Writing a personal statement

Your personal statement is a vital part of your UCAS application. It’s your opportunity to explain why you’re passionate about your subject, how your experiences have prepared you, and why you’re a good fit for the course. Admissions staff read personal statements carefully to understand your motivations and potential.

You’ll write one personal statement for all five of your UCAS choices.

We review personal statements as part of our holistic assessment of your application. We’re looking for evidence that you understand the subject and are ready to succeed on the course.

What Bath is looking for

We are looking for your personal statement to show your enthusiasm, understanding and preparation for your chosen course. You can demonstrate this in different ways drawing on your own experiences and activities, but these should be relevant to your subject.

While these experiences are important, we are primarily looking for you to show how you have engaged and reflected on those experiences. Certain courses may also be looking for you to demonstrate how you have developed particular skills through your learning and reflections.

Your personal statement should focus as much as possible on your chosen subject. If you want to include extra-curricular activities, we recommend you try to show the transferable skills that you have gained from them. You can also mention activities that involve a very high commitment, such as elite sport, but do not dwell on them.

There are lots of different examples of relevant activities and experiences and no particular example is necessarily better than any other. We are particularly conscious that relevant work experience is difficult to find for many subjects – most successful applicants have no relevant work experience.

2026 entry and beyond

From September 2026 entry, UCAS personal statements will be split into three sections, each with a specific focus.

The three questions are:

1. Why do you want to study this course or subject?
2. How have your qualifications and studies prepared you?
3. What experiences outside of education have helped you prepare, and why are they valuable?

At Bath, we will continue to assess the statement as a whole. It doesn’t matter which section you place your content in — what matters is that your full statement covers the key areas we're looking for.

Each section must be at least 350 characters. The overall limit remains 4,000 characters, and a counter will help you stay within it.

Find our guidance on how to approach drafting your personal statement

Addressing Each Section

While each section has a different focus, don't worry too much about where you put things. We'll read the full statement as one narrative. What matters most is that it shows why you've chosen your subject and that you understand what studying it involves.

Here are some ideas about what you could cover in each section, to ensure your personal statement as a whole shows you are prepared and motivated to study your course:

1. Why do you want to study this course or subject?

Explain what sparked your interest. Was it a particular topic, project or book? Maybe a challenge or personal experience? Help us understand what draws you to the subject.

If relevant, show how the course aligns with your future goals. Avoid vague or generic comments — share personal insights and real enthusiasm.

2. How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?

Think about the subjects you’ve studied and how they relate to your chosen course. Focus on relevant topics, projects, or skills you’ve developed rather than describing less relevant subjects you've studied. You could mention:

• Extended essays or research projects
• Specific topics or methods you’ve enjoyed
• Techniques or theories you’ve learned

Use our course pages to explore the knowledge and skills expected, and reflect those in your statement.

3. What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Activities beyond the classroom can show your commitment, curiosity, and growth. You might include:

• MOOCs (some are offered by Bath)
• Books, journals, articles
• Clubs, societies or competitions
• Summer schools or residentials
• Part-time work, internships or volunteering
• Field trips or subject-related events

Explain what you learned, not just what you did. Did you build new skills? Shift your thinking? Discover something unexpected?

If you want to include extra-curricular activities, we recommend you try to show the transferable skills that you have gained from them. You can also mention activities that involve a very high commitment, such as elite sport, but do not dwell on them.

Applying for Pharmacy or Social Work?

For these courses, your personal statement must show you have the right attitude and experience to practise professionally. Be sure to reflect on relevant placements or experiences, and explain what you’ve learned from them.

Mitigating Circumstances

If you have relevant mitigating circumstances that may have impacted your application, we encourage you to let us know about relevant mitigating circumstances through our confidential mitigating circumstances form. This can also be included in your academic reference from your school or college.

Writing One Statement for Multiple Choices

You’ll submit the same statement for all five UCAS choices, even if they’re at different universities or cover slightly different courses. Try to keep your statement broad enough to apply to all your choices. Focus on your subject area, rather than one specific course or institution.

Occasionally, we may ask you to submit a second statement. However, for our most competitive courses, we won’t normally do this. A statement that isn’t clearly relevant may make your application less competitive.

Making your statement personal to you

It is important that your personal statement is individual to you and shows your character and your personal motivation for studying your subject area. Your personal statement is supposed to be about you as an individual student, so try to avoid using common clichés or generic quotes, and do not include content from someone else's personal statement.

You can find tools to support you writing your personal statement online, such as sample statements and AI tools. These may be particularly helpful if you are starting with a blank document.

AI may produce more generic content, so while it is acceptable to use it to structure your statement and compose your thoughts, you need to invest the time to make your individual personal statement as strong and tailored as possible. You may be asked about your personal statement in any interview, so make sure everything you include is true.