10 Do's and Don'ts of Personal Statements

Please note, these tips are specifically for applicants applying to study Design Engineering at Imperial College London. 

5 Things to do:

1. Start with your proudest achievement

Putting your most impressive achievements in the first paragraph means that your application stands out straight away (we receive upwards of 700 applications per year).  If you're not sure how to start your personal statement, just complete this sentence - 'The thing I am most proud to have created is...' 

2. Provide specific examples with details

E.g.  Rather than 'I'm interested in coding', citing specific coding languages you have learnt and how you have used them to build new skills relevant to design engineering.

3. Sometimes, less is more

You have limited space, and sometimes it's better to show depth and understanding of one project than to list everything you've ever tinkered with. If you've been working on lots of things, pick the one​ that's most interesting to you, or that you're proudest of, and dedicate a few paragraphs to exploring that project. 

4. Create!

Design Engineering is a very hands-on course. From the very first term, you will be designing, drawing, and building. Every year, you will work in teams or on your own to develop multiple projects from brief to prototype. Creating things now helps prepare you for this course, and it is important to acknowledge that preparation work in your personal statement.

5. Include your hobbies

Design Engineering looks for people with a combination of technical knowledge and creativity, but creative skills are sometimes less easy to evidence. Tell us about your web comics, your indie bands, your handbag designs, and what you have learnt from them.

5 Things to avoid:

1. Don't worry about formal work experience

We do not expect our applicants to have had design or engineering work experience. Making something in your own bedroom out of whatever you have available is just as useful, if not more so. If you do, however, have the opportunity to gain some relevant work experience, your personal statement is the perfect place to tell us about it!

2. Tell us about yourself, not the people around you

If your parents or wider family work in engineering or design, it can be tempting to tell us about it in your personal statement - after all, they are probably strong influences on your choice of course. However, we want to know what makes you a suitable candidate for the programme, so use your personal statement to tell us as much as you can about yourself.

3. Look beyond the classroom - we know what’s on ​your school curriculum

If you are taking an ‘obviously relevant’ school subject (see our FAQs here for a list), we have already taken into account your chosen subjects and predicted grades. Your personal statement should focus on your interest in design engineering and application of technical and creative skills beyond your school syllabus. 

Of course, ​if you have created something particularly outstanding in school that demonstrates skills and techniques that you have learned in your own time, we want to hear about it. 

4. Keep it relevant 

Your personal statement ​should focus specifically on two key points:

1. Why you want to do the course you’ve applied to

2. Why you will succeed on the course you’ve applied to

We are assessing you not on your whole life experience, but specifically on your interest and readiness to study Design Engineering at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. 

5. Don’t fear failure

If you have a project or experiment that you ran and it all went wrong, that is totally ok!  You can still write about the project in your personal statement because failure is a very valuable data point; embrace what went wrong and demonstrate what you learned from the experience.