A free resource for applicants, parents and guardians, schools, colleges and advisers
Since 2008 I’ve had more than fifty articles and two editions of a book published on the topic of UCAS personal statements. More recently I adapted three of the most popular articles and republished them on my blog as a free resource and since then they’ve had over 14,000 views worldwide with lots of positive feedback.
Meanwhile, after many years without any significant changes, UCAS has undertaken a consultation process with a view to reforming the way personal statements are structured. The reforms are due to be implemented at the start of the 2025/26 application cycle, but this means that the existing format remains in place for students applying through UCAS during the 2024/25 academic year and therefore my articles have one final year of shelf life left.
The three original articles were first written several years ago, but I’ve tweaked them a little bit since then to keep the content current and relevant. That being said, I certainly don’t want to claim that my advice on this subject is authoritative and I would urge applicants to seek guidance from a range of sources and especially from universities themselves.
However, I continue to hear students saying that they find the process daunting, or they don’t know where to start, or they’ve been given questionable advice on what to include. So I do want to dispel a few myths and misconceptions and to offer some practical suggestions and inspiration, whilst also highlighting what to try and avoid.
Here are the three articles. The first two are generic, whilst the third is aimed specifically at students who are thinking of applying for a mixture of different courses.
The sunset photo is from my own collection and was taken in Lesotho, Africa
Alan Bullock Careers 