Wait… has the UCAS Personal Statement just been scrapped?
Earlier in the summer, just after the schools broke up in England, UCAS made an important announcement about the UCAS Personal Statement.
If you just looked at the headlines, you’d think that the Personal Statement had been banished forever. No more hours spent crafting 4,000 characters of prose about why you’ll make an amazing student.
“UCAS scraps personal statements for university hopefuls” said The Times, while The Guardian ran with “UCAS plans to drop personal statements for UK university applicants”.
Even our trusted, reliable BBC News talked of UCAS “scrapping” the Personal Statement, though thankfully they changed their headline pretty soon after realising their error.
The Personal Statement, you see, is not being scrapped at all; it’s being reformed and restructured.
And it’s not happening immediately either.
So, what is the truth behind all those misleading headlines? Well…
The UCAS Personal Statement will remain EXACTLY as it is for students applying this year for 2025 entry.
For 2026 entry (i.e. for those applying from next autumn), rather than being a single box, for a single statement, the Personal Statement will consist of three questions.
The overall character limit for answering these three questions will remain exactly as it is currently.
If you are applying now for 2025 entry (or even for deferred entry) you simply don’t need to worry about the changes; they won’t apply to you. You can crack on within your Personal Statement exactly as you were planning.
If you are looking for help with how to do this, please check out my short, free on-line course How to write your UCAS Personal Statement. There are 10 short videos, together with summary handouts, taking you through the UCAS process, how the Personal Statement is used, and how to go about writing yours.
Just look at the sections you need, and you’ll have everything you need to start writing in less than an hour.
If you are looking to apply next year for 2026 entry, or are a teacher, adviser or parent who will be supporting student applications next year, read on, as I have a few thoughts that you might find helpful…
So, what exactly are the changes?
The new Personal Statement will contain three questions.
Why do you want to study this course or subject?
How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
You’ll be able to write as much, or as little as you like in each section, but the overall length limit will be the same as it is now: 4,000 characters (including punctuation and spaces).
Are the changes a good thing?
Broadly, I’d say the changes are a very good thing. They make it much clearer what the Personal Statement is all about, and make it much easier for students to get started. This should help those who are less confident writers, as well as those who have less support available at school.
Will it change how universities will look at the Personal Statement?
I genuinely think it won’t. Those who value it, will continue to read it. They’ll look at the three sections together, as one piece of work, and will be looking for the same things they’ve always looked for (see When and how will your Personal Statement be used).
Those who don’t use the statement as part of their selection process are unlikely to change their position because of the changes.
Does this change how students should approach their Personal Statement?
As I’ve said, I think the three questions make it much easier to understand the essence of what the statement is all about. It also gives you a very clear structure to work towards, which is not the case currently.
However, students will still need to go through a process to write it; they won’t be able to magic up answers to the three questions from nowhere. So, some kind of a brainstorm will still be required (such as asking themselves the eight questions outlined in Preparing Your Content).
They will then still need to decide which content goes where (though that will be much easier than before).
They will still need to learn how to write reflectively, so techniques such as those I discuss in The Power of Reflective Writing, will still be super-useful.
And finally, every single one of my Ten Top Personal Statement Tips will still apply to the new format.
In conclusion…
The reformed Personal Statement is undoubtedly a step forward, and a positive development, but it’s not a fundamental shift, and the headlines suggesting the statement has been ‘scrapped’ are very far from the mark.
For students applying for 2025 entry, there is no change, so please continue to use all the resources I’ve created to help you with the process.
For those applying for 2026 entry, I’ll be doing a full revision of everything I’ve written and recorded about Personal Statements and will launch it all next spring, in plenty of time for the new cycle.
It won’t be radically different, but it will (thankfully!) be shorter!
For more info, see: UCAS Announcement: Personal Statements for 2026 entry onwards
