Preparing for Personal Statement Success
Many students are flummoxed when first approaching the personal statement required for university applications in the UK; it is a task like no other that they have done in their academic career and yet is an essential document to get right. Students tend to struggle with describing themselves confidently and presenting their own achievements effectively. For this reason, here is our guide on preparing for developing the content required for writing a great rough 1st draft of your personal statement:
Developing Content. You want to have a good variety of evidence to apply in your personal statement as to why you are a prime candidate. Make a list of any relevant achievements and experiences that you could include in your personal statement. Examples are:
Achievements (academic, sporting, dramatic, or otherwise)
Work experience you have completed
Extracurricular groups and clubs
Independent project work & further reading related to your course
Personal interests and course-related interests
Research & reading. Reliant on your interests and available time, you may have amassed a variety of evidence for use in your personal statement. Most likely, you are missing some of the bullet points above. Depending on time and the portrayal you wish to put forward, you should decide how to best use your time to develop other achievements and experiences that you could use in your personal statement. Examples are:
Complete work experience over the course of a school holiday.
Read the works of authors related to your course and critically engage with their ideas (this can be single chapters if pushed for time).
Join a club or group related to the course you wish to study.
Complete an independent project or essay prize - we have a list of essay prizes appropriate to year 12 and 13 UK students on our website here.
The first draft. Now that you have a list of evidence you want to include in your personal statement, create a rough skeleton out of the evidence to plan out what you want to discuss in each paragraph. Each paragraph should have a topic sentence and should show something about your calibre as a student. Focus on writing and creating a full 1st draft, not on editing your language as you go - you will have plenty of chances to edit afterward!
Redrafting. The majority of personal statements that we provide guidance and advice on will take circa 10-15 redrafts to bring the personal statement into its final form. Some key elements to bear in mind are:
Focus on SHOWING, not TELLING. This is the most grievous error that students make in their personal statement. Do not tell the reader that you are “interested in English Literature” show them you are - e.g. “Shakespeare’s plays revolutionised my understanding of gender when I read…”
Use direct language and eliminate filler words to maximise the impact of your language within the constraints of the word count (500 words).
Showcase your passion and enthusiasm for the subject/course through demonstrating your knowledge, research and critical opinion.
Explain why the course/college/university appeals to you, how it will transform your studies and how you will contribute in return.
We hope that this will help students to develop a great rough 1st draft of their personal statement and apply their achievements and experiences in ways that accurately portray them as a prime candidate for their course and university. From all of us at Libra Education, never stop learning!