Be original
It should be something with spark, something that will stick in the mind.
Ideally that should be achieved by just having really amazing things to write about, but plain good writing will also help.
Doing things like writing it as an obituary or a dating ad are normally discouraged. It comes across as flippant and probably won’t win you any fans. But something like that would be original. It would stand out.
But it’s probably only worth doing if, firstly, there’s at least as much substance as style – in other words, you use an original approach to tell a story that’s even better the approach. And, secondly, the approach you use is relevant to your course. For instance, if you wanted to do film studies, doing your personal statement as a dialogue from a screenplay wouldn’t be quite so silly.
Last updated on: 21 November 2008