How to write your personal statement like a boss

The personal statement is your chance to show that you’d be an excellent student for the courses you’re applying to, and the new style makes it easier than ever to do this. But, we know it can be hard to know what to write, so here are seven top tips to guide you through it.

NB: this guidance is for all UK UCAS applications from 2026-entry onwards.

A quick introduction

Forget everything you’ve heard about personal statements because the new three-question structure is here, and it’s going to make your application so much easier to tackle.

The most important thing to remember is that you won’t be penalised for writing something in the ‘wrong’ section, so don’t spend time agonising over which section you put your information in; so long as it’s all in there, it’s fine. 

The three questions and what you should write in each one are below – Unifrog’s UK personal statement tool mirrors this structure to help you on your way.

You have to write at least 350 characters for each question, but you can write more for one question than another, providing you don’t go over the total 4,000-character limit.

Bear in mind that some degree programmes might place more importance on one particular question. For example, vocational degrees (like nursing) may place more importance on question three to make sure you’ve built up some experience in the field.

Our seven top tips: the short version 

Read through the short version below, and then scroll down for a detailed explanation of each tip, along with plenty of helpful examples. 

1. Make every word count
   You only have 4,000 characters, so cut out the words that don’t achieve anything, remove any vague phrases, and avoid intensifiers like ‘really’ and ‘very’. 
    
2. Keep your focus
   For every point and example you include, ask ‘does this explain why I’m a good applicant?’. If it shows that you have the right skills or experience for learning this particular subject, keep it; if it doesn’t, it needs to go. 
    
3. Sell yourself
   Be confident without being arrogant, and evidence any relevant skills and experiences. 
    
4. Show your passion
   Describe things you’ve done outside of the classroom to demonstrate your passion for the subject – things like reading, writing, and getting involved with relevant activities.
    
5. Show who you are
   Write about your achievements, hobbies, work experience, employment, and extracurriculars. You can also include any personal experiences or responsibilities that might have influenced your choice of subject.
    
6. Stand out
   Stand out as a strong applicant by describing your unique interest in a particular area of your subject.  Discuss your wider reading and the impact it's had on your decision to study the subject.
    
7. Check your work
   After each major edit, take a break, proofread it, and then proofread it again – even a small error can overshadow a brilliantly-crafted sentence. 

The tips above are for your whole personal statement. For advice on what to write for each question, go to our personal statement writing tool. 

Our seven top tips: the longer version 

1. Make every word count

You only have 4,000 characters (that’s spaces and punctuation included) across the three questions to make a great impression on an admissions team, so you need to make each one count. This is easier than you think: all you have to do is keep everything concise.

To do this you should:

• simplify complicated phrasing (big words don’t necessarily equal a better application!)
• avoid exaggerated phrases like ‘I am fascinated by / passionate about’ etc. (more on this later)
• avoid unnecessary intensifiers like ‘really’, ‘very’, and ‘always’
• use acronyms for lengthy titles of well-known qualifications or awards, like the EPQ
• reference well-known authors, speakers, etc. with their surnames only (except where there are two people in the same field with the same surname, like the Rosettis)
• check for accidental double spaces.

Examples:

Instead of: From a young age, I personally have always been a really keen and enthusiastic scientist, who has really thrived in all scientific subjects. Marie Curie – who discovered radium and polonium – has always inspired me to keep searching for the truth which is something I plan to continue doing at university.

There are quite a few issues with this example, starting with the cliched ‘from a young age’ opening. In terms of concision, there are unnecessary intensifiers (‘really keen’) and explanations (who Marie Curie is), extra wording (‘I personally’), and vague phrasing that doesn’t show much at all (‘something I plan to continue'). This student also hasn’t shown that they are a keen scientist – you should evidence your interest with examples.

Try: I am a keen scientist who enjoys using experimental techniques to solve problems. In Chemistry, I recently investigated the rate of reaction between magnesium and sulphuric acid…

This doesn’t include everything from the original, but it shows how the student is a keen scientist and launches straight into an example of something they’ve found interesting in class. It’s also only 177 characters, compared to the 304 characters in the first example!

When you start drafting, you should write down everything you think is relevant. Then, select your best examples for each section and carefully edit the language to keep it concise. 

2. Keep your focus

The point of your personal statement is to show an admissions tutor that you’ll make a great student in your chosen subject. To do that, you need to use lots of detailed examples, but those examples must do  what you need them to do! For each one, ask yourself ‘does this explain why I am a good applicant?’.

If your example shows that you have the right skills, experience, or attitude for learning for this particular subject, keep it; if it doesn’t, it needs to go.

You should focus your examples on your abilities and interests and how they make you a suitable candidate for the course. You can even pick out key general topics that you have an interest in and are looking forward to studying, e.g. sustainable building design in an architecture application. You should avoid mentioning specific university courses or modules by name (e.g. Games and Virtual Reality at Glasgow School of Art) as you’ll be sending this to all your chosen universities and this may limit your chances at those you don’t mention.

Examples:

Instead of: The process of writing an EPQ taught me many skills that will be invaluable to me at university and in my future career as an architect. 

This is a vague example – we have no idea what the EPQ was about or what specific skills this applicant built. The example also hasn’t been linked to the course that the student is applying for.

Try: Through writing my EPQ on ‘Sustainability in the UK’, I developed my research skills and the ability to break down complex, interconnected policies and processes. These skills will be essential throughout my degree in architecture, where I will need to research widely and understand policies on specific areas like sustainable building design.

In this example, the student has identified and evidenced two specific skills that they have related directly to their chosen subject. This example also answers the question, ‘does this explain why I am a good applicant?’ 

Please note that this example isn’t complete. We would recommend giving more information and picking out some key parts of the EPQ you found particularly interesting, what you learnt, and how this relates to your chosen subject.

3. Sell yourself

This can be a tough one! The thought of having to write about your best qualities fills some people with absolute dread, but you do have great skills and attributes, and your university admissions team wants to hear about them! The trick here is to be confident without coming across as arrogant: be proud of yourself, but don’t show off.

Try the following exercise:

1. Start off by making a list of all the useful experiences you’ve had, the things you’ve done that you’re most proud of, any awards or certificates you’ve achieved, and any competitions you’ve won (if you’ve been using Unifrog’s Activities tool, check here first  for ideas).
2. Next to each example, make a note of the relevant skills and subject knowledge you've gained.
3. Finally, mark out the examples that are relevant to your chosen subject or to going to university in general; these are the examples you’re going to use to demonstrate how fantastic you are to your admissions team.

When you write each example, avoid arrogant and sweeping statements like ‘I have a vast array of skills’, which only shows the admissions team that you’re not quite sure what the value of that activity was! Instead, describe how you’ve put specific skills into practice to give evidence of your abilities.

Examples:

Instead of: My class organised a geology day for younger pupils at my school demonstrating our teamwork and organisation skills. 

This uses collective language (‘our...skills’), and doesn’t show the applicant’s involvement in the event, so the admissions tutor won’t find it relevant. 

Try: My class organised a geology day for younger pupils at my school. My job was to research speakers and activities, and then present these to our geology teacher to book. I was also part of the marketing team where I made posters, spoke in assemblies about the event, and encouraged as many students as possible to join. 

This shows the student’s involvement, highlighting exactly what they did and how this contributed to the overall event, ‘selling’ the applicant by showing the value of their participation. This example could do with more detail to make it more powerful.

4. Show your passion

Instead of telling the admissions team that you’re passionate about your subject, show them with one or two specific examples. Describe things you’ve done outside of the classroom to demonstrate that you enjoy the subject so much, you want to spend your own time exploring it.

So, what examples could you use?

• Reading: read widely and deeply to explore your subject more fully. ‘Reading’ also includes watching and listening, and Unifrog can help you with this!
  • Use the Geek Out sections in the Subjects library to find ideas for topics and influential academics to learn about.
  • Use the Read, Watch, Listen tool to explore more widely – find films, podcasts, books, poems, and more that you can filter by a range of categories including genre, vibe, and interest.
• Writing: write a personal blog, an article, an extra essay, or a project.
• Experiencing: go to lectures, museums, galleries, and planetariums.
• Getting involved: organise work experience, take part in competitions outside of school, create a society/club, or join a summer school.
• Helping others: teach younger children at school or as a tutor, or volunteer at a youth centre, local place of worship, or in a care home to share your knowledge.
• Creating: make a short film, start a podcast, or put on an event at school.

Record your thoughts on everything you explore using the Activities tool so you don’t forget what you learnt or found interesting! Your thoughts on what you read or did are key to your examples, and will demonstrate your independence and love of your subject.

Be honest about what you’ve read, researched, or taken part in: your admissions team will be able to verify a lot of what you’ve written through the reference from your teachers, so it’ll be clear if things don’t quite match up. And, if you are invited to an interview, you’ll probably be asked about your independent reading, and it’ll be blatantly obvious if you’ve stretched the truth!

Examples:
Instead of:  I’ve always loved reading novels across a range of genres. I read in my spare time and I can’t wait to study more books during my English Literature degree.

This is too vague, so it doesn’t convincingly evidence the applicant’s passion for English literature. There are no examples of the type of novels or authors this student enjoys reading, and it’s not clear that they read beyond the novels set in their English lessons. As a general point, avoid phrases like ‘I’ve always loved…’ – they’re rarely true and very overused! Again, showing your love is more important than just saying you love a subject.

Try: I greatly enjoyed reading ‘Money: A Suicide Note’ by Martin Amis as part of my English coursework. I was particularly interested by Amis’ use of the excess-driven protagonist, John Self, to explore the darker side of individualism. After I handed in my coursework, I explored contrasting presentations of consumerism in Amis’ other work, and in the work of other contemporary authors, such as Chuck Palahniuk and Bret Easton Ellis. I read X, which presented consumerism as…

This convincingly evidences the applicant’s love for their subject by highlighting a specific interest – in this case, the presentation of consumerism in contemporary literature. It also shows that the candidate has thought about how their example (‘Money: A Suicide Note’) connects with other key themes in their subject, and how this has sparked an in interest in other novels and authors. The candidate is also comparing their in-class studies with their wider reading, demonstrating a natural curiosity in the subject.

5. Show who you are

Question three is your opportunity to show an admissions team who you are. You can write about your achievements, hobbies, work experience, paid employment, volunteering, or extracurricular activities. You can also write about any personal experiences or responsibilities that influenced your choice of subject, or that helped you build the skills and qualities you’ll need for the course or university in general.

You don’t have to write about anything personal if you don’t want to. Remember that anything you do choose to include should show why you’re suitable for the course you’re applying for.

If you have any extenuating circumstances, you don’t need to mention them here unless they form part of your example; your teachers will add them to their reference (with your permission).

Examples:
Instead of: I’m a young carer and my mum really wants me to go to uni, so I’m doing this for her.

Try: Being a young carer has taught me how to be patient and resilient; skills that I have used both in my studies and in my voluntary role as a Young Leader at Brownies. Due to my mother’s condition, unfortunately I’m not able to give as much time as I want to to Brownies, but this has forced me to learn how to balance my time between mum, my studies, Brownies, and my friends. I’ve also become more resilient as a result of my determination to succeed in my studies, and advocating for the best care possible for my mum. Patience, resilience, and determination are all vital skills in a fashion degree, and ones I look forward to honing throughout my studies.

While the first example might be heartfelt and true, it doesn’t really show an admissions tutor that the student is a strong applicant; if anything, it makes it seem like they’re possibly applying for the wrong reasons. The second example, however, points out the relevant skills they’ve developed as a result of their extenuating circumstances.

Make sure anything you write here links back to your subject or desire to go to university.

And, what if you feel like you have nothing to write here? If you haven’t had a part-time job, done any volunteering, or participated in any extracurricular activities, don’t panic – make a list of all your hobbies and then, next to each one, write down the skills you’ve built doing them.

For example:

• Watching lots of movies at the cinema gives you a greater understanding of and appreciation for other people’s viewpoints; an essential skill for applying critical theory at uni.
• Running a public Instagram or YouTube account means planning content, editing it, and posting it at a time you know you’ll get the most views. Pick the most relevant skills to your course, but they could be time-management, planning, communication, understanding an audience, and so on.
• Even just planning parties or days out for you and your friends would develop your organisation and budgeting skills.

6. Stand out (for the right reasons)

Standing out in your personal statement doesn’t mean adding in jokes, writing it like a piece of creative writing, or sharing bizarre anecdotes. It means standing out as a strong applicant through your experiences and unique interest in one particular aspect of the course. Discuss your wider reading and independent research, and the impact this has had on your decision to study the subject. 

This can often come in the form of an anecdote or unusual reason for your initial interest in the subject, but avoid shoehorning anecdotes or experiences into your writing for the sake of it – it’s more important to sound sincere than unusual. 

Steer well clear of clichés. Using famous quotes, for example, is overdone. Even if you’ve found an unusual quote that you think no one has ever used before, it’s very likely that the admissions team have seen it amongst the thousands of applications they’ve read over the years. Even more importantly, using inspirational quotes often suggests a lack of inspiration. It’s better to use your own words than someone else’s. 

You should also avoid clichéd phrasing like ‘from a young age’, ‘passion’, and ‘team player’ as this lacks real substance. Equally, steer clear from those ‘lightbulb’ moments when everything suddenly became clear and you knew you wanted to study your chosen subject – not only is it highly unlikely that one moment decided your whole life for you, but your decision to study a subject at university should be carefully considered across all your experiences and interests.

Examples:
Instead of: I have wanted to study liberal arts and sciences from a young age ever since I visited the Science Museum with my primary school. 

‘From a young age’ should be avoided – it’s clichéd and shows the admissions tutor that your decision isn’t based on anything recent or carefully considered. We also have a ‘lightbulb’ moment in the form of visiting a museum; this might have sparked an interest in a subject area, but it’s super unlikely that you decided to study liberal arts at university while at primary school!

Try: Studying liberal arts will further develop my interest in how the worlds of arts and science are interlinked and feed off of each other. When studying Da Vinci in art, I began exploring human proportions and how our perception of these can be affected by artistic principles like lights and shadow...

This example feels more honest than the previous one. It also focuses on a long-term, mature reason for choosing the subject, considering the academic skills that the student enjoys and wants to develop. This also provides a great segue into your extracurricular reading.

7. Check your work

After each major edit, take a break, proofread it, and then proofread it again – unfortunately, even a small spelling or punctuation mistake can overshadow a brilliantly-crafted sentence, and you don’t want your hard work to lose its impact!

Once you’ve completed your personal statement, have it checked by one key reader, and possibly a second to act as a subject expert. Avoid asking too many people; you don’t want conflicting feedback.