My top tips for writing a personal statement

1. Start early

It’s a good idea to start working on your personal statement during the summer before you’re planning to apply. Getting it out of the way early means you have plenty of time to plan out what you want to say – you only get 4,000 characters, so it’s important to make each word count! I found it useful to make a list of everything I wanted to include. This helped me highlight the relevant information while also identifying any areas I needed to improve, such as gaining more practical experience!

2. Make the most of the support that’s out there

It’s important to take advantage of the support and advice available to you. The University of Central Lancashire offers both a practical guide and monthly online personal statement writing sessions that run from September to January. These sessions give you the chance to hear from experts who’ll be able to answer your questions and talk you through the writing process. Speaking to experts helped address any worries and really improved the quality of my statement.

3. Draft and redraft

Once you’ve written down everything you want to say, it’s useful to take a step back and look at your statement as a whole. You can even get friends and family to proofread it! An outside perspective might be able to spot things you’ve missed and can better suggest what works and what doesn’t. Once you’ve got this feedback, you can then redraft as many times as necessary until you’ve got something that’s clear, concise, and, most importantly, that you’re happy with.

4. Hit submit

All that’s left to do now is send it off! Make sure you submit your application by the deadline to be in with the best chance of securing a place at university, and don’t forget to reward yourself for all your hard work, too. Good luck!