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Personal Statement Cheat

Sheet
This easy-to-use Personal Statement cheat
sheet will tell you everything you need to know
to start crafting the perfect Personal
Statement.

Author: Adi Sen

Home / Personal Statements / Personal Statement Cheat Sheet

Knowing where to start with your

Personal Statement can be tough,
especially if you are applying to
Oxford or Cambridge, which demand
extremely well written Personal
Statements from their applicants.

We have the created the perfect resoruce get you

started on your Personal Statement journey. This
easy-to-use Personal Statement cheat sheet will tell
you everything you need to know to start crafting the
perfect Personal Statement.

PersonalStatementCheatSheet
YourPersonalStatementisyourchancetomakeagoodfirstimpressionontheadmissionsteamat
yourtopuniversitychoice.It'snoteasytosumupwhyyoushouldbeadmittedinjust4,000characters,
sothissheetwillgiveyouaheadstartinplanning,structuringandwritingyourPersonalStatement.

Oxbridge&MedicineDeadline:October16th
MaximumCharacters:4,000MaximumLines:47
StandardApplicationDeadline:January31st

YourPersonalStatementStructure

TheIntroduction-WhyDoYouWantToStudyThisSubject?
TopicstoCover Useashort,sharp,strongopeningsentence.
-Whatsubjectareyouapplyingfor? •Avoidchlicheslike"Fromayoungage,I'vealwaysbeeninterestedin....
-Whatmotivatedyoutoapplyforthis •Avoidoverusedwords,suchas"passionate"and"devotion".
subject?
•Makeitmemorable,personal,relevantandmostimportantly,honest.
•Doyouhaveanypersonalexperience/
attachmenttothesubject? •Don'tstartindepthdiscussionsofyourworkuntilthenextparagraph.

TheMainBody-ParagraphByParagraph
Paragraph1:Whyareyou Thisparagraphshouldhaveahardfocusonyouracademicsinordertoanswerthis
suitedtothissubject? question.Discussyourcurrentperformance,futureambitionsrelevanttothedegree
andotherpersonalfactorsthatmakethiscourserightforyou.

Paragraph2:Whathaveyou Thisparagraphcanfocuslessonyouracademicsandmoreonyourprimary
32-37Lines

enrichment.Thiswillincludeyourwiderreading,workexperience,majorresearch
donetoproveyourdedication projectsandcompetitions.Self-reflectioniskeyhere,soensureyouofferreasonsto
tothissubject? whyyourenrichmentisrelevantandhashelpedyoudevelopintoanidealcandidate.

Paragraph3:Whathaveyou Here,youcanshowyou'reawellroundedpersonbydiscussingsmallerformsof
donetobecomean enrichment.Itisimportantthatalldiscussionpointsaredirectlylinkedbacktoyour
course/subject.Don'taddtoomuchhereasthisshouldbetheshortestparagraphin
exceptionalcandidate? themainbody.

Lackofreflection GenericStatements Long,poorlyworded

ThingsToAvoid: Irreleventexamples Overlylongexamples sentences
Toomanyexamples Repetition Falseinformation

TheConclusion-LeavingAGoodFinalImpression
•Don'tbringinnewinformationatthisstageinthestatement,anything
5-6Lines

Forthisfinalparagraph,themain
goalshouldbetoputintocontext
everythingthatyouhavewrittenthus
farandsummarisewhyyoudeserve
aplaceonyourchosencourse.This
shouldbeshortandsweettoleavea
lastingimpression.
worthdisucssingshouldhavebeenmentionedearlier.
•Avoidrepeatingwhathasalreadybeensaid;itisvitalthatyoumakethe
mostofyourlimitedcharactercount.
•Drawonthemesfromtherestofyourstatementinyourclosing
sentences;tutorsaremostlikelytorememberyourstatementbythe
introductionandconclusion.

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What Is A Personal Statement?

Your Personal Statement is your chance to show the

universities you apply to who you really are. The rest
of the application is faceless statistics – the
Personal Statement gives the admissions tutor the
opportunity to look beyond those statistics and
focus on the real you, the person they may spend at
least three years teaching their subject to.

Do I need to write a Personal Statement?

Every single UCAS applicant needs to write a

Personal Statement to support their university
application.

What is the Personal Statement deadline?

The Knal deadline is the 31st of January for the

majority of subjects. For Medicine, Dentistry and
Oxbridge, be aware there is an earlier deadline date
of the 16th of October.

 The Ultimate UCAS Personal Statement Guide

The Introduction – Why Do You Want

To Study This Subject?

What subject are you applying for?

 Use a short, sharp, strong opening

Avoid clichés like “from a young age, I’ve
 always been interested in ..”

What motivated you to apply for this subject?

Make it memorable, personal and most

 importantly, honest!
Avoid using overused words such as
 “passionate, devotion etc”

For more inspiration, take a look through our other

successful Personal Statement analysis articles:

ne
Successful Personal Statement
At Oxford
For Computer Science


The Main Body – Broken Up Into

Paragraphs

PARAGRAPH #1 – Why are you suited for the

subject?

This should have a hard focus on the academic

arguments to answer this question. Talk about
future ambitions relevant to the degree, and what
makes the course right for you.

PARAGRAPH #2 – Still why are you suited for the

subject?

This can be less academic – think: work experience,

personal motivations, relevant awards and
competitions.

PARAGRAPH #3 – What extracurricular activities do

you have?

Show you’re a well-rounded person but also apply

these activities to your chosen course. Don’t get
carried away here – this should be the shortest
paragraph in the main body.

Things To Avoid In Your Personal

Statement

 Long, complicated sentences

 Repetition

 Lack of re^ection

Dragging out one example for too

 long

 Listing things off

 Generic/stereotypical statements

 Gimmicks

Negative connotations – keep it

 positive

 Controversy

Irrelevant/out of date examples –

 keep it recent

The Conclusion – Leaving A Good

Impression

You should put into context what you have already

written and leave a good Knal impression!

You shouldn’t bring any new information into

 the conclusion – anything worth saying
should be brought up much earlier!

You should avoid repeating what you’ve

 already said. You only have 47 lines so keep it
short.

Draw on themes from the rest of the

statement to close; the tutor is likely to
 remember your statement by the introduction
and conclusion.

Check out our other personal statement articles and

successful examples on our Free Personal
Statement Resources page.

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Statement support to
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