how to reflect on work experience in personal statement

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How To Write About Work Experience In Your Personal Statement

• Published October 25, 2021

We get it – you’re dying to include your work experience in your personal statement, but how do you write about work experience in your personal statement ? Work experience is an essential component of your personal statement . It shows that you are passionate and knowledgeable about your chosen course. Some courses require prior work experience before you can apply.

So if you’re looking for a way to showcase your work experience, this blog post is just what you need. Learn how to write about work experience effectively in your statement to help you stand out from the crowd and get into the university of your dreams.

Check The Course Requirements For Work Experience

Some courses require you to have work experience before applying (e.g. medical courses.) You may need to complete a certain number of working hours before you’re eligible. It’s best to check out the course requirements before writing your work experience personal statement. If you’re thinking of applying to medicine then check out our medical personal statement advice , likewise with our how to write a law personal statement .

With that said, other courses don’t require work experience. But it does elevate your personal statement if you have relevant work experiences to share.

Examples Of Work Experience

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to writing your work experience personal statement is determining whether an activity counts as “work experience” or not. Here are examples of work experience you may need to include:

• Extracurricular Activities

These are activities that are not included within your formal curriculum. Being a member of the sports team, debate club, Red Cross, or theatre group are good examples.

• Formal Work Placements

Formal work placements are exposures to real-world experience. These are often required as part of your curriculum.

• Volunteer Work

There are tons of volunteer work you could’ve participated in. Maybe you helped out at animal shelters, environmental conservation activities, or feeding programs.

• Part-Time Jobs

Part-time jobs are significant for your work experience personal statement. Working as a customer service agent, freelance writer, or salesperson at a local store demonstrates a sense of responsibility on your part. Mention what’s relevant to the course you’re applying for! Competitions. Look out for competitions in areas that interest you, for example, design, writing, maths, or business.

• Personal Projects

Your personal projects reflect what you love doing. That’s why there’s a high probability they’re related to the course you’re applying for.

If you love coding, you may have built websites. Love writing? Maybe you’ve set up your own blog! Write them down in your work experience personal statement.

• Leadership Positions

If you occupied leadership positions in your organisations relevant to your chosen course, mention them! Universities are on the lookout for motivated individuals willing to take responsibility.

The list of work experiences to include in your personal statement hopefully helps, but make sure to check out our what not to put in a personal statement .

Writing down your leadership positions can take your work experience personal statement up a higher notch.

State Your Work Experience

You now have a solid idea of relevant work experience you need to include in your personal statement. But how will you present it? Here are questions to eliminate writer’s block:

Make good use of these starters to kick off your writing. Brainstorm all relevant details of your work experience. We’ll sort them out later. And, if you’re wondering how to start a personal statement then wonder no more!

Discuss What You Learned, And Why It’s Essential

After stating the facts about your work experience, it’s time to get to the heart of the matter. You are writing your work experience personal statement not to brag about your achievements, but showing why you’re serious about your course .

That’s why discussing what you learned is essential. Beyond your role, share what insights you’ve gained that helped shape your character.

If you’re not sure how to start, let these questions unknot your ideas:

• How did this position impact you?
• What are the primary skills you’ve gained that are relevant to your course?
• How does this experience influence your decisions in pursuing your study goals?
• How does this experience relate to your general ability to succeed in your course?
• What are the major lessons you’ve learned that are helping you grow as an individual person ?
• What is your biggest takeaway from this position?
• Are there significant interactions that impacted your desire to take the course?

After answering these questions, craft a powerful paragraph that demonstrates how deep your understanding is.

The more interesting facts you share about yourself, the better. Bring your work experience personal statement to life with vivid details that convey essential ideas about who you are.

Ideas For Essential Skills

You may be unaware of skills you possess that are relevant and essential for your course. To make sure you won’t forget to mention them, here are skill ideas common across fields:

• The ability to communicate to higher-ups, colleagues, and clients
• Perseverance amidst challenges
• A sense of duty and obligation
• Eagerness to serve the community, especially the marginalised
• Critical thinking skills to overcome setbacks
• Initiative to work independently
• Knows how to work in a team setting
• Shows energy and enthusiasm to
• Motivation to work hard and do well

These are some of the common skills valuable across several fields of study. Among these, which describes you most? Go ahead and write about it!

Demonstrate Understanding Of The Course You’re Applying For

Your work experience should deepen your understanding of the course you’re applying for. Dig deeper and reflect on these points:

• How is your course making a positive change in the world? If you’re eyeing health-related courses, explain how health workers significantly impact people’s lives. Do you want to apply for education-related courses? Relay a story of how significant educators in your life changed you for the better.
• Mention the gaps and problems you see in the field. Do you see a severe lack of health facilities? Perhaps you’ve witnessed the challenges teachers and professors experience in the education system.
• What do you plan to do about it? Demonstrate that you’re applying for your chosen course because you want to help solve the problems that you see. Convince the admissions board that you’re the person for the course by writing about your desire to be an agent of change!

Reach Out To People Who’ve Been Where You Want To Be

To enhance your work experience personal statement, reach out to people who’ve been where you want to be. University students and practising staff are the perfect individuals you can approach.

Set appointments with them and ask them about their experience. What is it like to be in their position? What are the challenges that they see? What are they doing to improve their field of study?

Best of all, solicit advice on how to write your work experience personal statement. What skills do the admissions boards search for?

Then go back to your personal statement and write about your new connections. Mention how their insights and advice shed greater light on how your work experience will help you succeed in your course.

Do this, and you’re guaranteed to show a richer work experience personal statement.

Read Up On The Current Situation Of Your Chosen Field

Soak up knowledge on the current challenges and breakthroughs of your chosen field. Read journal articles, news websites, and featured stories. You can also visit blogs written by practitioners or university students.

Make sure to cite authoritative sources and figures when discussing the status quo. Then weave the information back to your work experience.

Do you have similar experiences with the figures you’ve mentioned? Have they discussed situations you experienced yourself? How are you making a difference in the field? Will your perspective matter?

What a perfect way to build credibility for your work experience personal statement!

Check Out Work Experience Personal Statement Examples

You now have a rich draft of your work experience personal statement. But you’re unsure of how to word and structure it.

Why not check out work experience personal statement examples on the web? Examine how they presented their experiences and insights. Make sure to read as many examples as you can.

Choose your top 3 favourites and save them in your documents. If you’re short of ideas, go back to them. Don’t forget to highlight paragraphs, sentences, and words that inspire you.

Be Authentic And Vulnerable 

Don’t be afraid of being vulnerable in your work experience personal statement. The admissions board needs to know if you are genuinely passionate about this course or not, so don’t hold back!

But remember to stay authentic. Don’t overdramatise mundane events. State events as they happened, and share your realisations as they are. Authenticity is a precious factor!

Action The Above To ‘Work’ On Your Personal Statement

With the suggestions mentioned above, you’ll be able to craft a more compelling and impactful work experience personal statement. Understand that this is YOUR story. Don’t copy others’ work experience personal statements.

Make your own angle and spin, and rest assured that the admissions board will want to read about YOU in your chosen course!

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• Personal Statement >

How to write in Personal Statement About Work Experience?

Introduction.

Talking about your work experience is important in your personal statement, some universities have work experience as a requirement, so demonstrating that you have done work experience in your personal statement is essential.

Table of Contents

A common question we get asked is how many experiences should I mention? We recommend, in a personal statement about work experience, you reference at least 2 experiences out of your hospital, GP and volunteering placements. On top of this, try to focus on the interesting aspects too, for example if you spent 5 days at a GP surgery with 1 day being full of interesting patients you saw with the GP, focus on this instead of the other 4 days where you were doing menial tasks. 

How to write about work experience in a personal statement?

You should follow this structure for a work experience personal statement section:

• What work experience you did – was it a hospital placement, volunteering, work shadowing?
• Where you did it – was it in a hospital, GP surgery, hospice, care home?
• What you saw – was there a particularly memorable interaction that you remember, or did something you see stand out to you?
• Reflection – what did your experience tell you about medicine? Did it make you more certain that a career in medicine is right for you?

When thinking about how to talk about work experience in a personal statement, try to focus on skills demonstrated by doctors that you have seen, this will help focus your writing. Within each work experience it is important that you are:

• Reflective – don’t just state what you did or saw, but talk about what you learnt about the role of a doctor in this particular work experience setting. This is how to impress the examiner as it shows insight and maturity of your thoughts that they are looking for in medical students.
• Positive yet Realistic – It is important that your work experience has shown you the reality of becoming a doctor, as it isn’t the glamours role that it is sometimes portrayed on TV or in movies. Therefore, showing your realistic understanding is important. On top of this, showing that you are still positive about being a doctor will help to demonstrate your commitment to the profession. Try to maintain this positive tone throughout your personal statement. 

Can you lie about work experience on a personal statement? What if I have no work experience?

Absolutely not! The key thing to remember is that work experience does not need to be directly clinical if that has not been possible. Many students are asking what to do if they do not have a hospital work experience personal statement or even worse that they have a no work experience personal statement. The key thing to remember is that medical schools understand the different circumstances that students experience. The key skill that is being assessed is your ability to reflect, your ability to be self-sufficient, and your ability to continue to learn from personal experiences. You can speak about all kinds of experience in this section of the personal statement as long as you can link it back to a skill for a career in medicine.

Example: “Through my work as a barista, I have developed significantly in my time management, interpersonal skills, and stress management abilities. I work in a very busy branch and during rush hour it is vital that we work as a team. I often take on the role of team leader and work to allocate my colleagues into areas of their strengths in order to maximise the efficiency of service and to minimise the stress caused by the rush. I hope that development of these skills would be beneficial in a career in medicine and would help me to remain calm and organised even when the work environment is stressful”

Personal Statement Examples Work Experience:

“ I saw how the GP was always rushed due to the number of patients he had to see, and how stressful and challenging a job medicine is ”

Although this shows your insight into the realities of medicine, it is written in a rather negative tone. This makes the reader feel like this is a job no one would want to do, especially not someone who has seen this and identified this as a problem. Instead why no try:

“ I appreciate the GPs skills in time efficiency and management, which enabled him to see so many patients in the day ”

This instead focuses on the positive attributes of the doctor that enables him to function with more ease in a challenging role. This positive spin is still acknowledging the large number of patients that the GP has to see, however, comes across to the reader in a much more positive way. Try to replicate a similar thing with your own examples. 

So, hope you found that all useful! In a nutshell – Talk about at least 2 different work experiences, focus on the interesting aspects of your work experience, remember to reflect, as this is what the examiners are looking for, try to focus on one skill demonstrated by a doctor per experience.

Frequently Asked Question

🎤 what is a work experience personal statement.

A work experience personal statement is a section of a job application or university admission application that describes a candidate’s relevant work experience. This statement is used to demonstrate the candidate’s skills and experience to the employer or university and to show how this experience will contribute to their future success.

💎 Why is work experience important for a personal statement?

Work experience is important for a personal statement because it demonstrates the candidate’s relevant skills, knowledge, and work ethic. It can show how the candidate has applied their skills in real-world situations and how they have developed professionally. This information can be valuable to employers or universities when considering candidates.

🏆 What is the best opening sentence for a personal statement?

The best opening sentence for a personal statement is one that immediately grabs the reader’s attention and sets the tone for the rest of the statement. Here are some examples of effective opening sentences:

“As a lifelong lover of science, I have always been fascinated by the way that the natural world works.”

“Growing up in a family of artists, I have always had a deep appreciation for the power of creativity and self-expression.”

“From a young age, I knew that I wanted to make a difference in the world and help those in need.”

“As a first-generation college student, I have overcome numerous obstacles to pursue my passion for learning and personal growth.”

“Throughout my life, I have been driven by a strong sense of curiosity and a desire to explore new ideas and experiences.”

These opening sentences all effectively introduce the writer and set the stage for the rest of the personal statement. They grab the reader’s attention and provide a glimpse into the writer’s personality, passions, and motivations.

📖 What should I include in my work experience personal statement?

In your work experience personal statement, you should include a brief description of your work history, including any relevant experience, responsibilities, and achievements. You should also highlight the skills and knowledge you have gained from your work experience and explain how these skills will contribute to your future goals.

🧵 How long should my work experience personal statement be?

Your work experience personal statement should be concise and focused. It should typically be no more than two or three paragraphs in length, but this can vary depending on the requirements of the application.

📌 Can I include volunteer experience in my work experience personal statement?

Yes, you can include volunteer experience in your work experience personal statement if it is relevant to the position or program you are applying for. Volunteer experience can demonstrate your commitment to the field and show that you have developed skills and knowledge that are applicable to the position or program.

✨ How can I make my work experience personal statement stand out?

To make your work experience personal statement stand out, you should focus on the specific skills and experiences that make you a strong candidate for the position or program. You can also use examples and anecdotes to illustrate your achievements and demonstrate your passion for the field.

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Writing About Work Experience

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Your work experience will surely have been an interesting and fulfilling time. So making sure you talk about it in your Personal Statement is essential. 

But how can you put your experiences into words? 

This guide will help you understand how to put pen-to-paper. 

Why Do I Need To Write About Work Experience?

No matter how many fascinating surgeries you’ve observed, hours you’ve volunteered at your local care home, or general insights you learned about Medicine, all of the work experience you’ve done will only help your Medical School application if it is well represented in the 47 lines you’ll send off to UCAS.

In my experience as a 6med tutor, I have met many impressive Medicine applicants who can tell me all about their wonderful work experience in person but whose written accounts are limp and lacklustre.

This short article will help you to write dynamically about your work experience in your personal statement; you’ve done the hard work, just make sure you don’t sell yourself short when it comes to writing about it!

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Quality Over Quantity

Now when I talk about quantity, I am not saying that your work experience should only be mentioned in passing in your Personal Statement. On the contrary, work experience should form a substantial chunk of the statement and is often the first section after the introduction.

What I am saying is that it is far more valuable to write thoughtfully and comprehensively about a few different experiences than to reel off soulless lists citing the dozens of placements you have completed.

This should come as good news because it takes the pressure off finding as much work experience as possible!

When you unpack and describe a particular experience it demonstrates that you were not only physically present, you were also mentally attentive.

The Importance Of Utilising Work Experience

Hypothetically, Alex is sitting in a GP consultation with a diabetic patient thinking about what he is going to have for dinner. Laura is in the same consultation analysing and reflecting upon the doctor-patient dynamic, asking questions when appropriate and later looks up a drug she had never heard of before. Although both students did the same work experience, one was passively observing and the other actively engaging. Even if Alex did five more placements with the same attitude, Laura’s single experience at the GP is of much more value to Medical School Admission Tutors. The only way that universities will know that you are a “Laura” not an ‘Alex’ is if you tell them in your Personal Statement!

Check out these Personal Statement Inspiration and Examples Articles:

Dentistry Personal Statement Examples – KCL (Emmy)

Dentistry Personal Statement Examples – KCL (Saif)

Dentistry Personal Statement Examples – Cardiff (Eera)

Taking It To The Next Level

“Ok so quality over quantity I get it, I need to show that I was paying attention in my work experience but how exactly do I do that?” Well I like to think of three levels of description in this context:

• This is what I did
• This is what I learnt
• These are some interesting details

“This is what I did”

This is the most basic part of writing about your work experience, telling the Medical Schools what you have actually done. Where you went, how long you were there, the things you saw etc.

This is obviously a crucial place to start and if you find that you haven’t actually done very much then go out and find some work experience!

However, don’t panic if you haven’t done loads, remember it’s quality over quantity and you can flesh out what you have done by taking your writing to the next level.

“This what I learned”

If you leave your writing at level 1, as far as the Medical School are concerned, you might as well have been an ‘Alex’, at the hospital perhaps, but on Instagram and Facebook the whole time!

Every time you write about your work experience it is essential that you say why it is relevant by describing what you learned. Think carefully, there are probably many different lessons that can be taken from any one experience you’ve had.

For instance, using the previous diabetic consultation example, you may have learned about the increasing prevalence of chronic conditions in primary care, the importance of good communication skills in encouraging behaviour change, and about the glycation of haemoglobin.

Talk about what you learnt, how you felt, what you found surprising/inspiring, how your preconceptions were challenged, how you think the doctor/health professional might have improved the patient experience, any examples of leadership/teamwork you witnessed etc.

This is the kind of information that will really put flesh on the bones of your work experience writing and show Medical Schools that you are a ‘Laura’.

“These are some interesting details”

While you should always take your writing to level 2, sometimes it is appropriate to go a step further and offer some more specific, anecdotal details.

For example, you observed a diabetes consultation (level 1) where you learned about the use of glycated haemoglobin to measure glucose control (level 2) which was especially fascinating because it built upon what you had previously learned about proteins in your A-Level Biology (level 3).

These kinds of details can also be useful in linking together initially unrelated parts of your personal statement to make your writing flow better. For instance you could move seamlessly from talking about a diabetic patient onto any academic achievements of yours by taking a detour through your A-Level Biology.

It is not necessary, or even possible given your limited word count, to take every point to level 3.

However, used effectively and sparingly, the odd extra detail can act like icing on the cake, adding flavour to your writing and making your Personal Statement truly personal and therefore more memorable.

A lot of the Personal Statements I read from students can be forgettable because they speak so generally . The human memory needs interesting and unique details to latch onto and you can provide them.

This principle applies not just to work experience but to everything you put in your Personal Statement.

For example, you’ve played the cello for 9 years (level 1) which has trained your capacity for sustained hard work (level 2) and you recently enjoyed playing Bach’s Prelude in G for your grade 8 exam (level 3).

An Admissions Tutor is more likely to remember the one student who likes Bach among the dozens of others who have mentioned that they play musical instruments.

Learn how to demonstrate your reflections to Admissions Tutors effectively in our One-Day Personal Statement Crash Course . 

Do engage with your work experience – be ‘Laura’ not ‘Alex’!

Don’t panic about not having done tonnes of work experience, it’s quality over quantity.

Don’t just say what you did, always supplement it with what you learnt.

Don’t be afraid to occasionally go into detail to make yourself stand out.

There’s plenty more ways to perfect your Personal Statement!

Learn how you can write an amazing personal statement for free on our Personal Statement Resources page. Our top guides include:  

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How to Reflect on Your Work Experience

You've probably heard this many times - but what does it actually mean to reflect on your work experience? Learn from a current Medical Student who aced their interview

Masumah Jannah has shared their best tips for how to reflect on your work experience during your Medicine interview , including why doing this is important and how you can prepare to answer these questions. 

The famous piece of advice everyone gives to prospective Medical School applicants – “Reflect on your work experience .” You have probably heard this phrase an endless number of times, but it truly is one of the best pieces of advice you could receive! 

Why is it important to reflect on work experience?

Work experience isn’t something you cram in the day before you submit your application. Instead, it’s a portfolio you build up over time, spending roughly two-to-four years getting a good insight into whatever your chosen profession might be.

Writing my reflections down is something I didn’t fully appreciate either until the time came when I managed to save myself a lot of stress by having done it. When I was writing my Personal Statement I had all my reflections at hand, using it almost like a guidebook for what I wanted to include. Most of my interview preparation also consisted of me reading over my reflections and reacquainting myself with my experiences. It will help you immensely, trust me!

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What’s the best way to keep track of your reflections?

There are many ways you could choose to do this depending on your own personal preferences. You could keep a handwritten diary which you constantly update, or choose an electronic method. 

My personal favourite is opening a blog where you can post your daily reflections. You can have a look at the reflections I wrote for my work experience on my blog here . I find keeping a blog particularly handy since you can easily access the dates at which you carried out each placement for later reference.

You could also take a look at our blog on How to Keep an Effective Work Experience Diary .

How do you actually write a reflection?

Don’t make the mistake of just writing about what you did. When it comes to writing your reflections, it does need a personal touch. It doesn’t matter whether you were watching the everyday consultations at a GP or a surgeon perform life-saving heart surgery. It’s not what you saw or did that’s important, it’s what you were able to learn from each experience about the roles of a Doctor and also about yourself and your own skills. 

Perhaps you learnt the skills needed to build up a rapport with a patient, or maybe appreciate the level of tenacity a surgeon’s work requires. How did you feel hearing about the patient’s problems? Did anything inspire you to pursue this career, or even put you off? Remember to be true to yourself – write your own thoughts and feelings and the insight your experience gave you. 

Try and keep a list of keywords handy which you can refer back to. Doctors have to be compassionate, empathetic, good listeners, good communicators, team players, good leaders… so think of examples when you saw any of these key characteristics. Also look out for any examples of any of the principles of medical ethics in practice: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.

Something I also did was include case studies for each of the patients I came across. I found this helped to keep my reflections patient-centred and it also made it unique. At your interview you don’t want to be rattling off with the same general overview of being in a secondary care facility like everybody else would have done. You want to be unique! You want to mention that memorable patient you came across! So write about them in your reflection! But please do be very careful when doing this though – you don’t want to be breaching patient confidentiality in the process.

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12 Personal Statement FAQs and answers!

There is often a large amount of confusion surrounding how to write personal statements, especially when it comes to oxford and cambridge and other top research universities., every year, we have thousands of students ask us what qualities go into making a successful personal statement., to help, we have broken down this question into 12 of the most frequently asked questions our prospective students ask when they are trying to draft their personal statements., 1. how do i write the introduction.

Introductions are often disappointingly generic. To help you achieve more specificity and concision, the best way to write a good personal statement introduction is to complete the rest of it first. When you are getting started on the first draft, it can be overwhelming to begin at a blank page, but discussing your achievements and interests – relevant to the courses and universities you are applying to – can help you clarify what your motivation to study the subject really is. Then you can come back and explain the reasons behind your passion for Mathematics, Anglo Saxon literature or your subject of choice.

2. How many books should I talk about?

This question can be answered in various ways depending on the subject you intend to study. Clinical scientific subjects will not require many book mentions, however, Arts and Humanities personal statements for Oxbridge see a great benefit from discussing at least two books in detail, with further reading mentioned.

It’s also important to remember that academic sources shouldn’t be only limited to books. A well-rounded personal statement discusses specific theories, touches on lectures you have attended or essays and articles you have read to gain a better understanding of specific academic points rather than a general discussion. One of the biggest pitfalls students fall into when drafting Oxbridge personal statements is getting stuck waffling about general points around a subject of interest. To avoid getting stuck in general chatter, try to use only specific examples in your personal statement.

Centrally, admissions tutors want to see that you know you are getting yourself in for. Only reading a couple of books from their introductory list will therefore not tantalise them; try to follow your interests in a bit more depth and look at readings and ideas which are representative of degree level material.

3. What do I do if I have no work experience?

Referencing work experience in your personal statement is dependent on the subject you intend to study. A rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether you think an academic in the faculty you are applying to will think your work experience was relevant for the course. If you are applying to study History, for example, your two-weeks at an accounting or law firm organising files will be of little interest.

For Medicine, work experience is integral not only to the application process but will help build a strong personal statement. When applying to a vocational subject such as Medicine, where possible you should always ensure you are able to reference at least one work experience placement held. If you don’t have any work experience and your personal statement is due, make sure to arrange some and refer to this in the future tense in your personal statement when talking about your upcoming placement.

Work experience can also be useful for other more vocation-leaning subjects, such as architecture and engineering. More widely, doing work experience is extremely useful to help you begin thinking about what you might want to do with your career, and can build highly useful skills, but, unless it is relevant to the course content, it is unlikely to proffer you any credit for university admission.

4. How long should I talk about extra-curricular activities?

Leading research universities are looking for your potential to succeed on the course you are applying for. Nevertheless, two applicants who seem academically matched might be distinguished from each other by their ability to balance their time with several other things. Do include what you do outside of academia, then, but keep non-relevant activities mentioned to a minimum rather than an exhaustive list. This might mean sacrificing some of the things you do outside of your course and focus on those few things you do most often, or to the highest level. (N.B. Your reference might be able to discuss some of your extra-curricular activities too, and you don’t want to overlap this material).

What you do mention, try to link to your subject. This might be easy, as with an English literature student who has directed lots of theatre, or less easy, such as a maths applicant who plays the violin to a high level. Nevertheless, making these links convincingly can bring originality and creativity to your statement.

5. How can I tailor it for different courses?

Subjects like HSPS at Cambridge or Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Oxford might make it tricky to tailor your statement for different courses. Oxford and Cambridge are very understanding of this, and specific guidance can usually be found on faculty websites about their expectations.

However, as a rule of thumb, focus on the areas of convergence between the courses you are applying for. If these differ in title, then avoid stating the title of the course in your statement and instead refer to the disciplinary area or focus instead. This involves: a) making sure the courses you are applying for are sufficiently similar to give you a chance of doing this, and b) doing your research on the course content and options so that you are covering the appropriate material.

This research stands even if you are applying for the same titled course everywhere. English, for example, is taught very differently at Oxford to Bristol, and focusing on an interest which does not feature in either course will result in your application being put aside.

Doing this research early can also help you to direct your reading and research to build material for your personal statement which speaks to all your choices.

6. How should I talk about my other A-level subjects?

Lots of students are told to discuss the skills they have gathered from their A Level subjects, but we caution around this; your UCAS application includes a full list of A-Level subjects studied, and your school reference will discuss your A-Level abilities. Talking about the time management or analytical skills you gained from studying history, and the logical skills you gained from physics, can therefore come across as ‘fodder’ which could have already been inferred.

You can, however, talk about how other subjects provide further insight into the course or subject you’d like to study. For example, students who have taken Classics that intend to study English Literature at university can talk about translating texts, such as the Aeneid, and how this helped gain a greater understanding of classical influence in modern English Literature. As with the whole statement, the more specific you can make this, the better.

7. How long should it be?

This is an easy one. Your personal statement should be at most, 4,000 characters or 47 lines, whichever you meet first. Although it can be shorter, we strongly recommend taking full advantage of the available space. Ideally, you want your first draft to be much longer so you can cut down and edit your personal statement to be shorter, rather than using general waffle or struggling to fill the space.

Cutting it down is usually relatively easy, but it might take an outside eye to see the ‘wood from the trees’. Any non-relevant, generic material, anything which is likely to be in many other statements, and frilly, decorative language or repetition can all be chopped down.

If you find you are struggling to reach 4,000 characters or 47 lines, you probably need to revisit the body of your personal statement and discuss more subject-specific content. You may, alternatively, need to go back to the research and reading phase of writing.

8. What formatting should I use?

The final version of your personal statement will be submitted in a digital form with no formatting options, so there is no need to worry about formatting. That means you won’t have to decide what font or colour to use and there is no need for styles such as bold or italics. If you do include these, they won’t appear in the submitted version.

Your school should already have discussed best practice for writing your personal statement but as a reminder – do not write your statement draft in the real form! As with any content that is going to be submitted digitally, you should write it in a word document first (Microsoft Office, Google Docs, Pages, etc) where you can save a copy locally to your computer (and back-up regularly). This way, you can avoid the devastating loss of your best statement draft due to an accidental refresh or the internet dropping out.

9. How many paragraphs should it be?

There is no set-in-stone rule for the number of paragraphs but generally, a well-structured personal statement will be broken up into five or six paragraphs and be easy to read. Admissions tutors will need to comprehend your statement very quickly, so structure with this in mind.

A frequently-successful structure follows this pattern: an introduction, two to three course/subject-specific main paragraphs, a penultimate paragraph detailing your extracurricular activities, and then a final summary paragraph. The final two paragraphs are sometimes pushed together to form one.

10. Will they find out if I slightly…exaggerate my talents?

Yes! Your personal statement for Oxford and Cambridge should be considered a springboard for your interview and you could and should expect to be questioned about any single detail of it. At Oxbridge Applications, every year, we have students that approach us in January who are upset that their Admissions Tutor spent 20 minutes focused on a certain author when “I only mentioned that book briefly as a side note”.

However, you DON’T need to be an expert, or even particularly knowledgeable, about a particular idea or author to mention it in your statement. If you are questioned about an aspect of an author’s work you have mentioned which you are unsure about, then be intellectually honest and say so, but try your best to have a go given what you already know about them or similar authors/ideas.

This is not only the case for authors/books mentioned, but also if you put forward a highly ambitious or critical view in your statement. If you want to argue that Marx was totally wrong, then you better be ready to defend your view in a nuanced way. The bottom line is: stay intellectually honest and err on the side of modesty; academics tend to become less rather than more sure about the ‘truth’ the further they delve into their subject matter.

11. How many teachers should check my personal statement?

Preferably, you will get your drafted personal statement checked by at last two of your teachers or guidance advisers. One should be subject-specific who can check over the content of your paragraphs and the other can be from a different department to provide feedback on grammatical accuracy and quality of the statement.

Getting guidance from second and third parties can be useful ensure you retain editorial control, and that your voice and taste runs through the statement. If you try to include everyone’s different opinion, you can quickly end up with a jumbled statement that no longer reflects on you and your communication style and strengths.

Make sure you leave plenty of time between completing your first draft and the Oxbridge personal statement deadline ensuring you have time for others to check it over and you can make changes as necessary.

12. Should I start my personal statement with a quote?

‘Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.’ Oscar Wilde.

How much have you learned about me from reading Wilde’s words?

Quotes are used each year by applicants who end up getting offers from top universities, including Oxford and Cambridge. It’s not necessarily going to bring your application to an end. Quotes are also awarded marks in certain A Level subjects, if you have taken the time to remember them and give them a bit of context.

However, your personal statement gives admissions tutors the chance to hear your voice, and to get a sense of what you might be like as a student on their course. By definition , using a quote – i.e. someone else’s words – is not personal. It is therefore preferable to avoid using a quote unless it’s absolutely essential. Using a quote doesn’t make YOU sound more interesting.

Before you decide to use a quote, think long and hard. If you would really like to use a quote, try to make it as pithy and concise as possible, and make sure it elevates and builds on what you are saying; that it expresses something you couldn’t have otherwise expressed on your own. (Also, by ‘quote’, we are not talking about specific concepts or theories – these are absolutely fine to include.)

Driven by 20 years of research and first-hand experience in guiding thousands of applicants, our consultations provide an honest and detailed assessment with guidance on individual personal statements.

If you would like to speak to one of our oxbridge-graduate advisors about your own personal statement, contact our oxbridge advising team on  +44 (0)207499 2394 , email at [email protected] , or request a callback  to discuss your situation., explore oxbridge applications, request a callback, application resources, related content, what exam results do i need to apply to oxbridge, your oxbridge application: keeping it simple, our 2019 guide to oxford and cambridge open days.

Our Oxbridge-graduate consultants are available between 9.00 am – 5.00 pm from Monday to Friday, with additional evening availability when requested.

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How to Write a Strong Personal Statement

• Ruth Gotian
• Ushma S. Neill

A few adjustments can get your application noticed.

Whether applying for a summer internship, a professional development opportunity, such as a Fulbright, an executive MBA program, or a senior leadership development course, a personal statement threads the ideas of your CV, and is longer and has a different tone and purpose than a traditional cover letter. A few adjustments to your personal statement can get your application noticed by the reviewer.

• Make sure you’re writing what they want to hear. Most organizations that offer a fellowship or internship are using the experience as a pipeline: It’s smart to spend 10 weeks and $15,000 on someone before committing five years and $300,000. Rarely are the organizations being charitable or altruistic, so align your stated goals with theirs
• Know when to bury the lead, and when to get to the point. It’s hard to paint a picture and explain your motivations in 200 words, but if you have two pages, give the reader a story arc or ease into your point by setting the scene.
• Recognize that the reviewer will be reading your statement subjectively, meaning you’re being assessed on unknowable criteria. Most people on evaluation committees are reading for whether or not you’re interesting. Stated differently, do they want to go out to dinner with you to hear more? Write it so that the person reading it wants to hear more.
• Address the elephant in the room (if there is one). Maybe your grades weren’t great in core courses, or perhaps you’ve never worked in the field you’re applying to. Make sure to address the deficiency rather than hoping the reader ignores it because they won’t. A few sentences suffice. Deficiencies do not need to be the cornerstone of the application.

At multiple points in your life, you will need to take action to transition from where you are to where you want to be. This process is layered and time-consuming, and getting yourself to stand out among the masses is an arduous but not impossible task. Having a polished resume that explains what you’ve done is the common first step. But, when an application asks for it, a personal statement can add color and depth to your list of accomplishments. It moves you from a one-dimensional indistinguishable candidate to someone with drive, interest, and nuance.

• Ruth Gotian , EdD, MS, is the chief learning officer and associate professor of education in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. She is the author of  The Financial Times Guide to Mentoring  with Andy Lopata and  The Success Factor . Discover your potential for high achievement by taking her exclusive High Achiever Optimization Assessment  here . RuthGotian
• Ushma S. Neill is the Vice President, Scientific Education & Training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She runs several summer internships and is involved with the NYC Marshall Scholar Selection Committee. ushmaneill

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How to include work experience in personal statement?

Ella Quintela Personal Statements September 2nd, 2019 9:00am 9 minute read

Some say that in life ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it’. Whilst that might not be the best thing in all situations, it definitely applies in the case of work experience. And where better to flaunt your hard-earned work experience than in your personal statement?

Work experience has become such an integral part of the university application that you probably wouldn’t even consider applying without it. But once you’re done, got it under your belt and moved on, how do you showcase this in your personal statement in order to get you one step closer to your career goal? This is actually a very good question and different people will tell you different things. Some people may tell you to dedicate a whole paragraph of your statement just to this, simply listing how much you have done and how long you have done it for.

theMSAG Top Tip : Don’t do this.

Here at theMSAG, we have a clear structure and formula of how to include your work experience in your writing to highlight the skills gained in the best way possible. For more advice on other aspects of the personal statement, check out our blog series on the topic.

Whether you’re a school leaver, taking a gap year or have one (or several) degrees under your belt, completing work experience has become a crucial part of applying to study medicine, with some medical schools wanting to know exactly how many days were spent at each placement. With all these specifications on type and length of experience, it’s often easy to lose sight of the point of actually shadowing doctors. That is to find out a little bit more about the fast-paced life as a doctor, decide whether you like it enough to commit to it and if you have the makings of a doctor in you. Therefore, when it comes to talking about your work experience, either within your personal statement or at interview, it’s always worth coming back to this most basic reason.

What you see is what you get… or is it?

During a typical work experience placement, you get an insight into the world of medicine through observing:

• Patient histories and examinations
• Diagnostic tests, such as scans or blood tests
• Decisions about a patient’s treatment, which can be either done as a doctor on their own or in larger team meetings
• Surgical procedures and operations
• Doctors working together
• Doctors interacting with patients
• Doctors working with other members of the multidisciplinary team, such as nurses and physiotherapists

The list goes on and on…

So this is great. You’ve got the work experience but how do you talk about it? Funnily enough, this is actually something that many students struggle with. How do you go about including the laundry list of experiences that you’ve completed during the summer before applying in your personal statement? You only have 4000 characters, how do you use them effectively to convey the wealth of experience that you’ve gained, whilst showing off your extra reading and other achievements?

Admittedly, it will make for quite boring reading if you simply spent 4000 characters providing a job description with a list of all the things you’ve seen at placement. More than this though, it wouldn’t tell the admissions tutor much at all about what you’ve learned from those experiences and how you’ve subsequently developed your application to medical school. Furthermore, whether you’ve done a two-week placement or have years of experience, it’s more important to show insight into what you’ve learned than to focus on the length.

Insight into the qualities a doctor should possess

After observing doctors and other members of the team, you start to pick up on some of the qualities a good doctor should possess, as mentioned above. Here are a few examples you could talk about:

• Good communication skills
• Good teamwork skills
• Problem-solving

The key part of integrating your work experience is your reflection on it. This is to say that you have observed something on work experience, e.g. an interaction between a doctor and a patient, thought specifically about that event and the specific skills demonstrated by the doctor and considered why this is important in medicine. It is always important to link your work experiences to the key skills of a doctor as outlined by the GMC’s Duties of a Doctor Guideline . Thinking about your work experiences in this context shows that you are aware of the expectations of the modern doctor and that you are actively developing the necessary skills.

Ok, that’s a lot to take on, so let’s use an example to make things a bit clearer.

“I learned about the importance of leadership while shadowing an A&E consultant at Southampton General Hospital. On one occasion, a serious case suddenly emerged and the whole team was called to action. Upon arriving at the scene, the consultant quickly assessed the situation and called a very quick meeting with everyone present. He listened to everyone’s opinion in the team regarding how to proceed, facilitating the meeting, so that everyone was heard. He then summarised the points, formed a quick plan of action from and effectively delegated roles in an efficient manner. In this way, everyone was confident in the plan and their roles, leading to the successful treatment of the patient.”

Right, now let’s break it down:

• Overarching skill: leadership
• Specific skills:
• Facilitation of discussion
• Responsibility
• Summarising
• Effective communication

This level of reflection and thought shows that you have not just attended the work experience for the sake of being able to tick a box or to have something to write about in your personal statement, but also that you have learned something essential about the profession and what is expected.

theMSAG Top Tip : Take notice of how I used a SPECIFIC example there. We spoke about a precise time and event to help highlight these transferable skills. We strongly suggest that you implement this, as it helps you to be specific. Also, thinking about and analysing a specific event is often much easier than a general experience over a longer time.

Observations about a career in medicine

Think back to your work experience. What does it show you about what a career in medicine would be like? See if you can answer some of the questions below with your experiences:

• What are the good things about being a doctor?
• What are some of the pressures that doctors face?
• What is the training like for someone wanting to specialise in surgery or general practice?
• How does a Junior Doctor working at a hospital spend their day?
• How do doctors in a GP practice, hospital or care home spend their day?

These questions are easily answered after observing a clinical environment and speaking to some of the staff working there. Commenting on some of these aspects in your personal statement will demonstrate that you have some insight on what life is like as a doctor and shows that you have a realistic understanding about the profession. Within your personal statement, you can use your experiences at placement as an example of your knowledge. For example, whilst at work experience at your GP practice, you may have noticed that they are limited to 10-minute slots to see patients. Therefore, when it comes to talking about some of the challenges that doctors face, you can first mention the importance of time management in medicine and use this example to further your point.

While it is important to highlight all the positives of a career in medicine in your personal statement, it is also great to talk about some of the harder aspects. I know what you’re thinking - that’s slightly counter-intuitive. Why on earth would you talk about the worst parts of the job when you’re applying for this career path? Well, this actually shows a great amount of maturity and understanding about the profession and nailing this part of the statement could actually help you stand out from the crowd! By talking about this in detail, you show that you are aware that this isn’t an easy profession, but you are still dedicated to it. The icing on the cake is then the talk about how you are equipped to deal with these problems.

For example, you could talk about the high stress levels that you observed while on work experience. If you then go on to talk about how you currently deal with stress in your day-to-day life such as playing a sport or a musical instrument, you are showing that you are aware of a real problem in medicine and equipped to deal with it! With this proven track record of success, you’d be ticking boxes left, right and centre.

Keep it simple

Hopefully after reading this blog post, you have a better idea of how to incorporate all that experience you’ve gathered into your personal statement. The key is to find opportunities where it can be used to prove a statement or observation that you make and go from there. Don’t forget that theMSAG team are available to help with your personal statement either through our one-on-one tutoring or through our review service . If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] . Good luck!

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