Students get confused between Common App and UCAS application. Unlike Common App where student has to write supplemental essays related to specific colleges, UCAS application is much simpler in which only one essay is written and sent to 5 schools in UK. The UCAS application has only one essay which plays a very important role in your application while applying to top UK colleges.

UCAS Application Personal Statement – The purpose of writing the personal statement is to tell them the intent and your interest in applying to a particular program, the focus should be on the program/course rather than the particular university.

One has to complete the whole essay in 5000 characters or 47 lines which is equivalent to 500 words or thereabouts. In these number of words, you only need to showcase your intent and purpose, which can be difficult, at times.

There are some key points which one should keep in mind while writing a UCAS personal statement:

Simple English – One has to write an essay in simple English; admission officers are not looking for jargons, in fact they are interested in the content. One has to convey the message in the most simplistic way. For international students, the personal statement is a way to access your English language ability as well, therefore be cautious in writing the statement.

Stick to the point – While writing the essay you have to understand that essay is not a dump of information. One cannot write everything; they are not looking for all the activities you have done in your entire life till date. They are looking for depth which means the activities in which you have spent considerable amount of time. One has to focus on convincing the admission officer that you are good fit for this degree, give details on why and how you decided to study this course. And also, what uniqueness will you bring to the class which will enrich the overall experience of the class.

Back by Evidences – Whatever you say about yourself in the essay, it should be backed by evidences such as details of a particular project, LORs from respective people under whom you did the particular project or work, winning some real difficult competitions in a particular subject or field which you are showing as one of your strengths and many more. When any piece of writing is backed by evidences, automatically it becomes authentic and trustworthy.

Plagiarism – There are many examples of UCAS personal statement online. It is fine to read them and draw inspiration from them but copying exact statements or paragraphs is plagiarism and can be dangerous. And, the bigger problem is that if you are caught in plagiarism, it can impact you at multiple levels. The school can dismiss your application or revoke their acceptance offers. The personal statement has to be genuine and unique to you.

Don’t Lie – One of the other important points is lying which can create problems, especially in case of the top UK schools where interview is the part of the admission process. For instance, when you apply to Oxford or Cambridge, they have interview as a part of their admission process. And, many a times the admission officer/interviewer is trying to grill you and check upon the facts mentioned in the personal statement. It is best to be original and truthful while writing your personal statement.

Background Work

A lot of background work goes before even thinking of writing a personal statement. Many students can articulate their interests and motivation for choosing a particular course. Admission officers can figure out which students are more genuine by looking at what the applicant has done in the pervious years to prepare themselves to study a particular course in their undergrad level.

In personal statement, you select and choose particular extra and co-curricular activities which you have done in your high school to support your application. First, you may want to list down all the extra and co-curricular activities and academic achievements such as competitions, research papers and projects, etc. in detail. Then, you may want to figure out which all points have to be mentioned and are relevant to the particular course you are applying.

You need to make sure that you have enough time to plan and structure your personal statement, making sure that you include everything you want to say. You may need to edit your personal statement a number of times. 

If you are invited to interview, it is important that you go back to your statement and familiarise yourself with the information you have given in the UCAS application.

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