The UCAS “personal statement” is an important part of the university application process. It's also the part many young people find hardest to complete. This year, UCAS has changed the format of personal statements to make them easier to complete. Let's take a look at what should be included and how it should be structured. We've got plenty of suggestions of avenues to explore so you can encourage and guide your teen if they get stuck.
What is a personal statement?
As part of the university application, your child will need to submit a personal statement. This is like a short advert that lets your teen showcase why they would make a great student. It must not exceed 4,000 characters (which is about 500 words). Your teen can only submit one personal statement, even though they can apply to up to five different universities.
This means they need to be careful that they are making themselves attractive to all the universities and not just their favourite.
Why it’s important
Alongside your child’s predicted sixth form qualification grades and their teachers’ references, the UCAS personal statement will help university admission tutors decide on whether to offer your child a place to study with them. Not all universities conduct interviews, so the personal statement may be the only opportunity your child has to showcase their talents, accomplishments and interest in applying for the course. Universities also use the personal statement to choose between candidates whose academic experience is similar but there aren't enough places to go round.
Changes to personal statement format - effective 2026 entry
The objectives and length of the personal statement section is the same; however the format has changed. There are now three question that your teen will need to answer. This should make it easier for students to know what to include and where to include it.
The personal statement still allows a maximum of 4,000 characters. Each section must be answered with a minimum of 350 characters. This allows students flexibility, so they can focus on questions where they have more to say. 350 characters is about 45-50 words.
What are the questions?
The three sections help to guide students towards the information they should include. Don't forget, sections don't need to be equal length. If your teen has a lot to say about one area but not much in another, they can write more when answering that question. However, they must not ignore a question. Make sure they don't repeat the same information in different sections - this will use up their word count. If they've already said it somewhere else, they don't need to say it again.
Why do you want to study this course or subject?
A chance for your teen to express their passion and knowledge for the subject. In most cases, they won't have studied the subject before, but that doesn't matter. Here they need to express why their interested. Have they been inspired by someone else - whether in their personal life or via a celebrity or through reading a book or seeing a lecture? Is it a subject they love - if so, why? What have they done to find out more about the subject and prove their interest? Is it directly linked to their future career plans and if not, how will it be linked?
How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for studying this course or subject?
This covers formal education, but there's no need to include qualification grades as that's covered in a different part of the application. Instead, they should focus on what they've achieved (or are currently studying) at school or courses they have taken outside of school that's directly linked to the course they would like to study.
It's also a chance to talk about indirect connections between what they've studied so far and the course. For example, if the course involves analytics, what have they done already that makes them want to focus more on analytics and indicates they'd be good at it? Have they achieved anything that's relevant - such as becoming school team captain, or a school ambassador or have they won any competitions inside or outside of school?
What else have you done outside of education and why are these experiences useful?
This is where your teen can stand out most from other applicants because this part of the personal statement will include experiences unique to them. Answers to questions 1 and 2 may be similar because applicants will be of a similar age and with similar experience at school/college. Here, you teen should Include work experience, volunteering, hobbies and interests outside of what's offered at school, any achievements not already covered in 1 and 2, and relevant personal experience
What's the point of a personal statement?
The personal statement is an opportunity for your child to provide the admission tutor with an insight into what they are like as an individual and why they are the right fit at their university. Admissions tutors want to make sure that both the course and university are the right choice for the applicant. After all, they don't want them to be unhappy and eave before the degree course ends!
Essentials to include
Don't let your teen fall into the trap of using most of the word count to talk about why they want to take the course / go to university. Instead they should focus on listing what they have done to work towards going to university, and why they think it's relevant.
Broadly speaking, a personal statement should demonstrate:
Your child’s passion for wanting to study their chosen subject or field
What they’ve done to engage with this subject inside and outside of the curriculum
Their interests and hobbies and how these relate to their chosen course
What relevant experience they have
What makes them unique – some hobbies may have nothing to do with the course, but tell a lot about their personality
If your teen is struggling to think of reasons for wanting to study this course, it might be a good idea to talk with them about whether this is the right course for them. At this stage, it’s ok to go back to the drawing board and start researching alternative course options as its important to get this right.
Why it’s good to start early
Content for a personal statement isn’t something that can be created overnight. It takes time to assimilate ideas and finesse them, so it’s good to encourage your child to start thinking about this well ahead of submission time. This doesn’t necessarily mean a heavy-handed desk bound session, but prompting them with questions on a regular basis to help them clarify why they like something or what makes an experience pleasant / unattractive for them will help them consolidate their thoughts and prompt an understanding of ways to describe clearly what they like and dislike and why.
One advantage of drafting the personal statement early on is that there's no need to panic if your teen's personal statement is looking ‘thin’ – there are things they can do during evenings, weekends and school holidays to help them stand out. For inspiration, there's plenty of ideas in The Parents' Guide to Helping your teen stand out.
Editing and finessing
Prepare your teen for a pretty long cycle of reading, editing and rereading their personal statement until it is ready to be submitted. If your child is in Year 12, it’s a good idea to return to school in September of Year13 with a first draft of their personal statement completed. If they don’t yet know which course to study once they leave school, they can focus the draft on their skills, achievements and hobbies.
Getting started
Most students find that starting their personal statement is the hardest part. If your teen is struggling to get motivated, encourage them to make a list of all the things they might want to include without worrying whether or not these will be included in the final version. Don’t let them get caught up in trying to think of a catchy opening line - this can be left until much later in the process.
A good way to approach the personal statement is to break it into more manageable chunks. This will make it less daunting and might even help them to structure it. Try using mind-maps, notes, spider diagrams, bullet points (or whatever works best for your child) to help them put pen to paper and get the ideas flowing - no one is expecting a perfect first draft. You might even like to use our mind map below.
Ideas to inspire them:
Get your child to look at the university’s website to find out more about the course they are applying for. Help them identify the qualities and experience they will need to do well on the course as this can often help them decide what to write about.
Ask your child why they are applying for that course. Get them to expand on their reasons by asking them what excites them about the course, which modules they are particularly keen to learn more about and where they want the course to take them in their professional journey.
Mindmap their interests, hobbies, talents, skills, achievements and any involvement in clubs or societies. This exercise will help your child see what they’ve done so far and helps them identify examples to include in their personal statement.
Demonstrating passion
With relatively few words allowed, it is essential that the university understands why this is the right course for your child. Wider reading, additional courses, hobbies and relevant work experience associated with their degree choice will help demonstrate their interest.
Make sure your child doesn’t just list what they’ve done and achieved. The key to a good personal statement is to include what they have learnt and how this has impacted them. A good way to approach this is to use the following three steps:
Identify the activity or experience
Explain what they have learnt
Explain how this has changed them and link it to why it makes them a suitable applicant for their chosen course.
Addressing different course choices
If they have chosen several different types of courses, they will need to focus on themes (i.e. creativity, communications, organisation, mechanics, research etc) rather than specifics (i.e. anything unique to one of the course titles). If possible, they should seek out the themes common to all the courses.
Even though this may restrict what they can say, they should try to express why they think they're suitable and passionate about their chosen courses, even if this means explaining in general terms rather than specifics depending on how different the areas of focus in each course may be.
It is worth noting that more academic universities will seek greater evidence of your child’s passion for the subject versus their skillset, less academic universities will place more weight on skills.
Setting the right tone
Like CVs, there are certain descriptors that can be over-used (creative, great communicator, diligent, willing to learn, team player, problem solver to name but a few). It’s fine to use these expressions, but the focus should be on why this applies (and examples to prove or demonstrate) rather than listing them without qualification.
Sequence, paragraph order and a broad remit covering a variety of aspects of their personality are important. This is no time to be shy or secretive. Your child should share drafts to get feedback and input from a range of people that have unique insight into their different strengths.
Make sure they spell-check! Misspellings look sloppy, so make sure a fresh pair of eyes reads over your child’s personal statement before submitting the final draft for any mistakes they might have overlooked.
Extenuating circumstances
If there are reasons why your teen may not achieve their desired grades, or they want to let the university know why there have been setbacks, explanations should not be included in the personal statement. Instead, this will be covered in the "teacher references" section. This is written by an academic referee. Your teen can choose this referee from current or former teachers, tutors or head teachers. It may be useful for both you and your teen to speak to this referee so you feel comfortable any situation that applies is fairly presented.
Deadlines
Most schools and colleges will have their own internal deadlines for when personal statements must be completed. It’s important to stick to these dates as they provide your child with time to receive feedback from school staff and make any necessary changes to their statement or application before the official UCAS application deadline in January. Some universities and courses have a much earlier deadline than the UCAS one, so check in advance.
Is your child applying to university this year?
%20-%202024-2025.jpg)
