Writing personal statements for university

Follow our framework to help get your personal statement right, and stand the best chance of getting a place at university

Your personal statement is an important part of your application to university. We've put together a framework to help you think about what universities are looking for.

Try to address the following points to help give your personal statement some structure.

Why do you want to study your course?

  • Write about your motivation for picking your subject.
  • How does studying your course fit into your future ambitions and career goals?
  • Give real examples that show you understand what studying your course is all about.

What inspires you?

  • Explain what topics related to your course interest you.
  • Discuss key events, discoveries, historical figures, writers and more who are related to your course and subject.

Make it relevant and specific

  • Remember to relate your skills and knowledge to your chosen subject.
  • Write about what you can bring to your course and to you university.
  • Always give examples to explain your points.

What experience do you have?

  • Describe what you've done - both in and out of school, college and in your work experience - that relates to your subject and your future career plans.
  • Give specific examples to show what you found challenging or insightful.

Take care with your writing

  • Write in your own voice. Make sure you sound like yourself!
  • Remember to use paragraphs. Always start a new paragraph for a new topic.
  • Check your grammar and spelling and then ask somebody else to check it too.

View more resources and guidance

How To Write PS
A Student's guide to writing a personal statement for university video thumbnail

You can shape your personal statement just by answering five simple questions. Why do you want to study this course? This is the most important part of your personal statements but also just the fun.  

 

You get to talk about the reasons why you wanna apply for the course that you do. Now it's time to take about any work experience or volunteering that you've done. This your chance to show off any key skills you have such as teamwork or time management that you gained outside of school.  

 

Let's talk about your time at school or college. This doesn't mean your grades, raise them from your mind, your university will receive them automatically through UCAS. This is your chance to talk about you own unique personal experience and to discuss how this has prepared you for university.  

 

Whether you love sports or you're part of an active genre society, the university will want to know about it. This a fun section where you can talk skills you gain from taking part in school sports, clubs and societies.  

 

For example, you may have a role of responsibility, or maybe a team leader in a society, or you took part in the music competition. Are there any other activities that you enjoy doing outside of school or college?  

 

Maybe you like reading or writing or painting, you might even be TikTok famous. Universities want to know this information and find out a little bit more about you, your interests and your hobbies. Your conclusion statement is your chance to tie everything together.  

 

In my conclusion statement, I talked about how excited I was to go to university, meet new people and join new societies. Now, i've got an amazing group of friends and I'm a member of Ultimate Frisbee.  

 

It's a real thing I promise. Don't forget, if you are going to apply to Middlesex University, you can receive extra support. You're able to send your personal statement over to a team of experts and receive personalised feedback on it.  

 

Stay safe, good luck and we will see you soon.  

A Student's guide to writing a personal statement for university

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