You may have heard that UCAS, the company which operates the university admissions service in the UK, was planning to scrap the personal statement for 2025 admissions entry. For over 30 years, the personal statement has been the centrepiece of university applications in the UK (alongside A-Level/IB grades), with students investing countless hours to develop a 4000-character text that encompasses their knowledge and passion for their chosen subject. As such, any change to such a well-established part of the process could represent a significant challenge for parents, students, teachers, and university admission staff alike.
While it is true that UCAS is currently undertaking a consultation to replace the current format of an unstructured personal statement with a set of defined questions for students to answer, no changes will be made until applications for 2026 entry. The personal statement in its current form will remain unchanged for 2025 (see below, from UCAS website).
So, what are the proposed pre-defined questions that students will have to answer and be evaluated on as part of their application? At present, the following three questions have been confirmed for inclusion once the new personal statement format is implemented for 2026 entry. 1) Motivation for course: Why do you want to study these courses?
2) Preparedness for course: How has your learning so far helped you to be ready to succeed on these courses?
3) Preparation through other experiences: What else have you done to help you prepare, and why are these experiences useful?
The great news is that these questions address exactly the kind of content that should be included in a great personal statement in its current form. Indeed, these questions encapsulate exactly the kind of content I recommend including in a personal statement: what A-Level/IB content sparked your interest in your subject? how have you expanded on your interests beyond the classroom and what did you learn from these experiences? what role does your subject play in the wider world? what career/professional aspirations will you achieve by studying your subject?
We can logically assume therefore that these are the criteria that admissions tutors will be using (and have been using over the years) to assess your personal statement for 2025 entry as well.
The challenge, however, is that as schools become increasingly aware of these changes and communicate them to their students, more and more applicants will address all of the above points in their personal statement. How will you be able to make your personal statement stand out?
At Elvis Oxford Coach, we specialize in personal statement development, covering all of the following: idea and extra/supercurricular activity suggestions, discussion/teaching of wider reading, structural organization of your personal statement, scientific accuracy review, and full editorial, grammatical and stylistic review.
With our support, we will guide you in exploring your subject, making sure that you can effectively and originally communicate your knowledge motivation for your subject. Our expertise lies in Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry and closely related subjects, but we can support students in all subjects at various stages with their personal statement development.
Book a free consultation below to discuss your needs, with fully flexible and customizable services and payment plans.
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