Making the personal statement stand out

Imagine that you have received 3,000 applications for 100 places. Now imagine that 95 per cent of them have predicted grades that match or exceed the entry requirements. This is a situation commonly faced by the UCL admissions team when selecting for the most competitive programmes (looking at you, economics).

A question counsellors often ask us is “do you still read the personal statement?” And the answer is “YES” – the personal statement remains key in deciding who to progress through the selection processes, who to invite to interview (where programmes require it) and, ultimately, in helping us identify which applicants are likely to thrive on our programmes. Here are some pointers to bear in mind when you are advising your students.

Research, research, research!

Before putting pen to paper, it is important that students have taken the time to research each programme they are applying for. There is only one personal statement and it needs to be relevant for each of those programmes. We would advise prospective students to read programme and module descriptions carefully first, to find out how programmes with the same title differ and to understand the qualities, skills and experience they need to refer to in their personal statements. 

Which qualities are universities looking for?

Although there are general qualities that all universities would tend to look for in prospective students, there might be slight differences in what an “ideal candidate” might look like, depending on the programme they are applying to. This could be someone who demonstrates an interest in entrepreneurship, is curious about applications of their subject to the real world, has an aptitude for creative problem-solving or holds one of many other desired qualities that our academics would hope to see in the students they engage with on their programmes. This is another aspect of researching a programme.

Such details are usually included in the online prospectus or departmental webpages, but it is always worth students attending open days (whether in-person or virtual) if they can, to establish if they would be a good fit.

Demonstrating enthusiasm and ability

“I’ve been passionate about medicine since I was five years old” – a personal statement opener that no admissions assessor wants to see (but that’s another article…). We want to understand if the student will be a good fit for their chosen programme and what they will bring to the university community. 

The best way to get this enthusiasm and motivation across is through some carefully chosen examples. What is it about the subject that particularly interests them? What have they done outside of the school curriculum to feed their interest (for example, through attending talks or taster days, wider reading, podcasts, independent research projects, competitions, exhibitions visited, relevant work experience and more)? Encourage your students to use the word count wisely – universities can see their academic history so this does not need to be outlined again in the statement. The important thing is for students to reflect and tell us about what they have learnt from these experiences and the transferable skills they have gained.

What separates a good personal statement from an excellent one?

The statement needs to be specific to the subject area, personal and unique to the applicant, and should flow in a way that is coherent – all in just 4,000 characters or roughly 500 words.

Excellent statements do not rely solely on what has been learnt in the school curriculum. Genuine interest is conveyed through real, carefully chosen examples and by reflecting on and analysing experiences and relating them back to the programme being applied to.

An insight into what sparked someone’s interest in a particular subject or theme, or what draws someone to a particular career, can also be very helpful in bringing the personal element to the statement.

Encourage your students to make an early start and to allow the statement to go through several drafts to ensure the best possible end result. It can also be useful to remind them that there is no silver bullet.