How to start a personal statement

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2. What to include in a personal statement

Have a structure

Part of planning your personal statement is deciding what to include and what not.  Keep in mind that you’re telling admissions tutors the story of you. All stories have a structure – there’s a beginning, a middle and an end and this is laid out by the three key questions in the personal statement.

By answering these questions, you will convey your motivation for choosing the subject you’re applying for, explain how it fits in with your future plans, talk about how your qualifications or studies have helped you prepare for the subject, and give examples of other activities and experience that may be useful.  

Begin with you

Tackling the first question. This is your chance to talk about you, your background, and your excitement for the course. It should then flow naturally into the second question where you can draw on your academic knowledge and experience and show how it relates to the course you are applying to.  

Tina, Lead Admissions Tutor for Adult Nursing at the University of Brighton, shared with us what she looks for in the first few paragraphs of a student's personal statement:

They should start their application with the reason why they are applying and if they have any personal insight into a role such as being cared for when they were younger, attending hospital to visit a relative or any other experience as part of a course, volunteering, or work.

Tina, Lead Admissions Tutor for Adult Nursing at University of Brighton

Be to the point from the beginning

Each section allows for around 350 characters for your answer, so two or three sentences are usually enough. You only have 4,000 characters and about 47 lines to play with for the entire statement, so you need to write clearly and avoid any waffle.  

Don’t be afraid to go straight into talking about what excites you most about your subject and the motivation behind choosing to apply. Use language that’s punchy, concise, and relevant too. This will help you to show your ambition and enthusiasm to admissions tutors.

Avoid cliché opening sentences

Clichés are clichés because they’re overused. Put yourself in the shoes of an admissions tutor – they’ll be reading lots of personal statements, so the ones that stand out will be those that aren’t like the others.

Make a note of any clichéd sentences you can think of or have seen online, and check you don’t include them when writing your personal statement. Some examples to avoid include:

• ‘I have always wanted to study...’
• ‘I feel I’ve always had a passion for...’
• ‘From a young age...’
• ‘Since I can remember...’

Don’t feel pressured to write the intro first

The first question seems like the obvious place to start. But you may find it easier to leave it until the end. Start at whichever point suits you best, provided you have a plan and know what you want to say. Given the most important content will come in the middle paragraphs, where you explain your choice of subject, it may make sense to start there. 

Just start writing! Don’t feel that you necessarily need to write your personal statement in the order in which it will be read. This is only for the author to know.

Dr Ceri Davies, Economics Director of Admissions and Recruitment at University of Birmingham