Writing your personal statement

Here you'll find everything you need to know about writing your personal statement.

Using your personal statement beyond a university application

You’ve done all the hard work creating your personal statement, but have you thought about how you can use what you’ve written for different purposes? Whether you’re thinking about applying for an apprenticeship, or there’s a job you’d love, and you need a covering letter, your personal statement can be a great place to start.

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Postgraduate personal statements

Dr Phil Porter – Associate Dean Education (Student Experience)

The best way to approach writing a personal statement is to consider it like a rock concert... which may sound mad. If you consider a rock concert, it starts with a big lively song to get everyone in the mood and ends with a similar song. So that's one of the most important aspects of writing a personal statement – to make a big impact at the beginning and then round off with a big impact too.

Michael, BA (Hons) Film and Television Studies

My best tip if you've got writer's block when it comes to a personal statement is just get any information you can on a piece of paper. It doesn't have to be in an order, it doesn't have to be in any kind of system. It just needs to be on the paper, because you can redraft, you can edit. What's important for the first step isn't making it perfect. It's getting something down. The best thing you can do is think about the course you're applying to. What can you write about why you want to do this course?

Personal statement advice for other applicants