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UCAS personal statements are now structured into three separate questions rather than one long written statement.
This new format is designed to help students clearly explain their motivations, academic preparation, and experiences relevant to their chosen course.
A great personal statement will help them stand out from other applicants
1) Remind them to make a head start
The 13 January 2027 at 6pm application deadline will arrive before they know it. If they get started on it now, they will have time to work through a number of drafts with you before they reach the final one.
2) Be the positive critic
As a parent, you want to be positive but stay critical as well. You know your child, so you can help them highlight those positive attributes that make them stand out.
Encourage them to write about what they think makes them interesting and about any skills they have that they can apply to the course.
3) Encourage them to ask for feedback
Teachers and friends spend as much time with your child as you do.
Asking them for feedback and ideas may prove to be a great source of inspiration, particularly as their friends may be in a similar position. It may also be worth them showing a first draft to a teacher
4) Pulling it together
When they first start making notes, they should probably write down a lot - anything that shows why they're excited about the course they're applying for and their reasons for choosing it.
They should also list work experience or other activities as supporting evidence to demonstrate why they think they'd make a great student.
5) Give it structure
The personal statement is now split into three questions:
Students can decide how much of the overall 4,000-character limit they use for each section, but there is a 350-character minimum for each.
6) Balance is key
Most universities expect applicants to split their personal statements between their academic achievements and their extra-curricular pursuits. If the extra-curricular pursuits are relevant to their chosen course, even better!
Starting their UCAS application is a big step in the journey to university for your child. But as a parent, you might be wondering how it all works?
Head of UK Recruitment and Admissions, Jonathan Holland explains the process.
Think of the application as a whole pie, and the personal statement as just a slice of it. There are nine sections in total.
It should be 80% about why they’d be a good addition to the course which can include:
The rest should tell us about their interests outside of studying. We want to know how they will add to our community
UCAS recognises that students may use AI tools such as ChatGPT to help them brainstorm ideas, structure responses, or check spelling and grammar... However, personal statements should still reflect the student's own voice, experiences, and motivations. Universities may check for copied or generated content.
Parents can support by encouraging students to:
List every qualification they’ve taken and their final or predicted grade. If they’re re-sitting, list the original and predicted grade. If you’re not sure of a qualification’s official name, check! If it’s listed incorrectly, an offer may be revoked later.
Make sure they include the correct contact details too, as we send a lot of important information in August.
You create one each year, with up to five choices. These can be used to apply for five different courses at different universities, or different courses at the same place.
Once you’ve heard back from all your choices, you have to make one your ‘firm acceptance’ and one your ‘insurance acceptance’. The rest get declined.
If you change your mind about your choices, you can decline all offers and add an ‘extra’ choice through UCAS Extra, but you only get one at a time.
Get started in September when they go back to school.
Encourage your child to start early and regularly check UCAS for the latest application deadlines.
UCAS sends their application to each of their university choices. Once their application has been reviewed, the decision will show on their UCAS Hub and UCAS will send your child an email when something has updated.
They'll need to log into UCAS to find out what has changed.
We get tens of thousands of applications between October and January, so it might take us a week or two to respond.
