Struggling to write your Personal Statement? This should help…..
 
Now is the perfect time to think about what you want to study, what makes it interesting, and also start collecting evidence to prove your interest in your chosen course.

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Yes, the structure of the Personal Statement has changed, but remember - the person reading your statement is an academic who has devoted their life to a subject you are now claiming to have an interest in. Therefore, the main focus of the statement should be your interest in the course and you should have plenty of relevant academic and/or vocational examples you can include to prove your interest. 

To get started, why not read articles from newspapers, relevant magazines and online, for example:
•    BBC news
•    Science Daily - an amazing site for global scientific research
•    Law Gazette
 
Keep a log of what you’ve read and, if you can be bothered to do some research into any topic, you can mention the ones you find particularly interesting as evidence in your Personal Statement.
 
University reading lists, suggested reading or preliminary reading: take a look and read at least one book, if not more. For example:
•    Engineering
•    History 
•    Maths

•    PPE 
•    Oxford (everything!)
•    Medicine
•    Sociology
   
For law:
•    Recommended reading lists eg LSE or King’s College Cambridge
•    Read broadsheet newspapers - The Times (you can get a month’s subscription free), The Guardian etc for current legal cases
•    BBC Law podcasts
•    e-lawresources to learn about points of law
•    The Lawyer Portal for some good free resources such as current legal ‘hot topics’!
 

For business/ finance/ management:
•    Sites such as the Institute of Economic Affairs - sign up for their free e-newsletter - and the ICAEW
•    YouTube lectures (pick and choose your areas of interest):  Management
•    Brilliant websites like Strategy & Business and Entrepreneur for interesting business articles
•    Harvard Business Review for more interesting articles
•    TEDtalks
•    Podcasts from Small Business
•    Different management styles

 

What else counts as evidence?
You might like to visit museums, art galleries and interesting buildings but many are still offering an online experience and this can count as evidence if it is relevant to your chosen course – there are amazing museum tours, gallery tours, and the fabulous RIBA website for any architects out there. 

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When you get the chance, sign up for university taster courses, demonstration lectures, master classes and Summer Schools. Even if some of these are still online, they are still excellent evidence of your interest in the course.  

 

You can also watch online talks -

• TEDtalks (15 mins max for those with a short attention span!)

• YouTube lectures

• university courses in your subject area – the internet is your friend! 

 

If you want to do STEM subjects visit websites like

• NRICH and Cut the Knot for extra maths problems to practice

• I want to study engineering

• IsaacPhysics

• IsaacChemistry

• IsaacCS

• Project Euler

This all counts as evidence!

 

You might also like to look at the exciting research your chosen universities are doing at the moment:

• Imperial

• Manchester

• Sheffield……

 

Work experience 
You will need work experience for certain courses. It’s an entry requirement for all healthcare courses, veterinary medicine, education and social work. While you are looking for in-person opportunities, look at online options. To get your foot in the door, why not

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• offer to make cups of tea at a GP?

• volunteer to read to the elderly in a care home or hospital ward?

• ask if you can help to feed the animals or shadow the nurse at your local vet?

 

You may not get the chance to watch a surgery at a top UK hospital but it will enable you to observe the healthcare team, interact with patients and reflect on what you have seen.

 

• Information from the Veterinary Schools Council

• Resources for vet med and medicine (I know it refers to Covid but there are still some great links)

• Information on applying for dentistry

 
What to do right now

Start building up your academic evidence now to create that excellent personal statement – it could be bullet points, the odd word or phrase to remind you of what you have done, it does not have to be perfect paragraphs just yet. Everything can be expanded, edited and refined later on nearer the application deadlines with help and guidance from your school.

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When you do write the real thing, your language needs to be formal (avoid I’m/ I’ve). Don’t be afraid to use language which shows your enthusiasm for the course or life in general. Do avoid swallowing a dictionary or a Thesaurus (that ‘Synonyms’ button on your computer!) and also avoid overly ‘flowery’ words like passion or ardent desire. You can mention things you thoroughly enjoy doing but don’t be negative; it wastes space and creates a bad impression.

 

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