Writing a personal statement when applying for postgraduate study in the UK

In my full time role as Careers Consultant at Imperial College London, one of the world's top universities, you can understand that I read and provide feedback on hundreds if not thousands of personal statements every year from people applying for postgraduate study opportunities.

Whilst there is guidance on the UCAS website for undergraduate applications, people can often feel a bit lost when it comes to applying for a master's or PhD.

In my private coaching capacity at RG Career Coaching, these applications (and undergraduate applications) are one of the many things I assist clients with.

I thought I would write this blog today to focus in on one of the key tips: explaining your motivation!

When applying for postgraduate study and drafting a personal statement, your first thought might be to choose which educational experiences to think about. This is great and certainly important, however, a nice introduction to a personal statement document, can be to introduce the reader to why you are even applying.

What's the worst thing you can do here? Come up with a forced, cheesy, 'inspirational quote'.

This honestly drives down the quality of the application immediately and doesn't create the good first impression.

'But what if I want to create impact? How do I stand out?' This is the rebuttal I often hear.

Creating an inauthentic, forced feeling will not create the impact you are aiming for.

Being able to articulate how you actually discovered your interest in this subject and where you can see it going, is how to make impact.

I understand, not everyone will have an authentic and inspiring story for how they found a passion for a particular area, but not everything has to be inspirational, however it does need to make sense.

Top tip:

• When I encounter students who struggle to articulate why they are interested in a subject, even if they promise me they truly are, I ask them: 'what would you say if you were chatting with a friend who is applying to different subjects, and they said 'wow that subject sounds so dull, why would you want to study that?!' '

• Try to take it back to basics when describing what you think is intriguing, useful, intellectually stimulating or important about it.

• Not everyone will find it important enough to dedicate their life / studies to it, so why do you?

From the perspective of the reader, it will feel like quite the risky decision to just blindly trust someone that says 'I am very interested in this because I completed a module about it in my undergraduate degree.'

OK, but you also completed modules on other topics that you are not choosing to study at postgraduate level...so what is the difference?

You will not help yourself to become a strong choice for the assessor if you can't fulfil this element of the criteria. Remember, there is strong competition - they don't need to settle!

Ultimately, the ideal motivation paragraph in a personal statement will cover:

• why you want to study at this level

• why this subject

• why this particular programme (what about it's design, content, resources etc?)

• why this university? (why is this the right place for you?)

If this is something you are keen to get support with, please reach out to me at becky@rgcareercoaching.com to book a free 20 minute appointment to see what you are applying to and what you would like help with.

We can then discuss arranging a full appointment to support your application.