ucas personal statement how long should it be

How to write a UCAS personal statement

Writing a great personal statement

Read our guide on what it is, what to include, how to start, length and what makes a good personal statement 

Once you've decided which universities and courses to apply for, completing your application is pretty simple – until it comes to how to write your UCAS personal statement.

This guide covers everything you need to know about how to write a personal statement for university. We look at what it is and how you can start your personal statement. We've also got questions to guide you and a suggested personal statement structure you can use so you know what to put in it.

If you'd like even more resources, support and UCAS personal statement examples, you can sign up to access our personal statement hub .

What is the UCAS personal statement?

How universities use your ucas personal statement, how to start a ucas personal statement.

• Get feedback on your UCAS personal statement

The personal statement is part of your UCAS application. It's how you show your chosen universities why you'll make a great student and why they should make you an offer.

Your personal statement also helps you think about your choice of course and your reasons for applying, so you know you’ve made the right decision.

Get feedback on your personal statement

Sign up to our personal statement hub to get feedback on your draft. You'll also get access to videos, help sheets and more tips.

Sign up now

UCAS personal statement word limit

Your personal statement length can be up to 4,000 characters long. 

This may sound a lot, but it's a word limit of around 550–1000 words with spaces and only about 1 side of typed A4 paper.

You need to keep it concise and make sure it's clear and easy to read.

Applying for multiple courses

Although you can apply for up to 5 courses on your UCAS application, you can only submit 1 personal statement. So it needs to cover all your course choices.

If you really want to show your commitment to applying for different courses, we will accept a second personal statement from you to reflect your application e.g. if you are applying for Law elsewhere, but Criminology and Criminal Justice with us.

Lots of students who apply to university have achieved the basic entry requirements and many more students apply than there are places available. Admissions teams can use your UCAS personal statement to get to know you and decide why you're more suitable than other applicants.

Some universities read every personal statement and score them. Then they use them alongside your qualifications and grades to decide whether to offer you a place or interview. Other universities put less emphasis on the personal statement and use it with students who have borderline entry requirements.

Universities might refer to your personal statement again on results day if you don't get the grades you need. So a good personal statement could clinch you a uni place even if your grades aren't what you hoped for.

Starting your personal statement can seem scary when you're staring at a blank screen. But, things will seem less daunting once you start.

• Set aside some time in a place where you're comfortable and won't be disturbed. Grab a notepad or computer.
• Write down anything and everything that's influenced your decision to go to university and study your chosen subject. Jot down your skills and experience too.
• Use the questions below to guide you. Don't worry about the personal statement length at this point – you can cut things out later.

When to start your UCAS personal statement

Ideally, you want to leave yourself plenty of time – a few weeks or even months – to plan and write your personal statement.

Try not to leave it to the last minute, as tempting as this may seem when you've got so many other things to think about.

Questions to guide you

Your motivation.

• Why do you want to study at university?
• Why do you want to study this subject?
• How did you become interested in this subject?
• What career do you have in mind after university?

Academic ability and potential

• How have your current studies affected your choice?
• What do you enjoy about your current studies?
• What skills have you gained from your current studies?
• How can you demonstrate you have the skills and qualities needed for the course?
• What qualities and attributes would you bring to the course and university?

Your experience

• What work experience (including part-time, charity and volunteer work) do you have and what have you learnt from it?
• What positions of responsibility have you held? (For example, prefect, captain of a team or member of a committee)
• What relevant hobbies or interests do you have and what skills have they helped you develop?
• What transferable skills do you have, such as self motivation, team working, public speaking, problem solving and analytical thinking?

Research and reading

• How do you keep up with current affairs or news in your chosen subject?
• What journals or publications relevant to your chosen subject do you read?
• Which people have influenced you, such as artists, authors, philosophers or scientists?

Now it's time to write your personal statement using your notes. It's best to draft it on a computer, and remember to save it regularly.

You can copy and paste it into your UCAS application when you're happy with it.

Personal statement structure

While there's no set template for a personal statement, you may find it useful to follow this personal statement structure when you decide what to put in your statement.

What to include in a personal statement

• Reasons for choosing this subject(s)
• Current studies and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Experiences and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Interests and responsibilities and how these relate to your chosen subject(s)
• Your future after university
• Summary including why you'll make a great student

Further tips for a good UCAS personal statement

• Use information on university websites and the UCAS website. This often includes the skills and qualities universities are looking for in applicants
• Ask friends, family and teachers to remind you of activities you've participated in. They might remember your successes better than you do
• Don’t include lists in your application, like a list of all your hobbies. Focus on 1 or 2 points and talk about them in depth to show their relevance to your application
• Explain and evidence everything. It’s easy to say you have a skill, but it's better to demonstrate it with an example of when and how you’ve used it
• Avoid clichéd lines such as ‘I've always wanted to be a teacher’ as it says nothing about your motivations or experiences
• If you’re applying for a joint degree or different subjects, give equal time to each area and try to find common aspects that show their similarities
• Never lie or plagiarise another statement – you'll be caught and it could result in your application being automatically rejected
• Proofread your personal statement by reading it out loud and ask friends, family or a teacher to check it for you

Sign up to our personal statement hub

Watch videos, get top tips and download our help sheets – that's what our personal statement hub is for. It's for you to write your story, so you can show your strengths, ideas and passion to your chosen universities.

You'll also be able send us your draft, so you can get feedback and feel confident about what you've written.

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How to write your personal statement for University

Your ucas personal statement, what is a personal statement.

A personal statement is an important part of your UCAS application, which will need to be submitted to study in the UK. It will support your application to study at university or college, and is a great way to showcase your personal qualities, skills and passions. Crucially, it gives you a platform to demonstrate to admissions tutors and lecturers how you are the perfect candidate for your chosen course or subject.

How long should a personal statement be?

Your personal statement can be around 47 lines (there is no word limit but there is a character limit of 4,000 characters, which is roughly 1 side of A4). You will only write one statement for all of your choices, so it needs to be relevant/applicable for all.

Tips on what makes a good personal statement

• Think about what gets you excited about the course you are applying for and just start writing - you will be amazed at how effective it is to get all your thoughts on paper. • Be positive when you describe how you get motivated about the course you want to study, and what inspired your decision. • Talk about your transferable skills and knowledge - e.g. leadership, teamwork, problem solving, communication, organisation, that will help you on the course. • Talk about you and what makes you unique, exciting, interesting. What makes you stand out? • Back it up with evidence - use evidence from relevant work experience, extracurricular activities, outside reading, and all the other things you do. • Don’t overcomplicate things, leave out flowery language and stick to plain English.

In summary, strive to make your personal statement authentic, a good combination of head and heart that captures your enthusiasm. Take your time and you’ll produce something special that sums up what you are all about.

How to write your personal statement

Writing a personal statement for your university application can be daunting, but it shouldn’t be. We would suggest that you complete this section once you have selected your university course choices, as this will allow you to tailor your personal statement to your chosen subject or course(s). You should explain your motivation for applying to University. It is important to showcase your drive and passion for the subject area, and any skills or experience you may have which will help you become a successful student. Suggested plan : How to begin your personal statement - Start off with a great opening sentence that conveys how excited you are about the course and shows that you really understand what you’re getting into. Middle - Your middle paragraphs should emphasise your skills and knowledge, provide evidence that proves your interest in the course and your personal qualities. How to end your personal statement – this bit is about what makes you unique, what will make you fit into the course you are interested in?

DOs & DON’Ts

• Be authentic • Be positive • Be enthusiastic • Be clear and concise • Plan your statement like an essay • Make sure your statement is appropriate for all of your course choices • List your skills and qualities but avoid sounding big-headed • Draft, redraft and seek feedback • Be careful when using quotes – only use those which are relevant, and well thought out • Back it up with evidence • Allow plenty of time

DON'T 

• Copy someone else’s statement – there is software that will catch you out on this! • Waffle – it is better to be short and relevant • Use clichés • Rely on spell check – proofread • Rush or underestimate the time it takes to write an excellent statement

We know that it's been difficult to carry on with sports and other hobbies during the lockdown periods. In your personal statement, can you tell us how you adapted your activities at this time? Did you do any virtual activities, remote training sessions or organise social events? Did you take the opportunity to listen to podcasts, broaden your reading or watch programmes about your chosen subject? Did you volunteer to support your local community or to help the NHS? We want to hear about your resilience, your patience and your adaptability. In your personal statement, consider telling us about: • How you adapted your activities at this time? • Any virtual activities, remote training sessions you attended or social events you organised? • How you took the opportunity to listen to podcasts, broaden your reading or watch programmes about your chosen subject? • Any volunteering to support your local community or to help the NHS that you did? We want to hear about your resilience, your patience and your adaptability.

How to create a winning personal statement

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Always write in a way that's true to yourself, but remember there’s someone on the other side of the paper reading what you’ve got to say.

Jane Marshall, Director – Optimising Futures

What can I start doing now?

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Don't fret.

Here are some key points to keep in mind:

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Writing a personal statement takes practice. You’re putting yourself out there in a way that you’ve probably not had to do before. It’s both an art and a science, and the topic is YOU. With a bit of planning, it’s not just doable but a really good experience in learning about yourself.

So, how do you begin to sell yourself to someone you’ve never even met?

The short answer: With confidence and a bit of structure.

The longer answer: An admissions officer or hiring manager is looking to see what kind of person you are and why you want to do something. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it, why you think it’s important, and what you’ve done to show it. Don’t be afraid to share those ambitions and interests. Let them out!

My advice is to always think carefully about the course you want to study and if it’s something you find interesting.

Start with who you are as a person, your skills and interests, and why a subject or apprenticeship matches you. End it with how you hope this will influence the future, small or big, it’s the beginning step of something great.

Be authentic

No one knows you better than you know yourself, so show your interests, achievements, goals and personality.

Don’t get stuck in cliches like “I’ve always wanted to…” It’s not about the goal — your ambition is real and important. Tell them the why and why it matters to you.

Talk about your experiences and what they’ve meant to you. No two people have lived the same life and that makes your perspective unique.

You’ve 4,000 characters, which seems like a lot until it’s not enough. Before you start, set out the points you want to make, and work out what you need to say in order to land your point.

There’s no way like just starting, and once you get into it, the less awkward it is.

Your first draft won’t be your final draft, so don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t immediately come together.

“You are you.

Now, isn’t that pleasant?”

If you’re stuck, talk to someone. Friends, parents, teachers — they all see you in a different light.

Speaking to them can help you get an idea of some of your best qualities and how much you’ve grown.

It’s easier to write about yourself when you’re talking about things you’re passionate about.

If you love reading, building things, understanding why things are — then let it show.

Give yourself time

Explain the why

Don’t be shy

Talk about the future

Walk away from your computer for a day or two. Come back and ask yourself, “Can I say this in a more direct way?” If you can, then change it.

Do you love reading? Interested in sustainability? Ask yourself why you’re drawn to something and share it.

In or out of school. Climbed mountains? Part of a local climate change group? Chief recycler in the house? Think about including these — they say a lot about who you are.

Even if you’re still figuring things out, how you want to be contributing to the world or what you want from it is great to share.

Oh, and remember: you won’t be able to submit your personal statement if it’s over the word limit — the system literally won’t let you. Happy writing.

How long should your personal statement be?

Wondering about the university personal statement word count? We go through it all here!

A well-written personal statement adds a lot of strength to an application and allows you to express your personality. It also gives you a chance to go into detail about your interest in studying your chosen course, rather than just demonstrating your eligibility to do so. 

However, it’s vitally important to remember that you have a limited amount of space for your personal statement. Let’s take a look at how long your personal statement should be... 

UCAS requirements state that your personal statement can be a maximum of 4,000 characters or up to 47 lines in length – whichever comes first. The character count includes spaces and the line count includes blank lines, so keep this in mind when it comes to how you format your paragraphs. 

This might sound like a lot, but bear in mind that there are approximately 30 lines on one side of A4 paper in a standard size font, so your final submission will be around a page and a half of text. You’ll need to think carefully about what you want to include, keep it concise, make sure it flows well and has clear meaning throughout. 

Having said this, don’t worry too much about the character count when you start writing. Be free to jot down anything and everything which comes to mind, and even list them in bullet-point form. You can then begin to adjust and re-order these points until a structure and narrative becomes clear. 

You’ll probably have to cut a lot of stuff to keep your personal statement under the character limit. If you’re having trouble choosing what to remove, it can be helpful to ask yourself this question: “Is this really relevant to my personal statement?” 

It’s better to have fewer, well-resolved points which flow together to paint a picture of who you are than lots of rushed points which sound like a jumbled list of achievements. 

You’ll only know exactly how many lines your personal statement is when you paste it into UCAS. The UCAS character count might be slightly different from the one on your word processor, so be careful when you submit it, because any submission which exceeds the character or line limit will be cut off. 

It’s a good idea to aim for 3,500 characters in your first draft, and then you can add or remove words accordingly. For the finished piece, try to get as near to the word count as possible – anything too short might not have enough detail, and anything too long will get cut off. 

Need more personal statement advice? Check out our personal statement guide!  

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Personal Statement FAQs

Our personal statement FAQs will help ease the pain of writing a personal statement for your UCAS form . More advice can also be found on our blog .

What can I find in this article?

1. When should I start writing my personal statement?

It's never too early to start thinking about it! Unfortunately, UCAS deadlines have a tendency to creep up on most students, especially if you are applying to Oxbridge where the deadline is much earlier than other universities ( 15th October ).

However, you probably want a good idea of what course you're going to apply for before you launch in to actually writing the thing .

Check out Choosing A Degree if you're still deciding what subject to take.

On the other hand, don't leave it too late - you'll probably need a few weeks to write it and a week or so to get a reference written.

As a general guide we would say start writing it when you come back to school or college after the summer, though it might be worth jotting down a few ideas during the holidays.

We know some people are extremely organised and get at least their first draft done by the end of the summer!

2. How long can the personal statement be?

There is no actual word limit - instead, you have a maximum of 47 lines or 4000 characters to work with.

This is all the space UCAS give you on their online system, Apply . You can check that your statement will fit in the area provided by using our handy Personal Statement Length Checker .

3. How do I start writing my personal statement?

Most people won't be able to just start writing their personal statement off the top of their head - so it's a good idea to jot down a few notes first.

The main things to think about are:

• why do you want to study your chosen course?
• how do your skills, experiences and interests prove you are passionate about and committed to taking this course?

These are the two main things to start with, and if this still doesn't help you can look at a few more detailed starting points .

Many people have trouble writing about themselves and their personal qualities.

So if you're having trouble pop down to a library or bookstore and get a book on writing CVs that will go into this process in much more depth.

4. What are admissions tutors looking for?

Usually the sort of things you've written about for the part above!

Obviously the things admissions tutors are looking for will differ but in general: "Do we want this student on this course?" And "Do we want this student at this university?".

The idea of your personal statement is to show this - so once you've written it, have a read through and see if it answers these questions.

Individual universities and departments often publish information on applying and writing personal statements, so surfing the admissions scetion of their website should turn up more specific information on exactly what they're looking for.

Our blog post, 8 Things Not To Put In Your Personal Statement , will help you avoid making any obvious errors. Then check out What You Should Include In Your Personal Statement to make sure you don't miss anything important.

Read through our Personal Statement Writing Tips and How To Write A Personal Statement Guide for more comprehensive information and advice.

5. What's the most important part of the personal statement?

From our days of GCSE English, we would say either the beginning or the end.

A good first sentence will get the reader interested and ensure they actually read your statement rather than skim it.

A good ending will ensure the reader remembers your personal statement, though it also helps to have a good middle section as well.

The first line is probably the most important thing to work on. Most people put their reasons for studying the subject at the top, and this is generally regarded to be the most crucial part of the statement, as you need to hook the reader and make them want to read more.

However, the rest of your statement should make you shine as a candidate too, so there isn't really a definite answer to this question!

Just try to make your personal statement as interesting and polished as you can.

6. How do I write a statement for two different courses?

There's no easy way to write a personal statement for two totally unrelated courses.

If the courses are similar (i.e. Business Studies and Economics ) you may find you can write a personal statement that is relevant to both subjects without mentioning either subject by name.

If the courses are totally unrelated it may be impossible to write for both subjects without your personal statement sounding vague and unfocused.

Instead, you will need to concentrate on just one subject and just ignore the other, although you may want to question whether it's a good idea to apply for such different course, and re-think your subject choice .

7. Should I talk about what I want to do after university?

You could, but only if you have a good idea of what you want to do.

If you sound sure about what you want to do after university , it gives the impression that you've thought carefully about your course and what you want to do with it.

It is also a nice way to round off your personal statement , rather than just finishing on less important stuff like extra curricular activities.

If you don't have any future plans then leave it out - you don't want to be asked about them at interviews .

8. How should I structure my personal statement?

Most people write their personal statement in an essay style, usually starting off with the course and why they want to do it, then talking about their relevant work experience and skills, and finishing off with extra curricular activities.

However, you can use any style that you feel works best for you.

As a guide, spend around 50% of the space talking about your course and how you're suited to it and 50% on your work experience and other activities.

Exactly how you write your personal statement depends on your subject - generally people write more about work experience for vocational subjects like Medicine and Law than they would for Maths or English , where work experience is less important.

9. Is it worth doing loads of extra-curricular stuff to make my statement sound good?

There's no point doing extra things just to try and make yourself look good to universities - you won't enjoy it and it probably won't help much either.

From what we've seen, an interest and aptitude for the course is more important to admissions tutors than lots of extra curricular activities.

If you do want to do something to boost your application, read relevant books or do work experience related to the subject instead.

10. Should I talk about my qualifications?

No. There's already a section on the UCAS form for this, so don't waste space talking about them on your personal statement.

If you have something important that doesn't go in the qualifications section, ask your referee to put it down in your reference - it will sound better if it comes from them than from you.

11. Where can I see some example personal statements?

We have loads of free personal statement samples that you can browse through, broken down into subject categories so you can hopefully find what you are looking for quite easily!

Looking at what other students have written and submitted on their application is a useful way of seeing what makes a great personal statement (and what doesn't!).

Just make sure you don't copy sentences or whole chunks of these examples though, as UCAS has plagiarism detection software and your application will be rejected if it's found you've cheated!

12. What should I do after I've written my statement?

Ask for opinions on it!

Show it to your friends, parents, teachers, career advisors, etc and note down their comments.

The most useful comments are likely to come from your teachers in the subject and the people at your school or college who handle UCAS applications.

If you have enough time, leave your personal statement for a couple of weeks or a month and come back to it - if you're not still happy with what you wrote, it's time to start redrafting.

13. Should I post my personal statement online?

It's generally not a good idea to post it on an internet forum or discussion board before you've started university.

Anyone can steal information off a website and pass it off as their own, and with something as important as a personal statement, you don't want that to happen.

You should be OK sending it to people you trust by email - see the next question for a better way of getting people to look at it.

14. Where can I ask for feedback on my personal statement?

To get people to look at your personal statement without the risk of plagiarism visit the personal statement review section.

You can also get your personal statement professionally edited and reviewed here at Studential, through one of our very popular personal statement editing and critique packages.

We offer a range of services covering a variety of prices, so there's bound to be a package suited to you.

15. I'm still stuck with my personal statement - where can I find more in-depth advice?

Some people say writing a personal statement is easy – maybe it is, but it’s difficult to write a personal statement well. As this is such a big topic to cover, we suggest taking a look at our personal statement examples to help give you some inspiration for what to write, and then read through our  personal statement writing guide  when you’re ready to put pen to paper. Browse through the  other information and advice  we have in our personal statements section, and if you still feel you need a little extra help, you can always get your personal statement  professionally edited and reviewed  by one of our editors. We offer a range of UCAS personal statement editing and critique services , so there’s bound to be one suited to your needs. Don’t forget to ask your family, friends, teachers and careers adviser to look through your personal statement drafts, and incorporate any feedback they give you until you are 100% happy with it. Remember - it doesn’t matter how many times you have to redraft your personal statement – the most important thing is you get it right so you give yourself the best possible chance of being offered places by your chosen universities/colleges.

IMPORTANT:  When writing your personal statement, it’s vital you remember  not to copy from anyone else’s personal statement  (not even just a sentence!). Not only is it wrong and unfair, but any plagiarism will be detected by the Copycatch Similarity Detection Software. If UCAS discover you have plagiarised your personal statement, whether you have copied someone else’s entirely or parts of it, they will cancel your application.

You can also try looking through our personal statement guide for extra guidance.

This takes you through how to write a personal statement step-by-step, and goes into far more detail than this FAQ does.

If you feel you need more help, check out our personal statement editing and critique services  where our professional editors will review your statement to make it a success.

16. How do I write a personal statement if I'm a mature student?

Don't worry if you're a mature student applying to university - your qualifications, skills and extra experience will count as an advantage! Universities want to take on students from all walks of life, and this includes mature ones with more life experience.

Focus on what you can bring to the university if they offered you a place on the course, and how your degree fits into your future plans.

Read through some of our Mature Student Personal Statement Examples for inspiration.

17. How do I write a personal statement if I'm an international student?

As mentioned previously, universities want students from a range of backgrounds, and this includes those who want to study at their institution from abroad.

Again, try to convey how your experiences in your own country will benefit you on your course, and how they make you a valuable asset to the university.

To give you an idea of what other international students have written in the past, read through some of our International Student Personal Statement Examples for inspiration (but please remember not to copy them, or your application will be penalised!).

A few last tips

What have you done, relevant to your subject, that is unique and no one else is likely to put down?

Many people have the same old boring interests and work experience - you need something to separate you from the crowd, and while it's a gamble to make an individual personal statement, anything individual you do related to your chosen field can only look good.

Have a think - what makes you so special? If you can't think of anything then you can't complain if you get rejected! Finally, remember it's your personal statement, and you can write whatever you want in it.

If everything in this guide conflicts with what you've got already but you think you still have a killer personal statement, then use that.

A personal statement is about you, and you shouldn't let anyone tell you what to put in it - sticking blindly to the formula mentioned here will just stop your true personality showing through.

Further information

For more tips and advice on writing your personal statement, please see:

• The 15th January UCAS Deadline: 4 Ways To Avoid Missing It
• Analysis Of A Personal Statement
• Personal Statement Editing Services
• Top 10 Personal Statement Writing Tips
• Personal Statement Advice From A Teacher
• Personal Statement Writing Guide
• What To Do If You Miss The 15th January UCAS Deadline .

Best of luck with your personal statement!

Has lots of valuable

Mon, 19/09/2011 - 05:17

Has lots of valuable information

Thu, 06/10/2011 - 20:30

very good site!! Helped a lot!!!!

Wed, 12/10/2011 - 17:21

Great info, i appreciate it.

Fri, 14/10/2011 - 14:35

i wana apply for a science

Tue, 25/10/2011 - 10:22

i wana apply for a science faculty but what i did in the past were only related to English (eg:joining competitions in sos verse speaking,public speaking;volunteered to teach english;being chairman of english society at school./) and seems almost nth for science.... so should i write those experience also?but how can i link them to the content.... thanks

Wed, 26/10/2011 - 22:56

Excellent website, I have searched high and low for a website like this. Very impressed.

wow this has just simply

Fri, 28/10/2011 - 21:15

wow this has just simply saved my life:)

Sun, 30/10/2011 - 11:11

Thank you for the guidance, its very simple and straight forward

Disabilities

Fri, 04/11/2011 - 06:38

I have Aspergers should I include this in my PS because it has affected my involvement in extra curricular activities

like to point out that it is

Wed, 09/11/2011 - 15:13

like to point out that it is 47 lines and not 37 :) that aside, very helpful - thanks!

The best site I have found to

Fri, 02/12/2011 - 22:29

The best site I have found to help with personal statements, got so much useful infomation and straight to the point, will definately recommend to others in my class who are in the middle of their personal statments!

I have read that you should

Tue, 06/12/2011 - 14:57

I have read that you should write about why you wish to study at university and what inspires you to, and i want to but the real reason i want to study at uni is because of a very personal reason and im not sure wether to mention it as i feel i may come across as an attention seeker? the real reason i want to go is because of a very abusive relationship with an ex boyfriend that made me realise i should make the most of my life and do exactly what i want and never let anyone bring me down... do u think it would be too much if i said this - I was very unsure whether to write about the real reason I want to pursue what I’m passionate about, because its very personal. The truth is that is wasn’t a good experience. A traumatising abusive relationship with an ex boyfriend woke me up and made me see I should make the most out of my life.

Tue, 06/12/2011 - 15:03

Tue, 06/12/2011 - 15:08

Amazing Stuff

Mon, 13/02/2012 - 13:06

I'm so glad I found this site

Thu, 01/03/2012 - 15:46

I'm so glad I found this site. It's helped alot.

I'm so glad I found this site. It's helped alot. :)

Thu, 01/03/2012 - 15:47

Lying on your personal statement

Tue, 10/07/2012 - 20:27

I was very disappointed to see this included in your FAQs. Even more to see it answered in the way it was. If someone can lie and "get away with it" does that not suggest we could potentially have a generation of useless, brainless, incompetent potential lawyers, doctors, politicians heading our way? Oh, wait...how long have you been giving this advice out?

do we have to write about our

Tue, 31/07/2012 - 19:13

do we have to write about our interests and hobbies???

if yes what if we dont have enough space and gone over max line limit??

thx a lot for the post..lots

Thu, 13/09/2012 - 23:21

thx a lot for the post..lots of info :)

you get 47 lines not 37 as it

Thu, 20/09/2012 - 11:35

you get 47 lines not 37 as it says

Wed, 17/04/2013 - 11:16

Some of the universities I'm applying to offer different courses to other unis I'm also applying to. Is it possible to send two different personal statements depending on which uni? For Edinburgh and Manchester, I want to apply for English Literature, but for Aberystwyth, East Anglia and Manchester Metropolitian they offer English Lit and Creative Writing.

Any advice would be great, thanks!

Wed, 24/07/2013 - 03:11

Say, you got a nice article.Much thanks again. Awesome.

Wrong information

Thu, 25/07/2013 - 16:15

The maximum on UCAS for personal statements is 47 lines and 4000 characters, not 37 lines as stated on this page.

This is really helpful and

Fri, 27/09/2013 - 14:15

This is really helpful and informative but I'm fairly sure the number of lines allowed is 47, not 37 as written here.

Retaking year 12

Sun, 29/09/2013 - 12:22

I have recently retook year 12 and I am now in the process of writing my personal statement. Having gathered differing opinions on this matter i was wondering for your input on whether or not its worth putting it down on my personal statement.I have changed subjects, left one out for a year and returned to it and retaken a subject. This now leaves me with 5 As levels.

Mon, 30/09/2013 - 20:06

"Have a think - what makes you so special? If you can't think of anything then you can't complain if you get rejected!"

As if we're not under enough stress already!

Previous Work

Tue, 29/10/2013 - 20:33

can I put links in to websites I have professionally made

wow very good much

Fri, 15/11/2013 - 09:25

wow very good much informative

Very informative. I really

Wed, 15/01/2014 - 14:57

Very informative. I really appreciate your site.

Not required

Mon, 30/06/2014 - 14:27

Comment Content

Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS: The 10 Big Mistakes Students Should Avoid

James is senior content marketing manager at BridgeU. He writes and directs content for BridgeU's university partners and our community of international schools

• Writing a UCAS Personal Statement for a subject that isn’t the right fit
• Spelling & grammar mistakes
• Avoid pointless cliches
• Endlessly listing extracurriculars
• Over-using quotes or taking them out of context
• Telling the reader something they already know 
• Ignoring word limits
• Unnecessary origin stories
• Making things up
• Controversy

Join 10,000 fellow counsellors and get exclusive insights delivered straight to your inbox.

Writing a UCAS Personal Statement requires a student to convey a lot of information in a short space of time. Mistakes are easy to make. Read our run down of the most common ones and how to avoid them

Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS is, in many ways, like asking a student to tell the story of their life in 4,000 characters or less. 

And if that sounds hard, it’s because it is. 

The UCAS Personal Statement is the  cornerstone of a UK university application . Students need to write a genuine, authoritative and compelling account of who they are and what they want from a UK university degree. They need to quickly grab the attention of the university admissions officer reading their Personal Statement, and they need to make sure they stand out from the hundreds of other applications that will be crossing that admission officer’s desk. 

In order to do this, the Personal Statement will require a student to master form, structure and content in such a way that makes their writing stand out. 

Understandably, students might feel an inordinate amount of pressure to get their Personal Statement right first time. 

Indeed, more often than not, it’s not a case of students being lazy when writing their UCAS Personal Statements. The problem is often that students will have a lot to say and will have put a lot of thought into their Statement, but may make some simple stylistic mistakes that could cost them when they finally submit their application. 

But if these mistakes are easy to make, they’re also easy to avoid. 

So we’re going to take you through the 10 most common (and potentially costly) mistakes that a student might make in their UCAS Personal Statement, and give you some tips on how to help your students avoid them. 

Bonus Resource –  To help your students avoid any major mistakes before they begin, our Personal Statement worksheet helps them to plan and write a truly compelling account of themselves.  Click here to download

1. Writing a UCAS Personal Statement for a subject that isn’t the right fit 

If students have done their research carefully and considerately, then this shouldn’t be a problem. Ideally, in the year leading up to the submission of the Personal Statement, your students will have shortlisted their university and course preferences to the point where they’re applying for a subject area they’re truly passionate about. 

But this first, major mistake is the natural conclusion of a student being pressured into a subject or career path by family, parents or even school peers. Hopefully this won’t happen – but if a student is writing their UCAS Personal Statement for a subject they’re not truly passionate about, then this should set off alarm bells. It will ultimately affect the quality of the Personal Statement. 

And, most importantly, admissions staff will easily spot a Personal Statement where the student’s heart isn’t in it. 

Top tip:  We at BridgeU are big fans of students finding their best-fit universities and courses (after all, it’s why we built our platform!). Students need to put a lot of time into making sure the UK course they are applying for is right for them. Starting a Personal Statement without having thoroughly researched university and course options is one of the most fundamental mistakes a student could make. 

2. Spelling & Grammar Mistakes 

This may seem like a rather obvious mistake, and one your students hopefully shouldn’t be making. 

But the tight time frames associated with a UCAS Personal Statement will make spelling and grammar mistakes more likely, especially if your students aren’t taking the time to proof-read their personal statement before submitting it. 

Spelling and grammar mistakes can really count against students, and can make their writing appear sloppy or poorly thought through. It’s an especially bad look if your students are applying for humanities or social sciences courses, or indeed any degree that requires a lot of extended writing! 

Top tip:  Encourage your students to print out their Personal Statement. Whilst we know that a lot of students do more things digitally these days (and BridgeU is an online platform after all!), reading a UCAS Personal Statement back as a living, printed document can really help students hone their eye for detail! 

3. Avoid exuberant language and pointless cliches 

“My love of Physics began when I used to look up at the night sky as a child, and found it simultaneously breath-taking and awe-inspiring.” 

“I’ve been passionate about the works of William Shakespeare since seeing my first production on stage. I’m fascinated by how Shakespeare remains relevant for today.” 

Can you see what’s wrong with these two examples? 

Whilst they are very positive and well-worded statements about why a student might want to study astrophysics, or Shakespearian literature, both these Personal Statement examples tip very quickly into cliche and generalisation. 

We’re not suggesting you shouldn’t encourage your students to use positive language when writing a UCAS Personal Statement, but this positive language needs to be backed up with clear, specific examples and rigorous analysis. 

Remember – the key to an excellent Personal Statement is showing, not telling. 

So why is Shakespeare still relevant to today? What specific examples could a student writing about a 16th century author use to demonstrate their relevance to the 21st century? 

Likewise, proclaiming a love for the wonders of the night sky is all well and good, but why did it make our example student want to study Physics? 

Top tip:  Encourage students to set a limit on the number of adjectives or descriptive phrases they use in their writing. It’s important to remember a Personal Statement has to accomplish a lot in a relatively short number of words. If students over-use words like ‘passionate’, ‘breathtaking’ and ‘awe-inspiring’ they’re just going to end up repeating themselves. 

4. Endlessly listing extracurricular activities

Extracurricular activities are a vital part of any Personal Statement. If used in the right way, they can help a student to stand out, and seem like a more well-rounded person. Extracurriculars can also help to showcase valuable soft skills that universities value in their students. 

But there’s no point using extracurriculars like a grocery list. Students endlessly describing their extracurriculars will mean nothing if they don’t link them back to the overall narrative of the Personal Statement. 

Again, it’s about showing, not telling. Saying ‘I have captained my school football team for three years’ means nothing if the writer doesn’t explain this activity within the context of the Personal Statement. 

Top tip:  When planning their Personal Statement, students need to think about the extracurricular activities that can demonstrate soft skills. What did they learn from doing this particular extracurricular activity? Do they think it will set them apart in their overall application? If the answer is no, then it’s best not putting it in. 

5. Over-using quotes or taking them out of context

Remember what we said about exuberant language and cliches? 

It’s the same with the use of quotes. 

Quotes can be a powerful tool to back up any argument, be it in a UCAS Personal Statement or any other kind of essay. 

But quotes used clumsily can often have the opposite effect, and make the writer of a Personal Statement seem pretentious or just quoting for the sake of it. 

Many students may feel tempted to open their Personal Statement with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, or Martin Luther King. A student who is submitting an application for psychology may feel it necessary to begin their Personal Statement with a quote from Sigmund Freud. 

The trouble is that many UK university admissions tutors have probably seen the same quotes again and again. Again, if quotes aren’t used in context, or don’t serve the overall narrative of the Personal Statement, then it may be worth not putting them in. 

It’s also important to remember that universities want to hear from the student, not Sigmund Freud! If in doubt, a student writing a Personal Statement should use their own thoughts and insights, not someone else’s. 

Top tip:  Encourage students to use less well-known quotes in their Personal Statement. Quotes from less well-known, specialist thinkers within a subject discipline are more likely to show that a student is widely read and has a deep and rich knowledge of the subject they’re applying for. 

6. Telling the reader something they already know 

Demonstrating subject knowledge and background reading is vital for a UCAS Personal Statement. But this must fit in with the student’s overall story of  why  they want to study that particular degree. 

What students shouldn’t do is explain academic or scientific theories at length, or regurgitate existing arguments that have already been made by other writers in their chosen field of study. 

Students writing a UCAS Personal Statement need to operate from the assumption that the person reading it is probably an expert in their field. It’s only worth students talking about their wider reading, or their take on another piece of academic writing, if they can demonstrate its relevance to them. 

Top tip:  Students should avoid going into depth about other academic or scientific theories unless they have a bearing on the student’s own worldview, and can tell the reader something about why they want to study for that particular course. 

Video: Tips from UCAS on starting a Personal Statement

7. not paying attention to word/character limits .

It’s pretty hard to literally ignore the word/character limit for the UCAS Personal Statement, as there will come a point where students will simply run out of space. 

But some students can fail to pay attention to word/character limits to the extent that they don’t plan the form and structure of their UCAS Personal Statement properly. 

Planning the overall structure and flow of the Personal Statement before writing it is absolutely essential if students are to make the most of the space that UCAS allocates. Half finished thoughts and hastily written conclusions will do more harm than good when someone reads the Personal Statement. 

Top tip:  Run one class/workshop with students where they brainstorm and plan the overall structure of their UCAS Personal Statement. Break the components of a good personal statement down into chunks, and get students thinking about the optimal structure for making their Personal Statements as good as they can be! 

8. Unnecessary origin stories 

Everyone loves an origin story (why else would film studios keep remaking Spiderman?). But origin stories in UCAS Personal Statements can sometimes be a waste of time (this is in sharp contrast to an application like the Common App in the USA), where they love to hear a student’s origin story)

Remember our physics student from Tip no.3 who loved to gaze at the night sky? Childhood anecdotes are great, and can certainly add character to a student’s application. But they’re not always necessary to showcase a student’s devotion to their chosen subject. 

In fact, it’s fair to say that admissions tutors at UK universities are more interested in an applicant’s more recent contributions or achievements in their chosen field of study than snippets of their biography. 

Yet it remains the case that students sometimes feel the need to profess their lifelong devotion to a subject they’re hoping to study at university. It’s really not necessary. 

In fact UCAS themselves once published a list of the  most commonly used opening lines in a Personal Statement . Three of the most frequent openings were 

“I have always been interested in…” (used 927 times)

“For as long as I can remember I have…” (used 1,451 times) 

“From a young age I have always been interested in/fascinated by…” (used 1,779 times) 

Not only does drawing on childhood memories risk losing sight of more relevant information, it’s also something that lots of universities have seen before. 

9. Making things up 

We hope that none of your students would ever lie in their Personal Statement. But if someone feels the pressure to stand out from the crowd and really impress a university, then it could happen. 

Even small, believable exaggerations could come back to haunt a student if they were hypothetically invited to an interview further down the road. It could be as small as pretending to have read a particular book, or quoting/discussing a piece of research in their chosen subject field and not having fully engaged with it. 

Top tip:  When it comes to putting anything untruthful in a Personal Statement, we can only offer you one piece of advice to give to your students. 

Don’t do it! It’s not worth it, students will probably get found out and there’s likely plenty of achievements and skills that students can talk about in their Personal Statement. They just need to think long and hard about what it is! 

10. Being controversial or contrarian for the sake of it 

Being controversial or argumentative can seem like a good way to sit up and get the reader’s attention – but it’s not worth a student doing it unless they’ve really got the evidence and the argument to back it up. 

For example, arguing against a famous essay or piece of research in a student’s chosen subject might seem like a good way to score some brownie points. But why does a student take issue with this particular piece of research? And is it really wise to try and tackle it in the space of a 4,000 character Personal Statement. 

Top tip:  Students should definitely be independent and analytical when discussing their degree subject in their Personal Statement – after all, it’s the most surefire way to stand out. But taking a contrarian position, or trying to make an explosive new contribution to academic discourse in the course of one Personal Statement probably isn’t a good idea. 

Writing a Personal Statement for UCAS – final tips to avoid mistakes

What do these mistakes all have in common? 

The answer is they are the natural consequence of students forgetting some of the core principles of UCAS Personal Statement writing. 

• Students need to ensure their Personal Statements are well-structured and well-planned – so as to avoid spelling mistakes and/or falling foul of the character limit. 
• Students need to keep their Personal Statements as unique to them as possible – this means staying truthful to their own ambitions and worldview, and avoiding generalisations or cliches. 
• A good Personal Statement needs to be rooted in strong analysis and writing that makes good use of evidence and specific examples to back up an argument. 
• A standout Personal Statement needs to be compelling account of a student’s suitability for a course with a good story at the heart of it – it needs to show, not tell. 

Our Personal Statement template is a great resource if you want to help your students plan and write a truly individual Personal Statement, and avoid some of the mistakes we’ve listed here. Download it below! 

Bonus Resource!

How to write a Personal Statement Worksheet & Template

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Personal statement

2020 Undergraduate Application

Make sure your personal statement is your own work

We'll carry out checks to verify your personal statement is your own work.

Provided it is your own work, you can use your personal statement from your application last year. If it appears to have been copied from another source, we'll inform the universities and colleges to which you have applied. They will then take the action they consider appropriate. We'll also contact you by email to tell you this has happened.

My Application example pages

• Centre link – Buzzword, school or college
• Centre link – Buzzword, terms and conditions
• Centre link – Buzzword
• Centre link – Buzzword, confirm school
• Centre link – Centre preferences
• Centre link – Wrong school
• Choose & Send – Choices
• Choose & Send – Overview 01
• Choose & Send – Overview 02
• Choose & Send – Contact details
• Choose & Send – Course cards
• Choose & Send – Education
• Choose & Send – Education – Add qualification
• Choose & Send – Education – Add qualification details
• Choose & Send – Education – Add qualification with modules
• Choose & Send – Education – Add qualification with modules 02
• Independent reference – sign in
• Independent reference – accept/decline
• Independent reference – predicted grades
• Independent reference – reference
• Independent reference – thank you
• Choose & Send – Personal details
• Choose & Send – Personal statement – preview
• Choose & Send – Personal statement
• Receive & Review – Overview
• Receive & Review – Substitute choice 01
• Receive & Review – Substitute choice 02
• Receive & Review – Withdraw choice
• Receive & Review – Personal statement
• Receive & Review – Application details
• Receive & Review – Personal details
• Receive & Review – Contact details
• Receive & Review – Education
• Receive & Review – Work experience
• Receive & Review – Nationality
• Receive & Review – Supporting information
• Receive & Review – English skills
• Receive & Review – Diversity and inclusion
• Receive & Review – Finance and funding
• Receive & Review – Letters
• Receive & Review – View all updates
• Receive & Review – Visa
• Receive & Review – VARIANTS Application status
• Receive & Review – Overview Extra
• Receive & Review – Confirm your choices 01
• Receive & Review – Confirm your choices 02
• Receive & Review – Confirm your choices 03
• Receive & Review – Overview Confirmed Choices
• Receive & Review – Decline all offers
• Receive & Review – Edit Contact details
• Receive & Review – Embargo Overview
• Receive & Review – Withdraw your application
• Receive & Review – Add choice
• Receive & Review – Decline place
• Receive & Review – Referee details
• Receive & Review – No reference
• Receive & Review – Centre provided reference
• Receive & Review – Confirm your choice (one option)
• Receive & Review – Correspondence example
• Choose & Send – References
• Choose & Send – Residency and nationality
• Similarity report
• Choose & Send – Submit – Check your application
• Choose & Send – Submit – Marketing preferences
• Choose & Send – Submit – Terms and Conditions
• Choose & Send – Submit – Pay and submit (Applicant)
• Choose & Send – Submit – Pay and submit (Applicant or centre)
• Choose & Send – Submit – Thank you
• Choose & Send – Submit – Read only
• Choose & Send – Submit – Payment unsuccessful
• Choose & Send – Submit – Pay and submit (pay for full application)
• Choose & Send – Supporting information
• Choose & Send – UC Submit – Add choice
• Choose & Send – UC Submit – Pay and submit
• Choose & Send – UCAS Application Overview
• Choose & Send – Work experience

How Long Should A Personal Statement Be: The Honest Truth

The appropriate length for a personal statement can vary between applications, but there are some golden rules to follow if you want yours to be successful. A brief statement is unlikely to include the relevant content an admissions tutor is looking for, whilst an overly long document is likely to alienate the reader. Both can lead to applications being rejected.

So exactly how long should a successful personal statement be?

A UCAS undergraduate personal statement must be under 4000 characters , which is around 630 words. Postgraduate statements should be around 800 words, as should most Statement of Purpose applications. Where no guidance is given, 800-1000 words (2 sides of A4) is an ideal length.

There is another approach to take when considering the most effective length for a personal statement, which does not focus on word or character count. Check out the detailed points below to better understand how to get your statement right…

Your Statement must Contain all the Required Material

Regardless of word count, your personal statement will be too short if it does not contain all the required material. When institutions or employers list topics or headings to be covered in your application, they expect you to write content to meet these demands, or to clarify why you may be unable to. They also expect the content to be written in the order in which it is requested.  If you don’t do this, then even the longest personal statement is too short.

As you plan your personal statement, it is worth making a tick-list or table that outlines all the required material and then putting notes under each heading so that you know you have met each demand. As long as you include content from each section in your finished document, you can be confident that you have met the demands of the application.

Take a look at the example below. Can you identify each aspect of the required content? Could you write content for each heading, if this was your application?

Ensure you Include Suitability, Knowledge and Relevancy

Your personal statement is too short if you don’t include these elements, which I like to think of as my ABC’s…

A is for APTITUDE . Whether you are writing a personal statement for an academic course, or a suitability statement for an employment role, it is essential that you illustrate your aptitude. You may be clear in your mind about why you are a suitable candidate, but if you don’t commit evidence to paper, you won’t share that knowledge clearly with an admissions team or employer.

A suitability statement should outline your skills, experience and the reasons why an employer should hire you. Adele Weeks

Begin by analysing the specific skills and experiences that an institution or employer is looking for. These are almost always found within the course or job descriptions. Make a note of exactly how you meet every single criteria and show exactly how your abilities and qualifications match what they are looking for. Don’t just list these, but give examples of exactly why what you have to offer makes you the right fit. See my ‘show, don’t tell’ post here for some more details on exactly how to do this.

Once you have all the notes made, you can edit them down to ensure that they are concise. A great tool to use when you are cutting down your content is Grammarly. If you haven’t used it, Grammarly is a free browser add-on that not only helps you improve your spelling, punctuation and grammar, but also offers some excellent suggestions for developing your material. I recommend this software to lots of the clients I work with; it’s extremely useful for higher study too.

You can click the link below to find out more about how Grammarly can help you:

B is for BROADER KNOWLEDGE . If you have got to the end of your personal statement and you haven’t evidenced your broader knowledge, then it isn’t long enough. The term ‘broader knowledge’ relates to your wider level of detailed understanding in your field of study. Usually this takes the form of courses and lectures you may have attended, wider reading you have carried out and any other academic input outside the realm of your standard academic studies.

If you’d like to find out more about the most powerful personal statement strategies you can use to help you evidence your subject knowledge, check out my detailed post here .

C is for CONNECTION WITH THE SUBJECT . You need to ensure that you evidence your practical connections with your subject. Without this element, your application is definitely too short. You should focus on experiences that show your understanding of the realities of your field of study or ambitions such as internships, work experience placements, volunteering or mentoring opportunities you have taken up. You could even mention school trips or personal visits to areas of relevant interest.

An admissions team or employer wants to know that you have an informed and realistic understanding of the context in which you are about to study or work, and this is exactly how to give them that level of reassurance.

Convince the Reader that you have Something to Offer

Last of all, your personal statement is the wrong length if it does not illustrate your personality and unique value. You should not try to make your content abstract or chaotic in an effort to stand out. Instead, the way you write about your achievements and interests should communicate that you have the right attitude and approach for that course or role.

Your actions should stand out, not the way you write about them.

It can be difficult for many candidates to write about their positive qualities without feeling as though they are showing off, but it is essential that you use the word count available to you to convey your original thoughts and convince the reader that you have something to offer.

Why is this important?

No organisation wants to make an offer to a candidate that will not offer them something in return. Equally, no organisation will want to take a chance on a candidate that may not complete the course, might have trouble committing to the ethos or might struggle with the academic demands. If you can show the reader that you have already faced similar challenges, and had similar experiences, they will have the confidence to consider your application positively.

The Times Higher Education website has a great article all about how to write an original personal statement, and you can check out my blog on just how original a personal statement should be here .

Good luck with your personal statement, and don’t forget to contact me if you’d like some 1-1 support. You’ve got this! D

Research and content verified by Personal Statement Planet.

David Hallen

I've worked in the Further Education and University Admissions sector for nearly 20 years as a teacher, department head, Head of Sixth Form, UCAS Admissions Advisor, UK Centre Lead and freelance personal statement advisor, editor and writer. And now I'm here for you...

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Why Do I Need A Privacy Statement?

Discover why having a privacy statement is essential for businesses that use personal data. Learn how GDPR regulations trigger the need for a privacy policy.

This edited extract is from How to Use Customer Data by Sachiko Scheuing ©2024 and reproduced with permission from Kogan Page Ltd.

Do you use personal data?

I bet you do because otherwise, you would not be reading this book. If your company uses personal data for marketing, accounting, HR, or whatever other purposes, you need a privacy policy.

The traditional approach to data protection and informational self-determination suggests that meaningful control of your own data is only possible if you were informed about how the data will be used.

One of the first rules GDPR lays down in its text, after clarifying the scope of the law and the different definitions, is Article 5 (legislation.gov.uk, 2016 ):

1. Personal data shall be: (a) processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’)

This very requirement triggers the need for a privacy statement.

Companies, in particular, when they are data controllers, must be accountable for their data use and have a privacy statement. This requirement is also spelled out in Article 24(2) of the GDPR (legislation.gov.uk, 2016).

This article covers the topic of automated individual decision-making, including profiling – not profiling for marketing that automates the selection of ads to be shown and so on, but profiling that can have a serious impact on people.

Article 24(2) says such profiling can only be compliant if an appropriate data protection policy, which includes a privacy statement, is implemented (legislation.gov.uk, 2016).

In any event, a privacy statement is an important document. GDPR dedicates two articles to list out the precise information you need to post on your privacy policy; Article 13 sets out the requirements in case you collect data directly from consumers, and Article 14 those for situations where data is collected indirectly (legislation.gov.uk, 2016).

Who Will Read Your Privacy Statement?

In the case of food labelling, it was me as a customer checking for a particular ingredient that read this. Have you ever wondered who reads your privacy statement?

Customers and prospects are one obvious group of stakeholders who are concerned about what is happening with their data once it’s in your hands. Privacy activists and consumer protection organizations may also be going through your privacy statement.

Authors and academic researchers in the field of data protection find it a great source of information, learning how companies are using personal data. Regulators, judges, and lawyers who are working on a case that involves your company also take great interest in your privacy notice.

Your corporate image is shaped by how your privacy statement reads. Customers, both in business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer markets, pay great attention to your privacy practice.

Business partners and suppliers to your company often formalize the review of your company’s data protection compliance, asking questions about your privacy statement in their due diligence questionnaires.

Whoever the readers are, it is another “touch-point” for a variety of stakeholders, including revenue-generating parties like customers and partners.

You want them to have a good impression of your privacy practices, and the first chance you have to showcase this may be your privacy statement. Borrowing the words of the ICO, a good privacy statement “helps build trust, avoids confusion, and lets everyone know what to expect.” ( ICO, 2023 )

How Long Should My Privacy Statement Be?

GDPR expects you to draw up a privacy statement long enough so that you can properly explain which data is collected, used, and stored. This makes your privacy statement transparent.

At the same time, your privacy statement must be concise, according to Article 12(1) of GDPR (legislation.gov.uk, 2016). These two requirements seem to contradict each other at first glance. The EU regulators, therefore, give some explanations in their guidelines on transparency (Art 29 WP, 2018) .

While a privacy statement aims to give necessary information so that consumers can make decisions about their personal data, regulators are also aware of the phenomena known as “information fatigue” or “information overload.” The hypothesis is that human beings have a limited capacity to digest information.

When too much information is presented, people become overwhelmed and either ignore the information or make illogical decisions to cope with the psychological stress they experience (Simmel, 1950; Milgram, 1969).

There are two strategies to avoid this that can, at the same time, still provide all the details required.

Have A Clear Structure

Before starting to write a privacy notice, list out all the information you need to provide in it. Then, think about how you want to present it to your customers and other data subjects in a logical manner.

In doing so, you might want to read the privacy statements of big consumer brands and governmental organizations and find out how their privacy statements are structured.

There is a good chance that their privacy notices are prepared by experienced in-house lawyers or by law firms that specialize in data protection. The idea is to get the feeling of what great privacy statements look like.

You might also want to read up on the privacy statements of your competitors, as well as those of your partners in your business field.

Ask your privacy person which competitors have good reputations with regard to their data protection practices, or perhaps you already know who they are. Just take a look at how their privacy notices are structured. You can also simply adopt the structure of ICO’s privacy policy template.

Whatever you do, the key is to improve the readability of your privacy statement by giving it a logical structure.

Prepare Privacy Notices In Layers

Another approach, endorsed by the regulators, is the so-called layered approach (Art 29 WP, 2018).

Assuming that the privacy notice is going to be online, you can make your privacy policy interactive by using links, so that users can click on them when they want more information, or skip them and stay on the first-level summary information if they so wish, just as you would use an online encyclopedia.

This way, the key messages are simplified, and readers of your privacy statement will have a good overview of the first layer of the statement.

Regulators recommend the following information should be visible on the first layers of the privacy notice (Art 29 WP, 2018, p 19, para 36): Details of the purposes of processing The identity of the data controller Description of the data subjects’ rights Information on the processing which has the most impact on the data subject Information on the processing which could surprise them.

When Do I Have To Present The Privacy Statement?

Consumers must be informed what data is collected for, for instance marketing purposes, as early as possible.

When you are collecting data directly from your customers, you must present your privacy notice the moment you are collecting the data (see Article 13(1) GDPR; legislation.gov.uk, 2016).

In a scenario where you license the data from other organizations, such as from public sources or marketing data providers, Article 14(3)a and b require the privacy information to be provided in the following manner (legislation.gov.uk, 2016):

within a reasonable period after obtaining the personal data, but at the latest within one month, having regard to the specific circumstances in which the personal data are processed; if the personal data are to be used for communication with the data subject, at the latest at the time of the first communication to that data subject; or if a disclosure to another recipient is envisaged, at the latest when the personal data are first disclosed.

In short, for licensed data that is not contact detail data, the privacy notice must be communicated within a month.

If you are using contact data like names, telephone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses, you need to communicate the privacy statement the first time you send a commercial message to them.

In practice, companies embed a link to the privacy statement in email messages or print that link on direct mail pieces to fulfill this requirement.

References:

• Art 29 WP (2018) Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, WP260 rev.01 Guidelines on transparency under Regulation 2016/679, adopted on 29 November 2017, last revised and adopted on 11 April 2018, https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/items/622227 (archived at https://perma.cc/4HWYURKL)
• ICO (2023) UK Information Commissioner’s Office: Transparency direct marketing detailed guidelines, https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/advice-for-smallorganisations/frequently-asked-questions/transparency-cookies-and-privacynotices/ (archived at https://perma.cc/K3ZR-T7E5)
• legislation.gov.uk (2016)‘Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 27 April 2016, www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2016/679/contents (archived at https://perma.cc/NVG6-PXBQ)
• Milgram, S (1969) The experience of living in cities, Science 167, 1461–1468
• Simmel, G (1950) The metropolis and mental life, in K H Wolff (ed.), The Sociology of Georg Simmel , Free Press, New York, USA.

To read the full book, SEJ readers have an exclusive 25% discount code and free shipping to the US and UK. Use promo code SEJ25 at koganpage.com here .

More resources: 

• Google Analytics 4 Features To Prepare For Third-Party Cookie Depreciation
• What Is First-Party Data And How Do You Use It?
• Why First-Party Data Should Lead Your Organic Search Strategy

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Sachiko Scheuing is an award-winning privacy professional based in Frankfurt, Germany. She serves on the Europe Middle East and Africa senior ...

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If Trump’s Conviction Lands Him in Prison, the Secret Service Goes, Too

The former president could face probation or prison time. Either option would be without precedent.

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By William K. Rashbaum

• May 30, 2024

With Donald J. Trump’s unprecedented felony conviction on Thursday, what has long been a remote and abstract concept could move closer to a stunning reality: a former president of the United States behind bars.

But that wouldn’t happen fast.

A jury in Manhattan convicted Mr. Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a crime that under New York State law carries a possible sentence that ranges from probation to four years in prison.

But Mr. Trump is no ordinary defendant. And while most experts think a prison sentence is unlikely, the judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, has made it known that he takes white-collar crime seriously. The judge set sentencing for July 11.

The Trump Manhattan Criminal Verdict, Count By Count

Former President Donald J. Trump faced 34 felony charges of falsifying business records, related to the reimbursement of hush money paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels in order to cover up a sex scandal around the 2016 presidential election.

If Justice Merchan hands down a punishment that lands the former president behind bars — what is known as a custodial sentence — Mr. Trump would be no ordinary prisoner.

That’s because the United States Secret Service is required by law to protect former presidents around the clock, which means its agents would have to protect Mr. Trump inside a prison if he was sentenced to serve time.

Even before the trial’s opening statements, the Secret Service was in some measure planning for the extraordinary possibility of a former president’s incarceration. In the days before the trial began in April, prosecutors asked Justice Merchan to remind Mr. Trump that attacks on witnesses and jurors could land him in jail even before a verdict was rendered.

Shortly thereafter, officials with federal, state and city agencies had an impromptu meeting about how to handle the situation, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

That behind-the-scenes conversation — involving officials from the Secret Service and other relevant law enforcement agencies — focused only on how to move and protect Mr. Trump if the judge were to order him briefly jailed for contempt in a courthouse holding cell before or during the trial, the people said.

The far more substantial challenge — how to safely incarcerate a former president if he were to be sentenced to prison — has yet to be addressed directly, according to interviews with some of a dozen current and former city, state and federal officials.

That’s at least in part because a drawn-out and hard-fought series of appeals, possibly all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, would be almost a certainty. That would most likely delay Mr. Trump’s serving any sentence for months, if not longer, said several of the people, who like other experts have suggested that a prison sentence is unlikely.

Justice Merchan, whom Mr. Trump has continually attacked as “biased” and “corrupt,” could well decide to sentence Mr. Trump to probation rather than prison time.

That would raise the bizarre possibility of the former — and possibly future — commander in chief reporting regularly to a civil servant at the city’s Probation Department.

Mr. Trump would have to follow the probation officer’s instructions and answer questions about his work and personal life until the term of probation ended. He would also be barred from associating with disreputable people, and if he committed any additional crimes, he could be jailed immediately.

Incarceration would present a far greater challenge, especially because Mr. Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president. “Obviously, it’s uncharted territory,” Martin F. Horn, who has worked at the highest levels of New York’s and Pennsylvania’s state prison agencies and served as commissioner of New York City’s correction and probation departments, has said. “Certainly no state prison system has had to deal with this before, and no federal prison has had to either.”

Steven Cheung, the communications director for Mr. Trump’s campaign, has said that the case against the former president was “so spurious and so weak” that other prosecutors had refused to bring it, and called it “an unprecedented partisan witch hunt.”

“That the Democrat fever dream of incarcerating the nominee of the Republican Party has reached this level exposes their Stalinist roots and displays their utter contempt for American democracy,” he said.

Protecting Mr. Trump in a prison environment would involve keeping him separate from other inmates, as well as screening his food and other personal items, officials said. If he were to be imprisoned, a detail of agents would work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, rotating in and out of the facility, several officials said. While firearms are strictly prohibited in prisons, the agents would, most likely, nonetheless be armed.

Former corrections officials said there were several New York state prisons and city jails that have been closed or partly closed, leaving large sections of their facilities empty. One of those buildings could serve to incarcerate the former president and accommodate his Secret Service protective detail.

Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington, declined in a statement to discuss specific “protective operations.” But he has emphasized that federal law requires Secret Service agents to protect former presidents, adding that they use state-of-the-art technology, intelligence and tactics to do so.

Thomas J. Mailey, a spokesman for New York State’s prison agency, has said that his department could not speculate about how it would treat someone who has not yet been sentenced, but that it has a system “to assess and provide for individuals’ medical, mental health and security needs.” Frank Dwyer, a spokesman for the New York City jails agency, recently said only that “the department would find appropriate housing” for the former president.

While each count carries the possibility of up to four years in prison, Justice Merchan would most likely order any sentence to run concurrently, meaning Mr. Trump would serve prison time on each of the counts simultaneously. Under normal circumstances, any sentence of one year or less would generally be served on New York City’s notorious Rikers Island, home to the Department of Correction’s seven jails. (That’s where Mr. Trump’s former chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, 76, is serving his second five-month sentence for perjury .)

Any sentence of more than a year would generally be served in one of the 44 prisons run by New York State’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

And what if Mr. Trump is elected president in November? He could not pardon himself because the prosecution was brought by New York State, not the federal government. But it is unclear what would happen if he were sentenced to a prison term and appellate courts upheld his conviction while he was in office.

William K. Rashbaum is a Times reporter covering municipal and political corruption, the courts and broader law enforcement topics in New York. More about William K. Rashbaum

Our Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial

Guilty Verdict : Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 counts  of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened his bid for the White House in 2016, making him the first American president to be declared a felon .

What Happens Next: Trump’s sentencing hearing on July 11 will trigger a long and winding appeals process , though he has few ways to overturn the decision .

Reactions: Trump’s conviction reverberated quickly across the country  and around the world . Here’s what voters , New Yorkers , Republicans , Trump supporters  and President Biden  had to say.

The Presidential Race : The political fallout of Trump’s conviction is far from certain , but the verdict will test America’s traditions, legal institutions and ability to hold an election under historic partisan tension .

Making the Case: Over six weeks and the testimony of 20 witnesses, the Manhattan district attorney’s office wove a sprawling story  of election interference and falsified business records.

Legal Luck Runs Out: The four criminal cases that threatened Trump’s freedom had been stumbling along, pleasing his advisers. Then his good fortune expired .