Planning your personal statement
Your personal statement is a crucial part of your UCAS application. It's your chance to highlight your skills, goals and experience - and sometimes it's hard to figure out where to start. That's why we've compiled this handy guide to help you write a personal statement.
What is a personal statement?
When you apply for a course through UCAS you'll be asked to submit information about your qualifications and exam results, but that information doesn't tell us anything about what you're like as a person. Learning more about who you are is just as important to us as knowing how you did in your exams.
Your personal statement is the only place on your UCAS application in which you'll be able to tell us your story, and most of our courses don't include an interview stage so it's important.
From 2026 entry, the UCAS personal statement is changing structure from one longer piece of text to 3 separate questions:
- Why do you want to study this course or subject?
- How have your qualifications and studies helped you prepare for this course or subject?
- What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
Each answer has a minimum character count of 350 characters and the overall character limit is 4000 (including spaces). You should think hard about what you'd like to include and take your time. If you and another candidate have identical qualifications, earning an interview or landing a spot on your dream course could boil down to what you've told us in your personal statement.
What should I include in my personal statement?
UCAS has some excellent guidance on what you may like to include in your personal statement.
Read the UCAS personal statement guidance.
If you are applying for a professional or vocational degree like Nursing, Paramedic Science, Education or Social Work, you should also tell us what you know about that profession. Let us know about any relevant work experience you have and what you learned from it.
It's also worth talking about your long-term plans for the future. Tell us what sort of career you'd like to pursue – and above all else, tell us how you think earning a place on your chosen course could help you reach those career goals.
Ensure that you take care to avoid spelling and grammar errors.
When in doubt you should always ask somebody you trust to read over your personal statement in order to get a second opinion.
Useful links
- UCAS guide to using AI with your personal statement.
UCAS subject specific personal statement guides.
What should I leave out of my personal statement?
Your UCAS personal statement will be sent to all universities that you have applied to, so you should avoid mentioning a specific institution.
What if I apply for different courses at different universities?
If there is more than one type of course you are applying for across all of your UCAS choices (for example, both Biology and Sport and Exercise Science) we are happy for you to send us a separate personal statement for the course you have applied to us for.