The UCAS Personal Statement

Source: https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/international/applying/personal-statement Parent: https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/international/applying/undergraduate

Your Personal Statement is your opportunity to convince Admissions Officers of your suitability for and commitment to the degree programme you have applied to.

What is the Personal Statement for?

It is important to recognise that, when you apply to Edinburgh, you will be competing for a place with many very well-qualified applicants. Your personal statement is your opportunity to make your application stand out.

While good qualifications are essential they are not enough on their own. Admissions Officers will want to be confident that students have the necessary skills and attributes for the degree programme.

What should the Personal Statement include?

In your Personal Statement you should ideally:

Explain why you want to study the subject courses you have applied for
Demonstrate a clear understanding of the subject/degree
What knowledge of the subject can you demonstrate?
Provide evidence that you understand the career implications of your choice
Detail any relevant skills or experience
Outline any relevant personal qualities, interests and skills and indicate how these have been developed

Depending on the degree programme you are applying for, admissions staff will be looking for different things from your Personal Statement.

More details on what sort of skills, experience or attributes are required can be found in the UCAS Entry Profiles.

UCAS Entry Profiles

Challenging circumstances

If you have experienced any challenging circumstances that have impacted on your pre-application education, you can include these in your personal statement so that they can be taken into account during selection. This information can be provided by your referee in your reference if you prefer.

Challenging circumstances policy

Writing a true personal statement

Remember that your personal statement is your opportunity to tell us about yourself. The information you give us must be true. If you copy a personal statement from elsewhere, or ask someone else to write this for you, including the use of AI apps such as Chat GPT, you could be committing fraud.

You can find guidance on personal statements on the UCAS website.

UCAS guidance on personal statements

UCAS guidance on using AI and Chat GPT in statement writing

Personal statement guidance for Medicine