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How to write a great UCAS personal statement

What is a personal statement.

The personal statement is the most important part of the UCAS process. It is your opportunity to explain why you have picked the subject you want to study and demonstrate your personality, passion and knowledge about your chosen subject.

Although your personal statement is the most important part of your application, it can also be the most difficult to put together. Writing your personal statement requires you to think seriously about your goals and aspirations. You might even change your mind about these as you are putting together your statement. However, this is a key part of working out what you want to do in the future.

How long can my personal statement be?

Your personal statement can be up to 4,000 characters (including spaces) or 47 lines of text long – whichever comes first.

Seven tips for writing a great UCAS personal statement

1. Do your research

You can use websites such as the National Careers Service to research the sort of jobs you would enjoy and the recommended routes into those careers. The UCAS website features details about every UK university course. Use this to find out subject specifics such as minimum entry requirements, available additional funding, career prospects and more. Visit campus open days and take the opportunity to speak with lecturers and see university facilities in person.

2. Take your time to plan and draft

A good personal statement cannot be written the night before. Take your time to plan what you want to say, and use multiple drafts to make sure you say it in the right way. As well as this, make sure you have enough time before the deadline to give yourself a break before rereading and sending off your statement. Taking a break can help you notice things you might not otherwise see and catch mistakes that might otherwise damage your chances of success.

3. Show off your personality

Hundred of thousands of students apply through UCAS every year — but only one of them is you. Your personal statement needs to reflect your personality and show universities what makes you unique. Talk about specific personal experiences and interests that have led to you choosing your subject. What do you do outside the classroom that is interesting and related to your chosen course? However, avoid using jokes or humour, even if it is a natural part of your personality.

4. Show off your passion

Above all else, university admissions staff want to see how enthusiastic, motivated and focused you are on your chosen subject. Devote over half of your personal statement to talking about the subject area you are applying for and why you are passionate about it. Talk about specific areas of the course that interest you — but avoid mentioning anything that only one of your chosen universities offers. Keep in mind that you can only submit one personal statement, no matter how many places you are applying for.

5. Be specific and relevant

Everything in your personal statement should show universities that you have the skills and qualities they are looking for. This means you should talk about your experience and aspirations in relevant ways. For example, if you have experience working in a shop, talk about how it has helped you develop the strong communication skills needed for a business management degree. Make sure you provide evidence for why you are the skilled, experienced person that your chosen universities are looking for.

6. Use your own language

Keep your writing simple and to the point. Avoid cliched words like ‘passionate’, as these can come across as inauthentic to the person reading your personal statement. Stick to vocabulary that you are familiar with — if you do not use a word in your day-to-day life, then do not use it in your personal statement. Make sure that you do not plagiarise other people’s work: UCAS has software to detect any writing that is copied or paraphrased from anywhere else, and some universities will reject you outright if your application is plagiarised.

7. Keep it brief

Admissions tutors have a lot of personal statements to read, so make sure you get to the point and do not take up more reading time than you need to. Use short paragraphs, straightforward language, and only include information that is relevant. A good idea is to write your opening and closing sentences last, as writing the rest of your statement might help inspire you and help cut down unnecessary words.

How to structure your personal statement

1. explain the reasons for your choice of subject.

Do not just talk about the importance of your chosen subject: the person reading your statement already knows this.

2. Explain why you are suitable for the course

You can use this section to explain how certain aspects of your chosen degree will help you progress and succeed.

3. Discuss your career aspirations

Demonstrate your knowledge of your chosen sector and your ambitions within it.

4. Describe the person behind the application

This can be a relatively short section: a few lines of interesting, relevant information will do.

5. Conclude by linking back to your introduction

Be brief: your conclusion is necessary, but everything above it is more important.

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2020 Undergraduate Application

Make sure your personal statement is your own work

We'll carry out checks to verify your personal statement is your own work.

Provided it is your own work, you can use your personal statement from your application last year. If it appears to have been copied from another source, we'll inform the universities and colleges to which you have applied. They will then take the action they consider appropriate. We'll also contact you by email to tell you this has happened.

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How Long Should Your UCAS Personal Statement Be?

"The ideal length for a UCAS personal statement is dependent on the quality and relevance of the information included, rather than the number of words." UCAS recommends a maximum of 4,000 characters or 47 lines of text.

Writing a UCAS personal statement can be a daunting task. It’s your chance to showcase your skills, experiences and motivations to universities, and convince them that you’re the right fit for their course. However, when it comes to the length of your personal statement, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. In this blog post, we’ll explore some tips and guidelines to help you determine the ideal length for your UCAS personal statement.

First and foremost, it’s important to note that there’s no official word count limit for a UCAS personal statement. However, UCAS recommends a maximum of 4,000 characters or 47 lines of text (including spaces and blank lines) for your personal statement. While this may seem like a lot of space, it’s important to use it wisely.

When it comes to length, quality should always be prioritized over quantity. Admissions tutors are looking for evidence of your passion and potential for their course, not a long list of achievements or experiences. In fact, including irrelevant or unnecessary information can actually be detrimental to your application.

It’s important to structure your personal statement in a way that flows logically and is easy to follow. A good rule of thumb is to divide your statement into three parts: an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. In your introduction, you should grab the reader’s attention and explain why you’re interested in the course. In the main body, you should expand on your experiences, skills and achievements, and explain how they relate to the course. Finally, in your conclusion, you should summarize your main points and explain why you’d be a great fit for the course.

When it comes to the length of each section, the introduction and conclusion should be relatively brief, while the main body should make up the bulk of your statement. As a general guideline, aim to spend around 70% of your personal statement discussing your skills, experiences and achievements, and around 15% on your introduction and conclusion respectively.

It’s also important to tailor your personal statement to each individual course you’re applying to. Make sure to do your research and understand what each course is looking for in a candidate. This will help you to emphasize the most relevant skills and experiences in your personal statement.

In summary, the ideal length for a UCAS personal statement is dependent on the quality and relevance of the information included, rather than the number of words. Aim to use the space available wisely, and focus on showcasing your passion and potential for the course. By following these guidelines, you’ll be well on your way to crafting a compelling and effective UCAS personal statement.

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What to include in a Personal Statement

Personal Statement Tips

Need some help with your personal statement? Then this is the guide for you!

Writing a personal statement is never easy and it can take a long time to perfect, but if you take a look at our UCAS personal statement tips, then you'll see exactly what you should (and what you shouldn't) include in your personal statement.

Write for the degree course you want to study

There is no simple formula to write a personal statement for two unrelated degree courses. However, if the courses are similar, such as a Banking degree course, and an Accounting degree course , you can adjust your writing to suit both of these subjects.

The trick is to not mention the subject(s) by name if you are applying for different ones. The same can be said for universities, don’t talk about the institution if you are applying to separate universities.

Choose your biggest passion

Although if the courses are totally unrelated – you find that you have two passions, media and music and are waiting for A-Level results day to make a decision – it can be impossible to write about both subjects well.

If this is the case, then you will need to look at your predicted grades, your degree courses and career aspirations if you have them. Once you have chosen a degree course that you prefer over the other, then write about that one in your personal statement.

The most important thing to remember is to ensure your statement suits its purpose; to impress the university, to answer questions, and to represent yourself.

Check your notes

Hopefully, you will have a structured plan before you start writing and this could be in the form of bullet points or an entire page of notes. Regardless of your planning style, the crucial factor is that you have thought about your personal statement before sitting down to write it!

Within your notes, you can decide what language you want to use, the style, and goals of your statement. Once you begin writing don’t forget to check back to your notes! Some students produce a weak statement because they don’t remember to re-read their initial goals. Referring to your plan will also help you if you find that you go off-topic, or lose inspiration during writing.

Think about the structure of the personal statement

Our next tips for writing a personal statement, is about how your personal statement looks and reads and how important it is to universities. It shows admission tutors that you understand how to write effectively and to follow instructions. Remember to address the aims of a personal statement – why you should be accepted on to the degree course, at that university, and why you are a good fit for the subject.

The language that you use will also be judged. Avoid text or messenger style of writing and the use of slang, because let’s be fair, that’s not what universities are looking for in a personal statement.

Never write your statement on the UCAS personal statement page

Next up is one of the most important university personal statement tips. Students should write their personal statement within a word document where they can check spelling and grammar as well as being able to use a programme they understand. However, after each paragraph, you should then copy your statement back into the UCAS page to see how many lines or characters you have used.

Remember you are only allowed to have 47 lines or 4000 characters worth of space. This is different to a word count and can be easily misunderstood. One scenario that can make you panic is that you write this amazing statement and check the line count before submission to find out you are extremely over the limit!

The ending of your personal statement is another key element to keep in mind. There is no right or wrong way to end your personal statement, however, we recommend two key elements: Make it personal and reinforce the key messages you've made earlier in the statement. These are the fundamental tenents to a good personal statement conclusion and will ensure that you sign off the statement in a meaningful way.

Be positive

There is no need to feel that you have to explain any shortfalls or negative aspects of your application – especially if the university won’t pick up on this!

Try to be positive and interesting to the admission tutor, tell them about any side projects you’ve done if this will seem more relevant and worthwhile than how you completed your coursework.

Look at the university prospectus

Most of our tips for writing UCAS personal statement might seem pretty obvious, but this one is often overlooked by students.

Before writing your personal statement actually read the university website and prospectus. In most cases, institutions will describe the type of students they are looking for, whether that be innovative, creative or those with academic excellence. You need to look at these prospectus as thoroughly as possible because these will yield more information than you think.

Talk about you

It seems like one of the more obvious personal statement writing tips, but it’s the most important one. The purpose of the personal statement is for universities to find out about you because the basic information within the application won’t tell them this.

Try to include the following: what you like to do in your free time, subjects you study that maybe won’t be graded, sport and leisure activities, hobbies, musical instruments, prizes you’ve won, competitions you’ve entered, languages you speak or side projects you were involved in.

You do not need to include everything, but the relevant information will help them form a decent impression about you and your personality. The vital thing is that you have a good reason for why you want to study that subject.

If you take a gap year then talk about your gap year

This too may seem like one of our more blatant tips on writing personal statements, but you’d be surprised just how many students are reticent to mention their gap year(s).

Admission tutors can see when a student has had a gap year in between college and university. They will be interested to know why you chose to have a year out and briefly explaining why will help your application. Discuss what you did during that time, why you chose to take a gap year and how it may be related to the course.

If you are considering taking a gap year or applying for a deferred place at university or if you have retaken your exams during a gap year or if you’ve been travelling during your gap year, then you can talk about this too. Write about your plans during this time and why it would benefit you in the long run.

Although there are no strict rules about discussing your gap year in your statement so if you decide not to that is okay too. You may still be asked about it during an interview with the university.

Why you want to study that degree course

This really is what the personal statement is about. Yes, you need to talk about yourself, but one of the best tips on how to write a personal statement we can give you, is talking about your deeply-held passion and love for the degree course.

The vital thing is that you have a good reason for why you want to study that subject. It doesn’t matter if it sounds silly or different to your friends’ personal statement; you can work on it later or go into more detail during the admission interview. The best part is that you’re honest. However, if your reasoning is purely due to not doing anything else at that moment then it’s best not to include that!

Take a look at some Personal Statement examples for ideas on how to effectively mention your potential degree course. Admission tutors search for enthusiastic and passionate students because they will be the best fit for the degree course.

Talk about the subject

Write down as much as you can about the subject you want to take. There may be certain aspects or modules that really interest you, or that you understand it is the right step for your career aspirations.

All of these reasons are music to the university’s ears because it not only shows that you have done your research but that you understand why you should study the subject.

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Writing your personal statement

As part of your UCAS application, you'll be asked to write a personal statement. This can be quite daunting, but we've got some important information to help you figure it out.

Primary page content

Why you need a personal statement.

As well as your grades, and any other conditions you need to meet, your personal statement will be used to decide if you receive a place at your chosen universities.

Your statement will be read by academic and admissions staff from the department you've applied to. A lot of universities won't interview you, so your personal statement is a way to show your passion for the subject you want to study.

Writing a personal statement

Your personal statement should be about you, but it should focus on what you've done since high school or college.

There are three key areas your personal statement should cover:

• Why do you want to study your chosen subject?
• What relevant skills and knowledge do you already have about this subject?
• What do you do when you're not studying? 

It's important to remember that you only write one personal statement, which is read by all the universities you apply for, so you should avoid naming a specific university or course.

Your writing should be authentic, focused, positive and show that you're confident and enthusiastic about studying at university. Anyone can say "I'm passionate about studying English" so make sure you provide examples that demonstrate your passion and commitment. These examples could be any relevant work experience, volunteering you've done, or anything else that shows you have a genuine interest in the subject.

Your personal statement must be easy to read, so use plain English, be conversational and stay focused and concise. You should also avoid clichés and exaggerating things that you've done.

Remember, the admissions team will be looking for your potential to succeed. They don't expect you to know everything already but want someone that will work hard and learn.

Formatting your personal statement

Your personal statement can't be over 4000 characters or 47 lines depending on which is greater. It can sometimes be tempting to write one long paragraph to make the most out of the character limit, but it's important admissions, and academic staff can read it easily, so don't forget paragraphs and line breaks.

Formatting your personal statement into three paragraphs is a good way of making sure it stays focused. Below is an example of how to format your personal statement.

• Opening paragraph:  This should introduce who you are, what subject you want to study and why.
• Second paragraph:  This should be all about what skills you already have, evidence to back this up, what you're excited to learn and hoping to gain from studying your chosen subject.
• Third paragraph:  This should be all about the personal touch. This is the space to tell us about the extracurricular activities and the other things you've done that are relevant to studying at university.

Check your personal statement

Make sure you proofread your personal statement. Spelling and grammar checkers don't pick up everything, so try to go through it as much as possible before the deadline.

You should also give your personal statement to someone else to read like a teacher, friend or parent. Getting someone else to proofread your statement is always a good idea because they'll pick up things you might not have noticed.

Tips from the experts

We've gathered some comments from our admissions staff about what makes an excellent personal statement.

"The best personal statements get to the point quickly and demonstrate real enthusiasm – I look forward to teaching these students."

"I really like a well-structured personal statement; one that's easy to read and understand."

"I like to know why the student has got to where they are now. If they have an interesting life story, then they should tell it. However, if this has no relevance to the subject, then it can put me off."

"I like information in the statement that shows that the students understand the subject that they have applied for and what using the degree professionally might entail after university."

How long should your personal statement be?

Wondering about the university personal statement word count? We go through it all here!

Find out which unis our student reviewers love!

A well-written personal statement adds a lot of strength to an application and allows you to express your personality. It also gives you a chance to go into detail about your interest in studying your chosen course, rather than just demonstrating your eligibility to do so. 

However, it’s vitally important to remember that you have a limited amount of space for your personal statement. Let’s take a look at how long your personal statement should be... 

UCAS requirements state that your personal statement can be a maximum of 4,000 characters or up to 47 lines in length – whichever comes first. The character count includes spaces and the line count includes blank lines, so keep this in mind when it comes to how you format your paragraphs. 

This might sound like a lot, but bear in mind that there are approximately 30 lines on one side of A4 paper in a standard size font, so your final submission will be around a page and a half of text. You’ll need to think carefully about what you want to include, keep it concise, make sure it flows well and has clear meaning throughout. 

Having said this, don’t worry too much about the character count when you start writing. Be free to jot down anything and everything which comes to mind, and even list them in bullet-point form. You can then begin to adjust and re-order these points until a structure and narrative becomes clear. 

You’ll probably have to cut a lot of stuff to keep your personal statement under the character limit. If you’re having trouble choosing what to remove, it can be helpful to ask yourself this question: “Is this really relevant to my personal statement?” 

It’s better to have fewer, well-resolved points which flow together to paint a picture of who you are than lots of rushed points which sound like a jumbled list of achievements. 

You’ll only know exactly how many lines your personal statement is when you paste it into UCAS. The UCAS character count might be slightly different from the one on your word processor, so be careful when you submit it, because any submission which exceeds the character or line limit will be cut off. 

It’s a good idea to aim for 3,500 characters in your first draft, and then you can add or remove words accordingly. For the finished piece, try to get as near to the word count as possible – anything too short might not have enough detail, and anything too long will get cut off. 

Need more personal statement advice? Check out our personal statement guide!  

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Writing a Personal Statement

For some people the UCAS personal statement can cause fear and anxiety.

Creating and writing the perfect personal statement is a task that requires time, thought and creativity.

A Personal Statement provides admission officers in your chosen universities the opportunity to filter the talented students from the large pool of applications.

A Personal Statement is your chance to shine, it’s your only opportunity in the UCAS application to demonstrate your personality, academic intelligence and most importantly who you are and why you want to study at your chosen universities.

Follow our tips below to make sure that you nail and make a success of your personal statement!

1. Technical information

UCAS have specific requirements that you can’t forget nor ignore when writing your personal statement. You can’t exceed 4,000 characters, or 47 lines of text (including blank lines and spaces). If you go over the stated amount, the universities won’t receive your entire statement. To make sure that you’re tracking the total amount of characters or lines (whichever comes first) use Word (or an equivalent tool) to track how much you have written.

2. Plan your time and write it in advance!

It would be foolish and to your detriment if you leave your personal statement to the very last minute. The average student will go through 8 drafts of a personal statement before sending it off, make sure that you leave enough time to plan and write and most importantly having somebody in your school, college or somebody who you can trust to read through your personal statement. We recommend that you start thinking about your personal statement in July (before your break up for the summer holidays) and then writing it in September. The more time you allow yourself, the longer you can take to edit and perfect your application.

3. Make sure that you know which universities you're applying to before starting

The academic level of every university and courses across the UK varies, therefore make sure you know where and what you’re applying for before starting your personal statement. Knowing what course/ universities you’re applying to will help you cater your personal statement appropriately. Rule of thumb, the more traditional and academically acclaimed the university is, the less time and space you should dedicate in your personal statement discussing non-academic activities.

4. Find out what admissions tutors are looking for

The best way to impress the reader of your personal statement is to find out exactly what they are looking for in a candidate. Find out what our admissions tutors in your academic area are seeking when reading your personal statement. We also recommend speaking to our admissions team and representatives of your chosen departments during our Open Days about the UCAS personal statement.

5. Show that you're interested and want to study the course!

Admissions tutors will discover immediately whether you have a genuine desire to study the course at your chosen university.  You need to convey sincerity and enthusiasm as to why you want to study a particular course in a particular university. Avoid wasting lines on waffle but focus on why the three or four years of that course will be of benefit to you.

6. Choose your extra-curricular activities wisely!

The golden rule when discussing extra-curricular activities is to only mention the activity if it’s relevant to your course, e.g. if you’re applying for Law degree you might want to mention discuss your contribution to the debating society in your school/ college. For traditional subject, this might be tricky, but think outside of the box and if in doubt ask your teacher, mentor or advisor for assistance on this. Here are some ideas that we have thought about; a mathematics applicant could share enthusiasm for chess, a geographer might want to discuss the physical/ human geography of their local area or somewhere they have visited.  Read some of the tips shared by our admissions tutor .

7. Avoid rambling, waffling and long winded statements

Remember you only have 4,000 characters and 47 lines (whichever comes first), don’t swallow a thesaurus and don’t spend line after line talking about one thing! If something is interesting, provide the reader a brief overview, this will leave them wanting to know more! Avoid clichés e.g. “committed, passionate and hard-working” will not give the university an overview of who you’re and why you want to study their course.

8. Don't lie!

We all know that it’s immorally incorrect to lie, but if you’re caught your application could be reconsidered. Don’t become another case study of a university interview that goes wrong! Many applicants have been interrogated about something that they’ve included in the personal statement.

9. Don't copy!

Reading previous personal statements gives you an idea of the standard that is required but don’t try and re-use what has already been written. Copying will not demonstrate your uniqueness and self-drive. UCAS also use programmes to prevent plagiarism. Remember your personal statement needs to be your own!

Good luck with your Personal Statement

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5 Easy Ways to Make Your Personal Statement Fit the Character Count

Read our five tips for making your personal statement fit the character count!

One of the most frustrating parts of the university admissions process is cutting down the personal statement to less than 4000 characters and 47 lines. Trying to retain as much content as possible whilst remaining under this character count is a difficult process, so here are a few easy ways to make it slightly easier!

You’ve spent weeks refining your  personal statement – and there is now only one thing standing in the way of you and hitting send on your UCAS application: the UCAS character count. Here are the five proven way to make your personal statement fit the character count!

1. Avoid clichés and quotes

Every year, admissions tutors stress that there are a few personal statement mistakes to avoid , yet year after year, people continue to make them. Perhaps the most common of these mistakes are clichés and quotes.

Go through your personal statement and remove any clichés – for example, ‘I’ve wanted to do medicine since I was young’…

The same goes with quotes: unless they add true value to your personal statement (and most of the time they don’t!)  it is usually a good idea to remove them. You only have 4000 characters to let the admissions tutor know who you are, don’t waste it by giving them somebody else’s words!

Read exactly   how different medical schools use your personal statement

2. Make sure everything is relevant

A good way to cut words is to make sure you are never losing focus by using the “so what?” rule. For each sentence in your personal statement, ask “so what?”.

Does this sentence make me seem even more suitable for the course? If not, it is probably best to cut it. This often happens when people write long lists of their extracurriculars in a desperate attempt to fit everything in.

Universities, however, want to see reflection and what you have taken away from your experiences; this means it is usually better to just talk about a few extracurriculars and reflect on them, instead of listing a lot which someone reading it is likely to skim over.

Read   how to write about your exploration of medicine

Personal Statement Review

Get your Personal Statement reviewed by a Medical School Admissions Tutor or a high-flying Medic

3. Make use of colour coding

This is a quick tip, but an easy way to see where you are losing most of your characters is to highlight sections of your personal statement.

For example, if you put each of your sections – work experience, volunteering, extracurriculars and so on – in different colours, it is suddenly a lot easier to identify which section is particularly heavy in terms of characters.

If one section is much longer than the rest without there being a good reason for this, it is usually a good indication that you should start cutting there.

Read our  11-step checklist for your personal statement

4. Watch your language

We often spend a lot of time looking up big words on thesaurus.com in the hope that it will make our work sound more impressive. However, in light of the UCAS character count, this is not always the best approach.

Long, “impressive” words can often hinder meaning and make it more difficult for the person reading your work to follow, especially after they have already read many personal statements that day. It is often best to cut these words in favour of more simple and concise sentences using straightforward language.

If you are still looking to remove characters, it is helpful to look through your personal statement for adverbs and adjectives. Often, we use these words as filler words which do not add much value to our writing. Go through all the adverbs and adjectives you have used and check whether they actually add any value or are merely taking up unnecessary characters.

Read about  the writing style of medicine personal statements

5. Still need to shave off the last few characters?

Once it’s down to the last few characters, there are a few small things you can do to push your personal statement down to the 4000 character mark. Firstly, some ‘and’s can be removed in favour for full stops to make shorter, crisper sentences.

Another thing to note is that it is not necessary to use names, for example of hospitals or of places you volunteer, which can remove those final few characters from your count.

Don’t worry that cutting it down will make your personal statement worse – universities know that you can’t write about everything you want to in 4000 characters!

I hope these tips have been useful and good luck with your personal statements!

Written by: Cambridge Medicine Student

• How Medical Schools Use Your Personal Statement
• How to Structure a Personal Statement
• How to Write a Personal Statement

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Writing the Perfect UCAS Personal Statement

Key points to remember for your UCAS Form:

• Deadline for submission of the UCAS form for almost all courses and universities is  15 January 2019 , 18.00 UK time.
• Your personal statement should be a maximum of  47 lines, and 4,000 characters . Don’t confuse ‘characters’ with ‘words’: 4,000 characters is about 600 words!
• You can only write one personal statement : it will be read by all the universities you’re applying to – it’s therefore worth avoiding mentioning an individual university by name.
• Admissions tutors are reading thousands of personal statements: make sure you don’t give them an excuse to discard yours in the first paragraph with  sloppy spelling or poor grammar .
• Your UCAS form  includes a reference  from your teacher or tutor. Make sure you get this from them in time!

Stuck on what to write?  Put yourself in the admissions tutors’ shoes …

If you were them, what would you be looking for in a potential student for their course?

Write a list of five things you would be looking for. Perhaps your list looks something like this:

• academically able
• evidence of an interest in their degree course going back several years
• hard-working
• will contribute to university in a wider context (sports, debating, human rights issues)

Write the five headings down, and then jot down, in bullet point form, all the evidence you have that you possess these characteristics.

Show don’t tell!

Instead of writing, ‘I am passionate about my subject, and I am mature and responsible’, write something like: ‘Since the age of fifteen, I volunteered on an airbase on Saturday mornings – further fuelling my desire to study aeronautical engineering. By the time I turned seventeen, I had demonstrated my long-term commitment to the airbase and was deemed sufficiently mature and serious to be given considerable responsibilities, which included x and y’.

Keep your structure tight

If you have a tendency to waffle, plan the personal statement the way you would an essay: paragraph by paragraph. For example, the plan might look something like this:

• Paragraph 1 – you and the course. Why this course?  Evidence you are passionate about the subject. Relevant hobbies, activities, extra studies that would help you with the course.
• Paragraph 2 – you as a student. Any notable achievements, particular qualities such as self-discipline or tenacity which would stand you in good stead at university?
• Paragraph 3 – you as a person. Evidence of your talents and interests. Your plans for the future. How the course will help you fulfil your aims.
• Conclusion – reiterate your commitment to the course and how you think your skills would be suited to university life.

What to avoid…

• Anything irrelevant –  something is irrelevant if it doesn’t demonstrate why or how you would be well-suited to studying at university. Playing in a school orchestra is relevant – it shows commitment, team-skills and so on. The name of your dog isn’t relevant, though!
• Does it sound stilted?  Try reading your personal statement out loud. If it doesn’t sound like something you would actually say out loud, chances are it’s a bit stilted. Maybe you can try changing it to something that you’d say more naturally.
• Quotations – especially from films! 47 lines isn’t a lot, and the admissions tutors want to hear from you – they want text that you’ve written, not something from someone else.
• Repetition – you may not notice that you’ve used the expression ‘I’m passionate about…’ three times, but the admissions tutor will! Keep a keen eye out for this.

Related Posts

UCAS Personal Statement: Format, Sample, and Tips

Zollege Team

Content Curator | Updated On - Feb 14, 2024

UCAS Personal Statement is 4000 character document s submitted by a student for admissions to UK universities. In UCAS personal essay, students should mention the unique strengths to make respective SOP for UK stand out from other applicants. Applicant should demonstrate the understanding of the course in UCAS SOP . In UCAS personal statement, a candidate can include voluntary work, and work experience . To showcase qualities to admissions committee, the applicant should link relevant professional work experience while applying to UK universities .

UCAS allows you to stand out from the crowd by showcasing who you are and what you can bring to a university. It is one of the most important document as you begin your undergraduate study in UK . You must include something unique and memorable about yourself. The admission department receive thousands of applications each day. Hence, you should make your statement unique and give them a reason to read yours more than once. You can find many examples of a personal statement UCAS online.

You should show positive attitude in UCAS personal statement. The personal statement should be submitted before you get a CAS letter from the university. You must include answers for questions like Why have you chosen this course? What excites you about the subject and what are your life experiences . Be bold to talk about your achievements but do not brag about it. The conclusion of UCAS personal essay, should summarize all the important points made in SOP for admission to the best universities in UK .

UCAS Personal Statement Format

Points to be included in ucas personal essay, sample ucas personal statement, tips for ucas personal statement.

The  Statement of purpose format and UCAS personal statement examples format is similar. Candidates can check the UCAS SOP format as given below:

• Introduction: In introduction of statement of purpose for UG courses , candidate should demonstrate the enthusiasm for pursuing the program. Candidates can show the knowledge, and share the career goals in introduction. The introduction should be simple and to the point.
• Personal Skills and Achievements: Candidate should mention achievements, position of responsibility in UCAS for postgraduate. Applicants can also add qualities for making the UCAS personal statement unique.
• Work experience and Future plans: In UCAS personal essay, aspirants can add relevant work experience. Student can write how the knowledge gained in the course will help in achieving career goals.
• Conclusion: Establishing a connection between the beginning and the conclusion of the statement is a wonderful approach to reaffirm opening points. It should create a positive and long-lasting impression on the governing body. They should understand that you know what is UCAS .

Points to be included in SOP for UK student visa and UCAS Personal Essay are given below:

• Give a brief about the skills, achievements, and relevant work experience
• Demonstrate skills with examples in UCAS for masters
• Showing the passion for the course, candidate is applying to. For example, an applicant applying for BSc Nursing in UK, should write the reasons for pursuing the course.
• Write how studying a specific course in specific affordable university in UK will help candidate achieve the career goals.

SOP sample for UK universities helps student understand the structure of statement of purpose. UCAS personal statement examples are given below:

The tips to be followed for UCAS statement are similar to SOP for MBA in UK tips. SOP UCAS tips for personal statement are given below:

• Motivations for studying the particular field should be mentioned in the content.
• Write-up should be relevant to the subject that one has selected.
• Do not write more than 4000 characters in UCAS personal statement.
• The scholars have to talk about only the positive sides of themselves.
• Write in own words, and do not exaggerate the statements.
• Spelling and grammatical errors should not be there in the content.
• There should not be any plagiarism in the topic.

UCAS personal statement describes the motivational factors that work behind the desire to achieve the goal. Character limit of 4000 is set, and UCAS personal statement word limit is not there. The presentation of the write-up should be very precise and impressive. Applicants can follow the tips for UCAS personal statement.

Ques: What should you avoid in a UCAS personal statement?

Ans : In UCAS personal statement, candidate should avoid spelling errors, and exaggeration. Moreover, UCAS personal essay should not have any plagiarism.

Ques: What is a successful personal statement for UCAS?

Ans : A successful personal statement for UCAS has no spelling errors, clearly states the reasons for joining the course, includes career goals, work experience and position of responsibility.

Ques: What is the character limit for UCAS statement?

Ans : The character limit for SOP UCAS is 4000.

Ques: What do you write in a personal statement for UCAS?

Ans : Candidate should write about achievements, position of responsibility, work experience, and reasons for pursuing the program in UK university.

Ques: Can you get rejected because of personal statement?

Ans : Yes, applicant can rejected because of personal statement.

Ques: What if my personal statement is over 47 lines?

Ans : As the character or line limit is set by UCAS, so students should avoid writing more tahn 47 lines, as it can lead to rejection.

Ques: How do I shorten my UCAS personal statement?

Ans : To shorten the UCAS personal statement, avoid exaggeration, and merge sentences (if possible).

Ques: Is a personal statement 4000 characters with or without spaces?

Ans : 4000 characters in UCAS SOP includes spaces.

Ques: Can UCAS personal statement be over 47 lines?

Ans : No, UCAS personal statement should not be over 47 lines.

Ques: Can you go over 4000 characters in your personal statement on UCAS?

Ans : UCAS has set a character limit of 4000. So, student should not write more than 4000 characters in UCAS SOP.

Ques: When should I start writing my personal statement?

Ans:  You should start writing the personal statement as soon as possible. You should give yourself ample time to write, revise, and get feedback. Start researching course requirements and reflecting on your experiences early on.

Ques:   What are admissions department looking for in UCAS?

Ans:  The admissions team are looking for enthusiasm, clarity, and evidence of your suitability for the course in your personal statement. You must show your passion for the subject, highlight relevant skills and experiences, and connect them to your academic goals.

Ques: What should I avoid in UCAS?

Ans:  The things that you should avoid in UCAS are clichés, irrelevant information, negativity, factual errors, and exceeding the word limit. You must stay authentic, focus on the essentials, and proofread to avoid any mistakes.

Ques: How important are extracurricular activities in UCAS?

Ans:  The extracurricular activities are very important in UCAS. They showcase your skills and interests beyond academics. You should choose relevant activities to demonstrate transferable skills and passion for your chosen field.

Ques: Can I get professional help writing my statement?

Ans:  Yes, you can definitely seek professional guidance for feedback and structure, but avoid ghostwriting. You must write the personal statement yourself since authenticity is crucial, and the statement should truly represent your voice and experiences.

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Feb 09, 2018

Written By Billy Sexton, Editor, AllAboutLaw.co.uk

UCAS Personal Statement Word Limit

Applying to universities to study law is difficult enough without taking into account the UCAS personal statement word limit.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! There is a word limit for the UCAS personal statement?”

Technically it’s a character limit, but yes, in short there is a limit to the length your UCAS personal statement can be. But it’s nothing to worry about. In fact wouldn’t you rather have a limit than be constantly worried that you’ve rambled far too much and focussed on non-important matters?

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Free Personal Statement Structure Sample

Access now and make a flying start on your law personal statement.

Dealing with the personal statement character limit

Regardless, the ‘word’ limit is 47 lines of text, or 4000 characters. This equates to (roughly) 500 words. UCAS recommend that you write out your personal statement in a word processor before copying and pasting it into the online application. This is because some word processors get different values if they don’t include spaces in their character count.

So, 4000 characters to sell yourself and earn your place on a competitive law course . Easy, right?

What to include in a law personal statement

In short, you should address two broad points in your personal statement – why you are applying for law and what makes you suitable.

When writing your personal statement remember that you need to address up to five universities. Generally, prospective university students tend to apply for the same course, or similar courses, so checking prospectuses and course profiles for the qualities universities look for in candidates.

For example, to study law at the University of Nottingham, students must “wish to study law as an academic discipline”. Therefore, you must outline in your personal statement what interests and motivates you to study law at university. The university also outline how you can “specialise in areas of law according to your own interests and future career plans”, prompting you to explain what areas of law you find most interesting, and where you see your career heading after you’ve finished your degree (*cough* vacation scheme and training contract *cough*). This covers the ‘why you are applying’ point.

As for what makes you suitable, as well as talking about your academic record and work ethic, you should also spend a bit of time speaking about your extracurricular activities. Universities want to take on students who have a personality, not just A* machines. Link your activities with valuable legal skills such as leadership, timekeeping (for all those 9am lectures) and the ability to work as part of a team.

Using your words wisely

“But how can I communicate all of my achievements and ambitions in just 500 words?” Being succinct is a skill. You will have word limits throughout your university studies, so see this limit as your first test. It also tests you to cut out information that isn’t wholly relevant.

UCAS personal statements are a toughie, but drafting and redrafting is part of the process, and you won’t get it absolutely spot on first time. Remember to stick to the limits and don’t forget to proofread! 

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Personal statement length checker

Enter your personal statement below to check if it meets the UCAS Apply requirements for the number of lines and character length.

The requirements for teacher training personal statements are different for UCAS Apply so this checker won't produce the correct results.

Your personal statement will be shown formatted according to UCAS's requirements, and the length and character limit calculated to check it's length.

Please note that the results of our personal statement checker may differ slightly from the UCAS Apply length checker. If you notice any differences please email us with copy of your personal statement and we'll. investigate further

UCAS Personal Statement Length Checker

Please note: The line count may differ than the number of lines in the textbox above but when copy and pasted will match the line count on the UCAS application.

UCAS Personal Statement Requirements

• No longer than 4000 characters.
• No longer than 47 lines.
• Each line can be no longer than 94 characters. (Our character counter above already has a max line length of 94 characters unless otherwise noted.)
• Characters include spaces, carriage returns, and punctuation.

To see additional features including word count, paragraph count, space count and more use the character counter on our home page.

How to write your UCAS personal statement

The UCAS personal statement scares most high school students. Writing a perfect personal statement is a strenuous and unavoidable process. With roughly about 6 million university applications each year, officials need a method for filtering stronger applicants from everyone else.

As challenging as this task may appear, it is also your only chance to share your personality and eligibility for the degree program you have chosen. Follow our practices given, and you can absolutely make your personal statement up to the mark.

Start with a plan

Each year thousands of applications are received for the best degrees in the world and are best focused on the goal of making their application stand out from the rest.

Thus, planning out what you want to say prior to writing your UCAS statement makes it easy to write a convincing personal statement. Start off by making a rough draft, answering some questions like

• What subjects do you want to study?
• Why have you particularly chosen this path for yourself?
• What makes you think that you are best suited to study this degree program at the college?

Some of these points will form the backbone of your personal statement, so write them in a manner that makes sense to you.

Sometimes you want to create simple bullet points or use mind maps. No matter what you decide; your goal is the same. You want to clarify why the university should provide you with a spot.

Bigger Picture of the Degree

Talk about the course that you have applied to. How did you learn about it in the first place? What means did you use to deepen your interest and knowledge in this area?

It would be a huge plus to list the books you read and the meetings you have attended regarding the subject.

Please elaborate on your academic attitude towards the degree. What are your goals after graduating? What role will it play in helping you achieve your greatest ambitions? What sort of vocation plans do you have after graduation?

Write about your work experience and achievements

Your previous achievements are an essential part of your personal statement. Think about all the accolades you have received and the contests you have participated in. These can be in-school, national or international. Both academic and sports awards can greatly help emphasize your commitment.

Write about the important skills and experiences acquired elsewhere (such as hobbies) that can be chained to the degree of your choice.

Remember, you are searching for experience that shows why you need to study the subject that you have chosen. You are not just writing an essay about what you are doing in your high school syllabus.

Extracurricular Activities

Your extracurriculars ought to likewise be included in the personal statement. Whether it be a MUN or a cross country race, they pass on the message that you love participating in different events.

Likewise, it is really smart to discuss any expertise you have acquired through extracurriculars.

Discuss any leadership roles you could have held, as they improve your capacity to appreciate people on a profound level and put you across as a pioneer.

Community service is a plus in the UCAS statement as it shows a promise to a reason bigger than oneself.

You can link all these activities to your selected course in the best case. Be careful not to elaborate too much on extracurricular activities.

UCAS Character Count

There are some specific instructions for your personal statement that you can never ignore.

First, it must not exceed 4,000 characters or 47 lines of text (including blank lines), whichever comes first. If you do exceed this, the university will not get your entire statement.

So make sure your personal statement has a solid and decisive ending. It will look bad if you cut it off in the middle of a sentence after realizing that you have exceeded the text limit.

Instead, give each section proper attention, time, and character to plan your essay thoroughly.

However, while you are getting everything rolling, you ought to overlook these restrictions.

Tips for reducing the character count

From the get-go, you simply need to jot down all that you feel is significant. You will probably wind up with something very lengthy, but that is okay.

This is where you get to do some polishing and trimming. Maintain the focal point of your piece on the course you are applying for, why you want to do it and for what reason you are impeccably fit for it.

Glance through what you have composed until now - do you have the right balance? Cut off whatever continues a little to far, as you want to keep each point crisp and concise.

It is a difficult process to try to keep as much content as possible while keeping the character count low, so here are some simple ways to make it easier for you.

Avoid quotes

Read your personal statement and eliminate platitudes if there are any - for instance, 'I've wanted to study psychology since I was young'…The same goes for the quotations: except if they increase the value of your statement (which they don't most of the time!), it is really the best practice to remove them.

Make sure everything is concise

For each sentence in your piece, use the "so what?" rule. Does this sentence appear to be more reasonable for the course? If not, cutting it is best. This frequently happens when individuals write too much about their extracurriculars in a frantic endeavour to fit everything in. For extra analysis, feel free to use our sentence counter to calculate the average length of your sentences.

Colleges, notwithstanding, need to see a reflection and what you have extracted from your encounters; this implies it is normally better to simply discuss a few extracurriculars than to list many things that the reader is likely to skim.

Also, note that you don't have to use hospital or volunteer location names. This further allows you to remove the last few characters from the count.

Use colour coding

An easy way to see where you are losing most of your characters is to highlight the sections of your statement with different colours.

Check your language

We frequently invest a great deal of energy looking up big words with the expectation that it will make our work impressive. However, this isn't generally the best practice. It is, in many cases, best to cut these words for fundamental and engaging sentences.

I hope the process will now be transparent, and it will be more exciting for you as you embark on your writing.

How to use our UCAS personal statement checker

To use our tool simply copy and paste your personal statement into the text-box above.

At the top, you will see two metrics displayed. The first metric on the left is the total characters you've typed out of the limit of 4,000 characters.

The second metric on the right is the number of lines your text contains out of the max of 47 lines. The UCAS allows a maximum of 94 characters per line, which our line count feature already takes into consideration.

To make it easier you can click the green "copy text" button to copy the text in the text box. You can also click the red "clear text" button to delete all the text in the text-box.

Why use an online UCAS personal statement checker?

Reason number one: The character count feature in Microsoft Word will not give you an accurate reading. The reason is that Word does not count the carriage return (also known as the enter key) as a character while UCAS does count it as a character.

The problem is that this will cause Word to underestimate the character count. This could cause your essay not to be able to submit when you try to upload it. If anything it would be better to overestimate the word count on Word that way it will fit.

Our personal statement checker however will give you the same character count as UCAS unlike the Microsoft Word character count.

It can be helpful to see the character count in real-time as you are typing your personal statement. This way you are constantly reminded of how long your essay is.

If you are not paying attention it can be easy to lose track of how long your essay is and go over the limit.

Our tool makes it easier to be aware of the length and easy to cut back if necessary.

How many characters in a personal statement?

UCAS requires 4,000 characters in their personal statement. Use our personal statement checker above to see if your essay meets the requirements.

How many words in a UCAS personal statement

UCAS has a character limit of 4,000 characters. This equates to about 615 to 800 words.

How many words is 4000 characters?

4,000 characters is about 615 to 800 words. For more Characters to Words conversions, check out our Characters To Words Converter .

Does the personal statement character limit include spaces?

Yes, it does include spaces as well as carriage returns. Check your statement with our personal statement checker above.

Thanks for using our UCAS personal statement checker!

We appreciate you taking the time to check your personal statement using our webpage. As you know, this is a very important college application essay to get into British universities. UCAS stands for Universities and Colleges Admissions Service and is what the UK uses for the college application process. Good luck on your personal statement!