Writing a UCAS personal statement

Writing a personal statement can feel like a daunting task for students alongside managing your final year at school. You might hear all sorts of opinions from around you and the noise can be intimidating. Moreover, There will be some students hiring the best consultants, or talking about being able to pull off the entire personal statement overnight but the best thing you can do is work according to a schedule.

A personal statement has a significant amount of weightage in your university application process for the UK. It is something through which admission officers will get to know you beyond just your grades.

For a well-rounded personal statement, start early. Give yourself 2-3 months to write a personal statement. By that time, you should be almost done with your university research and program selection.

Filter out the experiences you want to talk about. You cannot possibly write everything in 4000 characters. There is no perfect college application essay. Do not try to imitate everything on the internet. The only person who can write a perfect essay for you is you. You are unique and the admission officer loves people who are organic but can present themselves in an interesting manner. The admission officer doesn’t know you personally so do not leave room for guesswork.

Ask your family or close friends to read it for you and take genuine feedback. Reach out for help to your school counsellor. If they are not available, reach out to your senior. There are tons of resources available on YouTube as well. Utilize them but do not imitate or plagiarize them.

You might have to edit your essay 5-6 times and be ready for that. Give yourself the room to do that. Do not try to write it in one go. Trust me it will lack depth. Don’t use jargon or try to sound academic. The admission committee know this essay is written by a 17/18-year-old and they want young people who are passionate and willing to learn.

For example, if you are writing about being involved in community service at high school, mention what value it brought to your life and how that experience impacted you personally. Don’t try to be superficial. Instead, build on a few things and how the experience will help you in your degree and career. It doesn’t have to be something out of the world but something that resonates with your personality.

The paragraphs should be related and come out as a story. It cannot be emphasized enough the importance of the opening statement. The opening statement will set the mood of the admission officer. The opening statement will get the admission officer to read the entire essay. It should be interesting and captivating.

Do not try to brag or boast about yourself but talk about the impact of your experiences, interests and why you want to pursue a particular degree, goals and aspirations aligned with it. You do not have to be 100% sure about it but a general idea would suffice.