how to write personal statement for uk university

How to write a personal statement

How to approach writing your personal statement for graduate applications.

If you’re applying for a grad course that requires a personal statement (sometimes also called a ‘statement of purpose’), it can be difficult to know where to start and what to include. Read on for tips from some of our masters’ students about their process and what they found helpful.

1. Before you start

The academic work is the most important reason why we’re here, but that also translates into work experiences, internships, volunteering. I think a big part of the personal statement is crafting that narrative of academic self that fits alongside your professional experiences, to give that greater picture of who you are as an academic. Lauren (MSc Modern Middle Eastern Studies)

Start by thinking about the skills, knowledge and interests you’ve acquired over time and how the course at Oxford will take them forward.

Your statement is the story you want to tell about yourself and your academic work to the department you are applying to.

Most of your application and its supporting documents communicate plain facts about your academic career so far. Your personal statement is your best opportunity to put these facts into context and show assessors how you’ve progressed and excelled.

Make sure you highlight evidence of your achievements (a high grade in a relevant area, an award or scholarship, a research internship).

Presenting yourself

When I was writing my personal statement, I went onto my course website. I looked at what they emphasised and what kind of students they were looking for, and I wrote about my experiences based on that. Kayla (MSc in Clinical Embryology)

Make it easy for an assessor to see how you meet the entry requirements for the course (you can find these on each course page ).

Don’t make any assumptions about what Oxford is looking for!

Get to know your department

You want to study this particular subject and you want to study at Oxford (you’re applying here, so we know that!) but why is Oxford the right place for you to study this subject? What interests or qualities of the academic department and its staff make it attractive to you?

Use your academic department’s website for an overview of their research, academic staff and course information (you'll find a link to the department's own website on each course page ).

I said, ‘why do I actually want to be here? What is it about being at Oxford that’s going to get me to what I want to do? Sarah (Bachelor of Civil Law)

Talk it out

Talking to others about your statement can be a great way to gather your ideas and decide how you’d like to approach it. Sarah even managed to get benefit out of this approach by herself:

“I spent a lot of time talking out loud. My written process was actually very vocal, so I did a lot of talking about myself in my room.”

2. The writing process

Know your format.

Make sure you’ve read all the guidance on the How to Apply section of your course page , so you know what’s needed in terms of the word count of the final statement, what it should cover and what it will be assessed for. This should help you to visualise roughly what you want to end up with at the end of the process.

Make a start

When it comes to writing your personal statement, just getting started can be the hardest part.

One good way to get around writer’s block is to just put it all down on the page, like Mayur.

First - write down anything and everything. In the first round, I was just dumping everything - whatever I’ve done, anything close to computer science, that was on my personal statement. Mayur (MSc Computer Science)

You’ll be editing later anyway so don’t let the blank page intimidate you - try writing a little under each of the following headings to get started:

• areas of the course at Oxford that are the most interesting to you
• which areas you’ve already studied or had some experience in
• what you hope to use your Oxford course experience for afterwards.

3. Finishing up

Get some feedback.

Once you’ve got a draft of about the right length, ask for feedback on what you’ve written. It might take several drafts to get it right.

This could involve getting in touch with some of your undergraduate professors to ask them to read your draft and find any areas which needed strengthening.

You could also show it to people who know you well, like family or friends.

Because they’re the first people to say, ‘Who is that person?’ You want the people around you to recognise that it really sounds like you. It can be scary telling family and friends you’re applying for Oxford, because it makes it real, but be brave enough to share it and get feedback on it. Sarah (Bachelor of Law)

Be yourself

Finally - be genuine and be yourself. Make sure your personal statement represents you, not your idea about what Oxford might be looking for.

We have thousands of students arriving every year from a huge range of subjects, backgrounds, institutions and countries (you can hear from a few more of them in our My Oxford interviews).

Get moving on your application today

To find out more about supporting documents and everything else you need to apply, read your course page and visit our Application Guide .

Applicant advice hub

This content was previously available through our  Applicant advice hub . The hub contained links to articles hosted on our  Graduate Study at Oxford Medium channel . We've moved the articles that support the application process into this new section of our website.

• Application Guide: Statement of purpose

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By Nik Taylor (Editor, The Uni Guide) | 18 August 2023 | 22 min read

How to write an excellent personal statement in 10 steps

Stand out from the crowd: here's how to write a good personal statement that will get you noticed

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Your personal statement forms a core part of your university application, and the sooner you get going, the better you can make it. You may think that your personal statement won’t matter as much to unis as your grades and experience but a great personal statement could make all the difference between you and a candidate with the same grades. Sure, your application might not reach that deal breaker stage. But is it something you want to leave to chance?  Here we’ll take you through the process of planning, writing and checking a good personal statement, so you end up with something you can submit with confidence. And to make sure the advice we're giving you is sound, we’ve spoken to admissions staff at loads of UK universities to get their view. Look out for video interviews and advice on applying for specific subjects throughout this piece or watch our personal statement playlist on YouTube .

• Are you looking for personal statement examples? Check our library of hundreds of real personal statements, on The Student Room

Personal statement deadlines

You'll need to make sure you've got your personal statement written well in advance of your application deadline. Below are the main university application deadline dates for 2024 entry.

2024 entry deadlines

16 October 2023: Deadline for applications to Oxford and Cambridge universities, along with most medicine, dentistry, and veterinary courses.   31 January 2024: Deadline for applications to the majority of undergraduate courses. After this date, universities will start allocating places on these courses –   but you can still apply after the 31 January deadline , as this article explains . 30 June 2024:  Students who apply after this date will be entered into Clearing .

• Read more: Ucas deadlines and key application dates

What is a personal statement?

A personal statement is a central part of your Ucas application, where you explain why you’ve chosen a particular course and why you’ll be good at it. It's your chance to stand out against other candidates and hopefully get that all-important offer. You only write one personal statement which is then read by each university you apply to, so if you are applying for more than one subject (or it's a combined course) it's crucial that you include common themes or reference the overall skills needed for all subjects. Personal statements are especially important if you’re trying to get on a very competitive course, where you need to do anything you can to stand out to admissions tutors. Courteney Sheppard, senior customer experience manager at Ucas, advises that your personal statement is "the only part of the application that you have direct control over. Do lots of research to demonstrate your passion, curiosity and drive to pursue your chosen subject." There’s a limit on how much you can write: your personal statement can be up to 4,000 characters (including spaces) or 47 lines of 95 characters (including spaces); whichever is shorter. This may appear generous (read: long) but once you've got going you may find yourself having to edit heavily.

• Read more: teacher secrets for writing a great personal statement

1. Plan what you want to cover

The first thing you need to do is make a plan. Writing a personal statement off the top of your head is difficult. Start by making some notes, answering the following questions:

• What do you want to study?
• Why do you want to study it?
• What is there about you that shows you’re suited to studying this subject at university? Think about your personality, as well as your experiences.
• What are your other interests and skills?

These few points are going to form the spine of your personal statement, so write them in a way that makes sense to you. You might want to make a simple bulleted list or you might want to get all arty and use a mindmap. Whatever you choose, your aim is the same. You want to get it clear in your own head why a university should offer you a place on its course. Getting those details down isn't always easy, and some people find it helpful to make notes over time. You might try carrying a notebook with you or set up a memo on your phone. Whenever you think of something useful for your personal statement, jot it down. Inspiration sometimes comes more easily when you’re thinking about something else entirely. It might help to take a look at The Student Room for some sample personal statements by university and sample personal statements by subjects , to give you an idea of the kind of thing you want to include. 

• Read more: personal statement FAQs

2. Show off your experience

Some things are worth adding to your personal statement, some things are not. Firmly in the second camp are your qualifications. You don’t need to mention these as there’s a whole other section of your personal statement where you get to detail them very precisely. Don’t waste a single character going on about how great your GCSE grades are – it’s not what the admissions tutor wants to read. What they do want to see is: what have you done? OK, so you’ve got some good grades, but so do a lot of other applicants. What have you done that’s different, that shows you off as someone who really loves the subject you’re applying for? Spend some time thinking about all the experience you have in that subject. If you’re lucky, this might be direct work experience. That’s going to be particularly appropriate if you’re applying for one of the more vocational subjects such as medicine or journalism . But uni staff realise getting plum work experience placements is easier for some people than others, so cast your net wider when you’re thinking about what you’ve done. How about after-school clubs? Debating societies? Are you running a blog or vlog? What key skills and experience have you picked up elsewhere (eg from hobbies) that could be tied in with your course choice? Remember, you’re looking for experience that shows why you want to study your chosen subject. You’re not just writing an essay about what you're doing in your A-level syllabus. Use this checklist as a guide for what to include:

• Your interest in the course. Why do you want to spend three years studying this subject at university?
• What have you done outside school or college that demonstrates this interest? Think about things like fairs/exhibitions, public lectures or voluntary work that is relevant to your subject.
• Relevant work experience (essential for the likes of medicine, not required for non-vocational courses such as English )
• Skills and qualities required for that career if appropriate (medicine, nursing and law as obvious examples)
• Interest in your current studies – what particular topics have made an impression on you?
• Any other interests/hobbies/experiences you wish to mention that are relevant either to the subject or 'going to uni'. Don't just list your hobbies, you need to be very selective and state clearly what difference doing these things has made to you.
• Plans for a gap year if you’re deferring entry.

Read more: 6 steps you need to take to apply to university

3. Be bold about your achievements

Don't be bashful about your achievements; that’s not going to help you get into uni. It's time to unleash your inner Muhammed Ali and get all “I am the greatest” with your writing. Do keep it focused and accurate. Do keep your language professional. But don’t hide your qualities beneath a layer of false modesty. Your personal statement is a sell – you are selling yourself as a brilliant student and you need to show the reader why that is true. This doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and if you’re finding it difficult to write about how great you are it’s time to enlist some help. Round up a friend or two, a family member, a teacher, whoever and get them to write down your qualities. Getting someone else’s view here can help you get some perspective. Don’t be shy. You are selling your skills, your experience and your enthusiasm – make sure they all leap off the screen with the way you have described them.

• Read more: the ten biggest mistakes when writing your personal statement  

4. How to start your personal statement

Type your personal statement in a cloud-based word processing program, such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word and don’t copy and paste it into Ucas Hub until it’s finished.  One of the benefits of doing it this way is that you can run spell check easily. (Please note, though, that Word adds "curly" quotation marks and other characters (like é or ü) that won't show up on your Ucas form, so do proofread it on Ucas Hub before submitting it to ensure it is how you typed it.)  Another big benefit is that you'll always have a backup of what you've written. If you're being super careful, you could always save your statement in another place as well. Bear in mind that extra spaces (eg adding spaces to the beginnings of paragraphs as indentation) are removed on Ucas. In your first sentence, cut to the chase. Why do you want to do the course? Don’t waste any time rambling on about the daydreams you had when you were five. Just be clear and concise – describe in one line why this course is so important to you. Then, in the rest of your intro, go into more detail in demonstrating your enthusiasm for the course and explaining how you decided this is what you want to do for the next three or more years. However you choose to start your statement, just avoid the following hoary old chestnuts. These have been some of the most used lines in personal statements over the years – they are beyond cliche, so don’t even think about it.

• From a young age I have (always) been [interested in/fascinated by]…
• For as long as I can remember, I have…
• I am applying for this course because… 
• I have always been interested in… 
• Throughout my life I have always enjoyed… 
• Reflecting on my educational experiences… 
• [Subject] is a very challenging and demanding [career/profession/course]… 
• Academically, I have always been… 
• I have always wanted to pursue a career in… 
• I have always been passionate about…   

5. Focus your writing on why you've chosen that subject

So you’ve got your intro done – time to nail the rest of it. Bear in mind that you’ve got to be a little bit careful when following a personal statement template. It’s easy to fall into the trap of copying someone else’s style, and in the process lose all of your own voice and personality from your writing. But there is a rough order that you can follow, which should help keep you in your flow. After your opening paragraph or two, get into any work experience (if you’ve got it). Talk about extracurriculars: anything you've done which is relevant to the subject can go here – hobbies, interests, volunteering. Touch on your career aspirations – where do you want this course to take you? Next, show your enthusiasm for your current studies. Cite some specific examples of current work that you enjoyed. Show off your relevant skills and qualities by explaining how you’ve used these in the past. Make sure you’re giving real-world examples here, not just vague assertions like “I’m really organised and motivated”. Try to use examples that are relevant.   Follow this up with something about you as a person. Talk about non-academic stuff that you like to do, but link it in some way with the course, or with how it shows your maturity for dealing with uni life. Round it all off by bringing your main points together, including a final emphasis of your commitment to studying this particular course.

• Read more: how to write your personal statement in an evening  

6. How long should a personal statement be?

You've got to work to a very specific limit when writing your personal statement. In theory you could use up to 4,000 characters – but you’re probably more likely to be limited by the line count. That's because it's a good idea to put line breaks in between your paragraphs (to make it more readable) and you only get a maximum of 47 lines. With this in mind, 3,500 characters is a more realistic limit. But when you’re getting started you should ignore these limits completely. At first, you just want to get down everything that you feel is important. You'll probably end up with something that is far too long, but that's fine. This is where you get to do some polishing and pruning. Keep the focus of your piece on the course you’re applying for, why you want to do it and why you’re perfectly suited to it. Look through what you’ve written so far – have you got the balance right? Chop out anything that goes on a bit, as you want each point to be snappy and succinct.

• Read more: universities reveal all about personal statements  

7. Keep it simple

8. Smart ways to end your personal statement

Writing a closing line that you’re happy with can feel as tricky as coming up with your opener. What you’re looking for here is a sign-off that is bold and memorable. The final couple of sentences in your statement give you the opportunity to emphasise all the good stuff you’ve already covered. Use this space to leave the reader in no doubt as to what an excellent addition you would be to their university. Pull together all your key points and – most importantly – address the central question that your personal statement should answer: why should you get a place on the course?

• Read more: universities explain how to end your personal statement with a bang  

9. Make sure your personal statement has no mistakes

Now you’ve got a personal statement you’re happy with, you need to make sure there are no mistakes. Check it, check it a second time, then check it again. Once you’ve done that, get someone else to check it, too. You will be doing yourself a massive disservice if you send through a personal statement with spelling and/or grammatical errors. You’ve got months to put this together so there really is no excuse for sending through something that looks like a rush job. Ask your teachers to look at it, and be prepared to accept their feedback without getting defensive. They will have seen many personal statements before; use what they tell you to make yours even better. You’ve also got another chance here to look through the content of your personal statement, so you can make sure the balance is right. Make sure your focus is very clearly on the subject you are applying for and why you want to study it. Don’t post your personal statement on the internet or social media where anyone can see it. You will get picked up by the Ucas plagiarism checker. Similarly, don't copy any that you find online. Instead, now is a good time to make your parents feel useful. Read your personal statement out to them and get them to give you feedback. Or try printing it out and mixing it up with a few others (you can find sample personal statements on The Student Room). Get them to read them all and then try to pick yours out. If they can't, perhaps there's not enough of your personality in there.  

10. Don't think about your personal statement for a whole week

If you followed the advice at the very start of this guide, you’ve started your personal statement early. Good job! There are months before you need to submit it. Use one of these weeks to forget about your personal statement completely. Get on with other things – anything you like. Just don’t go near your statement. Give it a whole week and then open up the document again and read through it with fresh eyes. You’ll gain a whole new perspective on what you’ve written and will be well placed to make more changes, if needed.

• Read more: how to write your personal statement when you have nothing interesting to say  

10 steps to your ideal personal statement

In summary, here are the ten steps you should follow to create the perfect personal statement.  

Personal statement dos and don'ts

• Remember that your personal statement is your personal statement, not an article written about your intended field of study. It should tell the reader about you, not about the subject.
• Only put in things that you’re prepared to talk about at the interviews.
• Give convincing reasons for why you want to study the course – more than just "enjoying the subject" (this should be a given).
• For very competitive courses, find out as much as you can about the nature of the course and try to make your personal statement relevant to this.
• Be reflective. If you make a point like 'I like reading', 'I travelled abroad', say what you got from it.
• Go through the whole thing checking your grammar and your spelling. Do this at least twice. It doesn’t matter if you’re not applying to an essay-based course – a personal statement riddled with spelling mistakes is just going to irritate the reader, which is the last thing you want to do. If this is something you find difficult then have someone look over it for you.
• Leave blank lines between your paragraphs. It’s easier for the reader to get through your personal statement when it’s broken into easily digestible chunks. Remember that they’re going to be reading a lot of these! Make yours easy to get through.
• Get someone else's opinion on your statement. Read it out to family or friends. Share it with your teacher. Look for feedback wherever you can find it, then act upon it.
• Don’t write it like a letter. Kicking off with a greeting such as "Dear Sir/Madam" not only looks weird, it also wastes precious space.
• Don’t make jokes. This is simply not the time – save them for your first night in the union.
• Don’t criticise your current school or college or try to blame teachers for any disappointing grades you might have got.
• Be afraid of details – if you want your PS to be personal to you that means explaining exactly which bits of work or topics or activities you've taken part in/enjoyed. It's much more compelling to read about one or two detailed examples than a paragraph that brushes over five or six.
• Just list what you're doing now. You should pull out the experiences that are relevant to the courses which you're applying to.
• Mention skills and activities without giving examples of when they have been demonstrated by you or what you learnt from them. Anyone can write "I have great leadership skills" in a PS, actually using a sentence to explain when you demonstrated good leadership skills is much rarer and more valuable.
• Refer to experiences that took place before your GCSEs (or equivalent).
• Give explanations about medical or mental health problems. These should be explained in your reference, not your PS.
• Apply for too many different courses, making it difficult to write a convincing personal statement which supports the application.
• Write a statement specific to just one institution, unless you're only applying to that one choice.
• Copy and paste the statement from somewhere else! This means do not plagiarise. All statements are automatically checked for plagiarism by Ucas. Those that are highlighted by the computer system are checked manually by Ucas staff. If you’re found to have plagiarised parts of your statement, the universities you apply to will be informed and it could jeopardise your applications.
• Use ChatGPT or another AI program to write your personal statement for you. Or, if you do, make sure you thoroughly edit and personalise the text so it's truly yours. Otherwise you're very much at risk of the plagiarism point above.

You may want to look at these...

How to write your university application.

Tips for writing your university application, including deadlines and personal statements

The Ucas personal statement is changing in 2025

A question-based personal statement will be required as part of university applications from autumn 2025 onwards

How long does it take for universities to reply to your application?

It might feel like it's taking forever for your uni offers to come through. Find out what's going on, and when you should hear back

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How to Write a UCAS Personal Statement [With Examples]

James is senior content marketing manager at BridgeU. He writes and directs content for BridgeU's university partners and our community of international schools

What are the big challenges students should be aware of before writing their UCAS Personal Statement?

• The essential ingredients for writing a great Personal Statement
• How to write the UCAS Personal Statement [with examples]

Final hints & tips to help your students

Join 10,000 other counsellors & educators & get exclusive resources delivered straight to your inbox.

The UCAS Personal Statement can sometimes be a student’s only chance to impress a UK university. Read our in-depth guide to helping your students plan & write a winning application.

There are hundreds of articles out there on how to write a UCAS Personal Statement that will grab the attention of a UK university admissions officer.  

But if you’re working with students to help them perfect their Personal Statement in time for the  relevant UCAS deadlines , we can sum up the secret to success in three words.

Planning, structure and story. 

The UCAS Personal Statement is a student’s chance to talk about why they want to study for a particular degree, course or subject discipline at a UK university. 

As they set about writing a personal statement, students need to demonstrate the drive, ambition, relevant skills and notable achievements that make them a  suitable candidate for the universities they have chosen to apply to . 

But the UCAS Personal Statement requires students to write a lot about themselves in a relatively short space of time. That’s why lots of planning, a tight structure and a compelling story are essential if a student’s Personal Statement is to truly excel. 

As important deadlines for UK university applications grow closer, we at BridgeU have put together a guide, outlining some of the strategies and techniques to help your students to write a personal statement which is both engaging and truly individual.

Handpicked Related Content

Discover the simple steps that will boost the confidence of your native English speaking & ESL students alike in  University Application Essays: The 5 Secrets of Successful Writing .

As they begin to plan their Personal Statement, students may feel intimidated. It’s not easy to summarise your academic interests and personal ambitions, especially when you’re competing for a place on a course which is popular or has demanding entry requirements. In particular, students will likely come up against the following challenges.

Time pressure

Unfortunately, the Personal Statement (and other aspects of university preparation) comes during the busiest year of the student’s academic life so far.

Students, and indeed teachers and counsellors, must undertake the planning and writing of the personal statement whilst juggling other commitments, classes and deadlines, not to mention revision and open day visits!

Because there is already a lot of academic pressure on students in their final year of secondary school, finding the time and headspace for the personal statement can be hard, and can mean it gets pushed to the last minute. The risks of leaving it to the last minute are fairly obvious – the application will seem rushed and the necessary thought and planning won’t go into  making the personal statement the best it can be . 

Sticking closely to the Personal Statement format

The character limit which UCAS sets for the personal statement is very strict – up to 4,000 characters of text. This means that students have to express themselves in a clear and concise way; it’s also important that they don’t feel the need to fill the available space needlessly.  Planning and redrafting of a personal statement is essential .

Making it stand out

This is arguably the greatest challenge facing students – making sure that their statement sets them apart from everyone else who is competing for a place on any given course; in 2024 alone, UCAS received applications from 594,940 applicants. In addition, UCAS uses its own dedicated team and purpose built software to check every application for plagiarism, so it’s crucial that students craft a truly  original personal statement which is entirely their own work .

The essential ingredients for writing a great UCAS Personal Statement 

We’ve already mentioned our three watch words for writing a high quality Personal Statement.

Planning. Structure. Story. 

Let’s dig deeper into these three essential components in more detail.

Watch: How to Write a UCAS Personal Statement with University of Essex

Planning a ucas personal statement.

It might sound like a no-brainer, but it’s vital that students plan their Personal Statement before they start writing it. Specifically, the planning phase could include: 

• Students thoroughly researching the UK university courses they plan on applying to. 
• Deciding on what relevant material to include in their Personal Statement (we’ll cover this in more detail later on). 
• Writing an unedited first draft where they just get their thoughts and ideas down on paper. 

Structuring a UCAS Personal Statement

As we’ve discussed, the UCAS Personal Statement requires students to be extremely disciplined – they will be required to condense a lot of information into a relatively short written statement. This means that, after they’ve written a rough first draft, they need to think carefully about how they structure the final statement. 

A stand out Personal Statement will need a tight structure, with an introduction and a conclusion that make an impact and really help to tell a story about who your student is, and why they are drawn to studying this particular degree. 

This brings us nicely to our third and final ingredient…

Telling a story with a Personal Statement

The UCAS Personal Statement is a student’s opportunity to show a university who they are and how their life experiences have shaped their academic interests and goals. 

So a good Personal Statement needs to offer a compelling narrative, and that means making sure that a student’s writing is well-structured, and that every sentence and paragraph is serving the statement’s ultimate purpose –  to convince a university that your student deserves a place on their subject of choice. 

How to help your students start their UCAS Personal Statement

In order to ensure that a personal statement is delivered on time and to an appropriate standard, it’s essential to plan thoroughly before writing it. Here are some questions you can ask your students before they start writing:

How can you demonstrate a formative interest in your subject?

It may sound obvious but, in order for any UCAS personal statement to have the necessary structure and clarity, students need to think hard about why they want to study their chosen subject. Ask them to think about their responses to the following questions:

What inspired you to study your chosen subject?

Example answer:  My desire to understand the nature of reality has inspired me to apply for Physics and Philosophy

Was there a formative moment when your perspective on this subject changed, or when you decided you wanted to study this subject in more detail?

Example answer:  My interest in philosophy was awakened when I questioned my childhood religious beliefs; reading Blackburn’s “Think”, convinced me to scrutinise my assumptions about the world, and to ensure I could justify my beliefs.

Can you point to any role models, leading thinkers, or notable literature which has in turn affected your thinking and/or inspired you?

Example answer :  The search for a theory of everything currently being conducted by physicists is of particular interest to me and in “The Grand Design” Hawking proposes a collection of string theories, dubbed M-theory, as the explanation of why the universe is the way it is.

Asking your students to think about the “why” behind their chosen subject discipline is a useful first step in helping them to organise their overall statement. Next, they need to be able to demonstrate evidence of their suitability for a course or degree. 

How have you demonstrated the skills and aptitudes necessary for your chosen course?

Encourage students to think about times where they have demonstrated the necessary skills to really stand out. It’s helpful to think about times when they have utilised these skills both inside and outside the classroom. Ask students to consider their responses to the following questions. 

Can you demonstrate critical and independent thinking around your chosen subject discipline?

Example answer :  Currently I am studying Maths and Economics in addition to Geography. Economics has been a valuable tool, providing the nuts and bolts to economic processes, and my geography has provided a spatial and temporal element.

Are you able to demonstrate skills and competencies which will be necessary for university study?

These include qualities such as teamwork, time management and the ability to organise workload responsibly.

Example answer:  This year I was selected to be captain of the 1st XV rugby team and Captain of Swimming which will allow me to further develop my leadership, teamwork and organisational skills.

How have your extracurricular activities helped prepare you for university?

Students may believe that their interests outside the classroom aren’t relevant to their university application. So encourage them to think about how their other interests can demonstrate the subject-related skills that universities are looking for in an application. Ask students to think about any of the following activities, and how they might be related back to the subject they are applying for.

• Clubs/societies, or volunteering work which they can use to illustrate attributes such as teamwork, an interest in community service and the ability to manage their time proactively.
• Have they been elected/nominated as a team captain, or the head of a particular club or society, which highlights leadership skills and an ability to project manage?
• Can they point to any awards or prizes they may have won, whether it’s taking up a musical instrument, playing a sport, or participating in theatre/performing arts?
• Have they achieved grades or qualifications as part of their extracurricular activities? These can only help to demonstrate aptitude and hard work. 

How to write the UCAS Personal Statement [with examples] 

If sufficient planning has gone into the personal statement, then your students should be ready to go!

In this next section, we’ll break down the individual components of the UCAS Personal Statement and share some useful examples.

These examples come from a Personal Statement in support of an application to study Environmental Science at a UK university. 

Watch: King’s College London explain what they’re looking for in a UCAS Personal Statement

Introduction.

This is the chance for an applying student to really grab an admission tutor’s attention. Students need to demonstrate both a personal passion for their subject, and explain why they have an aptitude for it .  This section is where students should begin to discuss any major influences or inspirations that have led them to this subject choice. 

Example :  My passion for the environment has perhaps come from the fact that I have lived in five different countries: France, England, Spain, Sweden and Costa Rica. Moving at the age of 15 from Sweden, a calm and organized country, to Costa Rica, a more diverse and slightly chaotic country, was a shock for me at first and took me out of my comfort zone […] Also, living in Costa Rica, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, definitely helped me realize how vulnerable the world is and how we need to take care of it in a sustainable manner. 

This opening paragraph immediately grabs the reader’s attention by giving the reader an insight into this student’s background and links their academic interests with something specific from the student’s personal backstory. 

Discussing Academic Achievements 

The next paragraph in this Personal Statement discusses the student’s academic achievements. Because this student has had an international education, they frame their academic achievements in the context of their personal background. They also cite useful examples of other curricula they have studied and the grades they have achieved. 

Example : 

Throughout my academic life I have shown myself to be a responsible student as well as a hard working one, despite the fact that I have had to move around a lot. I have achieved several other accomplishments such as a high A (286/300) in AS Spanish at age 15, and also completed a Spanish course of secondary studies for ‘MEP’(Ministerio de Educacion Publica), which is a system from Costa Rica.   

You’ll notice that this student doesn’t just list their achievements – their strong academic performance is always linked back to a wider discussion of their personal experiences. 

Showcasing Extracurricular Activities

As well as discussing academic achievements, a good Personal Statement should also discuss the student’s extracurricular activities, and how they relate back to the student’s overall university aspirations. 

By the third/fourth paragraph of the Personal Statement, students should think about incorporating their extracurricular experiences, 

Another valuable experience was when my class spent a week at a beach called ‘Pacuare’ in order to help prevent the eggs of the endangered leatherback turtle from being stolen by poachers who go on to sell them like chicken eggs. We all gained teamwork experience, which was needed in order to hide the eggs silently without scaring the mother turtles, as well as making it more difficult for the poachers to find them. 

When the poachers set fire to one of the sustainable huts where we were staying, not only did I gain self-awareness about the critical situation of the world and its ecosystems, I also matured and became even more motivated to study environmental sciences at university.

This is a particularly striking example of using extracurricular activities to showcase a student’s wider passion for the degree subject they want to study. 

Not only does this Personal Statement have a story about volunteering to save an endangered species, it also illustrates this applicants’ wider worldview, and helps to explain their motivation for wanting to study Environmental Science. 

Concluding the UCAS Personal Statement

The conclusion to a UCAS Personal Statement will have to be concise, and will need to tie all of a student’s academic and extracurricular achievements. After all, a compelling story will need a great ending. 

Remember that students need to be mindful of the character limit of a Personal Statement, so a conclusion need only be the length of a small paragraph, or even a couple of sentences. 

“ After having many varied experiences, I truly think I can contribute to university in a positive way, and would love to study in England where I believe I would gain more skills and education doing a first degree than in any other country.  “

A good Personal Statement conclusion will end with an affirmation of how the student thinks they can contribute to university life, and why they believe the institution in question should accept them. Because the student in this example has a such a rich and varied international background, they also discuss the appeal of studying at university in England. 

It’s worth taking a quick look at a few other examples of how other students have chosen to conclude their Personal Statement. 

Medicine (Imperial College, London) 

Interest in Medicine aside, other enthusiasms of mine include languages, philosophy, and mythology. It is curiously fitting that in ancient Greek lore, healing was but one of the many arts Apollo presided over, alongside archery and music.   I firmly believe that a doctor should explore the world outside the field of  Medicine, and it is with such experiences that I hope to better empathise and connect with the patients I will care for in my medical career. 

You’ll notice that this example very specifically ties the students’ academic and extracurricular activities together, and ties the Personal Statement back to their values and beliefs. 

Economic History with Economics (London School of Economics)

The highlight of my extra-curricular activities has been my visit to Shanghai with the Lord Mayor’s trade delegation in September 2012. I was selected to give a speech at this world trade conference due to my interest in economic and social history. […] I particularly enjoyed the seminar format, and look forward to experiencing more of this at university. My keen interest and desire to further my knowledge of history and economics, I believe, would make the course ideal for me.

By contrast, this conclusion ties a memorable experience back to the specifics of how the student will be taught at the London School of Economics – specifically, the appeal of learning in seminar format! 

There’s no magic formula for concluding a Personal Statement. But you’ll see that what all of these examples have in common is that they tie a student’s personal and academic experiences together – and tell a university something about their aspirations for the future.

Watch: Bournemouth University explain how to structure a UCAS Personal Statement

Know the audience

It can be easy for students to forget that the person reading a personal statement is invariably an expert in their field. This is why an ability to convey passion and think critically about their chosen subject is essential for a personal statement to stand out. Admissions tutors will also look for students who can structure their writing (more on this below). 

Students should be themselves

Remember that many students are competing for places on a university degree against fierce competition. And don’t forget that UCAS has the means to spot plagiarism. So students need to create a truly honest and individual account of who they are, what they have achieved and, perhaps most importantly, why they are driven to study this particular subject.

Proof-read (then proof-read again!)

Time pressures mean that students can easily make mistakes with their Personal Statements. As the deadline grows closer, it’s vital that they are constantly checking and rechecking their writing and to ensure that shows them in the best possible light. 

Meanwhile, when it comes to giving feedback to students writing their Personal Statements, make sure you’re as honest and positive as possible in the days and weeks leading up to submission day. 

And make sure they remember the three key ingredients of writing a successful Personal Statement. 

Planning, structure and story! 

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How to write a personal statement

Your personal statement should demonstrate your interest in the subject, and your skills and abilities.

If done well, it'll set you apart from applicants who have similar qualifications. Some courses invite applicants to an interview, so a clear personal statement can lead to a productive discussion.

Learn about university interviews

We've prepared some tips to help you understand what we're after.

Make it clear why you're applying

This is especially important if you are applying for a subject you haven't studied before. You might write about why you've applied for your course, what appeals to you about the subject, how you became interested, and how you've pursued it in your own time.

Give specific examples

A recent CV, or a list of your experience and achievements, can help you decide which activities to include. The key is to be selective.

Make sure any examples are relevant to the course and university you're applying to, rather than a long list of everything you've done. Try to only write about what you've done recently, or are doing now.

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Nailing your personal statement

Law student Sharon gives advice for the most important part of your uni application, from showing skills to avoiding distraction.

Personal statement tips

Student Recruitment Officer Vicki gives some top tips on how best to approach writing your personal statement.

Go beyond the classroom

To better stand out from the crowd, it's great to show how you've explored the subject in ways other than learning about it in school or college. It'll prove you're ready to take on all aspects of the course.

For some courses, like Medicine or Nursing, work experience may be essential. Taking part in courses online or in person is another way to prove your enthusiasm.

Learn about our free online courses

You could also mention voluntary work, sporting achievements, jobs you've had, or how you engage with podcasts or extra reading that relate to your subject interest.

These all demonstrate valuable skills that'll be useful for studying your course, like teamwork and time management.

Above all, your personal statement is a chance to show yourself in the best light. Talk about your passions, and how far you want to take them through your career. It all helps.

Don't plagiarise

Remember, your personal statement must be your own. When you submit it to UCAS, they'll use programmes to check that you haven't copied any part of it from someone else or online.

Check, then check again

Give yourself time to proofread your finished personal statement as many times as possible.

Getting others to read it is a great way to correct any mistakes you might've missed, and to get suggestions about anything you haven't thought of.

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How to start a personal statement

The process of writing your personal statement can be simple if you know how to start. this is our guide on where to begin..

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Make a plan

Prepare how you’re going to write your personal statement before you begin any of the actual writing. Note down how you want to structure it and what you want to say in each paragraph. By summarising what you’re going to write in a plan, you can assess whether your personal statement will flow and if you have all the things you need to include.

• What to include in a personal statement

Have a structure

Part of planning your personal statement is deciding how to lay it out. Keep in mind that you’re telling admissions tutors the story of you. All stories have a structure – there’s a beginning, a middle and an end. You can use a similar method to convey your motivation for choosing the subject you’re applying for.

There’s more than one way to structure a personal statement, but you should at least have a:

• Clear introduction
• Strong body of five–six paragraphs that link your experience and achievements to why you've chosen the subject
• Conclusion to summarise it all

A structured statement also shows admissions tutors that you can communicate effectively.

Begin with you

Tackling the introduction first? This is your chance to talk about you, your background, and your excitement for the course. It should then flow naturally into the middle paragraphs, where you can expand on why you’re interested in the subject you’ve chosen.

Tina, Lead Admissions Tutor for Adult Nursing at the University of Brighton , shared with us what she looks for in the first few paragraphs of a student's personal statement:

They should start their application with the reason why they are applying and if they have any personal insight into a role such as being cared for when they were younger, attending hospital to visit a relative or any other experience as part of a course, volunteering, or work. Tina, Lead Admissions Tutor for Adult Nursing at University of Brighton

Be to the point from the beginning

Your introduction shouldn’t be long-winded, so two or three sentences are usually enough. You only have 4,000 characters and about 47 lines to play with for the entire statement.

Don’t be afraid to go straight into talking about what excites you most about your subject and the motivation behind choosing to apply. Use language that’s punchy, concise, and relevant too. This will help you to show your ambition and enthusiasm to admissions tutors.

Avoid cliché opening sentences

Clichés are clichés because they’re overused. Put yourself in the shoes of an admissions tutor – they’ll be reading lots of personal statements, so the ones that stand out will be those that aren’t like the others.

Make a note of any clichéd sentences you can think of or have seen online, and check you don’t include them when writing your personal statement. Some examples to avoid include:

• ‘I have always wanted to study...’
• ‘I feel I’ve always had a passion for...’
• ‘From a young age...’
• ‘Since I can remember...’

Don’t feel pressured to write the intro first

The introduction seems like the obvious place to start. But you may find it easier to leave the introduction until the end. Start at whichever point suits you best, provided you have a plan and structure in place.

Fortunately, the intro is only a few sentences, and given that the most important content will come in the body paragraphs, it may make sense to start with these paragraphs.

Just start writing! Don’t feel that you necessarily need to write your personal statement in the order in which it will be read. This is only for the author to know. Dr Ceri Davies, Economics Director of Admissions and Recruitment at University of Birmingham

• Tips for writing your personal statement

Just get words down

The most important part of writing is to get words on paper. If you’re struggling to plan, try writing down the first words that come to your head about why you want to study the subject. If you do have a plan and structure, but don’t know where to begin, try taking the same approach. You can remove or edit any bits that you don’t like later.

Once you start writing you should hopefully enter a state of flow. You’ll piece sentences together and gradually craft an impressive personal statement.

Start by writing down all the reasons why you want to study the subject you are applying for and then, when all your enthusiasm is flowing, you can decide the order you want to put it in. Katherine Pagett, Student Recruitment Manager at University of Birmingham

• How to make your personal statement stand out

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How to write a UCAS personal statement

Writing a great personal statement

Read our guide on what it is, what to include, how to start, length and what makes a good personal statement 

Once you've decided which universities and courses to apply for, completing your application is pretty simple – until it comes to how to write your UCAS personal statement.

This guide covers everything you need to know about how to write a personal statement for university. We look at what it is and how you can start your personal statement. We've also got questions to guide you and a suggested personal statement structure you can use so you know what to put in it.

If you'd like even more resources, support and UCAS personal statement examples, you can sign up to access our personal statement hub .

What is the UCAS personal statement?

How universities use your ucas personal statement, how to start a ucas personal statement.

• Get feedback on your UCAS personal statement

The personal statement is part of your UCAS application. It's how you show your chosen universities why you'll make a great student and why they should make you an offer.

Your personal statement also helps you think about your choice of course and your reasons for applying, so you know you’ve made the right decision.

Get feedback on your personal statement

Sign up to our personal statement hub to get feedback on your draft. You'll also get access to videos, help sheets and more tips.

Sign up now

UCAS personal statement word limit

Your personal statement length can be up to 4,000 characters long. 

This may sound a lot, but it's a word limit of around 550–1000 words with spaces and only about 1 side of typed A4 paper.

You need to keep it concise and make sure it's clear and easy to read.

Applying for multiple courses

Although you can apply for up to 5 courses on your UCAS application, you can only submit 1 personal statement. So it needs to cover all your course choices.

If you really want to show your commitment to applying for different courses, we will accept a second personal statement from you to reflect your application e.g. if you are applying for Law elsewhere, but Criminology and Criminal Justice with us.

Lots of students who apply to university have achieved the basic entry requirements and many more students apply than there are places available. Admissions teams can use your UCAS personal statement to get to know you and decide why you're more suitable than other applicants.

Some universities read every personal statement and score them. Then they use them alongside your qualifications and grades to decide whether to offer you a place or interview. Other universities put less emphasis on the personal statement and use it with students who have borderline entry requirements.

Universities might refer to your personal statement again on results day if you don't get the grades you need. So a good personal statement could clinch you a uni place even if your grades aren't what you hoped for.

Starting your personal statement can seem scary when you're staring at a blank screen. But, things will seem less daunting once you start.

• Set aside some time in a place where you're comfortable and won't be disturbed. Grab a notepad or computer.
• Write down anything and everything that's influenced your decision to go to university and study your chosen subject. Jot down your skills and experience too.
• Use the questions below to guide you. Don't worry about the personal statement length at this point – you can cut things out later.

When to start your UCAS personal statement

Ideally, you want to leave yourself plenty of time – a few weeks or even months – to plan and write your personal statement.

Try not to leave it to the last minute, as tempting as this may seem when you've got so many other things to think about.

Questions to guide you

Your motivation.

• Why do you want to study at university?
• Why do you want to study this subject?
• How did you become interested in this subject?
• What career do you have in mind after university?

Academic ability and potential

• How have your current studies affected your choice?
• What do you enjoy about your current studies?
• What skills have you gained from your current studies?
• How can you demonstrate you have the skills and qualities needed for the course?
• What qualities and attributes would you bring to the course and university?

Your experience

• What work experience (including part-time, charity and volunteer work) do you have and what have you learnt from it?
• What positions of responsibility have you held? (For example, prefect, captain of a team or member of a committee)
• What relevant hobbies or interests do you have and what skills have they helped you develop?
• What transferable skills do you have, such as self motivation, team working, public speaking, problem solving and analytical thinking?

Research and reading

• How do you keep up with current affairs or news in your chosen subject?
• What journals or publications relevant to your chosen subject do you read?
• Which people have influenced you, such as artists, authors, philosophers or scientists?

Now it's time to write your personal statement using your notes. It's best to draft it on a computer, and remember to save it regularly.

You can copy and paste it into your UCAS application when you're happy with it.

Personal statement structure

While there's no set template for a personal statement, you may find it useful to follow this personal statement structure when you decide what to put in your statement.

What to include in a personal statement

• Reasons for choosing this subject(s)
• Current studies and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Experiences and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Interests and responsibilities and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Your future after university
• Summary including why you'll make a great student

Further tips for a good UCAS personal statement

• Use information on university websites and the UCAS website. This often includes the skills and qualities universities are looking for in applicants
• Ask friends, family and teachers to remind you of activities you've participated in. They might remember your successes better than you do
• Don’t include lists in your application, like a list of all your hobbies. Focus on 1 or 2 points and talk about them in depth to show their relevance to your application
• Explain and evidence everything. It’s easy to say you have a skill, but it's better to demonstrate it with an example of when and how you’ve used it
• Avoid clichéd lines such as ‘I've always wanted to be a teacher’ as it says nothing about your motivations or experiences
• If you’re applying for a joint degree or different subjects, give equal time to each area and try to find common aspects that show their similarities
• Never lie or plagiarise another statement – you'll be caught and it could result in your application being automatically rejected
• Proofread your personal statement by reading it out loud and ask friends, family or a teacher to check it for you

Sign up to our personal statement hub

Watch videos, get top tips and download our help sheets – that's what our personal statement hub is for. It's for you to write your story, so you can show your strengths, ideas and passion to your chosen universities.

You'll also be able send us your draft, so you can get feedback and feel confident about what you've written.

We are aware that this form may not be fully accessible. If you are experiencing technical issues which mean you cannot read the form, please contact  [email protected]  and we’ll provide a copy within 10 working days. Please also read our Website Accessibility Statement .

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How to write a personal statement for university

Writing an eye-catching personal statement could be the very thing that earns you a place at your favourite university to study your dream degree..

But with so much information out there on how to write a personal statement, how can you tell what the best advice is? Follow our step-by-step guide to crafting a captivating personal statement.

What is a personal statement?

Planning your personal statement, structuring your personal statement, editing and proofreading, personal statement dos and don’ts, tips for international students, personal statement deadlines.

Your personal statement is a piece of writing that’s personal to you. It forms part of your UCAS application.

It's also your chance to communicate your passion for your chosen degree to university admissions staff and showcase your ambitions, skills and experience in your own words.

The planning stage can be as rough as you need it to be. Try to get as many points down as possible, including:

• why you want to go to university
• why you want to study the degree you’re applying for
• how your studies relate to your chosen degree or, if they don't, why you’re applying for something you haven’t studied before
• how you exhibit the qualities and skills your chosen universities are looking for
• how your application is supported through work experience, placements or volunteering
• your hobbies and achievements, and how they showcase your strengths and suitability for your chosen degree
• your future plans - what you want to do after university and how your degree could help you achieve this

Breaking down your statement into smaller, more manageable chunks, can make writing it easier. Here’s how:

The beginning

Make your introduction memorable, and get to the point quickly to show the university admissions staff you are focused and knowledgeable about the subject you're applying for.

Communicate your excitement, enthusiasm, and motivation to succeed. Draw the reader in, but don’t be tempted to rely on gimmicks or puns. Don’t just say you find the course interesting – explain why you find it interesting.

Write what comes naturally, and use personal examples to demonstrate your commitment to study. If your personal tone of voice starts to filter through, that’s a good thing (as long as you don’t stray from the point you’re making!)

This is where you flesh out your suitability and experience. Make sure you’ve included a good balance of academic and interpersonal skills, including the transferable skills an admissions tutor might be looking for.

Always back up each skill with a practical example of how you’ve applied it in the real world.

Linking your hobbies and interests to your chosen degree will also demonstrate your strengths and abilities, as well as show you’re a well-rounded person who isn’t afraid to get involved.

Revisit the key points you want the admissions tutor to remember the most. Summarise your passion, suitability, and motivations and how all this experience makes you a great candidate for the course.

Include a few words about how the university experience will help you develop as a person, such as building your confidence when meeting new people, or living and learning independently.

Finally, make your ending forward-looking, dynamic, and optimistic. You don’t need to plan out the next 20 years of your life but try to show how your chosen course ties into your future career plans.

Once you’ve edited it to the correct length, you need to proofread your personal statement. Try these techniques:

• read what you’ve written out loud, slowly
• print out a copy – sometimes it’s easier to edit a paper copy than via a screen
• try reading your personal statement backwards to notice each word individually 
• change the font or size of your text to see your personal statement in a new light
• make one read-through just for punctuation, particularly missing full stops, upper and lower-case text, and apostrophes
• ask a parent, sibling, or friend to read your personal statement to check for spelling mistakes or typos

Let’s take a look at some of the basic personal statement dos and don’ts.

• write in clear paragraphs, avoiding flowery language
• be truthful
• relate your strengths, experience and achievements to the course you’re interested in
• follow our steps to plan, structure, and check your statement
• exceed 4,000 characters (including spaces)
• leave writing your statement until the last minute
• repeat information that’s included elsewhere in your application
• share your statement or copy someone else’s – UCAS uses software to check for similarities with previous statements; any similarity greater than 30% is flagged and the university you have applied to will be alerted
• use AI to generate all or part of your personal statement - for more detailed information, check out our blog on whether using AI is cheating .

If you're looking to write a personal statement as an international student, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• explain why you want to study in the UK; show you have thought about your decision to study abroad and that you are ready to take this step.
• explain why a UK university is the right choice for you and fits your career dreams.
• show you have the required level of English language proficiency - and remember to  include details of any tests or qualifications you hold as part of your application

The deadlines for submitting your application - including your completed personal statement - to UCAS are:

• Tuesday 15 October 2024 (6pm) - if you’re applying for a Medicine, Veterinary medicine/science or Dentistry degree
• Wednesday 29 January 2025 (6pm) - for the majority of other degree programmes

Make sure you factor in plenty of time to make any last-minute changes; you don’t want to panic and rush the final stage of your application.

And there you have it - how to write a personal statement for university, in one easy-to-follow blog post.

If you want a deeper dive into the best personal statement advice we have to offer, click the button below to download our comprehensive personal statement guide!

Published By Jenny Shippen on 31/10/2023 | Last Updated 25/07/2024

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How to Write a UK University Personal Statement

Personal Statement

Last updated: 5 March 2024

A  personal statement is an important part of your UK university application. Many students have similar grades and experience, so a compelling personal statement is needed to ensure your application stands out.

Learn more about what to write about in your personal statement below, or visit SI-UK London for a free consultation to discuss your UCAS university application .

What should I include in my personal statement?

It is important to understand that a personal statement is not a detailed explanation of your resume. The focus needs to be on what you have learned at school and work and how this is relevant to the course you are applying to. If your experience is limited, you can describe which attributes make you a suitable candidate.

When writing a personal statement, demonstrating enthusiasm about where you are applying to is important. Research the university past and present, and learn as much as possible about the industry your course belongs in.

Remember that your personal statement needs to look professional, and little things such as the choice of font and its size can affect an admission officer’s opinion of you. A font size of 11 or 12 in Arial or Times New Roman is advisable.

How long should my personal statement be?

The length of your personal statement is determined by each university, but for undergraduate applications, it is generally between 400 and 600 words of 4 and 5 paragraphs on one side of A4. Certain  postgraduate master’s courses may require up to 1,500 words, so check on the university website before beginning.

Personal statement format

• Your career aim
• How you became interested in this field
• What you have done to get closer to your aim
• Why you are applying to this university
• How you will use what you learn

Personal statement checklist

• Use Arial or Times New Roman
• Font size 11 or 12
• 4-5 paragraphs
• Include why you chose the university
• No negative information
• Don’t duplicate material from your resume
• One side of A4, unless the course specifically asks for more/less

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Still unsure about what steps to take next? Visit us in London for a free consultation on your higher education application to study in the UK. Our international experts can help you apply with free course and university selection advice.

Last Updated: 5 March 2024

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What is a Personal Statement?

The personal statement is your opportunity to show the universities you are applying to that you are the ideal candidate for their course.  It should be all about you – why you’re interested in the course, what makes you unique and what makes you stand out.  With only one personal statement for all your choices, it’s important that you use this opportunity to show why you’re better than everyone else applying and why we should choose you.

But where do you start?  What do you say?  What should be your opening sentence? There are good and bad personal statements, so read our guide to help make yours the best it can be. 

How to write a personal statement

Before writing your personal statement it’s worth doing a bit of research to find out what your choice universities are looking for and what will make you stand out from the competition.

Whilst “personal statement” makes it sound like it’s a biography about you, some of the best personal statements we’ve seen are more like a mini essay related to the course. Think about what areas of the subject you enjoy and tell us what you understand about them; we want to know your thoughts about them and why you think that. Show us your passion, knowledge and skills by demonstrating your engagement with the subject. Think about how you can back up what you say and that you can critically engage with your subject. If you got excited about a course because of an article or book you read, or a lecture you went to, tell us about it! 

Most of the statement should be about the subject you want to study, but we also like to hear a little bit about what you get involved in outside of your studies. We know that some of our applicants work part time, have carer responsibilities or perhaps are involved in high level sport, music or drama, for example, and it’s exciting to see applicants who are successful with their studies whilst also balancing other demands on their time as there’s a lot to get involved with at Durham. If you have relevant interests to your course then we’d like to hear about those too, for example if you’re applying to an education course and have been involved in tutoring other students. 

There are loads of UCAS resources you can use to help get you started, including a  personal statement mind map and worksheet .

Dos and Don’ts

You’ve only got 4000 characters, including spaces, to convince us we should choose you, so make every word count. These do’s and don’ts should help you along the way.

• Stay focussed and relevant.
• Be specific; use examples and give evidence.
• Be authentic, enthusiastic and persuasive.
• Avoid generic and obvious statements.
• Ask someone you trust for ideas and feedback – they might think of something you don’t!
• Draft your personal statement then copy and paste into Apply.
• Check your spelling and grammar and make sure you proofread.  Read your personal statement out loud or ask friends and family to read it for you.
• Try for a memorable, strong opening, an engaging middle, and tie up the key points you want to make at the end.
• Think about what you’re saying and what it says about you. Sell yourself! 
• Repeat yourself, and avoid repeating words close together. 
• Write a chronological history – instead think about the structure and what you want to feature at the start. 
• Waste characters! You only have 4000 so don’t include things like lists of your qualifications – we can see those in the qualifications section of your application already. 
• Use ‘I’ all the time. 
• Use clichés 
• Copy. UCAS has software that will detect if your personal statement has been copied from someone else’s and they’ll let all  the universities you’ve applied to know. 
• Expect to get it right first time.  You’ll need several drafts before you’re happy with it.

Writing an excellent personal statement needn’t be scary if you remember to be focussed, enthusiastic and genuine. We want something that tells us all about you and the contribution you can make to our community.

Substitute Personal Statements

It is not necessary to write an additional personal statement, however we have a tool just for Durham applicants which allows you to submit a substitute personal statement if the Durham course you’re applying to is very different to the one in your UCAS personal statement. 

For example, if you applied to four Chemistry courses but you also applied to our Natural Sciences course (even including Chemistry, but with other subjects too), or perhaps you have applied to Medicine at four other universities but chose Anthropology as your fifth choice with us.

We ask that you: 

• Use no more than 4000 characters (including spaces) to match the UCAS personal statement length 
• Use plain text – don't use bold, italics, underlining 
• Submit it within three days of your application to Durham being acknowledged.  
• This is because until we have your application from UCAS we won’t be able to match the statement (and the system won’t let you upload this); it can take UCAS a few days to process all the applications they’ve received.  
• If you reach three days without acknowledgement, you can still try to upload the personal statement – if it works then we have your application and the statement will be matched to it. 
• Read the guidance for writing a personal statement on this page 
• Use one of the following browsers when uploading the statement: Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer 10 (some users of Internet Explorer 11 have had difficulties uploading their statement).

Submit a substitute personal statement

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Similarity in Personal Statements

UCAS checks all personal statements with their Similarity Detection software (CopyCatch) to ensure your work doesn’t contain the same or similar text to websites, another applicant's personal statement, or other documents. When a personal statement is detected as having similarity to one of these sources, UCAS provides us with a report highlighting the similarity and an indication of what the text in the statement is similar to. 

Once we are notified that an application contains text similar to elsewhere, we will use information from UCAS and from the applicant to determine the seriousness of the similarity found in the personal statement and departments will then make an academic decision which is communicated to applicants through UCAS as normal. 

Each applicant whose personal statement is flagged to us by the UCAS Similarity Detection Service will be contacted by the UG Admissions Team to offer the opportunity to explain how the similarity occurred. 

For those admitted as a student, Durham University takes all forms of Academic Misconduct, including 'plagiarism' or 'copying' very seriously and submitting work which is not entirely a student's own can lead to expulsion from the University. We also operate a fair and transparent admissions process and as such, need to ensure that all information provided to us is honest and accurate. 

If you have submitted an application to us and you have been notified that UCAS has detected similarity in your personal statement, you can contact us directly to explain the similarity though.

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  10 min read

How to Write a Personal Statement for a UK University

Applying for an undergraduate course in the UK? You will be applying through UCAS, a central online platform that connects you to your chosen universities. And one of the requirements of this application is the personal statement. While every element of your application is important, think of your personal statement a bit like a golden ticket. It’s your opportunity to stand out amongst hundreds if not thousands of other applicants. Nailing your personal statement can be your key to admission! Read on to find out how to write a personal statement for a UK university.

Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS

First things first, what is a personal statement? The “personal” in the name gives it away. It’s a write-up about you, outlining your reasons for wanting to study your chosen course at your chosen universit y, in the UK.

It’s also your opportunity to give admissions officers a clearer picture of who you are. Admissions officers are looking at hundreds of transcripts and certificates. But these standard documents don’t really give them an idea of what kind of person you are. What do you bring to their university as an individual? What goals, interests, experience, skills, and insights make you a brilliant addition to their institute? The personal statement could be the document that helps secure your place at your chosen university.

Though similar to a statement of purpose , the UCAS personal statement has some unique characteristics. For starters, you write just one statement for all the universities you’re applying to. Through UCAS, you can apply to a maximum of five universities at undergraduate level.

This statement can also only be up to 4,000 characters long. That’s roughly 700 words. It may seem challenging to make a compelling case for yourself within these restrictions. But don’t worry – we have some guidelines set out for you!

Tips on How to Write a Personal Statement for UK Universities

1. plan thoroughly before you start writing.

To write a solid personal statement for a UK university, you must start with a plan. You have a limited number of characters to work with. To make a strong case for your application, you have to engage and impress with your writing within those characters.

To begin this process, start by brainstorming. Draw out a mind map to help you jot down the potential ideas you could write about. A good place to start is with your course description. If you’re applying to the same or similar courses for your shortlisted universities, research what these universities are looking for in students. What are these course descriptions highlighting? What experience, skills, qualities, and so on are they focusing on?

Structure your personal statement around these points. What academic achievements, work experiences, skills, extracurricular activities, etc. align with these points? Highlight these, rather than trying to write a general autobiography of yourself.

For example, say that a course description spotlights “students who are curious and eager to learn.” You could be the captain of the football team and win many medals. But as cool as these achievements are, they don’t really match what the course is looking for, right? Instead, you could discuss how watching a legendary football player got you interested in the sport. Discuss how you signed up for the team, and spent a lot of time and effort learning to be a better player. Then connect this to your course, to demonstrate that you have the qualities the university is looking for.

Planning first makes the writing process much smoother. It helps you organise your ideas and narrow down your best and most relevant ones. When you do start writing, it’ll flow much better because you know exactly what you’re trying to say!

2. Know What the Admissions Officers are Looking For

Crafting your personal statement around the skills and qualities highlighted in course descriptions is a must. There are also some questions admissions officers will seek answers for when reading your personal statement. Why did you choose to study in the UK, for instance, rather than your home country? Why did you choose this particular program?

Through UCAS, you’re applying to all your shortlisted UK universities at the same time. So, avoid addressing the university by name. Discuss how, for example, the UK has the best program rankings in your field in the world. Link your ambitions and passions to your choice in what and where to study.

Communicate your interests and motivations with enthusiasm but without exaggerating or being vague. Saying you wanted to study in the UK because you’ve seen it on TV isn’t a compelling reason to admissions officers. Saying that the UK consistently ranks highly in your field, and describing how passionate you are about studying this course, is much more convincing of your value as a student.

Tip: Avoid stating dual intentions. If you state motivations to live and work in the UK, admissions officers might interpret your intentions as a student as “not genuine.” In a couple of cases, people have applied to UK schools to use a student visa and enter the country, without intentions of completing their courses. Admissions officers will prioritise students who express genuine motivations to complete their studies in the UK.

3. Set Yourself Apart in Your Writing

Allow your unique voice and personality to express themselves through your writing. Generic statements like “I have always wanted to be a teacher” aren’t particularly engaging, right? The same statement could be true for hundreds of others. If you’re applying for an education course, think about experiences and skills that make you the perfect fit for the program. Share an anecdote of how you’d spend lunch break mentoring students for exams coming up. Or talk about your internship working with kids at summer camps or kindergartens. Rather than stating that you are passionate about teaching, show it through your writing. Describe relevant experiences you had, events that made you realise you wanted to teach as a career, that convey this passion.

4. Don’t Copy or Exaggerate in Your Writing

Given how important the personal statement is, you might be feeling a bit of pressure. But trust us – trying to copy off an already existing personal statement, or exaggerating to impress the admissions officers, will do more harm than good. Your personal statements will automatically be run through plagiarism checks. If there is over 10% similarity with other documents and statements, your selected universities will receive notice. Plagiarism can result in your application falling through altogether. So, trying to frame your personal statement off someone else’s or taking inspiration from elsewhere is something we strongly recommend against. You could look at personal statements for university samples for ideas on how to write, but remember that your statement needs to reflect you.

Another temptation some students fall into is exaggerating. You might feel as though your accomplishments aren’t enough to guarantee an unconditional offer. But making up or exaggerating them and risking being found out is worse. If there is misinformation or inaccuracies in your personal statement, you face rejection.

Remember, be honest, and be yourself. Use course descriptions and structures as your guide. Which of these qualities have you displayed during your schooling, work, or general life experience? Discuss these skills and experiences to demonstrate why you’re a good match for the university.

5. Writing About Personal Circumstances

Presenting yourself positively does not mean you can’t write about anything negative. Did you experience something that affected your application in some way? For example, did you miss school because of an injury or mental health challenge? Or was there a family emergency that made it difficult for you to focus on school? You can – and should – discuss these, to give universities a better idea of why your academic performance isn’t as great as it could be.

The important thing is not to fixate on the negatives. You’re not trying to get sympathy from the admissions officers. In fact, trying to do so may work against you. Use these negative experiences to highlight positive characteristics about you. Talk about your resilience, how you didn’t give up, how you still got passing scores despite the difficulties you were facing. Let your universities know that even under pressure, you will thrive.

6. Use Proper Language and Grammar

The personal statement is still a formal document and part of your official application. While writing in an engaging and enthusiastic way, you must still write properly and professionally. Avoid slang, contractions, informal language, and jokes altogether. Remember also that you have a limited number of characters to work with. Cut down on “fluff” when you’re writing. If certain words or phrases don’t add anything to your statement aside from sounding nice, find a way to rephrase or repurpose them to service your statement better. If they don’t service your statement, omit them completely.

Make sure you check your work multiple times for punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Don’t simply rely on grammar-checking software – these often don’t catch all the mistakes.

Also, avoid trying to impress the admissions officers with complex vocabulary. These people have read hundreds of personal statements, and they can tell when your writing feels unnatural and manufactured. Rather than focusing on complicated jargon, write in a way that feels natural, succinct, and easy to understand. Keep your tone enthusiastic, but not inappropriate, overly-familiar, or casual.

7. Get a Second Opinion

And a third, and fourth, and a fifth. While planning out your piece, discuss your ideas with your teachers, friends, family, counsellors, and others who know you well. Their insight could help you consider ideas you might not have thought of otherwise.

Ask for feedback as you draft and re-draft. You may have been staring at your own writing for so long you might miss mistakes or inconsistencies. A fresh set of eyes can help you catch odd sentence structures, errors, or simply suggest better ways to express parts of your statement.

Don’t overdo it looking for feedback either. Not everyone may have the same opinion and too many conflicting ideas and opinions can make your job difficult too. We recommend reaching out to counsellors and teachers who are already familiar with helping students write personal statements. They can help you write a quality personal statement for a UK university knowing what works and what doesn’t.

8. Start Early

“Start early” is our blanket advice for all application processes. And for good reason. The more time you allow yourself, the better you can prepare. You won’t be able to write the perfect personal statement in a single draft. Giving yourself enough time to plan, draft, get feedback, re-draft, proofread, and so on lets you create a thought-out, quality personal statement. Starting too close to the deadline will inevitably mean that you rush the process. You won’t be submitting your best work. And that’s not the type of risk you want to take with the document that could make or break your application.

8. Write Out Your Personal Statement Separately

Type out your personal statement separately in a Word document or Google Doc, and keep back-ups. Continuously monitor that your word count doesn’t exceed 4,000 characters. When you are ready to submit your application in full, copy and paste this text into UCAS’ platform where you’re asked to do so. Remember, the UCAS window for the personal statement will become inactive after some time. Instead of typing everything out, it’s much safer and more efficient to have a copy saved elsewhere to paste on at the right time.

Our Concluding Thoughts

We hope that this piece has settled your doubts and worries about writing a personal statement. How to write a personal statement for a UK university isn’t as daunting when you know what to do! Start early, and do your research about what your universities are looking for before you begin. Seek advice and feedback from teachers, counsellors, friends, and family. Once you’re confident about your best ideas, draft and re-draft, proofread and edit, until you’re sure you’ve produced your best work. Remember, the personal statement is your chance to show admissions officers why you deserve that seat out of hundreds of other applicants. Make full use of this opportunity!

How to write a personal statement for a university application

How to stand out

The personal statement is an important part of the Higher Education application process. Admissions tutors use the statement to help them identify the applicants most suited for each course.

Applicants will need to demonstrate a genuine interest and passion for the chosen subject and skills that will benefit them while at university. The personal statement is a chance to make an impression and to stand out from the crowd.

Where to start

Download a personal statement template (PDF - 0.04 Mb)

Before drafting, writing and rewriting the statement, applicants are advised to:

• research their course and university choices .
• think which of their interests, abilities, transferable and extra-curricular skills best match the entry requirements of their chosen course. They should explain when, where and how they have put these traits into practice.
• think of their future career aspirations.

Please note , the same statement will be submitted to all the universities that your son or daughter apply to so avoid specific university names, staff details and course references.

What to include

A personal statement should be:

• full of enthusiasm for the course/subject.
• focused on skills, achievements, work experience, ambitions and personal interests.
• written in plain English without jargon.
• free of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
• max 4,000 characters long.
• max 47 lines of text when you paste it in UCAS Apply (including blank lines).
• submitted by pasting the text into the Apply section on UCAS website.

The statement must not :

• include any text that has been copied from another source as UCAS use software to identify plagiarism.

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How to write a good personal statement .

Table of Contents

Are you a study abroad aspirant? Are you also stuck at the step of writing a powerful personal statement? We understand your struggle, and we are here to help you. The constant spiral of what to mention and what not to mention in the personal statement can be exhausting, but this does not mean that you should give up. In this blog, we will share some of the best tips that will make your personal statement for university application stand out from the crowd.  

What is a personal statement?  

A personal statement can be understood as an essay about your talents, achievements, goals, experiences and other such important aspects of your life. These are submitted to universities or jobs along with the individual’s resume. The personal statement structure for jobs and universities differs in terms of length and content. Writing a personal statement for university means writing in detail about your life experiences and goals. However, these are not more than three or four paragraphs long. So, if you are wondering how to write a personal statement for university in detail and explain your entire life in 3-4 paragraphs, then we are here for you. However, we would advise you to check the specific requirements of the university you are applying to, and similarly write personal statement. 

How to write personal statement? 

One of the major questions that students often have is about how to start a personal statement. Whether you are writing a personal statement for a master’s or you are writing a personal statement for scholarship, here are some tips that can help you in exceling both. To get answers to all your questions, read the tips given below. 

• Firstly, start with why you chose that particular university and course for your study abroad . 
• Explain the relation between your aspirations and the course you have chosen. 
• Write about how you are aware of what the course consists of, and if there is any specific subject you are interested in learning.  
• Give an idea about the type of person you are – Mention any leadership roles, interests, hobbies, extracurricular activities and more. 
• Write your skills and how you learned them. For example – “Playing chess for my college made me develop problem-solving skills”.  
• Make sure you write a strong conclusion. 

Qualities of a good personal statement 

The boon and bane of personal statement is that there is no set structure of writing a personal statement. While you are free to write whatever you want, you also need to make sure it is perfect for you to get admission. There are some qualities that make a personal statement stand out from the crowd. Read them below: 

• Highlights your core values: The personal statement must highlight the values, beliefs, and factors like what motivates you, what excites you, and so on. This can be any personal attribute or interest, such as beauty, humor, autonomy and more. Add instances or write in ways so that the officials can detect at least 4-5 of your core values. 
• Vulnerability: The admission officers often like it when they feel like they know you. You must write a personal statement which is vulnerable and brings you closer to the admission officials. Here, the only thing you need to keep in mind is that you are a human, you will also make mistakes and that’s okay. Be honest about what scares you, challenges you, or even bothers you. It is okay to let your guard down sometimes, remember that! 
• Use Active Voice: By using Active Voice in your personal statement, you will be able to explain your accomplishments better. It will also engage the reader in your personal statement and keep them interested.  
• Uniqueness: It is very important for your personal statement to be unique to you. Make sure you add something that will be different from the crowd. Everyone will write that they are hardworking and dedicated but look for something more to add to your statement.  
• Proofread: Once you have completed your personal statement, read it once, twice and even thrice. We are humans, and we often make mistakes while writing. However, these small mistakes can take a wrong toll on your personal statement, so make sure you submit a personal statement which has no mistakes. Things to check while proofreading your statement are spelling, grammar, relevancy, specificity, clear phrasing, lay-man language, and more. 

What do the admission officials look for?  

We all often wonder what exactly the admission officials look for. Since there is no set structure for personal statements, it gets confusing to understand what to write. Given below are some points that the admission officials look for: 

• Motivation 
• Commitment 
• Teamwork 
• Good Communication 
• Leadership 
• Research (in your field) 
• Relevant Skills 

Conclusion  

Studying abroad and experiencing an exciting student life in a new country is always fun. However, the process of getting into your dream university is often overwhelming, especially when you need to write a personal statement. The above information given highlights some of the best tips on writing a personal statement. Try these tips given above, and if you still feel confused, you can always seek help from an organization that provides personal statement writing service. All the best! 

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How to write a personal statement that universities will love

Inside information to help make your university application sing

Your personal statement is an important part of your university application – but it’s something that can feel difficult to get right. 

Maybe you’re looking at that 4,000 character limit and thinking ‘what on earth am I going to put in this thing?’ Perhaps you’re finding it hard to describe yourself and all the things you’ve done. 

You might just be wondering whether universities are actually going to read what you’ve written.  

In this situation, a bit of help is what's needed. So we went in search of some expert advice to help you build a sharp and readable personal statement that could really boost your application.  

Elliot Newstead heads up UK student recruitment and outreach at the University of Leicester, which means he knows a thing or two about what universities want to see in a personal statement. 

Here he shares some straightforward tips to help get yours done - including the one thing most students miss.

What’s the point of a personal statement?

Writing your personal statement gets a bit easier once you stop to think about what it’s actually there for. 

“The personal statement is the only real chance that students get within the application process to articulate why they’ve chosen to apply for their specific subject and then why they’d make an excellent candidate,” says Elliot.

Ultimately, if it came down to you and another candidate with exactly the same grades, a compelling personal statement could tip the outcome in your favour. 

“Other elements on the application, such as predicted and achieved grades, do indicate performance levels,” says Elliot. “But the personal statement really allows for the detail and helps us, as universities, understand motivations and interests.”

The personal touch

So what you’re looking for from your personal statement is something that will elevate your university application beyond the mundane. Something that will tell the story behind all that generic information about personal details, predicted grades and so on. 

“The best personal statements are those that are exactly that – personal,” says Elliot. 

Have a think about personal anecdotes you could share. What are the experiences that have helped shape your passion for the subject? What steps have you taken to reach this point in your academic journey?

Your personal statement should be the part of your application that could only have been created by you. Whatever you write, it should be uniquely yours.

Provide evidence for your points

As well as adding that personal touch, you’ll also want to be clear about the qualities and skills that would make you the perfect fit for a course. But this can’t just be a long list of ‘things that are great about me’.

“[Ensure] any points you make around ability, performance or additional research into a subject demonstrates where or how you’ve done what you say you have,” says Elliot.

That means you’re not just saying ‘I’m really great at geography’ - you’re saying ‘I’m really great at geography and here are some things I’ve done at school and in my spare time that prove it’.

Give some thought to how these examples connect with the kind of skills you’ll need on your course. It’s easier then for the reader to picture how you’ll fit in at their university.

“Use two or three killer examples of academic ability that link to the subjects you’ve applied for which evidence a good range of transferable skills that all unis love – such as communication, teamwork and organisation,” says Elliot.

Link it together

By this stage you’ve got some key points that can form the structure of what you’re going to write. Now onto the secret sauce that could take your personal statement to the next level. 

“It’s the joining up of information that really stands out,” says Elliot. “A lot of students will usually write about their interest in the subject, some will go into the additional reading and research they’ve done. Not many will link it all together. So if you can crack that, you’ll really stand out.

“For example, if you’re writing about your interest in subject X (let’s say history), the strongest personal statements would then follow up with what specific bits of history (eg American history) you are most interested in.

“[Then] where you’ve looked into that particular area in more detail (eg listened to a podcast series on the Great Depression). Which is important because the degrees you’ve applied for all have opportunities to study the topic in a lot more detail.”

Writing in this way demonstrates that you’re really thinking about the course, as well as what you’ll get out of it and what you’ll bring to it.

Structure it well

Like any good piece of writing, your personal statement should be easy to follow, with a clear beginning, middle and end. 

“Make sure you have an introduction and a conclusion surrounding the main body of text,” says Elliot. “It needs to flow well and take the reader on a journey.”

Plan your time

So that just leaves actually writing the thing! It’s no small job and Elliot advises planning it out to give yourself plenty of time. 

“Break your time down into measurable and achievable goals, then reward yourself for hitting them,” he says. 

“Time will go quicker than you think, so dedicating a bit of time each week and allocating an area of focus for this time should keep you on track.

“The most important thing with your personal statement is to give yourself enough time to show yourself in the exact light you want to. Rushing it risks not doing yourself justice.”

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• Personal statement dos and don'ts

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Shona Barrie – Director of Admissions, University of Stirling

UCAS asked admissions tutors – the people who read and score your personal statement – for their advice on what you should and shouldn’t do when writing your personal statement. 

The most common piece of advice was not to worry about it – and don’t be tempted to copy anyone else’s.

Read our step-by-step guide to writing your personal statement

Then follow our simple tips below.

• Do talk about why you’re a good candidate – talk about you, your motivations and what brings you to this course.
• Do be enthusiastic – if you show you’re interested in the course, it may help you get a place.
• Do make it relevant . Connect what you’re saying with the course and with your experiences.
• Do outline your ideas clearly .
• Do avoid the negatives – highlight the positives about you, and show you know your strengths.
• Do expect to produce several drafts of your personal statement before being totally happy with it.
• Do ask people you trust for their feedback.
• Don’t be modest or shy . You want your passions to come across. 
• Don’t exaggerate – if you do, you may get caught out in an interview when asked to elaborate on an interesting achievement.
• Don’t use quotes from someone else, or cliches.
• Don’t leave it to the last minute – your statement will seem rushed and important information could be left out.
• Don’t let spelling and grammatical errors spoil your statement , but don't just rely on a spellchecker. Proofread as many times as possible.
• Don’t copy and paste – make yours original.
• Don’t post your personal statement on the internet or on social media or share your personal statement with anyone including your friends and family, unless asking for feedback from people you trust.
• Don’t worry about it – we have all the advice you need to help you stand out in your personal statement. 

The personal statement tool image

Don’t be tempted to copy or share your statement.

UCAS scans all personal statements through a similarity detection system to compare them with previous statements.

Any similarity greater than 30% will be flagged and we'll inform the universities and colleges to which you have applied. 

Find out more

Ana ghaffari moghaddam – third year law student and careers coach, university of liverpool.

You’ve got this. Follow those simple steps and use your personal statement as your chance to shine .Use the below as a checklist to make sure you've avoided all common pitfalls.

Want more tips on what to include in your personal statement? Use the links below.

• Get started with our personal statement builder . 
• Five things all students should include in their personal statement. 
• See how you can turn your personal statement into a CV, apprenticeship application or covering letter. 
• Read How to start a personal statement: The attention grabber .

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The Bartlett School of Planning

Writing an urban planning personal statement

Are you applying to study an urban planning master’s degree but don’t know where to start with your personal statement? This guide gives tips on how to write an urban planning personal statement.

This guide shares some tips on what you should include in your statement. Whilst we’ve given generic examples, your statement is personal to you. Give specific examples relevant to your life experiences. The admissions tutors want to learn more about you as an individual, your motivations and ambitions. 

A final tip – avoid using AI tools to write your statement. It’s more obvious to us than you might think.

What to include in your personal statement

1.   introduce yourself.

Introduce yourself, briefly sharing why you want to study your chosen urban planning degree. What are your interests in the field, and what sparked them? Was it a particular event, experience, or realisation? 

2.   Give your academic background

You may have already studied urban planning in the past. You also might have studied another relevant degree or want to move into the urban planning field using transferrable skills from another academic background. Either way, you should demonstrate your interest in the master’s degree and how you past degree fits with your urban planning interests and ambitions.

3.    Share your career goals and professional experience

Share with us what is it about this course at this time in your personal and professional development that interests you? If you have previous professional experience, tell us about it. You may have already worked for a few years or have undertaken internships in a relevant field. You can discuss specific relevant projects you worked on, focusing on what you contributed and the impact of your work. 

4.    Tell us about your skills and competencies

What existing skills and knowledge do you bring to the course? This could be technical skills, such as using software or design skills relevant to the urban planning degree you have chosen. It could also be transferable skills such as problem solving, teamwork or leadership. Demonstrate how your unique skill-set fits with your degree of choice.

5.   Explain why you want to study this particular course

Let us know why you want to study this degree at UCL’s Bartlett School of Planning. You might mention specific faculty members, courses, or resources that align with your goals. Discuss your long-term career aspirations and how this master’s degree will help you achieve them. You can be specific about the types of roles or organisations you aspire to work in.

6.    End with a concluding statement

Wrap it all up summarising your main points and reiterating your enthusiasm to study this degree. Leave a lasting impression about your passion for the field.

Final thoughts

Hopefully these tips have sparked some ideas for how you can write an impactful personal statement. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing [email protected] .

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Genomic analysis of intracranial and subcortical brain volumes yields polygenic scores accounting for variation across ancestries

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Subcortical brain structures are involved in developmental, psychiatric and neurological disorders. We performed GWAS meta-analyses of intracranial and nine subcortical brain volumes (brainstem, caudate nucleus, putamen, hippocampus, globus pallidus, thalamus, nucleus accumbens, amygdala and, for the first time, the ventral diencephalon) in 74,898 participants of European ancestry. We identified 254 independent loci associated with these brain volumes, explaining up to 35% of phenotypic variance. We observed gene expression in specific neural cell types across differentiation time points, including genes involved in intracellular signalling and brain ageing-related processes. Polygenic scores for brain volumes showed predictive ability when applied to individuals of diverse ancestries. We observed causal genetic effects of brain volumes with Parkinson’s disease and ADHD. Findings implicate specific gene expression patterns in brain development and genetic variants in comorbid neuropsychiatric disorders, which could point to a brain substrate and region of action for risk genes implicated in brain diseases.

Competing Interest Statement

IA received speaker honorarium Lundbeck; OAA is a consultant to Cortechs.ai and Precision Health, speakers honorarium from Lundbeck, Janssen, Otsuka, Sunovion; HB is an Advisory Board Member or Consultant to Biogen, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Roche, Skin2Neuron, Cranbrook Care and Montefiore Homes; CRKC has received past partial research support from Biogen, Inc. (Boston, USA) for work unrelated to the topic of this manuscript; AMD is the Principal Investigator of a research agreement between General Electric Healthcare and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD); he is a Founder of and hold equity in CorTechs Labs, Inc. I am a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Human Longevity, Inc., and the Mohn Medical Imaging and Visualization Center in Bergen, Norway. The terms of these arrangements have been reviewed and approved by UCSD in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies; BF has received educational speaking fees from Medice; HJG has received travel grants and speakers honoraria from Fresenius Medical Care, Neuraxpharm, Servier and Janssen Cilag as well as research funding from Fresenius Medical Care; DPH is a full time employee of Genentech, Inc; NH is a shareholder various manufacturers of medical technology; AM-L has received consultant fees from Daimler und Benz Stiftung, EPFL Brain Mind Institute, Fondation FondaMental, Hector Stiftung II, Invisio, Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Lundbeck A/S, Lundbeckfonden, Lundbeck Int. Neuroscience Foundation, Neurotorium, MedinCell, The LOOP Zurich, University Medical Center Utrecht, University of Washington, Verein fur Mentales Wohlbefinden, von Behring-Rontgen-Stiftung; speaker fees from Arztekammer Nordrhein, Caritas, Clarivate, Dt. Gesellschaft fur Neurowissenschaftliche Begutachtung, Gentner Verlag, Landesarztekammer Baden-Wurttemberg, LWL Bochum, Northwell Health, Ruhr University Bochum, Penn State University, Society of Biological Psychiatry, University Prague, Vitos Klinik Rheingau and editorial and/or author fees from American Association for the Advancement of Science, ECNP, Servier Int., Thieme Verlag; WN is founder of Quantib BV and was scientific lead of Quantib BV until Jan 31, 2023; MMN has received fees for membership in an advisory board from HMG Systems Engineering GmbH (Furth, Germany), for membership in the Medical-Scientific Editorial Office of the Deutsches Arzteblatt, and for serving as a consultant for EVERIS Belgique SPRL in a project of the European Commission (REFORM/SC2020/029). MMN receives salary payments from Life & Brain GmbH and holds shares in Life & Brain GmbH. All these concerned activities outside the submitted work; BMP serves on the Steering Committee of the Yale Open Data Access Project funded by Johnson & Johnson; AJS receives support from multiple NIH grants (P30 AG010133, P30 AG072976, R01 AG019771, R01 AG057739, U19 AG024904, R01 LM013463, R01 AG068193, T32 AG071444, U01 AG068057, U01 AG072177, and U19 AG074879). He has also received support from Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly (in kind contribution of PET tracer precursor); Bayer Oncology (Scientific Advisory Board); Eisai (Scientific Advisory Board); Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. (Dementia Advisory Board); NIH NHLBI (MESA Observational Study Monitoring Board); Springer-Nature Publishing (Editorial Office Support as Editor-in-Chief, Brain Imaging and Behavior); MS received funding from Pfizer Inc. for a project not related to this research; ES received speaker fees from bfd buchholz fachinformationsdienst gmbh; PMT receives partial research support from Biogen, Inc., for research unrelated to this manuscript; MWW serves on Editorial Boards for Alzheimer & Dementia, and the Journal for Prevention of Alzheimer disease. He has served on Advisory Boards for Acumen Pharmaceutical, Alzheon, Inc., Cerecin, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., and NC Registry for Brain Health. He also serves on the USC ACTC grant which receives funding from Eisai for the AHEAD study. MWW has provided consulting to Boxer Capital, LLC, Cerecin, Inc., Clario, Dementia Society of Japan, Eisai, Guidepoint, Health and Wellness Partners, Indiana University, LCN Consulting, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., NC Registry for Brain Health, Prova Education, T3D Therapeutics, University of Southern California (USC), and WebMD. MWW has acted as a speaker/lecturer for China Association for Alzheimer Disease (CAAD) and Taipei Medical University, as well as a speaker/lecturer with academic travel funding provided by: AD/PD Congress, Cleveland Clinic, CTAD Congress, Foundation of Learning; Health Society (Japan), INSPIRE Project; U. Toulouse, Japan Society for Dementia Research, and Korean Dementia Society, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (NCGG; Japan), University of Southern California (USC). MWW holds stock options with Alzeca, Alzheon, Inc., ALZPath, Inc., and Anven. MWW received support for his research from the following funding sources: National Institutes of Health (NIH)/NINDS/National Institute on Aging (NIA), Department of Defense (DOD), California Department of Public Health (CDPH), University of Michigan, Siemens, Biogen, Hillblom Foundation, Alzheimer Association, Johnson & Johnson, Kevin and Connie Shanahan, GE, VUmc, Australian Catholic University (HBI-BHR), The Stroke Foundation, and the Veterans Administration; AIC is currently employed by the Regeneron Genetics Center, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and may hold Regeneron stock or stock options. All other authors declare no competing interests

Funding Statement

This project has received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Specific Grant Agreement 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3; QTAB: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia (Project Grant ID: 1078756). QTIM: NHMRC (Project Grant IDs: 486682, 1009064); This project is supported by a grant overseen by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the Investment for the Future Programme ANR18RHUS0002. It is also supported by an EU Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) project through the following funding organisations under the aegis of JPND www.jpnd.eu : Australia, National Health and Medical Research Council, Austria, Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy; Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research; France, French National Research Agency; Germany, Federal Ministry of Education and Research; Netherlands, The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development; United Kingdom, Medical Research Council. This project has received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 643417, No 640643, and No 667375 and 754517. The project also received funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR) through the VASCOGENE and SHIVA projects, and from the Initiative of Excellence of the University of Bordeaux (CSMART project). Computations were performed on the Bordeaux Bioinformatics Center (CBiB) computer resources, University of Bordeaux. Funding support for additional computer resources has been provided to SD by the Fondation Claude Pompidou. Three City Study (3CDijon): We thank the staff and the participants of the 3C Study for their important contributions. The 3C Study is conducted under a partnership agreement between the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM), the Victor SegalenBordeaux II University, and SanofiAventis. The Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale funded the preparation and initiation of the study. The 3C Study is also supported by the Caisse Nationale Maladie des Travailleurs Salaries, Direction Generale de la Sante, Mutuelle Generale de lEducation Nationale (MGEN), Institut de la Longevite, Conseils Regionaux of Aquitaine and Bourgogne, Fondation de France, and Ministry of ResearchINSERM Programme Cohortes et collections de donnees biologiques. We thank A Boland (Centre National de Genotypage) for her technical help in preparing the DNA samples for analyses. This work was supported by the National Foundation for Alzheimers Disease and Related Disorders, the Institut Pasteur de Lille and the Centre National de Genotypage and the LABEX (Laboratory of Excellence program investment for the future) DISTALZ Development of Innovative Strategies for a Transdisciplinary approach to ALZheimers disease. Stephanie Debette and Christophe Tzourio are recipients of grants from the French National Research Agency (ANR), a grant from the Fondation Leducq, from Joint Programme for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND, BRIDGET). Stephanie Debette is recipient of a grant from the European Research Council (ERC, SEGWAY). MarieGabrielle Duperron received a grant from the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. This work was supported by the National Foundation for Alzheimers disease and related disorders, the Institut Pasteur de Lille, the labex DISTALZ and the Centre National de Genotypage. We thank Dr. Anne Boland (CNG) for her technical help in preparing the DNA samples for analyses. IMAGEN was funded by the European Unionfunded FP6 Integrated Project IMAGEN (LSHMCT2007037286). Further support was received from the following sources: the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (Consortium grant 5U54EB02040305ENIGMA) and National Institute on Aging (NIA) 1R56AG05885402ENIGMA World Aging Center); the Medical Research Council and Medical Research Foundation (ESTRA Neurobiological underpinning of eating disorders: integrative biopsychosocial longitudinal analyses in adolescents: grant MRR00465X; ESTRA Establishing causal relationships between biopsychosocial predictors and correlates of eating disorders and their mediation by neural pathways: grants MRS0203061), the Horizon 2020 funded ERC Advanced Grant STRATIFY (Brain network based stratification of reinforcementrelated disorders) (695313), the Medical Research Council (grant MRW0024181: Eating Disorders: Delineating illness and recovery trajectories to inform personalized prevention and early intervention in young people EDIFY), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Kings College London, the European Union (grant agreement no. 101057429environmentAL) and Innovate UK (grant agreement no. 10038599environmentAL) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The Austrian Stroke Prevention Study Family (ASPSFam) was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) grant number P20545P05, P13180, PI904 the Austrian National Bank Anniversary Fund, P15435, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy under the aegis of the EU Joint ProgrammeNeurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) www.jpnd.eu and by the Austrian Science Fund P20545B05. The Medical University of Graz supports the databank of the ASPS. The authors thank the staff and the participants for their valuable contributions. We thank Birgit Reinhart for her longterm administrative commitment, Elfi Hofer for the technical assistance at creating the DNA bank, Ing Johann Semmler and Anita Harb for DNA sequencing and DNA analyses by TaqMan assays and Irmgard Poelzl for supervising the quality management processes after ISO9001 at the biobanking and DNA analyses. The research reported in this article The MCIC study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIHNCRR P41RR14075 and R01EB005846 (to Vince D Calhoun)), the Department of Energy (DEFG0299ER62764), the Mind Research Network, the Morphometry BIRN (1U24, RR021382A), the Function BIRN (U24RR02199201, NIHNCRR MO1 RR02575801, NIMH 1RC1MH089257 to Vince D Calhoun), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (research fellowship to Stefan Ehrlich), and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award (to Stefan Ehrlich). The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study was performed as a collaborative study supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) contracts (HHSN268201100005C, HSN268201100006C, HSN268201100007C, HHSN268201100008C, HHSN268201100009C, HHSN268201100010C, HHSN268201100011C, and HHSN268201100012C), R01HL70825, R01HL087641, R01HL59367, and R01HL086694; National Human Genome Research Institute contract U01HG004402; and National Institutes of Health (NIH) contract HHSN268200625226C. Infrastructure was partly supported by grant No UL1RR025005, a component of the NIH and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. This project was partially supported by National Institutes of Health R01 grants HL084099 and NS087541 to MF. The authors thank the staff and participants of the ARIC study for their important contributions. NeuroIMAGE: This project was supported by grants from National Institutes of Health (grant R01MH62873 to SV Faraone) for initial sample recruitment, and from NWO Large Investment (grant 1750102007010 to JK Buitelaar), NWO Brain & Cognition (grant 43309242 to JK Buitelaar), and grants from Radboud University Medical Center, University Medical Center Groningen, Accare, and VU University Amsterdam for subsequent assessment waves. NeuroIMAGE also received funding from the European Communitys Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007 2013) under grant agreements n 602805 (Aggressotype), n 278948 (TACTICS), and n 602450 (IMAGEMEND), and from the European Communitys Horizon 2020 Programme (H2020/2014 2020) under grant agreements n 643051 (MiND), n 667302 (CoCA), and n 728018 (Eat2beNICE). BIG: This study used the BIG database, which was established in Nijmegen in 2007. This resource is now part of Cognomics, a joint initiative by researchers of the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, the Human Genetics and Cognitive Neuroscience departments of the Radboud university medical centre, and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. The Cognomics Initiative is supported by the participating departments and centres and by external grants, including grants from the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (Netherlands) (BBMRINL) and the Hersenstichting Nederland. In particular, the authors would also like to acknowledge grants supporting their work from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), i.e. the NWO Brain & Cognition Excellence Program (grant 43309229) and the Vici Innovation Program (grant 016 130669 to BF). Additional support is received from the European Communitys Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007 2013) under grant agreements n 602805 (Aggressotype), n 603016 (MATRICS), n 602450 (IMAGEMEND), and n 278948 (TACTICS), and from the European Communitys Horizon 2020 Programme (H2020/2014 2020) under grant agreements n 643051 (MiND) and n 667302 (CoCA). IMpACT: We acknowledge funding from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), i.e. the Veni Innovation Program (grant 016196115 to MH) and the Vici Innovation Program (grant 016 130669 to BF). The work was also supported by grant U54 EB020403 to the ENIGMA Consortium from the BD2K Initiative, a crossNIH partnership, and by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Network ADHD Across the Lifespan. Munich Morphometry Sample (MPIP): The MPIP comprises images acquired as part of the Munich Antidepressant Response Signature Study and the Recurrent Unipolar Depression (RUD) CaseControl study performed at the MPIP, and control subjects acquired at the LudwigMaximiliansUniversity, Munich, Department of Psychiatry. We thank Eva Meisenzahl and Dan Rujescu for providing MRI and genetical data for inclusion into the MPIP Munich Morphometry sample. We wish to acknowledge Anna Olynyik and radiographers Rosa Schirmer, Elke Schreiter, Reinhold Borschke and Ines Eidner for image acquisition and data preparation. We thank Dorothee P. Auer for local study management in the initial phase of the RUD study. We are grateful to GlaxoSmithKline for providing the genotypes of the Recurrent Unipolar Depression CaseControl Satizabal et al. 131 Sample. We thank the staff of the Center of Applied Genotyping (CAGT) for generating the genotypes of the MARS cohort. The study is supported by a grant of the ExzellenzStiftung of the Max Planck Society. This work has also been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the framework of the National Genome Research Network (NGFN), FKZ 01GS0481. SHIP is part of the Community Medicine Research net of the University of Greifswald, Germany, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grants no. 01ZZ9603, 01ZZ0103, and 01ZZ0403), the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Social Ministry of the Federal State of MecklenburgWest Pomerania. Genomewide SNP typing in SHIP and MRI scans in SHIP and SHIPTREND have been supported by a joint grant from Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany and the Federal State of MecklenburgWest Pomerania. The DCHS cohort is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [OPP 1017641]. The Age Gene/Environment SusceptibilityReykjavik Study has been funded by NIH contract N01AG12100 the NIA Intramural Research Program Hjartavernd the Icelandic Heart Association and the Althingi the Icelandic Parliament The study is approved by the Icelandic National Bioethics Committee VSN 00063 The researchers are indebted to the participants for their willingness to participate in the study The HUNT Study is a collaboration between HUNT Research Centre Faculty of Medicine and Movement Sciences NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology NordTrondelag County Council Central Norway Health Authority and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health HUNTMRI was funded by the Liaison Committee between the Central Norway Regional Health Authority and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Norwegian National Advisory Unit for functional MRI Role of the Funder/Sponsor The funding sources had no involvement in the study design data collection analysis and interpretation of data writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication Cardiovascular Health Study CHS This CHS research was supported by NHLBI contracts HHSN268201200036C HHSN268200800007C HHSN268201800001C N01HC55222 N01HC85079 N01HC85080 N01HC85081 N01HC85082 N01HC85083 N01HC85086 75N92021D00006 and NHLBI grants U01HL080295 R01HL087652 R01HL105756 R01HL103612 R01HL120393 and U01HL130114 with additional contribution from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke NINDS Additional support was provided through R01AG023629 from the National Institute on Aging NIA A full list of principal CHS investigators and institutions can be found at CHSNHLBIorg The provision of genotyping data was supported in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences CTSI grant UL1TR001881 and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease Diabetes Research Center DRC grant DK063491 to the Southern California Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center Erasmus Rucphen family study ERF The ERF study as a part of EUROSPAN European Special Populations Research Network was supported by European Commission FP6 STRP grant number 018947 LSHGCT200601947 and also received funding from the European Communitys Seventh Framework Programme FP72007 2013grant agreement HEALTHF42007201413 by the European Commission under the programme Quality of Life and Management of the Living Resources of 5th Framework Programme no QLG2CT200201254 Highthroughput analysis of the ERF data was supported by a joint grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research NWORFBR 047017043 Najaf Amin is supported by the Netherlands Brain Foundation project number F2013128 We are grateful to all study participants and their relatives general practitioners and neurologists for their contributions and to P Veraart for her help in genealogy J Vergeer for the supervision of the laboratory work and P Snijders for his help in data collection Framingham Heart Study FHS This work was supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institutes Framingham Heart Study Contract No N01HC25195 and No HHSN268201500001I and its contract with Affymetrix Inc for genotyping services Contract No N02HL64278 A portion of this research utilized the Linux Cluster for Genetic Analysis LinGAII funded by the Robert Dawson Evans Endowment of the Department of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center This study was also supported by grants from the National Institute of Aging R01s AG033040 AG033193 AG054076 AG049607 AG008122 AG016495 and U01AG049505 and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke R01NS017950 We would like to thank the dedication of the Framingham Study participants as well as the Framingham Study team especially investigators and staff from the Neurology group for their contributions to data collection Dr DeCarli is supported by the Alzheimers Disease Center P30 AG 010129 The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute the National Institutes of Health or the US Department of Health and Human Services Genetic Study of Atherosclerosis Risk GeneSTAR is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke R01NS062059 the National Institutes of Health National Heart Lung and Blood Institute U01 HL72518 HL087698 and the National Institutes of HealthNational Center for Research Resources M01RR000052 to the Johns Hopkins General Clinical Research Center We would like to thank the participants and families of GeneSTAR and our dedicated staff for all their sacrifices The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study Sydney MAS was funded by three National Health Medical Research Council NHMRC Program Grants ID No ID350833 ID568969 and APP1093083 DNA samples were extracted by Genetic Repositories Australia an Enabling Facility which was supported by an NHMRC Grant ID No 401184 MRI scans were processed with the support of NHMRC Project Grants 510175 and 1025243 and an ARC Discovery Project Grant DP0774213 and John Holden Family Foundation. The Older Australian Twins Study OATS was funded by a National Health & Medical Research Council NHMRC and Australian Research Council ARC Strategic Award Grant of the Ageing Well Ageing Productively Program ID No 401162 NHMRC Project seed Grants ID No 1024224 and 1025243 NHMRC Project Grants ID No 1045325 and 1085606 and NHMRC Program Grants ID No 568969 and 1093083 DNA was extracted by Genetic Repositories Australia which was funded by the NHMRC Enabling Grant 401184 This research study was facilitated through access to Twins Research Australia a national resource supported by a Centre of Research Excellence Grant ID No 1079102 from the National Health and Medical Research Council We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Sydney MAS and OATS research teams and thank the study participants for their time and generosity in supporting this research The Lothian Birth Cohort LBC -1936 The work was undertaken as part of the Cross Council and University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology CCACE httpwwwccaceedacuk This work was supported by a Research into Ageing programme grant to IJD and the Age UKfunded Disconnected Mind project httpwwwdisconnectedmindedacuk to IJD and JMW with additional funding from the UK Medical Research Council MRC to IJD JMW and MEB The whole genome association part of this study was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BBSRC Ref BBF0193941 JMW is supported by the Scottish Funding Council through the SINAPSE Collaboration httpwwwsinapseacuk the UK Dementia Research Institute the Row Fogo Charitable Trust and the Fondation Leducq CCACE MRC MRK0269921 is funded by the BBSRC and MRC The image acquisition and analysis was performed at the Brain Research Imaging Centre University of Edinburgh httpwwwbricedacuk partially funded by Row Fogo Charitable Trust Grant no BRODFID3668413 LIFEAdult LIFEAdult is funded by the Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases LIFE LIFE is an organizational unit affiliated to the Medical Faculty of the University of Leipzig LIFE is funded by means of the European Union by the European Regional Development Fund ERDF and by funds of the Free State of Saxony within the framework of the excellence initiative project numbers 713241202 713241202 145052470 145752470 and by the German Research Foundation CRC1052 Obesity mechanisms Project A01 A VillringerM Stumvoll The authors would like to thank Matthias L Schroeter Leonie Lampe and Frauke Beyer for help with data acquisition and analysis and all participants and the staff at the LIFE study center NTR The NTR cohort was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO and The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development ZonMW grants 90461090 98510002 91210020 90461193 48004004 46306001 45104034 40005717 Addiction31160008 016115035 48108011 05632010 Middelgroot91109032 OCWNWO Gravity programme024001003 NWOGroot 48015001674 Center for Medical Systems Biology CSMB NWO Genomics NBICBioAssistRK2008024 Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure BBMRI-NL 184021007 and 184033111 Spinozapremie NWO5646414192 KNAW Academy Professor Award PAH6635 and University Research Fellow grant URF to Dorret I Boomsma Amsterdam Public Health research institute former EMGO Neuroscience Amsterdam research institute former NCA the European Science Foundation ESF EUQLRT200101254 the European Communitys Seventh Framework Programme FP7 HEALTHF420072013 grant 01413 ENGAGE and grant 602768 ACTION the European Research Council ERC Starting 284167 ERC Consolidator 771057 ERC Advanced 230374 Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository NIMH U24 MH06845706 the National Institutes of Health NIH R01D004215701A1 R01MH5879903 MH081802 DA018673 R01 DK09212704 Grand Opportunity grants 1RC2 MH089951 and 1RC2 MH089995 the Avera Institute for Human Genetics Sioux Falls South Dakota USA Part of the genotyping and analyses were funded by the Genetic Association Information Network GAIN of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Computing was supported by NWO through grant 2018EW00408559 BiG Grid the Dutch eScience Grid and SURFSARA Religious Orders Study and Memory and Aging Project ROSMAP The clinical genomic and neuroimaging data for the Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging Project was funded by NIH grants P30AG10161 RF1AG15819 R01AG17917 R01AG30146 R01AG40039 and the Translational Genomics Research Institute. Rotterdam Study (RSI, RSII, RSIII): The Rotterdam Study is funded by Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands Organization for the Health Research and Development (ZonMw), Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (RIDE), Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Ministry for Health, Welfare and Sports, European Commission (DG XII), and Municipality of Rotterdam. The authors are grateful to the study participants, the staff from the Rotterdam Study, and the participating general practitioners and pharmacists. The generation and management of GWAS genotype data for the Rotterdam Study (RS I, RS II, RS III) were executed by the Human Genotyping Facility of the Genetic Laboratory of the Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The GWAS datasets are supported by the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research NWO Investments (nr. 175.010.2005.011, 911-03-012), the Genetic Laboratory of the Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, the Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (014-93-015; RIDE2), the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI)/Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Aging (NCHA), project nr. 050-060-810. We thank Pascal Arp, Mila Jhamai, Marijn Verkerk, Lizbeth Herrera, Marjolein Peters, and Carolina Medina-Gomez for their help in creating the GWAS database, and Karol Estrada, Yurii Aulchenko, and Carolina Medina-Gomez for the creation and analysis of imputed data. This work has been performed as part of the CoSTREAM project ( www.costream.eu ) and has received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 667375. SHIP is part of the Community Medicine Research Network of the University Medicine Greifswald, which is supported by the German Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. LMGM is supported by a UQ Research Training Scholarship from The University of Queensland (UQ); IA is supported by Research Council of Norway (grant numbers 223273, 274359), KG Jebsen Foundation (grant number SKGJ-MED-008). Swedish Research Council (grant numbers K2012-61X-15078-09-3, K2015-62X-15077-12-3); OAA is supported by Research Council of Norway (#324499, 324252, 223273), NordForsk (#164218), KG Jebsen Stiftelsen (#SKGJ-MED-021), South East Norway Health Authority, NIH 1R01MH129742 - 01; KA is supported by R01AG064233, R01AG052200, UF1NS100599; AA is supported by European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement 728018, project Eat2beNICE; LA is supported by Research Council of Norway (grant number: 223273 and 273446); MEB is supported by UK MRC; DAB is supported by P30AG10161, RF1AG15819, R01AG17917, R01AG30146, R01AG40039, and the Translational Genomics Research Institute; JCB is supported by Infrastructure for the CHARGE Consortium is supported in part by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant R01HL105756; MPMB is supported by R01 MH090553; HB is supported by the NHMRC, Australia; JKB has been supported by the EUAIMS (European Autism Interventions) and AIMS-2-TRIALS programmes which receive support from Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking Grant No. 115300 and 777394, the resources of which are composed of financial contributions from the European Unions FP7 and Horizon2020 Programmes, and from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) companies in-kind contributions, and AUTISM SPEAKS, Autistica, and SFARI; and by the Horizon2020 supported programme CANDY Grant No. 847818. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. Any views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the funders; VC is supported by NIH R01MH118695 and NSF 2112455; OTC is supported by NIH grants R01AG078533, U19AG078558, R01AG074258, R01AG077497, R01AG067765, R01AG041200, R01AG062309, R01AG062200, R01AG069476; CRKC is supported by R01 MH129742-01, R56 AG058854, R01 MH116147, U54 EB020403, Baszucki Brain Research Fund and the Milken Institutes Center for Strategic Philanthropy grant; AMD is supported by U24DA041123, U24DA041147; GDS works within the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, which is supported by the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00032/01); PLDJ is supported by U01 AG061356; CDeC is supported by R01 NS17050, R01AG054076, P30 AG072972; SEh and HW is supported by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) grants NGFNplus MooDS (Systematic Investigation of the Molecular Causes of Major Mood Disorders and Schizophrenia) and the Integrated Network IntegraMent (Integrated Understanding of Causes and Mechanisms in Mental Disorders) under the auspices of the e program (grant numbers O1ZX1314B and O1ZX1314G); SEF is supported by Max Planck Society; CF is supported by Max Planck Society (Germany); BFs contribution was supported by funding from the European Communitys Horizon 2020 Programme (H2020/2014 2020) under grant agreement n 847879 (PRIME). She also received relevant funding from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for the GUTS project (grant 024.005.011); KLG is supported by APP1173025; AH received support from the following sources: the Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF grants 01GS08152; 01EV0711; Forschungsnetz AERIAL 01EE1406A, 01EE1406B; Forschungsnetz IMAC-Mind 01GL1745B), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG grants SM 80/7-2, SFB 940, TRR 265, NE 1383/14-1); JJH is supported by 1P30AG066546-01A1, AG062531 and an endowment from the William Castella family as William Castella Distinguished University Chair for Alzheimers Disease Research; AJH is supported by NIH Grants U19 AG024904, P30 AG010133, P30 AG072976, R01 AG019771; LSc is supported by NHMRC Investigator Grant 2017962, NIH RO1 MH129832; HS is supported by Austrian National Bank Anniversary Fund, P15435, City Graz, Graz, Austria, and the Austrian Ministry of Science under the aegis of the EU Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disease Research www.jpnd.eu ; PRS is supported by National Health and Medical Research Council; GS is supported by European Union funded Horizon Europe project environMENTAL (101057429), the Horizon 2020 funded ERC Advanced Grant STRATIFY (695313), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82202093); SS is supported by grants from the NIH: P30 AG066546, U01 AG052409, RF1 AG059421, R01 AG066524, UF1 AG054076, AG058589, NS125513, and NHLBI contract 75N92019D00031-0-75920220001; LSh is supported by NIH R01 AG058854, U01 AG068057, U01 AG066833, R01 AG071470; Work from the London Cohort was supported by research grants from the Wellcome Trust (grant 084730 to SMS.), University College London (UCL)/University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NIHR Biomedical Research Centre/Specialist Biomedical Research Centres (CBRC/SBRC); (grant 114 to SMS.), the European Union Marie Curie Reintegration (to M Matarin and SMS.), the UK NIHR (08-08-SCC), the Comprehensive Local Research Network (CLRN) Flexibility and Sustainability Funding (FSF) (grant CEL1300 to SMS.), The Big Lottery Fund, the Wolfson Trust, and the Epilepsy Society. This work was undertaken at UCLH/UCL, which received a proportion of funding from the UK Department of Healths NIHR Biomedical Research Centres funding scheme; JLS is supported by R01MH120125, R01MH118349, R56MH122819, R01MH121433; PMT and SIT are supported in part by NIH grants R01MH123163, R01MH121246, and R01MH116147. Core funding for ENIGMA was provided by the NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) program under consortium grant U54 EB020403 to PMT; DTT is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (00/3095, 01/3129, PI020499, PI14/00639, PI17/01056, and PI14/00918), SENY Fundaci Research Grant CI2005 0308007, and Fundacin Marqu s de Valdecilla. Instituto de investigacion sanitaria Valdecilla (A/02/07, NCT0235832 and NCT02534363 ); MCV is supported by Row Fogo Charitable Trust, grant no. Brod.FID3668413; DvdM is supported by the Research Council of Norway #324252 (PleioMent); JVB has been supported by funding from ISCIII (ref.: INT22/00029) and IDIVAL (ref.: INT/A21/10 and INT/A20/04); AV is supported by the State of Saxony; JMW is supported by the UK Dementia Research Institute (award no. UKDRI Edin002, DRIEdi1718, and MRC MC_PC_17113) which receives its funding from DRI Ltd, funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Alzheimers Society, and Alzheimers Research UK; LBC1936 MRI brain imaging was supported by Medical Research Council (MRC) grants G0701120, G1001245, MR/M013111/1, and MR/R024065/1; Image analysis by the Row Fogo Charitable Trust; MWW is supported by U19AG024904; LTW is supported by The European Research Council under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and Innovation program (ERC StG, Grant 802998); TW is supported by Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health/; AW is supported by European Union, the European Regional Development Fund, the Free State of Saxony within the framework of the excellence initiative, the LIFE-Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig [project numbers: 713-241202, 14505/2470, 14575/2470] and by grants of the German Research Foundation (DFG), contract grant numbers 209933838 CRC1052-03 A1 (AVW); JNT is supported by an NHMRC Leadership Fellowship GNT2009771, the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, and the NSW Ministry of Health; JY is supported by P30AG10161, RF1AG15819, R01AG17917, R01AG30146, and the Translational Genomics Research Institute; SEM is supported by grants from the Australian NHMRC APP1158127 and APP1172917. MER thanks support from Australias National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1102821) and the Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation (F20231230). Data used in the preparation from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study ( https://abcdstudy.org ), held in the NIMH Data Archive (NDA). This is a multisite, longitudinal study designed to recruit more than 10 000 children age 9-10 and follow them over 10 years into early adulthood. A full list of supporters is available at https://abcdstudy.org/federal-partners.html . A listing of participating sites and a complete listing of the study investigators can be found at https://abcdstudy.org/consortium_members/ . ABCD consortium investigators designed and implemented the study and/or provided data but did not necessarily participate in the analysis or writing of this report. This manuscript reflects the views of the authors and may not reflect the opinions or views of the NIH or ABCD consortium investigators. The ABCD data repository grows and changes over time. The ABCD data used in this report came from DOI:10.15154/hmjn-g821.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Our study is based on meta-analysis of previously published, publicly available data for which appropriate site-specific Institutional Review Boards and ethical review at local institutions have previously approved the use of these data. For full-details on the institutions that have approved the use of these data please refer to the Acknowledgments section.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Data Availability

Detailed information on how to access publicly available GWAS summary data from the ENIGMA and CHARGE consortia is reported on their corresponding publications2,12,15. Researchers can access individual-level data from the UKB and ABCD cohorts following the corresponding data application procedures. Work performed using UKB data was done under application 25331. Full genome-wide summary statistics generated in the present study are available at the ENIGMA website ( https://enigma.ini.usc.edu/research/download-enigma-gwas-results ).

https://enigma.ini.usc.edu/research/download-enigma-gwas-results/

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