1. Writing UCAS Personal Statements

2. Overview  Personal statement take some time to get right  Probably one of the hardest sections on the UCAS form  Not only relevant to students applying for higher education – most of the sections can be adapted to job applications – so useful all round

3. What should a Personal Statement cover?....  Why have you chosen the course?  What interests you about your chosen subject?  What are your career plans ?  Your current study – general summary and what you especially enjoy. Any projects you have been involved in. Skills acquired.  Job or work experience – what skills can you draw out from this?  Other activities through college  Hobbies interests  Concluding sentence Don’t just list things – use your experience as a means of supporting your application by showing how these have influenced your decision to do the course

4. Next steps  Work on putting together your own ideas on the personal statement template (Student VLE in the Careers Support section. Follow link to section “Applying for Higher Education)- bullet form  Get help from your tutor or Careers/Personal Adviser to develop your ideas  Write your first draft  Show your tutor  Make amendments as recommended

5. General tips…  Don’t copy from any other statements you see on the internet or from friends – plagiarism software  Make your opening sentence interesting. Don’t start with “I have always wanted to be/do…”  Show your enthusiasm and commitment.  Use examples to reinforce a point as this makes your statement more interesting.  Include anything you do or have done that is unusual (but relevant to your argument) as they are more likely to remember you  Your concluding statements need to leave the reader with a sense of your determination  Make sure you structure your statement first. Get this bit right and it makes the rest a lot easier.

6.  When you have completed the statement and made the recommendations given by your tutor copy and paste into the online form on your UCAS application. Remember you can get help from your tutor or linked Careers Adviser with the statement and form You can use up to 4000 characters (47 lines of the online form)