Personal Statements
Personal Statements for UK Masters Applications
Each university may have their own requirements for a Personal Statement (PS), but below is a general guideline applicable for most masters course applications.
Length: Many universities ask you to write approximately 500 words and some will have a word count limit at around this amount.
Introduce Yourself: You might open the PS with a little about your background, e.g. where you are from or what your current job is. You don’t need to go into too much detail on this though.
Reasons for choosing the course/subject: Explain why you are interested in this subject or why it suits you.
Relevant Background: If you have any study/work/voluntary experience relevant to your application your PS is a good chance to outline it, particularly if its not something that is already apparent in your other application documents.
Reasons for choosing this particular course: For each PS, include at least one paragraph on what interests you about this course at this university. You may want to mention specific course modules, strengths of the department or anything that attracted you to this university more generally. If you are applying for several similar courses you can adapt this paragraph for each PS.
Future plans: Explain what do you hope to gain from the course and study experience in general?
Keep it simple: In most cases the PS is just used as a check to see that you are a serious applicant, that you understand what the course is and that you are a reasonably good fit. Save more time and attention for scholarship applications than your PS.