Sheet one: all about you
The first sheet to complete when preparing your personal statement is a list of all the activities you've undertaken that could be relevant to your university application.
This could be virtually anything, but some good things to get you started are listed below.
Hobbies and interests
- Sports clubs or teams
- Collecting things
- Following a team or pursuit
- Other clubs or activities
- Singing, dancing or playing an instrument
Clubs and groups you belong to
- Guides, Scouts, Boys’/Girls’ Brigade
- Young scientists
- Charity work/volunteering
Work experience
- Organised through school
- Part-time jobs
Activities through school/college
- Duke of Edinburgh Award
- Debating society
- School council
- Prefect
- Head girl or boy
- Field trips and ‘residential’ activities
You can arrange this information in whatever way is easiest for you; a list (as shown in our example below), a mind map or put them all on Post-It notes and stick them to a wall.
Don’t worry about whether your examples are ‘good enough’. All you’re doing is creating a really big list so that when you come to write your statement you've got a lot to work with. You can then move on to Sheet two: person specification.
