Your personal statement should demonstrate a clear understanding of what the role involves, the challenges you’ll face, and the kind of skills, qualities, and values required.
We've asked admissions tutors to share their top dos and don'ts for nursing personal statements, and for tips on how to write about your work experience – here's what they told us.
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Think about why you want to study the subject
- Have you been inspired by someone, a news story, a documentary, or a podcast?
- Do you have career aspirations in this area of study?
- What interests you about the subject – be specific; rather than saying you enjoy it or are good at it, try to explain the ‘why’ behind your reasoning.
- What do you already know about the subject and what are you looking forward to learning more about?
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What makes you suitable to study the subject?
- Have you done projects or essays in this subject at school or college?
- Think about who you are as a person; your personality, your strengths, your experiences in life – how do these make you suited to study the subject?
- How have you shown an interest in the subject outside of school or college – have you done extra reading, online courses, been part of clubs or competitions?
- Your current subjects and grades will be included elsewhere in your application, so try to think about specific things you’ve learned during your studies that relate to the subject, rather than listing your grades and subjects.
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Look at the bigger picture
- Have you done any work experience, an internship or had a part-time job in this subject area or related? Most job or work experience will give you transferable skills, even if it’s in a different industry.
- Do you have any hobbies you can mention that might relate to your chosen subject? Many hobbies show that you can be motivated outside of school to achieve and succeed in something you’re interested in.
- Think about how your life and personal experiences have helped make you the person you are today, and how these challenges and experiences can support your application by evidencing essential qualities for certain subjects.
- If you’ve got ambitions and goals for your life and career, can you express how this subject will help you reach these goals?
Guidance and examples you can use
Question 1: Why do you want to study this course or subject?
This is your opportunity to showcase your passion and knowledge of your chosen subject area and to demonstrate to universities and colleges why it’s a good fit for you and your future ambitions.
Examples:
- Try to write clearly and reflectively about how you arrived at your decision to go into nursing and why, specifically, you want to be an adult, children’s, mental health, or learning disability nurse. Some universities will score your personal statement against their specific selection criteria – take a look at individual university websites, as these criteria may be listed. Look for nursing courses in our search tool.
- Most nursing admissions tutors expect you to apply for one specific field only (although some courses allow you to apply for two, called ‘dual field’). You’ll need to demonstrate a realistic understanding of the field(s) you’ve chosen. For example, if you’re applying specifically for mental health nursing, you might want to reflect on your ability to understand other people’s perspectives or to advocate on their behalf. Or, if you feel it’s appropriate to reflect on your own experience of mental health then, as one admissions tutor told us, the key is to explain how this has motivated you to become a nurse yourself.
- For children's nursing, you might wish to demonstrate your awareness of the diverse range of children you’ll nurse and the kind of challenges you expect to face. Reference books, documentaries, or TEDx Talks, such as paediatrician Nick Holekamp’s The Road to OZ, that have given you an insight into nursing, as long as they’re relevant to your course.
Question 2: How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
This is your chance to shout about the relevant or transferable skills you’ve gained from your formal education and highlight your understanding of how they will help you succeed in this subject area.
Examples:
- Write about anything you feel is especially relevant about your academic studies, or maybe a project you've undertaken. Perhaps you’ve done an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) on the genetic or social factors that affect addiction, or the use of complementary therapies in NHS cancer patients – reflect on how what you’ve learned will help you during your nursing degree.
- Show you’ve understood the skills and qualities nurses need, and how you’ve acquired them. Maybe you can reference exam study, a busy Saturday job, an Access to HE course, or relevant on-the-job training in a healthcare role which shows you can work well under pressure, or a time you’ve shown empathy and patience when helping a friend who’s going through a tough time.
- Have you done any online courses to boost your knowledge in the subject? For example, why not try Subject Spotlights or Virtual Work Experiences from Springpod to grow your skills and interest?
Question 3: What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
This is your chance to talk about any other activities you have undertaken outside of your formal education, or personal experiences which further demonstrate your suitability for the course. This section is likely to be highly personal to you and anything you do include should reflect on why you’re including it.
Examples:
- Try to build up as much experience or observation as you can. Ideally this should be in a care environment, such as a hospital, clinic, GP practice, school, residential care, or the voluntary sector. Any other experience of working with people is helpful too.
- If you know you want to be an adult or learning disability nurse, for example, you could reflect on what you’ve learned from your interactions with elderly people, or how you’ve supported someone with a learning disability yourself. The key words are ‘demonstrate’ and ‘reflect’. It’s not enough just to say you understand something – you need to show what it was that led to your understanding. Then, write about the transferable skills that are relevant to your particular field of nursing.
- Expand on how you’ve demonstrated some of those skills, qualities, and values yourself through your experience, extracurricular activities, personal interests, or achievements. The latter could include the responsibility and commitment you’ve shown through
- voluntary work
- the teamwork and interpersonal skills you’ve developed in your job
- the empathy you’ve shown as a student mentor
- the leadership you’ve displayed as a guide or scout
- or something specific that happened on a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition
- Do relate any examples back to the subject you’re applying to – make it relevant
- Do make it personal – admissions staff want to get to know who you are
- Do use a spell-checker and grammar-checker to ensure there are no errors
- Do ask people for feedback, whether that’s family members or teachers
- Do your research to find out what universities are looking for, and make sure you include evidence to show how you are suitable for the course
- Don’t just list out examples, subjects you study, or experiences you’ve had without any evidence
- Don’t copy something you’ve seen online or use AI to write something for you
- Don’t make things up just because you think they’ll make you look good on paper
- Don’t leave it until the last minute – you need time for several drafts
- Don’t worry about making each section the same length; as long as you hit the minimum character count, you can use the 4,000 characters across each answer in the way that suits you best
How to set yourself apart
The key to setting yourself apart in your application is to remember how important the ‘personal’ bit is to your personal statement. What makes you, you?
Remember the skills and experience admissions tutors are looking for, and try and relate your personal experiences back to that. If you’ve worked as a carer, or been a carer for a parent or sibling, for example, you’ll have built up great empathy and patience. Or if you’ve done a sport competitively, you’ll have learned how to manage your time effectively as well as build up your physical and mental stamina.
Back up these experiences by carrying out some relevant background reading or research – Health Careers is a good starting point. Reflect on what you’ve learned about some of the realities of nursing, the challenges, constraints, and frustrations you’ll face (rather than the rewards).
What other skills can you talk about and how are they personally attributable to you, whether it’s planning, mentoring, note-taking, analysing risk, or showing good leadership? Don’t forget, if you’ve coached a kids’ football team, for instance, you’ll have developed many of those skills. It's even better if you can then link it all back to something you've learned in your biology, sociology, or psychology studies, or read in The Lancet or on the Royal College of Nursing website.
Some more tips to consider
- Reflect: Don’t waste space in your statement explaining what a nurse does – they know that! But if you’ve found out for yourself how nurses manage, prescribe, evaluate, or critically review evidence when making decisions, do reflect on that.
- Re-read your statement: Nursing has changed and diversified in recent years. So, do your research, show your unique insights into the role, and don’t make any spelling mistakes. For a nurse, accuracy is vital.
- Read the NHS Constitution: For all degree courses that involve training within an NHS setting, there’s likely to be some emphasis on values-based selection, and how applicants' own values and behaviours align with the seven core values of the NHS Constitution.
- Talk to people doing the job: Just talking to nurses about their work will also be valuable. Nurse Ewout talks about his route into nursing.
- Go to open days: If possible, get to some university open days, as they’re great for picking up insights and asking questions. Then, when you write about all this in your statement, try to explain and reflect on what you’ve learned about the area of nursing you’re applying for.