Need some direction on your university personal statement? We've got a handy example of a personal statement structure for you to use!
Updated: 03 Nov 2025
There’s no single right or wrong way to write a personal statement, but the successful ones are usually well-researched, sincerely written and follow a familiar structural form. It’s a good idea to read examples of existing personal statements to get an idea of the many ways they can be written, but make sure the text you end up submitting is your own.
In 2026, UCAS changed how personal statements work, going from one long essay to answering three smaller questions. This means you'll want to consider how you structure your answers to each of the questions.
To help you get an idea of how you could structure your personal statement answers, we’ve got a guideline for you to have a look at below.
Why do you want to study this course or subject?
This question is looking to find out about your ambitions, your plans, and your drive to learn about the subject. With that in mind, it might make sense to start with what made you decide on the course. Was it something in school or outside of it? Was it one large event or lots of smaller ones?
You could then lead into how the course will help develop your interests of the subject. Is there a particular aspect that you want to explore? An famous person in the area of study that you want to find out more about? A question you want to answer?
It might make sense to finish off this question with your aspirations for the future. Does the career you want require qualifications this course would provide? Is there something you want to achieve with the degree? Are you thinking about postgraduate study in the subject?
How have your qualifications or studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
The second question is all about your experiences in education and how they relate to your course. You could start by writing about the subjects you studied at A-level (or the equivalent) and how they informed your choice in university course.
If there's a direct link (like you took Mathematics at A-level and you're applying for a Mathematics course at uni), it would make sense to follow this up with the areas you enjoyed in that subject, or the ones that you've excelled at.
If there isn't a direct link, you could think about how what you have studied and how the skills you've developed would be beneficial on the course.
If you got any awards in school for relevant activities, like essay writing or performance, that would be a good way to finish off this section – ending on a high note is a great choice.
What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
This question is looking to find out more about you, your interests, your personality and how well you'd fit in on the course. You might want to start off writing about any hobbies you have that are relevant to your course. Are you applying for a Music Production course and play in a band? Do you like writing stories when you're not preparing to study English Literature? Explain how you got into these hobbies and how they might feed into your learning.
Next, think about your skills and you have honed outside of school and if they would factor into your course. Would your good understanding of the stock market be helpful on a Finance course? Will your experiences in public speaking give you an edge on a TV Journalism course?
Finally, you could detail any work experience, summer internships, jobs and volunteering positions which you’ve recently held. Ideally these will be relevant to your course, but remember that they are not expecting you to know everything about working professionally before starting your undergraduate studies.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to follow these guidelines – it’s not the only way you can structure a personal statement by any means! You might use a few ideas from it, you might use all of them, you might use none. Find what works best for you in showing why you’re a good choice for the university admissions team.
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