New Changes to the UCAS Personal Statements in 2025

On January 12th 2023, UCAS announced that the traditional Personal Statement would be replaced by a multi-question form for university applications.

Since 1993, UCAS has required university applicants to submit a 4,000-character and 47-line Personal Statement, which included information on why the applicant is interested in the course and the university they are applying for and what skills and experiences have prepared them to study at a UK university. The plans to make amendments in the application process have been in place for a fair amount of time, with discussions having started in April 2021[1].

Since 1993, UCAS has required university applicants to submit a 4,000-character and 47-line Personal Statement, which included information on why the applicant is interested in the course and the university they are applying for and what skills and experiences have prepared them to study at a UK university. The plans to make amendments in the application process have been in place for a fair amount of time, with discussions having started in April 2021[2].

The announcement of the reforms to the Personal Statement was made on January 12th 2023 via a blog post[3] on the official HEPI website. This post highlights the amendments being made to the Personal Statement process and the research that was conducted to influence this change.  

The calls for a reform are based on the claim that the current personal statement gives unfair advantages to more privileged applicants with the current essay format being described as “ambiguous”, “unfair” and “barometers of middle-class privilege”[4]. In the report, it is stated that, although the majority of the applicants surveyed were happy with the current Personal Statement (72%), 83% of the applicants found the process stressful and 79% felt unable to complete it without support. Therefore, UCAS has tested different models to find a solution to retain the space for the students to express their own voice while reducing the stress and inequality associated with the current personal statements. They have found that there is a preference for structured questions that brings focus and clarity[5] for students. This approach also enhances comparability for providers.

Six key areas of focus in the new system have been identified:

Motivation for Course

Why do you want to study these courses?

Preparedness for Course

How has your learning so far helped you to be ready to succeed on these courses?

Preparation through other experiences

What else have you done to help you prepare, and why are these experiences useful?

Extenuating circumstances

Is there anything that the universities and colleges need to know about, to help them put your achievements and experiences so far into context?

Preparedness for study

What have you done to prepare yourself for student life?

Preferred Learning Styles

Which learning and assessment styles best suit you – how do your courses choices match that?

The number of questions and the character limits are not yet announced, but we will be following the developments closely. The initial announcement regarding the revision of the Personal Statement system stated that the changes would be introduced in the 2024 admissions cycle for the 2025 entry. However, UCAS has since gone back on this and stated that the earliest this change would take place is in the 2026 application cycle[6].

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References:

[1] https://www.ucas.com/about-us/news-and-insights/reforming-admissions

[2] https://www.ucas.com/about-us/news-and-insights/reforming-admissions

[3] https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2023/01/12/%EF%BF%BCfive-steps-ucas-is-taking-to-reform-the-undergraduate-admissions-process/

[4] https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Reforming-the-UCAS-personal-statement-Making-the-case-for-a-series-of-short-questions.pdf

[5] https://www.ucas.com/file/672901/download?token=VccObZXZ

[6] https://www.uniadmissions.co.uk/application-guides/personal-statements-changing-2025/#:~:text=UCAS%20Personal%20Statements%20are%20being,2026%20Entry%20in%20the%20UK.