Your Personal Statement: How to Stand Out From the Crowd

Why they spend just 30 seconds reading it

The admissions team has hundreds of letters to get through. If your first two sentences fall flat, yours ends up in the bin.

What works:

• A specific story: «At 14 I read a book on neuroscience, and I've dreamed of researching memory ever since» beats «I have always been interested in science».

• A link to the programme: name a specific course or professor. «I was drawn to your course on quantum physics led by Professor Smith» shows you've actually read the university's website.

• Honesty: don't claim you «saved the world». Try «I came last in an academic olympiad, and here's what I learned».

What to avoid:

• Clichés («I'm highly motivated», «it's my dream»)

• Retelling your CV

• Errors and machine translation

A tip from Edunation: write a draft and our experts will review it, polish the style and tailor it to the requirements of the specific university.