{"id":1206,"date":"2018-11-27T12:44:26","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T12:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:56:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:56:31","slug":"application-advice-personal-statements-for-postgraduate-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2018\/11\/27\/application-advice-personal-statements-for-postgraduate-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Application Advice: Personal Statements for Postgraduate Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your personal statement needs to <strong>prove<\/strong> whether you\u2019ve got the <strong>determination, drive and relevant skills + experience<\/strong> to thrive at the university you\u2019re applying to. To do that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create a clear and concise structure \u2013 beginning, middle and end<\/li>\n<li>1 A4 page (500 words, unless a word count is specified) and short, easy to read paragraphs (think about your white paper:text ratio)<\/li>\n<li>Emotive language \u2013 <em>\u2018passionate\u2019 \u2018eager\u2019 \u2018excited\u2019 <\/em>\u2013 professional, yet personable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><u>Research \u2013 So important! <\/u><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Know the course structure \u2013 <em>What modules are included? What are the methods of teaching? Who are the academics?<\/em><\/li>\n<li>The university \u2013 <em>Where are they ranked? How successful are their graduates? How soon do graduates find jobs? Are they a specialist in the field of study? <\/em><\/li>\n<li>Recent news \/ campaigns<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><u>What to include<\/u><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>An attention grabbing introduction, an engaging middle section and a concise conclusion.<\/li>\n<li>Why are you interested in this<strong> field of study<\/strong> \u2013 <em>Personal background? Career goal? Specific strengths you have? <\/em><\/li>\n<li>Why are you interested in this <strong>specific course<\/strong>? \u2013 <em>An academic you want to study with? A unique element to the course?<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Why are you interested in this <strong>specific university<\/strong>? \u2013 Draw on your research.<\/li>\n<li>What are your <strong>career goals<\/strong>? How will the Masters help you achieve them?<\/li>\n<li>Potentially discuss the initial ideas for your Masters dissertation - help give an idea of the specialist knowledge you have in your field.<\/li>\n<li>Demonstrate <strong>how <\/strong>and <strong>why <\/strong>you\u2019re invested in this field of study with examples. Remember to relate back to the Masters.<\/li>\n<li>Draw from academic and employment experience to explain <strong>why<\/strong> you are choosing to study this postgraduate course.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your examples should demonstrate skills that you\u2019ve developed at university, work or in extra-curricular activities, and how they will help you succeed in your Masters degree. These will include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Time management \/ working under pressure<\/li>\n<li>Communication (verbal and written)<\/li>\n<li>Team work \/ leadership<\/li>\n<li>More course specific experiences (projects \/ events attended \/ literature read \/ techniques)<\/li>\n<li>Research<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><u>Remember<\/u><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Having a clear and structured personal statement will be an example of your ability to communicate effectively<\/li>\n<li>Use positive, enthusiastic language, with a professional tone of voice<\/li>\n<li>Provide evidence to prove your claims<\/li>\n<li>Aim for a word count of around 500 words (one A4 side of text)<\/li>\n<li>Plan beforehand!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><u>Avoid<\/u><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Waffle! Get straight to the point with what you say<\/li>\n<li>Using a generic template for each application \u2013 your personal statement should be specific to each course and institution you apply to<\/li>\n<li>Being vague - be specific with facts and figures where possible. Say exactly what you did, but remember to keep it relevant<\/li>\n<li>Typos and bad grammar! Spell check English (UK)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Feedback<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>You can book a 15 minute appointment with an Applications Adviser to read through your statement and make sure you're on the right track:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/myfuture.bath.ac.uk\/students\/appointments\/app\/topic\/1?siteId=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">myfuture.bath.ac.uk\/students\/appointments<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your personal statement needs to prove whether you\u2019ve got the determination, drive and relevant skills + experience to thrive at the university you\u2019re applying to. To do that: Create a clear and concise structure \u2013 beginning, middle and end 1...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1177,"featured_media":1255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[748],"tags":[4,16,100,417,341,297,364,41,120],"class_list":["post-1206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","tag-advice","tag-applications","tag-finalist","tag-masters","tag-personal-statements","tag-postgraduate-study","tag-postgraduates","tag-skills","tag-top-tips"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2018\/11\/vasily-koloda-620886-unsplash.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}