Guide to the 2026 changes to the Ucas personal statement

The Ucas personal statement – submitted with applications to UK universities, along with grades and a reference – will be in a different format for students applying for courses beginning in the autumn of 2026. 

Instead of a free-text box allowing students to write a maximum of 4,000 characters, the statement will be divided into three sections, each requiring students to respond to a prompt question. 

To understand how to guide students completing a statement in the new format, it might be worth revisiting the purpose of the statement, and how university admissions departments use it. 

What is the personal statement for?

The role of the Ucas personal statement is to give students the opportunity to explain their interest in the course they are applying for and why they are a suitable candidate for it. In the UK, students apply to a specific course (unlike, for example, the US, where a broad range of subjects may be taken alongside a major). Students need to show, therefore, why they want to spend three years focused on that area and how this interest and their aptitude have developed. 

The statement is “personal” in the sense that students’ interests will be specific to them, but it should have a primarily academic focus (or vocational, if the course is linked to a profession, such as dentistry or law). 

Its name can sometimes lead to confusion – recent research suggests that more than 40 per cent of teachers surveyed in UK state schools gave feedback on personal statements that did not align with the views of university admission staff. Teachers were more likely to favour students writing holistically about themselves and recommend reducing academic content. Admissions staff, by contrast, preferred content illustrating academic engagement and referring to specific examples of this. One of the aims of the restructured statement is to make this focus clearer for students, as well as to reduce blank-page syndrome through the use of questions as prompts. 

To be clear, then – the changes are facilitative. The ethos of the personal statement has not changed, and its intended focus hasn’t shifted. 

It’s also useful to bear in mind the role that the personal statement has in the overall application process:

• Generally, grades may have the most significant role in whether a student is offered a place or not.
• The personal statement should complement not repeat material covered elsewhere in the application. There is no need to list subjects or grades, or to go over points that are covered in the reference. Not all schools show students the reference, so this may be a point for discussion.
• Universities may use the statement in different ways and at different points of the application cycle. For example, when deciding whether to make an offer or invite to interview, when devising question topics for an interview or when reviewing an application if offer grades have been narrowly missed. There may be differences between universities, and within universities, as a result of departmental differences. The popularity and competitiveness of a course will influence this.
• Research shows us that statements are read quickly, for an average of two minutes, falling to an average of 90 seconds for applications to the Russell Group. Thirty-nine per cent of statements were read in a minute or less. The same research shows that the main focus of the universities when reading is to ascertain interest in the course, followed by checking for mitigating circumstances or context (now part of the reference) and evidence of academic potential. Work experience and transferable skills are also valued in applications to vocational courses. 

The new questions

The three questions students will now answer are: 

1. Why do you want to cover this course or subject?
2. How have your qualifications or studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
3. What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

The statement will remain a maximum of 4,000 characters overall (including spaces). Students will be required to write at least 350 characters in response to each question. It is understood that students may have some points to make that could fit in more than one section. They should not worry too much about which section they add these points to in such cases, but they should not use the same example twice. 

Responding to the questions

Guidance from Ucas can be found here.

1. Why do you want to study this course or subject?

Students could begin by identifying a key role model or moment that ignited their interest. They should try to avoid vague, unlikely statements such as “I have always been passionate about…” 

They can discuss how they have furthered and explored the interest by referring to supercurricular engagement – what have they read, watched, visited or listened to of their own accord? How have they responded to the new information – has it made them view information they already had differently? A few specific examples that are reflected on critically will show engagement and academic ability more fully than only listing points. 

If the student knows at this stage how the course may relate to future career or academic aims, they could also include that here. 

2. How have your qualifications or studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?

Students can write about how current or recent studies are relevant. These could be school-based, but they could also discuss super-curricular formal studies, such as a summer school, online course, massive open online course, IB Extended Essay or EPQ. 

They could draw out transferable skills that are relevant to the course they are applying for – for example, analytical skills, essay-writing competency or practical or patient-facing skills in the case of lab-based or clinical courses. 

Educational achievements (other than grades that are already listed on the application) can be included here – examples given by Ucas include school or national competitions, or roles within school, such as team captain. 

3. What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

The examples given by Ucas here are wide-ranging:

Work experience and volunteering: this will be more relevant to some courses than others, so students should weight it accordingly, and draw out the skills, knowledge and experience that relate to their course. 

Personal experiences or responsibilities: again, these should be related to the course. 

Hobbies, extracurricular activities, outreach activities and achievements outside of school or college: guidance here could overlap with section two – avoid repetition, and keep focused on what the course will require rather than listing all the student’s activities. 

Some overall guidance 

The ratio of content should still be 80:20 academic:co-curricular, and closer to 90:10 if the student is applying to very elite and competitive courses – and those courses will be more likely to make use of the statement as a differentiating factor.

Students only submit one statement via Ucas, but courses differ. Students should check course modules across their university choices to identify areas in common they can use to illustrate super-curricular engagement. For example, if they are applying for a history degree, are their topics or periods covered by all choices? If a course does not, for example, cover the French revolution, focusing on it in the statement will not show relevant knowledge to that university. 

If students apply for joint degrees, for example English literature and Spanish, they should cover both subjects in their statement. If they apply for interdisciplinary courses, such as politics, philosophy and economics, they should also look at the relationship and connections between those disciplines. 

There is a wide range of examples available at 2026 personal statement guides.