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Your personal statement

Your personal statement is your chance to shine and impress the universities you’re applying to. On this page, we provide support to help you confidently write an excellent personal statement.

What are we looking for?

Here at Liverpool, we’re looking for passionate and hard-working students who are committed to their chosen field.

Understanding the basics

Your personal statement is divided into three questions:

  • Why do you want to study this course or subject?
  • How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
  • What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Each answer must contain a minimum of 350 characters. There is an overall limit of 4000 characters.

Your personal statement must be honest and accurate. Misrepresentations could be uncovered, particularly if you’re interviewed as part of your application. This could lead to your application being withdrawn.

You can find detailed advice on answering these questions on the UCAS website.

Top tips

Use our top tips to help you write a stand-out personal statement.

Before you start
Carefully read your course description, including the modules on offer.
Consider the skills and experiences that might be needed for the course. Then, reflect on how your personal achievements and qualities make you an ideal candidate for the course.
Use examples
Make sure you gather examples for your personal statement to demonstrate relevant skills, qualities and experience.
Examples could include:
  • Academic studies
  • Extra-curricular activities, such as sports and other clubs
  • Personal interests
  • Personal projects you’ve completed that relate to the course or subject area
  • Work experience you’ve completed, including part-time jobs, volunteering and placements
  • Taster days where you have learned more about the course or subject
  • Field trips and exhibitions you’ve visited
  • Relevant media, such as books, lectures, films and podcasts.
How to use examples
When considering your experiences, you should think about how they've shaped you: 
  • How did the experience inspire your decision to study your chosen course or subject?
  • What did you learn about your chosen course or subject through the experience?
  • How did the experience demonstrate personal qualities that make you an ideal candidate for your chosen course or subject?
  • Did you gain useful skills that could be applied to your university studies? Examples of skills include communication, leadership, time management, and teamwork skills. 
Set a schedule
Personal statements are important and can take a long time to write. Setting a schedule will ensure you have enough time to research, write and proofread your personal statement before the UCAS application deadline. 
Make sure your personal statement applies to all your choices
Don’t mention the universities you’re applying to in your personal statement. It should apply to all five of your UCAS choices, because you can only submit one personal statement with your UCAS application.  
Structure
Around 75 to 85% of your personal statement should focus on the course or subject. The remaining 15 to 25% should discuss extra-curricular activities, professional experience, and/ or career aspirations.
We recommend using the UCAS personal statement builder to structure the content of your statement. This handy tool breaks down what you need to include into three questions:
  • Question 1: Why do you want to study this course or subject?
  • Question 2: How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
  • Question 3: What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
Written English
Your personal statement must be well-written with good spelling and grammar. Write in plain English so that your authentic voice comes through your application.  
Before you submit
Make sure you thoroughly proofread your personal statement before submission. We’d suggest you ask a trusted teacher, advisor, relative and/or friend to check your personal statement. It's helpful to read your personal statement aloud to ensure that it flows and reads well to others.

Plagiarism and AI

You must not copy any of your personal statement from any source. UCAS has sophisticated software that audits personal statements for plagiarism. This includes copying and pasting text from AI tools like ChatGPT. If your personal statement is plagiarised, your application will be withdrawn. Read UCAS’s full terms about using AI.

If you plan to use quotes in your personal statement, it’s important that you correctly attribute them. However, we suggest that you avoid quotes to mitigate risk.