How can I get started on my personal statement?

A personal statement should be roughly 80% about the course you're applying for and 20% about extra curricular activities. Although it may be tempting to cram in all of your achievements since your Level 1 swimming certificate at age 9, it is important to keep your personal statement recent, relevant and engaging. I would begin with 2 bullet point lists, the first list should include everything you have done related to your course e.g. books you've read, relevant work experience, an online course or an essay competition. You can even include specific areas of interest, for example, in my personal statement for Politics and IR I wrote a paragraph about my interest in Spain's political history and the reading and projects I'd done around that interest. The second list should include all extra curricular commitments and achievements (I would aim to keep everything in the last 1 or 2 years) e.g. sporting medals, volunteering or music grades. Once you have these bullet point lists it's easier to start writing as the content and structure should become clearer in your head. Although there is a character limit, I would begin by writing a paragraph for each bullet point, as you start writing it will be easy to see which points link together and which have little relevance and can be discarded. Once you have created a first draft, ask friends, family and teachers to read through your personal statement and offer some advice, it is important to have multiple opinions in order to check for errors and ensure everything makes sense. With this advice you can begin making changes and corrections, this process will continue until you reach a personal statement you are happy with and, hopefully, proud of.