Writing an outstanding personal statement

Personal statements are a chance for students to shout about their experiences and skills, whilst standing out from other applicants. This article offers tips and techniques to help you support your young person through drafting and enhancing their statement.

Students find it difficult to reflect on their experiences. Writing down everything they have done can help them gain confidence in their experiences before tackling their statement. Even if something doesn’t appear directly related to their course, they can speak about the transferable skills gained.

Capture everything: sports, hobbies, awards, school responsibilities, jobs, musical instruments, online courses, languages, volunteering, school projects, and trips. Get it all down!

Personal statements are split into 3 sections:

1. Why do you want to study this course or subject?
2. How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
3. What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Ask your young person to divide their list of written experiences into these three sections, speaking about each experience only once. Use each section as a chance to reveal fresh ideas and skills.

Students don’t have to write these questions in order. If you find your young person struggles with question 1, start with another question instead. Students have a total of 4000 characters (including spaces) for their personal statement. This is spread between the 3 questions. Help your young person to write concisely.

This section focuses on their motivation for studying the course, their knowledge in the area, and how the degree will fit into their future plans.

Universities want to see that students have researched the course. Sharing education activities outside of the curriculum is essential: reading books and articles, listening to podcasts, watching TED talks and lectures, attending summer schools, entering competitions, and completing online courses.

Equally, students should speak about their future. This could be a specific profession the degree will launch them into, or how the knowledge gained from the course will help them achieve their goal.

The ABC structure is handy for structuring experiences and offering the right amount of detail:

• Action – the activity or action – such as volunteering or a school project
• Benefit – the skills gained from the action – such as teamwork or leadership
• Course - how this links to their chosen course.

For experiences not directly linked to the course, your young person can talk about how it prepares them for university study instead.

Remind your young person that their statement won’t be perfect at first. They will need to refine their work over multiple drafts. This can take weeks and months, so starting early is a priority.