POSTGRAD PERSONAL STATEMENT


A postgraduate personal statement is one of the major parts of your application to a postgraduate course. You can find out more about the whole admissions process here. Your postgraduate personal statement and your references are the two main sources of information for your admissions, and the personal statement is the one you have control over. So how best to make it stand out?


How to Write a Postgraduate Personal Statement


#1 Firstly, let’s work out the basics - how long does it need to be? Generally, applications allow for 1 side of A4 (although some, such as Oxford University, require far more – so make sure you check!). That means there’s no room for anything unnecessary, so drafting, redrafting and editing is a must!


#2 Secondly, remember that a postgraduate personal statement is different to an undergraduate statement as you can tailor it to each individual university. You shouldn’t send out the same statement to each university. There are two good ways to do this – either write one for each university, or write a basic template, and adjust it to focus on each university you apply for.


#3 The easiest way to start writing a postgraduate personal statement is to make a plan. Work out what sort of things the university wants to know about you, and then answer those questions. Good questions to look at include: • Why do you want to study this particular course?


• Why do you want to study at this particular university?


• What part of the course in particular appeals to you? e.g. certain module, work opportunity, etc


• What previous experience do you have in the area you are applying to study?


• What skills do you have that’ll lend themselves to postgraduate study? e.g. if you apply for a research masters, what did you learn from doing a dissertation?


• What would you like to do after your postgraduate study?


Inject Your Personality into Your Personal Statement


Of course, everyone who applies will write very similar content in their postgraduate personal statement, so you need to ensure you stand out. This doesn’t mean you need to write something that no-one has ever read before, but that you need to make sure some of your personality comes through. Did you get into philosophy thanks to a certain work of fiction? Mention it (briefly). Did a particular incident doing undergrad biology make you want to study medicine? Write it down! And remember, whilst


there’s a set amount of things you need to include (like answering the questions above); don’t just follow a template you find online. You can find more tips on how to make your statement stand out here.


Don’t Lie!


Another important thing to remember is this: don’t just make


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