1. East Coast College
Personal Statements

2. What is a personal statement?
Activity
Discuss what you think a personal statement is
What is it used for?
What should be included?
Feedback to group

3. What is a personal statement?
A personal statement is a key part of your UCAS application.
It is your opportunity to tell the university about yourself, why you are applying and what makes you suitable.
It will be read by the admissions tutor who will then decide if you have a place on the course
Word limit: 4,000 characters

4. Why is it important?
Your personal statement is where you can distinguish yourself from other candidates.
Others may have the same grades as you however they aren’t you they do not have your skills, experiences and thoughts. It is your chance to stand out to the admissions tutor
remember what you put in your personal statement could decide whether or not you get a place on your dream course

5. What should you write about?
Why you are applying
Why you have chosen this course
You as a student
You as a person and other activities

6. Why are you applying?
It is a good idea to dive straight in and tell them exactly why you are applying for the course.
Do not try to start off with a ‘punchy’ line
Have a think about…
What are your ambitions?
What is your dream job?
Why do you want to go into HE?

7. Why have you chosen this course?
You need to show that you are capable of academic thinking
This will show the admissions tutor that you are suitable for university
This is a very important part of your application especially if you are applying for a popular course
You do not have to write an essay on a particular subject but just show that you can raise questions
You are no at university level yet so they do not expect you to come up with a conclusion

8. Academic thinking How can I show this?
Pick a particular aspect of the course that you find most interesting- could be something you learnt about in your current studies
Do some wider reading and research on this.
It can be from a newspaper article, academic journal, TV show or from a book
Raise some questions, show your opinion.

9. Why have you chosen this course?
Relevant work experience
Here is your opportunity to talk about any relevant work experience.
So for example if you are applying for midwifery and you have volunteered at a hospital or at a mother and toddler unit.
Talk about what you did/what you learnt/what you noticed
It has to be relevant to the course for example charity shop volunteering should go at the end

10. Activity Have a look at the personal statement examples
Which ones do you think are good/bad and why?
What’s missing?
How could they improve?

11. You as a student
In this section you are going to talk about how you are as a student
You should include the skills that you have developed through your studies such as:
IT skills
Team working skills
Presentation skills
Time management
Problem solving skills
Remember to give examples

12. you as a person and other activities
Here you can tell the admissions tutor what you are like as an individual
You can talk about your hobbies and interests
Your personal qualities
Work experience/voluntary work
Employment
Travel
Duke of Edinburgh award

13. Remember…
Its important that you avoid listing all of the things that you have done in your spare time and instead tell the admissions tutor what you learnt from this
For example ‘whilst completing my duke of Edinburgh award I learnt the importance of working in a group’
Keep in mind that this will be read by an admissions tutor so keep it appropriate for example I like going down the pub to socialise with friends. This gives off a bad impression

14. Conclusion (optional)
If you wish you can write a couple of sentences to end your statement in a positive note
You could summarise your goal
Why you want to study at HE
What you feel you can bring to their institution
This does not have to be a very long part so don’t waste a lot of characters on it

15. Things to avoid
Lists – many students tend to just lists instead of actually informing the admissions tutor. Lists are boring and do not tell us any information
‘I have wanted to be a doctor ever since I was born’ – although its nice that your showing that this has been an ambition for a long time it is inaccurate
‘I want to study this subject because I love it’ – tell us what exactly you love about it
Sob stories – it is nice to show how your personal experiences have influenced your decision to study but try not to make them feel sorry for you

16. Check, check and check again!
Once you feel you have finished your personal statement make sure you check it.
Have a read through
Spell check it
Ask someone else to read it and tell you what they think
Show it to your tutor
Copy and paste it onto to UCAS

17. Useful websites
Which? Personal statement builder
write-ucas-undergraduate-personal-statement - UCAS how to write a UCAS personal statement
your-personal-statement - Which? 10 things to put in your personal statement
- BBC article on personal statements
statement-for-university/ - The Telegraph article on how to write a personal statement

18. Any questions? D.rooke@eastcoast.ac.uk jo@takeyourplace.ac.uk