Hello and welcome to this presentation, I’m Charlotte and I work for the Royal Agricultural University. This presentation will take you through the UCAS process and personal statements.

In this presentation we will cover how to apply to university, when to submit your application, we will talk about the personal statements, we will also have a look at what admissions tutors are looking for when they read your personal statements, and also top tips, what to include and what to avoid.

So, before you apply to university, it is important to do your research. You might start with thinking about which careers you are interested in. Some careers will require a specific degree. Think about the universities, maybe the type and size of university. Do you want to go to a big university with thousands of other students, or do you want to go to a smaller university? Do you want to go to a university that’s in the middle of a city or maybe one in the countryside or on the outskirts of a town? As part of the university also think about accommodation and student life on offer.

When you’re researching courses, think about what you are going to enjoy, look at the course content and entry requirements. You can find out more by going to an exhibition, or a careers fair, or attend an open day. Do look up what events there are that you could go to, or perhaps some events that your school is encouraging you to go to where you can find out more about different universities.

 So, when you apply to university, all applications are sent through UCAS which is the Universities and Colleges Admissions System. You can make up to five choices, so that’s five courses not necessarily five different universities. There are some restrictions however so for medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry you have a maximum of four choices. And if you are choosing to apply to Oxford or Cambridge then it can be one of these, not both. There is also a cost. It will be £28.95 and this is for 2026 entry and that is for one choice or five choices. If you meet the application deadlines then your application will be considered equally.

Applications received after the deadlines will still be sent to universities and colleges, providing they have vacancies, but they are not obliged to consider them. UCAS sends the application on to each of your chosen universities and colleges at the same time. Each university or college has access to the information about their choice only.

Only much later in the application cycle, when you have received decisions on all your choices and replied to any offers, will each university or college be able to see details of your other choices. This just ensures that each university or college decides independently whether to offer a place and what conditions, if any, to attach to an offer. You do not need to rank your choices in any order.

For 2026, applications are open. If you are applying for Oxford or Cambridge and most courses in medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry the deadline was the 15 October. The deadline for the majority of undergraduate courses is the 14 January 2026.

If you don’t meet the January deadline, applications received will still be sent to universities and colleges, providing they have vacancies, but they are not obliged to consider them.

By 31 March universities and colleges should aim to have sent all their decisions on applications received by the January deadline. Any applications received after 30 June will be automatically entered into clearing.

 Your application is made and submitted through your own UCAS Hub. The Hub is where you receive and respond to offers and manage all of your applications. On the right-hand side is a list of the sections that need to be completed.

You don’t need to complete the whole application at once, you can log in and out at any time until you're finished. 

As you work through the sections it will update as you go along, so you can see how far through your application you are. We’ll touch on the personal statement section a little bit later in this presentation.

After receiving your application, a university or college will make one of three decisions. It could be an unconditional offer which means you’ve got a place​. It could be a conditional offer which means you still need to meet some requirements,​ or it could be unsuccessful or withdrawn​. Universities or colleges may offer a place on an alternative course.​ ​And they may also request an interview if they would like to speak to you further, ask to see your portfolio, ​or perhaps ask you to take an admissions test​.

When replying to offers you must decide which is going to be your firm choice and your insurance choice. Your firm choice is your first choice and the course that you really want to go to. Your insurance choice is your back up choice. You don’t have to select an insurance choice, but we advise that you do just to keep your options open. You could decide to decline all of the offers that you are holding which will make you eligible for a process called Extra or you can go through Clearing.

For 2026 entry the personal statement is slightly different. Instead of one longer piece of text it is split into three scaffolded questions. Each question has a minimum character count of 350 characters with an overall character limit of 4,000. You still send one personal statement for all your choices. Please do check out ucas.com for further guidance.

The personal statement is a vital component of the UCAS application. It is your chance to show universities why you want to study the course and why you’d make a great student. It’s very much a work in progress, so we advise that you start early and give yourself plenty of time for ideas to grow.  Your personal statement is the only part of the application where you really have a chance to sell yourself and show your potential. So, we’re going to talk in more detail now about how to put a statement together and what to include.

In the first section think about why you want to study your chosen subject, where did your interest come from, why it is important to you and what made you know that was the course or subject for you.

Try to avoid things like ’From a young age’ or ‘I have always wanted to be’ as it’s unlikely you have wanted to do these things since you were a little child. Make sure to give a bit more context as to where this interest actually came from. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate story, just whatever is relative to you. Think about any current challenges in the sector e.g. climate change, food security or the need for diversification and your awareness of these.

The second section is where you can talk about your qualifications and subjects, and how they have helped prepare you for the course or subject you are interested in. Think about the skills you have gained and how you have developed these. Have you done any extra reading or research and what have you learned from this.

By now the Admissions Tutor knows why you want to study the subject; they know that you have a genuine interest and they know you have the academic skills to succeed. But do they really know you? 

What personal qualities do you have? Do they know what drives and motivates you to succeed?  Is there anything you really want to talk about that you haven’t had the opportunity to do so far?  Have you done Duke of Edinburgh? If so, can you talk about your Leadership skills? Have you perhaps fundraised for charity? Do you represent your county for a particular sport? If so, does that reflect your self-motivation? 

Or you might have a part time job, now you may not think that’s relevant but actually it shows excellent time management skills. Not only are you studying for your A levels but you’re also taking on responsibilities and holding down a job as well! 

For every degree, time management skills are essential, you will be responsible for your own learning and if you can demonstrate that skill, you’ll show you have great potential as a university student. This is the section where you can talk about things that are less specific to the course you are studying but still show why you would make a fantastic university student.

So, when it comes to reflecting and analysing upon what you’ve done there’s a really easy rule to remember when it comes to doing this, which is the ABC rule. Firstly A for Activity: what have you done, experienced, achieved or read. B is for Benefit, what have you learnt or gained from these activities. And then C is for Course, how is this relevant to the course you are applying for?

Here is an example of the use of the ABC method, and it’s just a really concise way for you to highlight and evidence your skills.

 I’d like to finish by going through some top tips. Give yourself plenty of time, perhaps starting with bullet point lists of your interests/skills/what the universities you are applying to are looking for. Make sure you do not copy from anyone else or use AI to write your personal statement for you – universities want to hear from you so it should be your voice reflected in the personal statement. Always check grammar, punctuation and spelling. Remember you have a limited number of characters so try to avoid repetition. If you are taking a gap year then do talk about what you are doing and how it will benefit you. Get feedback from family members or teachers if possible. Don’t worry about making each section the same length – use the questions to evidence in the best way for you.

Thank you very much for watching. If you do have any questions please do contact us on the email address on the screen or follow us on social media.