Personal statement

The personal statement is your opportunity to demonstrate to us why you think that you should get a place on your chosen course.

Tell us why you want to study the course. Talk about your hobbies and other special interests, any interests related to your chosen course, your skills, aptitudes and personal qualities, your future career aims, previous employment and relevant experience. Try to link them to the skills and experience required for the course.

If you feel that you have had little formal work experience, try to think of things you have done in your personal life that you could use for example.

• Have you helped organise any events?
• Done anything for charity or voluntary work?
• Organised your household?
• Managed your budget?
• Had a job?

Put these down in your statement and try to think what relevant skills you needed to do these things.  Don’t underestimate the transferable skills that you have – customer care, working with others, communication skills etc.

Personal statements are used to help select candidates who wish to continue on to the next level of course and for interview of new applicants for some courses and are discussed with you at interview.  Make sure that your personal statement is all about you and be prepared to talk about it.  It is your personal statement that could make you stand out from the crowd.

This may be the only written work that the Lecturer sees before making a decision - make sure it is organised and well worded. Get the grammar, spelling and punctuation right. A statement filled with errors will give a negative impression of your skills and the effort you have put in to being accepted.

Your personal statement must be written in English, even if English is not your first language.

The personal statement is important in the selection process and should be carefully considered before submission. It should be between 250 and 300 words in length.