Find practical guidance for each stage of your personal statement: choosing relevant experiences, planning your answers, writing a draft and checking it before you submit.
Start with our updated writing, planning and editing guides below. The example guide shows how to learn from another statement and develop your own ideas.
Plan, write and edit
More writing advice
- Categories of personal statement questions
- Tips for drafting your personal statement
- Top things to avoid
- Using AI to help with your personal statement
- What defines an excellent personal statement?
- Where to get started with your personal statement
- The hidden curriculum of personal statements: how to write one that reads as confident, not coached
- The brilliant answer that still missed the point
- How to write a personal statement
Writing a continuous statement
These guides discuss an essay with an introduction, body and conclusion. For current UCAS applications, start with the updated writing guide above.
Subject and application guides
Choose the guidance for your subject and application system. Law-school, medical-school and PhD applications can have different requirements from undergraduate UCAS applications.
- How to discuss books and legal cases in a law personal statement
- How to write about work experience in a law personal statement
- Writing a compelling personal statement for law applications
- How to write a medical school personal statement
- How to write the personal statement for your PhD application
- Actuarial science personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Adult nursing personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Advertising and public relations personal statement guide
- Aerospace engineering personal statement guide
- Archaeology personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Architecture personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Area and regional studies personal statement guide
- Area, cultural and Indigenous studies personal statement guide
- Art history personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Audiology personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Automotive engineering personal statement guide
- Bioinformatics and computational biology personal statement guide
- Biology personal statement guide: choosing and explaining subject evidence
- Biomedical and medical sciences personal statement guide
- Biotechnology personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Brewing, wine and fermentation personal statement guide
- Business Analytics Personal Statement Guide: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Business and management personal statement guide
- Business, management and enterprise personal statement guide
- Chemical and process engineering personal statement guide
- Chemistry and materials science personal statement guide
- Chemistry personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Childhood, family and community studies personal statement guide
- Children’s nursing personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Civil and infrastructure engineering personal statement guide
- Communication Studies Personal Statement Guide
- Computer science and computing personal statement guide
- Construction and Building Management Personal Statement Guide
- Consumer and household studies personal statement guide
- Craft and material arts personal statement guide
- Culinary Arts and Gastronomy Personal Statement Guide
- Cultural and identity studies personal statement guide
- Cybersecurity and digital forensics personal statement guide
- Dance personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Dental hygiene, therapy and technology personal statement guide
- Dentistry personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Dietetics personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Disaster and Emergency Management Personal Statement Guide
- Drama, theatre and production personal statement guide
- Early years and primary teaching personal statement guide
- Economics personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Electrical, electronic and computer engineering personal statement guide
- Environment, Climate and Sustainability Personal Statement Guide
- Environmental and Occupational Health Personal Statement Guide
- Environmental and Waste Technology Personal Statement Guide
- Environmental and water engineering personal statement guide
- Epidemiology personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Film and television production personal statement guide
- Financial technology personal statement guide
- Fine art and craft personal statement guide: choosing evidence for fine art, craft and art history
- Fine art personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Forensic psychology personal statement guide
- Forensic science personal statement guide
- Gender and Sexuality Studies Personal Statement Guide
- Geography personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Graphic design and illustration personal statement guide
- Heritage and conservation personal statement guide
- History personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- History, archaeology and heritage personal statement guide
- Hospitality Management Personal Statement Guide
- Hospitality, tourism and events personal statement guide
- How to write a personal statement for Events management
- How to write a personal statement for Insurance and Risk Management
- How to write a Tourism personal statement
- Hydrology and Water Science Personal Statement Guide
- Indigenous studies personal statement guide
- Landscape architecture personal statement guide
- Law and legal studies personal statement guide
- Manufacturing and industrial engineering personal statement guide
- Marine and Freshwater Biology Personal Statement Guide
- Marine engineering and naval architecture personal statement guide
- Marketing, advertising and communication personal statement guide
- Mathematics personal statement guide: choosing and explaining mathematical evidence
- Mechanical and energy engineering personal statement guide
- Media and Communication Personal Statement Guide
- Medicine personal statement guide: choosing and reflecting on evidence
- Microbiology personal statement guide
- Midwifery personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Mining and petroleum engineering personal statement guide
- Museums and Curating Personal Statement Guide
- Music and Composition Personal Statement Guide
- Natural and Applied Sciences Personal Statement Guide
- Neuroscience personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Occupational therapy personal statement guide
- Oceanography and marine science personal statement guide
- Optometry and vision sciences personal statement guide
- Paramedic science personal statement guide
- Personal statement advice for accounting, finance and insurance
- Personal statement advice for agricultural engineering and biotechnology
- Personal statement advice for agriculture, horticulture and forestry
- Personal statement advice for architecture, planning and the built environment
- Personal statement advice for biochemistry, molecular and cell biology
- Personal statement advice for business and commercial law
- Personal statement advice for clinical, counselling and health psychology
- Personal statement advice for design, fashion and visual communication
- Personal statement advice for Earth, geographical and ocean sciences
- Personal statement advice for educational technology and learning design
- Personal statement advice for environmental policy, justice and society
- Personal statement advice for film, animation and games
- Personal statement advice for forestry and rural land management
- Personal statement advice for general and interdisciplinary studies
- Personal statement advice for information systems and business informatics
- Personal statement advice for journalism, media and publishing
- Personal statement advice for languages, linguistics and translation
- Personal statement advice for Law and legal studies
- Personal statement advice for leadership, strategy and innovation courses
- Personal statement advice for logistics, supply chains and transport
- Personal statement advice for materials and manufacturing processes
- Personal statement advice for migration and refugee studies
- Personal statement advice for music, theatre and dance
- Personal statement advice for public and global health
- Personal statement advice for public health, health systems and health informatics
- Personal statement advice for traditional and complementary health studies
- Personal statement advice for transport, logistics and maritime studies
- Personal statement guidance for health policy and healthcare management
- Personal statement guidance for libraries, archives and museums
- Personal statement guidance for philosophy, religion and theology
- Personal statement guide for acting and musical theatre
- Personal statement guide for animal science, behaviour and welfare
- Personal statement guide for animation and visual effects
- Personal statement guide for aquaculture and fisheries
- Personal statement guide for art conservation and restoration
- Personal statement guide for artificial intelligence, data and cybersecurity
- Personal statement guide for arts therapies
- Personal statement guide for biochemical and biological engineering
- Personal statement guide for biological sciences and biotechnology
- Personal statement guide for biomedical sciences and neuroscience
- Personal statement guide for chemical, materials and process engineering
- Personal statement guide for civil, electrical and systems engineering
- Personal statement guide for clinical research and trials
- Personal statement guide for computing, software and information systems
- Personal statement guide for counselling and psychotherapy
- Personal statement guide for data science and computational analysis
- Personal statement guide for disease, immunity and regenerative medicine
- Personal statement guide for ecology and conservation biology
- Personal statement guide for Education and teacher training
- Personal statement guide for education studies and research
- Personal statement guide for educational leadership and policy
- Personal statement guide for entrepreneurship and social enterprise
- Personal statement guide for finance, banking and investment
- Personal statement guide for food science and technology
- Personal statement guide for food, nutrition and consumer sciences
- Personal statement guide for General Engineering, Engineering Science and Integrated Engineering
- Personal statement guide for GIS, geomatics and surveying
- Personal statement guide for healthcare science and clinical technology
- Personal statement guide for horticulture and plant production
- Personal statement guide for human-computer interaction and graphics
- Personal statement guide for international development and humanitarian studies
- Personal statement guide for international law and human rights
- Personal statement guide for international relations and diplomacy
- Personal statement guide for liberal arts, humanities and interdisciplinary studies
- Personal statement guide for Linguistics and English language
- Personal statement guide for Literature and writing
- Personal statement guide for maritime operations and shipping
- Personal statement guide for mathematics, statistics and operational research
- Personal statement guide for mechanical, aerospace and manufacturing engineering
- Personal statement guide for medical specialty and residency applications
- Personal statement guide for medicine, dentistry and pharmacy
- Personal statement guide for meteorology and atmospheric science
- Personal statement guide for Modern and Indigenous languages
- Personal statement guide for music technology and sound production
- Personal statement guide for networks, cloud and embedded systems
- Personal statement guide for nursing and advanced nursing practice
- Personal statement guide for occupational psychology and human factors
- Personal statement guide for operational research and decision science
- Personal statement guide for operations and responsible business
- Personal statement guide for peace, conflict and human rights
- Personal statement guide for pharmaceutical science and industry
- Personal statement guide for photonics and quantum technology
- Personal statement guide for politics, international relations and development
- Personal statement guide for product and industrial design
- Personal statement guide for professional writing and communication
- Personal statement guide for public policy and administration
- Personal statement guide for quantitative finance and financial mathematics
- Personal statement guide for secondary and specialist teaching
- Personal statement guide for security, defence, criminology and emergency management
- Personal statement guide for social work, counselling and human services
- Personal statement guide for sociology, anthropology and social policy
- Personal statement guide for special and inclusive education
- Personal statement guide for sustainability and energy courses
- Personal statement guide for systems engineering, robotics and mechatronics
- Personal statement guide: archives, records and digital preservation
- Personal statement guide: interaction, user experience and service design
- Personal statement guide: Library and information science
- Personal statement guide: nursing, midwifery and allied health
- Pharmacy personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Philosophy, Politics and Economics Personal Statement Guide
- Plant science personal statement guide: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Podiatry, prosthetics and orthotics personal statement guide
- Policing personal statement guide
- Project management personal statement guide
- Psychology and behavioural sciences personal statement guide
- Public and specialist law personal statement guide
- Publishing personal statement guide: choosing and explaining relevant evidence
- Religious studies personal statement guide
- Security, defence and intelligence personal statement guide
- Social work and community services personal statement guide
- Software Engineering and Development Personal Statement Guide
- Speech and language therapy personal statement guide
- Sport and exercise science personal statement guide
- Sport Business and Leisure Management Personal Statement Guide
- Sport, exercise and recreation personal statement guide
- Sports coaching and development personal statement guide
- Surveying personal statement guide: building and quantity surveying
- TESOL and Language Teaching Personal Statement Guide
- Urban design and planning personal statement guide
- Veterinary medicine and science personal statement guide
- Veterinary nursing personal statement guide
- Water and coastal management personal statement guide
- Writing a biomedical engineering personal statement
- Writing a Classics Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing a Film Studies Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing a Geology and Earth Sciences Personal Statement
- Writing a Human Resource Management Personal Statement
- Writing a Journalism Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing a Literature personal statement: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Writing a Marketing personal statement: choosing and explaining your evidence
- Writing a Nutrition Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing a personal statement for Accounting and Financial Management
- Writing a personal statement for Agribusiness and Farm Management
- Writing a personal statement for agriculture and crop science
- Writing a personal statement for animal, veterinary and fisheries sciences
- Writing a personal statement for artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Writing a personal statement for astronomy and space science
- Writing a personal statement for Classical languages: Latin, Ancient Greek, and Greek and Latin
- Writing a Personal Statement for Climate Change and Climate Science
- Writing a personal statement for conservation and natural resources
- Writing a personal statement for Creative Writing
- Writing a personal statement for criminology and criminal justice
- Writing a personal statement for Design studies and practice
- Writing a personal statement for environmental science and management
- Writing a personal statement for equine studies
- Writing a personal statement for fashion and textiles
- Writing a personal statement for games and interactive media
- Writing a personal statement for genetics and genomics
- Writing a personal statement for health informatics and digital health
- Writing a Personal Statement for Human Geography and Urban Studies
- Writing a personal statement for interior and spatial design
- Writing a personal statement for materials science and nanotechnology
- Writing a personal statement for media production
- Writing a personal statement for medical genetics and genetic counselling
- Writing a personal statement for music performance
- Writing a personal statement for Osteopathy or Chiropractic
- Writing a personal statement for outdoor and adventure education
- Writing a personal statement for pharmacology and drug discovery
- Writing a personal statement for physics, astronomy and space science
- Writing a Personal Statement for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
- Writing a personal statement for Psychology and behavioural science
- Writing a personal statement for real estate and land management
- Writing a personal statement for safety and fire engineering
- Writing a personal statement for sports therapy and rehabilitation
- Writing a personal statement for Theology and Ministry
- Writing a personal statement for translation and interpreting
- Writing a Philosophy Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing a Physics Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing a Politics Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing a Sociology and Social Policy Personal Statement
- Writing a Statistics Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing an Anthropology Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Writing an Aviation Personal Statement: Choosing and Explaining Your Evidence
- Zoology personal statement guide: choosing and explaining animal biology evidence