How to write your personal statement
Personal statements for postgraduate students
We know personal statements can sometimes be a bit tricky and you might have lots of questions about how to get started. Don't worry, we're here to help. On this page, we'll explain:
- when you should start writing your personal statement,
- what you could talk about in your personal statement,
- how you can make your personal statement stand out,
- how long your personal statement should be, and
- what happens if you're applying for more than one course.
What is a personal statement?
Your personal statement supports your application and gives you the opportunity to show us:
- why the course is right for you, and
- that you have the skills, knowledge and aptitude to achieve the course requirements.
You can find a description of our courses and their key requirements, including the skills, experience and technical abilities we're looking for, on our course pages.
When to start writing your personal statement
It's never too early to start working on your application for your Master's. Here's why:
Starting early means that you can collect the information that you need before the deadline and have time to make the application the best it can be.
For Master's courses, some of our departments use application rounds, which have fixed application dates throughout the year. We recommend applying as early as you can, as we cannot guarantee that places will be available, or that courses will remain open in later rounds. You can check the application round dates for your chosen course on our course pages.
You must submit your course application before you can apply for one of our scholarships, which have deadlines of their own.
So don't delay – start working on your personal statement and get one step closer to joining Imperial.
What to talk about in your personal statement
We ask for a personal statement because we want to know about you.
Every aspect of your application is important, but many areas tend to only require factual information, like your grades. The personal statement is your opportunity to tell us more about who you are and why you'd like to study at Imperial and join our community.
Applications to our courses can be competitive, so we often use a candidate's personal statement to understand them and their experience better.
You might find this structure helpful to plan your personal statement:
- Section 1: Explain why you're interested in studying this course.
- Section 2: Show how your experience is useful or relevant to meeting the course requirements. You could split this into three: your academic background, your work experience and skills and your other non-academic activities or interests.
- Section 3: Show how the course will help you shape your academic or professional career.
- Section 4: Explain why you're choosing Imperial. Are there particular facilities or research groups you're interested in?
- Section 5: Tie it all together with a concluding paragraph.
How you can make your personal statement stand out
Plan before you start writing
Doing this at the beginning of the process before you write helps you to make sure that you mention all the things that you want to and don't forget to include key points that will help you stand out.
Try not to get too caught up with rankings or facts about the university
We want to hear about you, not us! It's good to talk about the course content, but make sure that you relate it back to your experience and your goals – focus on sharing what interests you the most about the course and how you plan to build on past study and work experiences while undertaking the course.
Avoid cliché and common phrases
Write as you would normally. Avoid using overused phrases, such as:
- From a young age…
- For as long as I can remember…
- I am applying for this course because…
- I have always been interested in…
- Throughout my life, I have always enjoyed…
Be yourself and tell us about your unique experience and motivations for applying for this course.
Check, check and check again
While copying and pasting from past personal statements can save you time, there is a risk of errors. Make sure you double check your personal statement for spelling and gramma, and that you're using the right university name and course title.
How long should my personal statement be?
It's good to aim for your statement to be one or two pages of A4 – that's roughly around 500 to 1,000 words long at font size 12.
Make sure you are concise and that your points are clear and relevant.
Business School personal statements
Personal statements for courses in the Business School are slightly different than for other courses. Your personal statement provides an opportunity for you tell us a bit more about yourself and your motivation for undertaking this programme.
In the personal statement section of the application, we ask you to answer the following questions:
Why do you want to study at Imperial College Business School, and how will you contribute to our community?
Imperial's values are Respect, Collaboration, Integrity, Innovation, and Excellence. Describe a time where you embodied one or more of these values, and explain the impact it had.
Each section of the personal statement has a 2,500 character limit (including spaces).
Applying for two Imperial courses?
You can apply for up to two courses in an academic year, only one of which can be for Imperial College Business School. If you initially apply to two courses at Imperial, you can submit two personal statements.
You have two options when submitting your personal statements:
- You can submit your personal statement for your first- and second-choice courses in one document. Make sure you indicate which course each statement relates to by using clear headings in your document.
- You can submit only the personal statement for your first-choice course when you apply. If your application to your first-choice course is unsuccessful, you can submit your personal statement for your second-choice course to the relevant admissions team at Imperial.