4000 Characters Personal Statement Writing Guide

The Importance of Your Personal Statement

When you apply to university in the UK you will be expected to provide a UCAS personal statement 4000 characters long. Elsewhere in the world, you will also be asked to provide anything from a one-page personal essay to a 500-word statement of purpose. The purpose of these documents, however, is the same; it is an opportunity for you to provide the program that you are applying to with information about you and your suitability for their course that they cannot get from your grades alone. Most admissions committees will want to have a well-rounded view of who you are before they make any decisions about who they will select. What to write to grab the attention to your persona? How to explain low grades in personal statement? All of this will be discussed below.

In many ways your 4000 characters personal statement is the most important part of your application as often your results and courses taken are going to be very similar to many of the others that you will be competing with for a place. So your statement must be able to really impress the reader and to make you stand out.

How to Write a 4000 Characters Personal Statement

It does not matter if it is a personal statement 300 words in length or the 47 lines that are demanded by UCAS. The process for writing is still the same. You will be looking to show the reader that you have a real interest and passion for the subject that you wish to study and that you have the skills to do so successfully.

This information needs to be conveyed through a statement that is well written and error free. Remember the committee members could very well be reading hundreds of different statements, many of which will almost certainly contain the same tired phrases and structure as many of the others. If you want to really get noticed then you have to ensure that your statement is different.

Check out a little guide on writing low GMAT score essay!

The following information should always be covered within your personal statement as it is the information that the committee members will want to understand about you:

Why is it that you want to study this specific subject? How did you become interested and why?
What have you already done to pursue your interests in this area?
What makes you suited for studying this area? What skills do you have that are relevant?
Why are you applying to this specific program,? (Very useful if you can send targeted applications to individual programs)

Not only must you cover the above you must also answer any specific prompt that may have been provided for the personal statement. This must be answered fully, failure to answer the prompt will almost certainly see your application ignored.

4000 characters personal statement quote

What to Avoid in Your Personal Statement Writing

It is not enough just to cover what the committee wants to see. They are going to read many statements so you will need to ensure that your writing is effective and attention grabbing. You need to consider all of the following points:

Can you go over 4000 characters in your personal statement? With regards to UCAS you will not be able to physically enter information beyond the 47 lines or 4000 characters allowed within their system. In general however whatever limits are placed on you for writing should be followed carefully, exceeding those limits demonstrates an inability to follow instructions which is not a good thing when they are looking for students.
Can my personal statement be less than 4000 characters? Just the same as “does my personal statement have to be exactly 4000 characters?” which is a common question asked by many. You can make your personal statement as short as you like as long as you feel that you have communicated all of the information that is required effectively. The only requirement is that you do not exceed the word count specified.
Your opening line should be attention grabbing, after they have read “ I am applying to study XYZ…” for the one-hundredth time, something different and interesting can really help to wake them up. Your opening line should be thought of like the hook in a newspaper article. It must grab their attention and make them want to read more to find out about you.
Don’t just list why you are applying. Use a theme to tell a story. The best statements will use a personal anecdote to tell a story about you that is relevant to your application. This way you can keep their attention and draw them through your writing while making yourself memorable.

Mistakes to Steer Clear of

Avoid all of the following issues within your writing:

We Can Help with Writing Your Personal Statements

No matter what length or what subject we have the experts that you need to work with. Our specialists hold post graduate degrees within the subject areas in which they work and have many years of experience with the writing and editing of personal statements.

The fully understand the requirements and expectations for your personal statement and will work with you to ensure that your statement will perfectly reflect what the committee will be looking for. All writing is done to your expectations at all times and is tested for plagiarism and proofread to confirm that it is error free and unique to you.