Personal Statement

Useful hints and tips for writing a personal statement

• Speak to your friends and family: There may be situations you have encountered in your life, or experiences you have had, that perfectly match the criteria or the qualities needed for the university course you are applying for, but you may just not have realised it, or you could even have forgotten about it. This is where your friends and family can help. Tell them some of the qualities or criteria you want to convey in your personal statement and see what examples they come up with.
• Be prepared to spend time on your personal statement: Rushing it is not an option, certainly not if you harbour serious dreams of studying at university. You need to plan, draft, edit, write, re-write, check, amend, spell check, proofread, edit and finally submit your personal statement. You cannot do that in an afternoon.
• Remember the small details: Things like making sure you use a suitable email address for your application form, checking the word count of your personal statement and ensuring you have dates your form correctly are all little things that could trip you up if you are not careful.
• Do not use slang, unless it is in context: Slang words and swear words should be avoided at all costs in the body of your personal statement. The only time slang could be permissible is if it has been used as part of a relevant quote.
• Steer clear of clichés: Using clichés masks any originality you should be building into your personal statement. Avoid clichés like the plague - pun intended.
• Watch your basic grammar: Things like apostrophes, commas and capital letters have been the downfall of many a student. Some people seem to put capital letters on any words they fancy. Remember the grammatical rules, and stick to them.
• Pay attention to the word restrictions: Universities will penalise their students for going wildly over the word count in work they submit for marking. Look at the number of words you are allowed to use for your personal statement, and don't go over it. Check the restrictions and make sure you are reading them correctly, for example, does it give a number of words to stick to or a number of characters?
• Keep the word "why" in the back of your mind: Try and qualify the things you are writing about. Explain your reasons behind including them, rather than just stating them.
• Read through sample personal statements, expecially ones that have been successful: Doing this can help get your own creative juices flowing, and will give you an idea of the type of things people have written about before you. It could help you to form ideas of your own and produce the personal statement that will see you land the place you want at university.