#SeptemberStudies- Things to include in your personal statement for UCAS

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Believe me when I say that writing a personal statement for your UCAS application is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do.

I'm being 100% serious. If your school are doing their job properly, they will make you draft it and draft it and draft it again and then edit and edit and edit some more and eventually, 100 copies later, you'll have the final thing ready to send off that your teacher is finally happy with.

It can be hard to think about what to include in your personal statement. What will make you sound incredible, unique, what will make you stand out from the crowd? Here's a handy list of things you can include, some of which you might not even have thought of.

Your job
If you have a job, or have had a job, you can write about this. It shows dedication, reliability, demonstrates that you have good time management and a bunch of other adult related stuff. It's even better if your job is relevant to the course you're applying for.



Work experience
More likely to be relevant to your uni course than a job, work experience shows you have experience in a particular field, are dedicated to your career choice (because you've willingly worked unpaid hours in the industry) and again show time management, dedication, responsibility etc. etc..



A blog or website
If you have set up your own blog or website, you should definitely include this in your personal statement. It demonstrates commitment to a specific project as well as a variety of modern, technical skills such as coding and web design.



Hobbies
Long time hobbies are brilliant things to include. They give the university a taste for your personality, they (again) demonstrate a long term commitment, meaning that you're likely to commit to a course, they also show that you're passionate about things, so much so that you learn about them and stick with them because you genuinely want to- this is how you should feel about your uni course! It is even better if your hobby can somehow link back to your course but this isn't 100% necessary.



Special Skills
If you have any special skills, such as you are fluent in five languages or you can swim underwater for five minutes or you can ride a horse backwards, whatever it is that makes you stand out and shows you're an extraordinary person, include it. I fought at the Bucks Youth Games and won a trophy in Judo and saw this as an incredible achievement, so included this in my personal statement. It didn't really have any relevance to my course but its a cool thing to brag about, right?



School achievements
Were you a prefect at school? Head girl or boy? A buddy to a younger pupil to help them in lessons? Include it! This doesn't just show that you're a great pupil, it means your school think you're great, which speaks volumes to a university. Furthermore, it shows you're willing to get involved with your school, which means you'll hopefully feel the same at university, and this is something uni's really value. 



Clubs and extra curricular activities
Particularly the ones you participate in within school. Universities have a huge number of societies and clubs that students can be a part of, and there's always the opportunity for students to start their own ones too. Universities like to see involvement at school level from potential university students. 



Remember, your personal statement is a small amount of words able to sum up the best version of yourself. It's okay to brag, boast and speak highly of your achievements- universities want to hear about how well you can do, because they only want the best of the best!

What did you include in your personal statement? Leave some ideas in the comments below to help readers out! 

Love from,
Florence Grace

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