Get a head start with your UCAS application to the School of Computing and Digital Technology at Birmingham City University with our frequently asked questions below. Deputy Dean, Andy Aftelak, helps you put pen to paper with his top tips and advice for writing a successful personal statement.
How should I start planning my personal statement?
- Find a course that you want to apply for and that you’re passionate about.
- Tell us why you want to study this particular course or field and why you want to study it at Birmingham City University.
- Tell us about your ambitions and aspirations.
- Brainstorm all of your academic and personal achievements.
- Highlight how your experiences, skills and qualifications will help you on this course and why they’re relevant – give us examples.
- Map out your structure by planning your paragraphs to keep it fluid and concise.
What should I include in my personal statement?
There are three main questions to answer, and we’ll help you break them down so you can ace each one.
Question 1: Why do you want to study this course or subject?
Here’s where you explain what makes this course exciting to you.
Think about:
- Your motivations for studying this course(s)
- Your knowledge of this subject area and personal interests
- Your future plans and why this is a good fit for you
Question 2: How have your qualifications and studies helped you prepare for this course or subject?
This is your chance to show what you’ve learned at school or college that links to your course.
You could include:
- The skills and knowledge you’ve gained from education or training and how this will help you succeed in your chosen subject
- What relevant or transferable skills you have that make you a great candidate
- Any additional educational achievements, such as being head boy or girl
Question 3: What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
Not everything you’ve learned comes from the classroom. Life experience counts too!
You might want to talk about:
- Work experience, employment, or volunteering and how they’ve helped you develop the skills needed for your chosen course or future career
- Hobbies and any extracurricular or outreach activities that have taught you transferable skills you can use on your course
- Achievements outside of school or college
Some examples could be DofE, your part-time job or being part of a sports team.
What do you value when reading a personal statement?
- Personality shining through: here at BCU we like to think students are individuals and unique.
- Reading about a student’s passion for the subject and their interests.
How should I write my personal statement?
- Communicate professionally and don’t be too colloquial: you’re aspiring to be a professional in your chosen field so you need to be able to convey this.
- Let your personality shine through and don’t be scared to show it.
- Ensure your style and grammar is accurate as this is important when it comes to us reading it.
- Once you’ve finalised and written your statement, leave it a day or two and proofread it so you can look over it with fresh eyes and ask your family or peers to. Read it critically and think about how it’s going to sound to someone who doesn’t know you and how they would react when they read it.
- Ask a professional to read through your statement such as your teacher. If you’re not in education at the moment, find a professional whose work involves reading documents and statements, such as Human Resources.
What are the final things that I should and shouldn’t do in my personal statement?
- Listen to your teacher’s advice if you’re still studying in school or college – they have countless experiences with reading over personal statements.
- Ensure your statement is personal but professional.
- Make it clear and easy to read.
- Let us know what your passion is and why you want to study with us.
- Don’t let somebody else write it for you as we want to know about you as an individual and on a personal level.
- Don’t be let down by spelling and grammatical errors.
- Don’t write it too early.
- Don’t rush it and make sure you spend time perfecting it.
- Don’t plagiarise and copy from the internet!
