Why have a personal statement?
Do's and donts when writing psersonal statements
International Students
Introductory sentences to get you started
Mention the subject
Plan carefully
Points to remember
Sub-sections
What Admissions Tutors look for
What to inlcude
Plan carefully
It would be very unusual for someone to be made an unconditional offer on the basis of a good personal statement, but applicants are often rejected at the first stage of selection because of a bad one. For this reason it is important to plan your statement.
Writing a good personal statement is not an easy task and you should not expect to write it in one go. You may need several attempts to organise all that you want to say about yourself and you may need several attempts at writing good reasons for your choice of course. Do seek help from other people if you need to; you can ask for help from friends, parents, tutors and guidance advisors and it is always a good idea to let someone else read the final version of your statement to check for mistakes that you might otherwise overlook.
Just like any piece of written work you should first decide what you want to say and then plan how you are going to say it. You have just 24 lines (roughly 300 words) in which to write or type your statement; you cannot attach extra sheets to your form. There are plenty of ideas and sample sentences to help you so don't panic! look here Introductory sentences.
Before you write anything on your UCAS form you should make one or two photocopies of the blank form. Use one of these copies to collect together your information and use the other one to practice filling it in correctly. Keep the original until the very end, after you have carefully checked your rough draft and corrected any mistakes.