Aimee
I can imagine that you are getting pretty fed up of the extremely long and boring talks you are getting from your teachers about how to write a good personal statement so I’ll summarise some key points for you in a short and snappy blog post.
Firstly I’m going to emphasise the name of this ‘personal statement’. Therefore make it completely and utterly personal and when doing so, make a statement - stand out!
You’ve got to show passion. You’ve got to show charisma. You’ve got to show love. You’re doing a subject that you love and/or find interesting (if you’re not then seriously consider spending the amount you are paying for something you don’t enjoy).
When I started mine, I thought about what led to my interest in the subject which, for me, was a TV program (it can literally be anything). I then opened my personal statement with a sentence along the lines of ‘For years now I’ve been hugely interested in shows such as Law and Order SVU and one character who particularly stood out to me was B.D.Wong’. This instantly sparked interest as the reader would question what the relevance is. Under no circumstances should you begin your personal statement with ‘I want to do this course because...’ or ‘I would be perfect for this course because...’.
The key is to stay modest but sell yourself. Big up your talents, your interests, show that you are an achieving and interesting person.
Online there are so many helpful guides on how to write the perfect personal statement. One I found particularly useful was on the UCAS website. However, mix it up a bit, make it your own, make it you. Avoid generic phrases, comments and so on. Be unique!
https://www.ucas.com/sites/default/files/ucas-personal-statement-worksheet.pdf ß this is a link to the UCAS sheet that I found very helpful when writing my personal statement.
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