What can Year 1/Year 12 students do over the summer to prepare for writing their personal statements?
Rebekah BaconStudent Recruitment Outreach Officer (Post-16) at University of Nottingham
Information, advice and guidance
Personal statements
Personal statements have changed for students applying to university for 2026 entry and beyond. So, what will this look like, and what can students do over their summer holiday to best prepare for writing their statement?
For any teacher or adviser working with students applying to university, the personal statement changes for 2026 entry will be something that you’re aware of. Instead of writing one 4,000-character block of text, students will be splitting those characters between three different questions, with a minimum of 350 characters for each question. These questions are:
Why do you want to study this course or subject?
How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
The hope is that this change will give students better direction with how to structure their statements. It should also increase the likeliness that admissions teams receive all the information they need about students to make decisions (UCAS, 2025). But to help your students prepare effectively for their personal statements, you need to know exactly how the new statement is structured.
Question 1: Why do you want to study this course or subject?
The first section of the personal statement gives the student the opportunity to show what they love about the course they’ve chosen and their motivations for picking it. For some, this might be focusing on the future career they hope their course will lead to, for others, it might be centred around the topics they enjoy studying the most. In a nutshell, the key is to focus on relevant subject-knowledge or skills that they would gain from their course. Students may choose to include examples of activities that supported their decision to apply for this course, such as their particular areas of interest within the subject, or future specialisms they hope to learn more about. Generalisations about the subject don’t show admissions teams how the student has explored the subject – so being specific is key (Fryer et al., 2025).
Over the summer, encourage your students to:
Speak to a professional in a career that they’re interested in
Follow industry updates and news stories in the career field they’re aiming at
Watch a documentary relating to their chosen subject
Practice explaining why they're interested in the subject with family or friends, linking to key ideas and topics
The personal statement is read in full by admissions teams and all three questions are given equal weighting, so students should not repeat themselves across the three sections, nor should they prioritise one section over the others.
Question 2: How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
Question 2 focuses on the academic activities students have completed that align with their course of choice. Students should prioritise linking these experiences to the skills they’ve gained and how these will prepare them for their course. Examples from their own A Level or BTEC courses may be easiest to find – whether working on group projects for coursework or developing essay writing skills through assessments or an EPQ. Other academic activities they may mention include attending taster lectures, taking part in online courses, or completing wider research that directly relates to their course. These experiences shouldn’t be listed – students should instead engage in academic discussion and critical reflection of the topics they’ve learnt about, and link this to their motivation for studying their course. Admissions teams prefer students to discuss one or two topics in detail, rather than engaging with many topics superficially (Fryer et al., 2025). Students may also write more broadly about skills they’ve gained from their time at school, like developing leadership as a school councillor or success in relevant competitions for their chosen course.
There may be experiences that students feel overlap multiple questions too. In this case, encourage students to include these where they flow best with the rest of their answers.
Question 3: What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
As the final section of the personal statement, this is the student’s opportunity to include any other experiences they feel didn’t fit appropriately within the previous questions, but are still useful to mention. Course-related activities should be prioritised, such as online courses, university summer schools or relevant work experience (Fryer et al., 2025). As before, students should focus on the skills they’ve gained from their experiences, as these will demonstrate why the experience was useful for the course they’re applying for. Students should be selective here. Don’t include everything they’ve ever done, instead pick the top examples that showcase their relevant skills the best. They may draw upon any clubs or hobbies they participate in, or personal life experiences which prepared them for their course – but discussion of extra-curricular activities should be concise, with priority given to super-curricular experiences (Fryer et al., 2025).
Personal statements can be tricky to write, even when split into questions, so remind students that the job of their first draft is just to exist. The second and third (and maybe forth) draft are where they can edit and improve on what they’ve written. There may be experiences that students feel overlap multiple questions too. In this case, encourage students to include these where they flow best with the rest of their answers. The personal statement is read in full by admissions teams and all three questions are given equal weighting, so students should not repeat themselves across the three sections, nor should they prioritise one section over the others. For more guidance and resources, why not take a look at our other CPD resources or book a live CPD session with us?
Over the summer, encourage your students to:
Keep a diary of their experiences, activities and research, to support with writing their personal statement
Have a look through reading lists for their chosen subject on university course pages
Book onto university open days, and attend taster lectures
Key personal statement advice for teachers and advisers – based on “Investigating the alignment of teachers and admissions professionals on UCAS personal statements”
View link – Written by Tom Fryer, Anna Burchfiel, Matt Griffin, Sam Holmes and Steven Jones.
HEPI – “Teachers need support to understand what’s needed in the UCAS personal statement”
