Sell yourself with this UCAS guide to composing your personal statement...

Remember this is your chance to tell Uni's and colleges why they should want you.

Here are our top tips:

• Consider everything you write very carefully
• Be truthful and accurate
• Explain why you have chosen courses listed (remember each uni cannot see other choices but all will see the personal statement)
• What interests you about the subject chosen – include details of anything you have read or learned that is relevant
• Write about your career plans and how you want to use your qualification once achieved
• Talk about any work experience, particularly if relevant and the skills you have gained
• Any involvement in widening participation schemes such as summer schools or mentoring activities
• Any involvement in master classes or other Gifted and Talented programmes including those offered by the Young, Gifted and Talented Learner Academy which launched in September 2007
• Details of any accreditation received
• Details of non-accredited skills and achievements gained
• Any subjects you are studying that do not have a formal assessment
• Any sponsorship or placements applied for
• If planning a year out your reasons why
• Social/sports/leisure activities
• Future plans
• Read through at the end - make sure it flows, is grammatically correct and there are no spelling mistakes
• It is a good idea to prepare it offline using a word-processing package and then copy and paste it
• Up to 4,000 characters or 47 lines of text
• Remember to save it!!

Key Facts

• Think of what will make you stand out
• You only have 4,000 characters or 47 lines of text so it is important to be clear and concise
• Take your time and think through what you are going to write - prepare in a word document and then cut and paste it when ready to complete online