Hi Daniel, I'm struggling to make my personal statment stand out from the rest. Can you give me some advice?

Hi,

From my experience the key to writing an effective personal statement lies in 3 main factors:

1) Demonstrate your passion and commitment for the subject. After all you're going to be studying it for the next 3 to 4 years. Don't be afraid to talk any extra reading you have completed outside of your school curriculum.

2) Answer the question behind the question. Simply put, this means going an extra level deeper within your responses. Avoid the mistake of just listing your motivations to study the course. It comes across as superficial and not representative of a candidate that is well prepared. Instead, aim to evaluate any relevant experiences that motivated you to apply, be they from school, work experience or anything else. With each one, emphasise what you have learned from them and how studying your course would help further that learning.

3) Show some personality. Take some time to consider what makes you interesting. Do you play an instrument or a sport, volunteer regularly or have lived in another country or culture? Whilst this should take up only about a fifth of your statement, these experiences can be a chance to demonstrate important transferable skills such as self-motivation, creativity and leadership.

I hope these tips help in enhancing your application,

Daniel