Personal Statement (SOP)

When you apply to any Undergraduate or Taught Postgraduate course in the UK, you will be required to write a “Personal Statement”. Along with your academic transcripts and your IELTS or TOEFL scores, the Personal Statement is a vital part of your application.

The reason this essay is so important is because it is your only chance to express yourself, highlight your strengths, justify any weaknesses, and ultimately prove to the Admissions Officers that you are the right candidate for their university.

Most importantly, if you apply to elite universities, or to highly competitive course such as Medicine, Law, Business, or Engineering, the Personal Statement is the only criterion according to which Admissions Officers can filter the strongest candidates from the hundreds of applications they receive each year.

These are the things they expect to find after reading your Personal Statement:

• Are you truly committed to the course?
• Are your academic background and practical experience consistent with its requirements?
• Can you master academic English?
• Can you fit socially into a multicultural campus?
• Will you be able to join a career which will make the university proud?

These are the things that you should always avoid in a Personal Statement:

• Never copy another student’s work! Plagiarism will automatically disqualify your application
• Don’t use an informal writing style
• Don’t go over the 4000 characters limit imposed for undergraduate courses
• Don’t be generic, talk about your personal experience
• Don’t assume Admissions Officers will know anything about your background. Tell them everything that is important!

Writing such a piece of work can often be very difficult. The language barrier, the word limit, the lack of familiarity with the text, or just general nervousness, are some of the obstacles which many international students come across.

This is why StudyCo have partnered with Firm Choice, a professional editing service based in the UK, that has been used by countless students looking for help with their Personal Statement.

Whether you want a couple of quick checks, or whether you would like them to write your personal statement in academic English from scratch, you can get the advice you need.

Find out more about how our partners can help by clicking the button below.