill out your application using UCAS’s online hub. There are several sections to the form; some require information that you can fill out quickly and others need more time. You don’t have to do it all at once though. You can save your progress and come back to it as many times as you want.

What information are they looking for?

Most obviously, UCAS will want to know your 5 course choices! You don’t have to place them in order of preference at this point and none of the admissions officers will see the other courses you have applied to. They will, however, have access to this information after you reply to any offers you receive, but it can’t impact your application in any way.

Under the current system, a personal statement will also be required, showing your vested interest in your chosen subject. It should also demonstrate your motivation and enthusiasm, as well as any skills you have picked up so far that will help you do well at university. This is your chance to tell admissions teams why they should offer you a place on their course.

Please note: In January 2023, UCAS announced some changes to the admissions process, and the personal statement will be different for admissions cycles from 2024/25. This article will be updated when the changes are confirmed.

There will also be some additional questions for monitoring purposes. These don’t affect how likely you are to be offered a place in any way. The information is not shared with the universities until the end of the application cycle, when you’ll already know their decisions. If you’re applying from the UK, you will be asked questions about your ethnic origin, national identity and what your parents do for a living. There are also some optional questions about religion, sexual orientation and identity.

Within the additional questions section, there will be optional queries relating to your personal circumstances. These will be shared with the university if you wish to provide information about, for example, your parental education or whether you’ve been in care. This is known as ‘contextualised admissions’ and allows the university to form a more complete understanding of you as an individual so that they can provide support if necessary. If you want to know more about how a university will use this information, you can ring their admissions team directly and ask. Don’t be scared to do this at any point as, again, it won’t affect your likelihood of being offered a place!

Other information that UCAS will require is listed below:

• Full education history: GCSEs and predicted A-Level/IB qualifications
• Full employment history
• Reference from teacher, adviser or professional who knows you academically.

Discover More

Thanks for signing up, how do i write a good ucas personal statement.

There isn’t a ‘correct’ way to write your personal statement. The key is in the title – the statement is personal. And so it should be as unique to you, your experiences and your interests as possible. That being said, there are some ways you can structure your statement to ensure clarity. Also, there are key things you can include to make sure you are providing the information admissions tutors want to know, so that you come across as an enthusiastic, mature and motivated student.

What do I put on my UCAS application?

Why you find the subject interesting.

Explain what it is that attracts you to your subject, and why you want to study it at university level. Mention particular areas you want to find out more about, for example something you’ve briefly covered on the course at school, or something you’ve read about in your own time.

Detail the relevant things you’ve read that you found the most engaging, and talk about why you found them interesting. Whether or not you’re applying for a literature-based course, make sure you’ve done some reading around the subject. And don’t just regurgitate views you’ve heard in class, read in a textbook or seen online. Remember, the admissions teams want to hear your personal opinion. This is one reason why attending a summer program like an Oxford summer course is so helpful: it introduces you to wider perspectives about your subject, and good ideas for further reading! For inspiration, check out these recommended lists of best books for English literature students , best psychology books and top law books to read .

Employment or volunteering experiences

There is a different section in which to detail your complete employment history, so only pick the most relevant to discuss in your personal statement. Choose the ones that have either taught you useful skills or made you more passionate about your subject.

Work experience / Summer schools / Taster Courses

Talking about any relevant work experience, summer schools or Higher Education taster courses can be really valuable in your personal statement. Again, choose the ones that are most representative of your engagement with your chosen subject, and detail the skills and knowledge you gained. For example, if you’ve ever attended our Oxford Summer School that’s a great one to talk about here! Going to an academic summer school like Oxford Scholastica shows your dedication to your subject outside school, which all admissions tutors are looking for.

Extracurricular activities

Clubs and societies you are a part of at school, or have leadership roles in, can be useful to discuss here, as long as you explain what you’ve gained from them. More on this in the next section!

Extra qualifications

You can also mention the skills you may have developed through any extra courses or qualifications you’ve completed, such as Duke of Edinburgh (DofE), National Citizen Service (NCS), Young Enterprise, etc.

Note for International students:

If you’re applying from outside the UK, you should also mention: why you want to study here, your English language skills, and any English courses or tests you’ve taken. It can also be good to mention why you want to be an international student, rather than studying in your own country.

UCAS personal statement structure

• Universities are quite clear about the skills and qualities they are looking for in their students; make sure you read the course descriptions for each course you’re applying to and structure your statement to demonstrate that you have met everything they are looking for.
• You have a maximum of 4,000 characters and 47 lines when you input your personal statement into UCAS. This means you need to think carefully about how many paragraphs to have and what information it is most important to include.
• Try to present your achievements and interests in a clear and concise manner. This means having different paragraphs for different experiences where possible, and not repeating yourself. Link anything you have done to what you have learnt from it and how that better prepares you or makes you more interested in the course.
• Avoid presenting a list of things you have done. Admissions teams won’t care about how many charity projects you’ve been involved with unless you tell them what you have gained from each one.

8 top tips for the best UCAS application

1. Keep it focused on you. Don’t try to define your subject or explain it to the admissions tutor – they are already experts!

2. Write in a natural style – show your understanding of your subject but without going into too much detail or trying to make it sound too complex. Again, you don’t have that many characters available and you need to prioritise talking about yourself. The most important thing is to come across as enthusiastic and eager to learn MORE – don’t focus on trying to show off what you already know.

3. Equally, don’t pretend to know more than you do, or exaggerate your achievements – this is especially important if you are going to be interviewed because they will ask you to elaborate on things you mentioned in your statement.

4. Be careful with humour or quotes – the admissions tutor may not have the same sense of humour as you and it could be a waste of characters!

5. Proofread it aloud , and get as many people to check it as possible so that you have a lot of different perspectives – ask your teachers, friends, and family.

6. Make sure the spelling, punctuation and grammar are completely correct as errors will suggest that you’re careless.

7. You will probably produce several drafts of your personal statement before you’re completely happy with it. This is why it’s important to start writing as early as possible – this is not something to be left to the last minute!

8. Don’t copy bits of another personal statement or share yours with anyone applying for similar courses or similar universities. All personal statements are checked for similarity and if yours is flagged as being too similar to someone else’s, it might reduce your chance of being offered a place.

How much extracurricular content should I include?

Most universities like to see that you have been engaged in extracurricular activities throughout your time at school. They show that you can juggle several commitments at once, and also that you know how to balance work and play – something that is very important at university! However, your personal statement should be mainly focused on the course you’re applying for and why you want to do it. Extracurriculars should only make up one small paragraph towards the end. That said, it shouldn’t be the focus of the final paragraph – you should wrap up with something about your relationship with your chosen subject.

Extracurriculars relevant to the course you’re applying for are amazing, but you can include ones that aren’t directly relevant too. The key is to mention what you do, and then link it back how it has helped you develop the skills and attributes that the university wants to see. These could include commitment, dedication, confidence, teamwork, resilience and interpersonal skills – all important qualities for a university student to have. For medical school applicants, see our tips on the best extracurriculars for medical students .

For those of you applying to Oxford or Cambridge, a lot of advice online says not to include extracurriculars that aren’t directly relevant to your subject. However, there is a lot of variety among different admissions tutors in their attitudes towards this. Our advice would be to include them if they demonstrate personal attributes, impressive achievements or unique skills. Just make sure you are concise and that this only makes up one small paragraph. That way, you’ve covered it if the admissions tutor does want to see it… and if they don’t there’s still a lot more to your personal statement that they will like!

What if I’m applying to different courses at different Universities?

Applying to different courses at different Universities is difficult because unfortunately, you are usually only allowed to submit one personal statement.

If just one of your choices is completely different from the others, a University may accept a separate personal statement for that course, but it has to be sent directly to them – not through UCAS. You have to call the university’s admissions team to ask if this is possible or speak to them on an open day. Speaking to them individually is the only way you can find out, but you should try to get some advice from a teacher or advisers before you do this. If one of your courses is fairly unusual and only offered by a small number of universities, the admissions team will have probably received calls like this many times before and so may be more lenient, but it’s definitely best to just ask.

There may be slight differences between the five courses you’re applying for, for example, if they are all joint or combined degrees with slightly different subject combinations. In this case, writing one statement shouldn’t be too much of a problem. You just have to make sure that you make your statement as relevant as possible to all of them – so make sure each subject is covered by what you are saying.

However, if there are big differences between all of your course choices, you will have much more difficulty writing a great personal statement. You can try to make your statement appropriate to all courses by demonstrating your skills and academic interests more generally. Alternatively, you can openly state that you are applying to several different courses and try to explain as best as possible why you have done this based on your academic interests. The focus here should be on a strong interest in all the courses and the different things they offer. Make sure you don’t come across as simply indecisive or not sure what you want from a course!

Both are risky strategies so we would advise you to apply for five courses that have some clear common ground that you can focus on in your statement.

When can I expect to hear back from UCAS?

Once you’ve sent off your application, the UCAS hub will allow you to check how your application is progressing. Most interview invitations (although not all – some course providers may email you directly), offers and rejections will be shown on there.

Unfortunately, each university’s application monitoring process takes a different amount of time, so it’s difficult to know for sure when you’ll have all of your decisions back. However, UCAS says that if you met their application deadline (15th January), you should have heard back by the 31st March and will definitely hear by the 9th May. Having said that, many universities will get back to you within just two or three weeks of applying.

If you applied at the earlier deadline (15th October), this probably means you’ve applied to one or more courses that require an interview. If you’re applying to Oxford or Cambridge, look over the Oxbridge section for more specific information about when you will hear back, tests and interviews! If you’re applying for medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, different universities hold their interviews at vastly different times. Generally, the earliest are in December and the latest are in March.

There is also a big range in how much time different universities give you between letting you know you have an interview, and the interview itself. Once you’ve decided where you want to apply, you might like to contact the admissions teams of each university directly, so that you have a rough idea of your personal timeline of events and deadlines.

What’s the difference between conditional and unconditional offers?

An unconditional offer means the university is very keen to have you on their course. If you accept it, they will automatically confirm your place regardless of the exam results you receive. Many universities (such as the University of Birmingham) will often state that if you accept an unconditional offer from them, you have to put it as your firm choice – you can’t have it as your insurance. The terms ‘firm’ and ‘insurance’ are explained in the next section.

A conditional offer is one that is dependent on the grades you are yet to receive. In the offer, they will outline which grades you need to get in order to take up your place on their course. Most universities provide their usual grade offers for each course on their website, so you know before you apply.

This is something you should bear in mind when discussing your predicted grades with your teachers. Your predicted grades on your application need to match, be close to or exceed what the university usually asks for, or it’s unlikely that you’ll be offered a place. You should think optimistically but realistically about what you can achieve.

Responding to offers – firm and insurance choices

Once you have received all your decisions, you have until a fixed deadline to reply to any offers through UCAS. This deadline is usually 31st March, as long as you’ve heard back from all five choices by then. If you have two or more offers, you have to choose one to make your ‘firm’ choice, and one to make your ‘insurance’. Your firm choice is your preferred option, so if it’s unconditional, or it’s conditional and you meet the grade requirements on results day, you will have a place on that course. Your insurance choice is your back-up, so it makes sense to choose a course with lower offer conditions, in case you don’t meet your first choice offer. You should make sure this is still a university you would be happy to go to, though!

Think carefully before you respond – you can’t change your mind on Results Day (unless you do much better than expected – see our section on ‘Adjustment’). Remember that there’s no rush as long as you meet the deadline: the universities can’t take back their offers because you’re taking too long!

You’ll then have to decline any other offers you receive that you haven’t made your firm or insurance option.

If you have a complete change of heart, you can decline all of your offers and apply to more courses using UCAS’s ‘Extra’ service.

What if I miss my offer? What is Clearing?

If you don’t get the grades you needed for your first-choice offer, your first port of call should be ringing your chosen university’s admissions team directly. They may still give you a place, especially if you only just missed your grades, because other prospective students may have missed their grades too. There’s no harm in trying, and, if there’s a particular reason as to why you achieved lower grades than anticipated, this context could help explain to them why you didn’t make the offer.

If you miss the grades for your insurance choice too, and you don’t have any luck with ringing either university, you can turn to UCAS’s Clearing Service. This allows you to find a similar course, usually at a different university, with entry requirements that match the grades you have. In 2021, Clearing ran from 5th July to 19th October (2021), but again you should check the dates for your own year of application. The application process works differently to the initial submission process.

When you apply to clearing, you are given a ‘clearing number’ – a form of ID. There are two routes you can take; Clearing Plus matches can be found in your UCAS Hub, register your interest with a course that appeals and have your application sent directly to them to make a decision. You can also search for all the available course vacancies, which means contacting the university directly if you find a course you’d like to apply to. You provide them with your clearing number and Personal ID over the phone so that they can look up your application, and then ask them if they’d accept you.

If they give you an informal offer over the phone, you can then add the course as a clearing choice in the UCAS Hub. You can only add one course at a time, and if the university confirms it, you definitely have that place and can’t apply anywhere else. Many universities have spare places on their courses after results day, so this is a very common option for people whose grades don’t align with their original universities’ requirements.

Better results than expected? What is Adjustment?

If you get better results than expected (i.e. you have met and exceeded the conditions of your firm offer and think you could be accepted onto another course which typically gives out higher offers), you may be able to apply to that course through Adjustment. You register for Adjustment via the UCAS Hub.

Adjustment is only available for a small, fixed amount of time, so you have to act fast! In 2021, this was from 10th August – 18th August (as always, check the exact dates for your year of application!). Adjustment is different to Clearing, as there isn’t a list of available courses for you to search through. Instead, you have to find out the grade requirements of courses you’d be interested in on a university’s website, and then contact the admissions office of those universities directly to ask about any possible vacancies. You have to provide your Personal ID so they can check you’ve exceeded the conditions of your original firm choice, and that you meet their own conditions of entry.

Then, if you are absolutely sure you want a place at that university, you can verbally agree an offer with them. The university will then add themselves to your application, your UCAS Hub will be updated, and you’ll have a place on that course!

What’s different about Oxford and Cambridge?

If you’re thinking about applying to either Oxford or Cambridge (you can’t apply to both for undergraduate study – you can only choose one), you need to make up your mind well ahead of the typical UCAS application period. Firstly, as we mentioned earlier, the UCAS deadline for applying to Oxford and Cambridge (15th October) is three months earlier than the main UCAS deadline for all other universities (15th January). Secondly, there are often extra tests and pieces of work you have to complete as part of an Oxbridge application and the earlier you start preparing for these, the better!

Extra written work and tests

• Written work : This is a required element of applications to some, but not all, courses offered at Oxford. This is your chance to showcase your abilities in and enthusiasm for your chosen subject specifically. Note that this is NOT work that you have written specifically for your application, but original, marked schoolwork, unchanged from the time of marking. Generally, this will be required for Humanities subjects more than Sciences, but there are several exceptions so you’ll have to check your relevant course page. The deadline to submit written work is the 10th November, and is the same across all subjects (except Fine Art, which is earlier). Have a look at the full list of courses, and check whether you need to submit written work, here.
• Admissions tests : These are required for a handful of subjects. Again, take a look at the subject you’re applying to. They are generally designed to test your natural aptitude for your subject and are just another thing the tutors can use to help them decide between many excellent candidates. You must have registered for your admissions test by 15th October, and make sure you have your test candidate entry number from your school or test centre as proof of entry by 6pm that day.
• Admissions tests : At Cambridge, the system is slightly different: the majority of subjects require some kind of admissions test. In most cases, the test is to be taken before interviews, but in some cases it is done at the interview itself. If taken before interviews, again you have to register by 15th October, and the tests are usually taken around 30th October – though the exact date may change. If taken at interview, you don’t have to register. Find out which subjects have pre-interview tests, and which have at-interview tests here.
• Submitted work : This is required for several courses – mainly Arts and Social Sciences – but only by certain colleges. Again, this will be an original, marked piece of work from a relevant A Level/IB (or equivalent) course. The deadlines for submission will vary from college to college, and they will contact you about it directly. More information can be found here.

Please note that both the submitted work and your test scores for both universities only form one part of your overall application. They will not be viewed in isolation and there is usually no pass or fail mark, so please don’t let any of this put you off applying!

Also note that, if you’re applying for medicine at either university (or Biomedical Sciences at Oxford), the admissions test deadlines are slightly different, because the same test is also used by many other medical schools across the country. For both Cambridge and Oxford, you will have to take the BMAT (BioMedical Admissions Test) on 30th October (like all other Cambridge pre-interview tests), but you have to be registered before 15th October. You cannot register yourself. Either your school or a local test centre can register you any time between 1st September and 1st October (as always, please double check these dates hold true for your year of application).

University interviews

The other main thing that differentiates the application process at Oxbridge from other UK universities is the interview. Every course at both institutions will require you to attend an interview before places are offered. The interviews for both universities generally take place in the first few weeks of December.

What happens in an Oxbridge interview?

The Oxbridge interviews are designed to imitate an Oxford tutorial or a Cambridge supervision, and test how you would respond to that kind of teaching style. This is because tutorials and supervisions are an important component of teaching at Oxbridge. It’s therefore important that the tutors know that you would be able to contribute well and get the most out of these should you be offered a place.

There’s no denying, however, that different tutors can vary a lot in their approach in the interview. Some will be very friendly and make a big effort to put you at ease from the start. Some may ask about any extracurriculars you mentioned you enjoy on your personal statement, while others may go straight to the more challenging stuff. The most important thing is to try and keep a level head and remember that you have already done so well to be there. Just listen to and focus on the questions you’re being asked and you’ll do wonderfully!

What do the interviewers look for?

As well as looking for a dedication to and aptitude for your chosen subject, the tutors will be looking for a desire to learn more about your subject. Just like with the personal statement, they don’t want you to pretend to know it all already – otherwise what would be the point of going to the university? So, if you don’t know an answer to a question, don’t be daunted. Interviewers want to see how you think more than what you know. Show them how you would go about trying to find the answer, or steer the conversation towards a related topic you’re able to extrapolate from. Try to avoid guessing.

Many tutors will present you with a piece of text, an image or an object that you will probably never have seen before and ask you questions based on that. Here, they are testing your ability to use what you already know and apply it to a new context. This uses skills like intellectual agility, open-mindedness, and also being able to make links between different topic areas.

Above all, the tutors want to see that you have a deep intellectual curiosity and interest in the subject you’re applying to, so the best thing you can do is just try to stay positive and enthusiastic throughout!

Having mock interviews is a good idea if you haven’t been put on the spot academically in the same way before, or if you think you will struggle a lot with nerves in the real thing. You could ask a teacher at school (ideally one you don’t know very well), or an older student who is studying your subject to give you a mock interview. However, even if you can’t get anyone to give you a mock interview, just talking about your subject and reading a lot around it in the weeks before your interview will be really helpful too!

Need help with your UCAS application?

If you’re an Oxford Scholastica alumnus , our team would love to answer any more specific questions that you have about any part of the UK university application process! Get in touch via the box below. We’ve also included a list of helpful links so do make sure to take a look at any of those which sound useful to you.

Wishing you all the very best of luck in your applications!

Ready to get a head start on your future?

Next steps for applying to university through UCAS

Check out these useful resources to help you on your way to completing your university applications through UCAS.

• UCAS’ key dates timeline
• UCAS’ Oxbridge application tips
• Taking the International Baccalaureate? Read this article on applying to UK Universities while studying for IB
• Not from the UK? Have a look at UCAS’ application tips for international students
• Bloggers’ video on ‘How we got into Oxford and Cambridge: top tips’
• Which? University article on ‘How to write a personal statement that works for multiple different courses’

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Personal statement preview

2020 Undergraduate Application

Make sure your personal statement is your own work

We'll carry out checks to verify your personal statement is your own work.

Provided it is your own work, you can use your personal statement from your application last year. If it appears to have been copied from another source, we'll inform the universities and colleges to which you have applied. They will then take the action they consider appropriate. We'll also contact you by email to tell you this has happened.

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Preview of personal statement

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March 13, 2023

Can You Use the Same Personal Statement for Different Schools?

One of the questions we are asked most often by college and graduate school applicants is this: “I’m applying to six different schools, and each one requires two to seven essays/personal statements . That’s so much writing! Can I reuse the same essay for different schools? How can I keep up the quality and not burn out while writing so many personal statements?”

We understand. We even sympathize. Best of all, we have practical solutions for determining whether you can reuse some of your essays for multiple schools. 

First, if multiple schools are asking nearly identical questions, it’s logical to use some or perhaps even most of your essay response. However, the essay lengths might be different, and the wording will vary to some extent. Read each question out loud, so you can actually hear exactly what the schools are asking. Many times, an essay prompt has more than one question within it. You don’t want to overlook any of the questions in the prompt. 

Additionally, we have this advice: 

•  Make sure each essay has a distinctive theme. You can do this by developing different aspects of a single experience. For example, if you plan to write about your first summer as a camp counselor at a sleepaway camp, in one essay, you could describe how you worked to build a relationship with a lonely camper and help them develop their self-confidence and participate in more activities. During the same summer, you might also have been in charge of the drama group. This could offer the substance for a very different essay about teaching and organizing a group of highly energized, sometimes rowdy young teens. Don’t waste an opportunity to write about multiple aspects of the same experience that opened different doors to personal growth. You’ll be stretching your available material to cover more bases.
• Chart your list of essays and the qualities you associate with them. With multiple essays/personal statements to manage, consider using a spreadsheet to list each question, the school asking it, and which experiences, accomplishments, and skills you can associate with those questions. This will help you avoid using the same experience, accomplishment, or skill for more than one question at a given school.
• Portray your multidimensional self. Make a list of what you feel are your ten most positive qualities . Your list might include such traits as intellectually curious, eager for new experiences, sense of humor, strong DIY skills, and leadership. That was fun! Now, make a much shorter list (two or three items at most) of what you would consider your weakest traits. These might include procrastination, too much binge watching, and impatience. As you draft your essays, keep these different layers and textures of your personality in mind. (Sometimes, schools will ask you to identify a weakness and explain how you have worked to overcome it, so awareness of weaknesses isn’t necessarily detrimental to your application!) Having this list front and center will spark additional insights and angles for your essays. As a result, you will reward the adcoms with a rich, multidimensional portrait of you as a human being.
• Name dropping? Better double check the names! Check CAREFULLY (and then check again ) to make sure you don’t forget to change, for example, “Michigan” to “Chicago” when you adapt or reuse your application essay. Sending a “Why I want to go to UPenn” essay to the Yale adcom, or sending a “Why I want to go to Columbia” to NYU wouldn’t bode well for you!
• No matter how similar the essay questions are, never simply cut and paste an entire essay. As we noted earlier, no two questions will ever be exactly alike. As you write or edit from a different essay, keep the image of the school you are writing for in mind. Try to individualize each essay as much as possible. And by all means, reread the essay prompts when you feel you are nearly done, to ensure you really did answer every one of the adcom’s questions within the prompt.

Do you need help writing (or recycling) your application essays? Could you benefit from an expert’s assistance in identifying the strongest elements of your experience and profile? We can help! , and work one-on-one with an expert advisor who will help you get ACCEPTED!

Sadie Polen has  more than ten years of experience in higher education . She reviewed statements of purpose, personal statements, and resumes for political and public service opportunities and made candidate selections for elite programs at Harvard University. She also has experience advising individuals on their career and post-graduation plans. Sadie holds a BS from UC Davis, an EdM from Harvard, and a DEI certificate from Cornell. Learn more about Sadie Polen.

Related Resources:

• 5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Grad School Statement of Purpose , a free guide
• 9 Secrets to Telling an Attention-Grabbing Story
• How to Project Professionalism, Positivity, and Confidence in Your Statement of Purpose

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How to Write a UCAS Personal Statement [With Examples]

James is senior content marketing manager at BridgeU. He writes and directs content for BridgeU's university partners and our community of international schools

What are the big challenges students should be aware of before writing their UCAS Personal Statement?

• The essential ingredients for writing a great Personal Statement
• How to write the UCAS Personal Statement [with examples]

Final hints & tips to help your students

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The UCAS Personal Statement can sometimes be a student’s only chance to impress a UK university. Read our in-depth guide to helping your students plan & write a winning application.

There are hundreds of articles out there on how to write a UCAS Personal Statement that will grab the attention of a UK university admissions officer.  

But if you’re working with students to help them perfect their Personal Statement in time for the  relevant UCAS deadlines , we can sum up the secret to success in three words.

Planning, structure and story. 

The UCAS Personal Statement is a student’s chance to talk about why they want to study for a particular degree, course or subject discipline at a UK university. 

As they set about writing a personal statement, students need to demonstrate the drive, ambition, relevant skills and notable achievements that make them a  suitable candidate for the universities they have chosen to apply to . 

But the UCAS Personal Statement requires students to write a lot about themselves in a relatively short space of time. That’s why lots of planning, a tight structure and a compelling story are essential if a student’s Personal Statement is to truly excel. 

As important deadlines for UK university applications grow closer, we at BridgeU have put together a guide, outlining some of the strategies and techniques to help your students to write a personal statement which is both engaging and truly individual.

Handpicked Related Content

Discover the simple steps that will boost the confidence of your native English speaking & ESL students alike in  University Application Essays: The 5 Secrets of Successful Writing .

As they begin to plan their Personal Statement, students may feel intimidated. It’s not easy to summarise your academic interests and personal ambitions, especially when you’re competing for a place on a course which is popular or has demanding entry requirements. In particular, students will likely come up against the following challenges.

Time pressure

Unfortunately, the Personal Statement (and other aspects of university preparation) comes during the busiest year of the student’s academic life so far.

Students, and indeed teachers and counsellors, must undertake the planning and writing of the personal statement whilst juggling other commitments, classes and deadlines, not to mention revision and open day visits!

Because there is already a lot of academic pressure on students in their final year of secondary school, finding the time and headspace for the personal statement can be hard, and can mean it gets pushed to the last minute. The risks of leaving it to the last minute are fairly obvious – the application will seem rushed and the necessary thought and planning won’t go into  making the personal statement the best it can be . 

Sticking closely to the Personal Statement format

The character limit which UCAS sets for the personal statement is very strict – up to 4,000 characters of text. This means that students have to express themselves in a clear and concise way; it’s also important that they don’t feel the need to fill the available space needlessly.  Planning and redrafting of a personal statement is essential .

Making it stand out

This is arguably the greatest challenge facing students – making sure that their statement sets them apart from everyone else who is competing for a place on any given course; in 2022 alone, UCAS received applications from 683,650 applicants (+1.6k on 2021) students. In addition, UCAS uses its own dedicated team and purpose built software to check every application for plagiarism, so it’s crucial that students craft a truly  original personal statement which is entirely their own work .

The essential ingredients for writing a great UCAS Personal Statement 

We’ve already mentioned our three watch words for writing a high quality Personal Statement.

Planning. Structure. Story. 

Let’s dig deeper into these three essential components in more detail.

Watch: How to Write a UCAS Personal Statement with University of Essex

Planning a ucas personal statement.

It might sound like a no-brainer, but it’s vital that students plan their Personal Statement before they start writing it. Specifically, the planning phase could include: 

• Students thoroughly researching the UK university courses they plan on applying to. 
• Deciding on what relevant material to include in their Personal Statement (we’ll cover this in more detail later on). 
• Writing an unedited first draft where they just get their thoughts and ideas down on paper. 

Structuring a UCAS Personal Statement

As we’ve discussed, the UCAS Personal Statement requires students to be extremely disciplined – they will be required to condense a lot of information into a relatively short written statement. This means that, after they’ve written a rough first draft, they need to think carefully about how they structure the final statement. 

A stand out Personal Statement will need a tight structure, with an introduction and a conclusion that make an impact and really help to tell a story about who your student is, and why they are drawn to studying this particular degree. 

This brings us nicely to our third and final ingredient…

Telling a story with a Personal Statement

The UCAS Personal Statement is a student’s opportunity to show a university who they are and how their life experiences have shaped their academic interests and goals. 

So a good Personal Statement needs to offer a compelling narrative, and that means making sure that a student’s writing is well-structured, and that every sentence and paragraph is serving the statement’s ultimate purpose –  to convince a university that your student deserves a place on their subject of choice. 

How to help your students start their UCAS Personal Statement

In order to ensure that a personal statement is delivered on time and to an appropriate standard, it’s essential to plan thoroughly before writing it. Here are some questions you can ask your students before they start writing:

How can you demonstrate a formative interest in your subject?

It may sound obvious but, in order for any UCAS personal statement to have the necessary structure and clarity, students need to think hard about why they want to study their chosen subject. Ask them to think about their responses to the following questions:

What inspired you to study your chosen subject?

Example answer:  My desire to understand the nature of reality has inspired me to apply for Physics and Philosophy

Was there a formative moment when your perspective on this subject changed, or when you decided you wanted to study this subject in more detail?

Example answer:  My interest in philosophy was awakened when I questioned my childhood religious beliefs; reading Blackburn’s “Think”, convinced me to scrutinise my assumptions about the world, and to ensure I could justify my beliefs.

Can you point to any role models, leading thinkers, or notable literature which has in turn affected your thinking and/or inspired you?

Example answer :  The search for a theory of everything currently being conducted by physicists is of particular interest to me and in “The Grand Design” Hawking proposes a collection of string theories, dubbed M-theory, as the explanation of why the universe is the way it is.

Asking your students to think about the “why” behind their chosen subject discipline is a useful first step in helping them to organise their overall statement. Next, they need to be able to demonstrate evidence of their suitability for a course or degree. 

How have you demonstrated the skills and aptitudes necessary for your chosen course?

Encourage students to think about times where they have demonstrated the necessary skills to really stand out. It’s helpful to think about times when they have utilised these skills both inside and outside the classroom. Ask students to consider their responses to the following questions. 

Can you demonstrate critical and independent thinking around your chosen subject discipline?

Example answer :  Currently I am studying Maths and Economics in addition to Geography. Economics has been a valuable tool, providing the nuts and bolts to economic processes, and my geography has provided a spatial and temporal element.

Are you able to demonstrate skills and competencies which will be necessary for university study?

These include qualities such as teamwork, time management and the ability to organise workload responsibly.

Example answer:  This year I was selected to be captain of the 1st XV rugby team and Captain of Swimming which will allow me to further develop my leadership, teamwork and organisational skills.

How have your extracurricular activities helped prepare you for university?

Students may believe that their interests outside the classroom aren’t relevant to their university application. So encourage them to think about how their other interests can demonstrate the subject-related skills that universities are looking for in an application. Ask students to think about any of the following activities, and how they might be related back to the subject they are applying for.

• Clubs/societies, or volunteering work which they can use to illustrate attributes such as teamwork, an interest in community service and the ability to manage their time proactively.
• Have they been elected/nominated as a team captain, or the head of a particular club or society, which highlights leadership skills and an ability to project manage?
• Can they point to any awards or prizes they may have won, whether it’s taking up a musical instrument, playing a sport, or participating in theatre/performing arts?
• Have they achieved grades or qualifications as part of their extracurricular activities? These can only help to demonstrate aptitude and hard work. 

How to write the UCAS Personal Statement [with examples] 

If sufficient planning has gone into the personal statement, then your students should be ready to go!

In this next section, we’ll break down the individual components of the UCAS Personal Statement and share some useful examples.

These examples come from a Personal Statement in support of an application to study Environmental Science at a UK university. 

Watch: King’s College London explain what they’re looking for in a UCAS Personal Statement

Introduction.

This is the chance for an applying student to really grab an admission tutor’s attention. Students need to demonstrate both a personal passion for their subject, and explain why they have an aptitude for it .  This section is where students should begin to discuss any major influences or inspirations that have led them to this subject choice. 

Example :  My passion for the environment has perhaps come from the fact that I have lived in five different countries: France, England, Spain, Sweden and Costa Rica. Moving at the age of 15 from Sweden, a calm and organized country, to Costa Rica, a more diverse and slightly chaotic country, was a shock for me at first and took me out of my comfort zone […] Also, living in Costa Rica, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, definitely helped me realize how vulnerable the world is and how we need to take care of it in a sustainable manner. 

This opening paragraph immediately grabs the reader’s attention by giving the reader an insight into this student’s background and links their academic interests with something specific from the student’s personal backstory. 

Discussing Academic Achievements 

The next paragraph in this Personal Statement discusses the student’s academic achievements. Because this student has had an international education, they frame their academic achievements in the context of their personal background. They also cite useful examples of other curricula they have studied and the grades they have achieved. 

Example : 

Throughout my academic life I have shown myself to be a responsible student as well as a hard working one, despite the fact that I have had to move around a lot. I have achieved several other accomplishments such as a high A (286/300) in AS Spanish at age 15, and also completed a Spanish course of secondary studies for ‘MEP’(Ministerio de Educacion Publica), which is a system from Costa Rica.   

You’ll notice that this student doesn’t just list their achievements – their strong academic performance is always linked back to a wider discussion of their personal experiences. 

Showcasing Extracurricular Activities

As well as discussing academic achievements, a good Personal Statement should also discuss the student’s extracurricular activities, and how they relate back to the student’s overall university aspirations. 

By the third/fourth paragraph of the Personal Statement, students should think about incorporating their extracurricular experiences, 

Another valuable experience was when my class spent a week at a beach called ‘Pacuare’ in order to help prevent the eggs of the endangered leatherback turtle from being stolen by poachers who go on to sell them like chicken eggs. We all gained teamwork experience, which was needed in order to hide the eggs silently without scaring the mother turtles, as well as making it more difficult for the poachers to find them. 

When the poachers set fire to one of the sustainable huts where we were staying, not only did I gain self-awareness about the critical situation of the world and its ecosystems, I also matured and became even more motivated to study environmental sciences at university.

This is a particularly striking example of using extracurricular activities to showcase a student’s wider passion for the degree subject they want to study. 

Not only does this Personal Statement have a story about volunteering to save an endangered species, it also illustrates this applicants’ wider worldview, and helps to explain their motivation for wanting to study Environmental Science. 

Concluding the UCAS Personal Statement

The conclusion to a UCAS Personal Statement will have to be concise, and will need to tie all of a student’s academic and extracurricular achievements. After all, a compelling story will need a great ending. 

Remember that students need to be mindful of the character limit of a Personal Statement, so a conclusion need only be the length of a small paragraph, or even a couple of sentences. 

“ After having many varied experiences, I truly think I can contribute to university in a positive way, and would love to study in England where I believe I would gain more skills and education doing a first degree than in any other country.  “

A good Personal Statement conclusion will end with an affirmation of how the student thinks they can contribute to university life, and why they believe the institution in question should accept them. Because the student in this example has a such a rich and varied international background, they also discuss the appeal of studying at university in England. 

It’s worth taking a quick look at a few other examples of how other students have chosen to conclude their Personal Statement. 

Medicine (Imperial College, London) 

Interest in Medicine aside, other enthusiasms of mine include languages, philosophy, and mythology. It is curiously fitting that in ancient Greek lore, healing was but one of the many arts Apollo presided over, alongside archery and music.   I firmly believe that a doctor should explore the world outside the field of  Medicine, and it is with such experiences that I hope to better empathise and connect with the patients I will care for in my medical career. 

You’ll notice that this example very specifically ties the students’ academic and extracurricular activities together, and ties the Personal Statement back to their values and beliefs. 

Economic History with Economics (London School of Economics)

The highlight of my extra-curricular activities has been my visit to Shanghai with the Lord Mayor’s trade delegation in September 2012. I was selected to give a speech at this world trade conference due to my interest in economic and social history. […] I particularly enjoyed the seminar format, and look forward to experiencing more of this at university. My keen interest and desire to further my knowledge of history and economics, I believe, would make the course ideal for me.

By contrast, this conclusion ties a memorable experience back to the specifics of how the student will be taught at the London School of Economics – specifically, the appeal of learning in seminar format! 

There’s no magic formula for concluding a Personal Statement. But you’ll see that what all of these examples have in common is that they tie a student’s personal and academic experiences together – and tell a university something about their aspirations for the future.

Watch: Bournemouth University explain how to structure a UCAS Personal Statement

Know the audience

It can be easy for students to forget that the person reading a personal statement is invariably an expert in their field. This is why an ability to convey passion and think critically about their chosen subject is essential for a personal statement to stand out. Admissions tutors will also look for students who can structure their writing (more on this below). 

Students should be themselves

Remember that many students are competing for places on a university degree against fierce competition. And don’t forget that UCAS has the means to spot plagiarism. So students need to create a truly honest and individual account of who they are, what they have achieved and, perhaps most importantly, why they are driven to study this particular subject.

Proof-read (then proof-read again!)

Time pressures mean that students can easily make mistakes with their Personal Statements. As the deadline grows closer, it’s vital that they are constantly checking and rechecking their writing and to ensure that shows them in the best possible light. 

Meanwhile, when it comes to giving feedback to students writing their Personal Statements, make sure you’re as honest and positive as possible in the days and weeks leading up to submission day. 

And make sure they remember the three key ingredients of writing a successful Personal Statement. 

Planning, structure and story! 

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Can I use AI in my personal statement? Reflections from the 2024 UCAS Teachers and Advisers conference

• 19 March 2024
• By Josh Freeman
• This HEPI blog was authored by Josh Freeman, Policy Manager at HEPI, with kind contributions from Rebecca Mace, Senior Lecturer and AI Lead at the University of West London (UWL), and UCAS.

On Monday 26 th February, I was kindly invited to speak on a panel at the UCAS Teachers and Advisers conference about AI. The audience was staff who work with young people looking to enter higher education. We talked about HEPI’s recent report on students’ use of AI , and what it means for school-age pupils – about which plenty has already been written on the HEPI website.

We were given the opportunity to ask the audience about their attitudes to AI and, on the principle of never turning down a good research opportunity, I took up the offer. Using live polling technology Slido , we asked five questions relating to AI use.

This blog discusses the results. Participants were given around 20-30 seconds to answer and each question received about 200 responses. The polling does not meet the rigorous standards of typical HEPI research – respondents might give a different answer in a busy conference hall than they might in private, for example. But the results are a useful indication of how attitudes and behaviours toward AI are forming among those who support students to enter higher education.

The first question asked how much teachers and advisers had themselves used ‘generative’ AI tools, such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini (previously Bard). We found a wide mix – including 30% who had never used the tools before and 37% who used them quite frequently.

Second, we asked the room whether they thought their students were using generative AI. Those present were agreed a significant number of students, and possibly a majority, had used them.

Given more time, we would want to know what form this use takes. Are students trying them out occasionally, or using them routinely?

As a panel, we noted some schools have banned AI use. Even if such a policy is desirable, this poll shows why it may be practically impossible. Students will always be able to use free online tools at home or on their smartphones even if they cannot do so on a school computer.

Third, we asked what teachers and advisers say to students about using generative AI for their personal statements. They fall into two camps – AI ‘embracers’ who let students use it in broad and sophisticated ways, and AI ‘avoiders’, who say nothing to their students about AI.

We might speculate that ‘avoiders’ do so for two main reasons – either because they are themselves not familiar enough with AI to develop a policy, or because they worry allowing AI use might encourage students to cheat.

The panel discussed the emotional load of the word “cheat” within an academic context. One interesting discussion highlighted the increasingly blurred boundaries around who owns the writing GenAI creates. As Rebecca Mace, AI Lead at UWL, noted:

It is interesting to see that some students see the work as their own, arguing they gave the GenAI the prompts and caused it to create the sentences. This notion – ownership of knowledge – will be a pressing concern for all those in education moving forward.

UCAS has produced new guidance for students on the use of ChatGPT and AI in their personal statements, which says that AI tools can be useful to:

• Brainstorm ideas;
• Help with structure; and
• Use it for checking readability.

So the group allowing students to use AI in ‘more significant ways’ appears to be following the guidance most closely.

But the guidance also says:

Generating (and then copying, pasting and submitting) all or a large part of your personal statement from an AI tool such as ChatGPT, and presenting it as your own words,  could be considered cheating by universities and colleges  and could affect your chances of an offer.

If UCAS guidance is followed, using AI tools can be helpful to applicants writing their personal statements to help inspire, clarify and articulate their own ideas. However, the personal statement is just that – personal – and must be a genuine piece of work. So fourth, we asked the room how confident they felt spotting AI use in assessments. In results which mirror attitudes among students, of which a majority think they would be found out, most teachers and advisers think they could spot AI in a personal statement, most of the time.

UCAS is clear that it has a zero-tolerance approach to students submitting work that is not their own, including that generated by AI:

If UCAS anti-plagiarism software detects elements of a personal statement that are similar to others, the universities or colleges it is intended for may be notified.

UCAS advises that if the Fraud and Verification service detects a similarity in a personal statement, this is flagged to the applicant and the university is informed.  A similarity does not necessarily indicate fraud, and a university will make a decision on the basis of a variety of information.

Detailed information is available online on the detection software UCAS uses. But it is important to note that the AI detection software such as Turnitin used by some universities is, at least for now, quite unreliable . For example, it often has a high ‘false positive’ rate – that is, it often rates text written by a human as AI-generated. Using it uncritically would result in students being falsely accused of using AI.

Any system to detect AI use must therefore involve some element of human checking, but clearly, this is also fallible. This makes it all the more important that there is effective messaging from schools.

So how can teachers and advisers be so confident about detecting it? A personal statement is, of course, something deeply personal. A good personal statement conveys the passion an applicant feels for their subject. As a panel, we felt that AI, in the bland, emotionally distanced way it tends to write, does not yet effectively convey that passion. This may be what teachers and advisers can spot when they read a student’s draft.

Fifth, we asked those present whether they felt, overall, that AI is more of a challenge or an opportunity. There was cautious optimism in the room – but many were concerned AI would create challenges.

Finally, we began and ended the session by putting the same provocation to those present: Schools and colleges should enable students to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools. At the beginning, 81% agreed they should and only 9% disagreed, and this shifted further to 92% agreeing and 2% disagreeing by the end. The shift – albeit from an already high starting point – suggests that understanding more about AI, its benefits and its limits is one way to help teachers and advisers feel more comfortable working with AI.

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