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How To Write An Oxbridge Personal Statement

Last Updated: 27th March 2024

Author: Rob Needleman

Oxford and Cambridge see hundreds of Personal Statements each year, so how do you make your Oxbridge Personal Statement count?

The majority of students are applying with excellent grades, experiences and scores of the highest calibre. However, even the most talented individuals can miss out on a place because of the Oxbridge Personal Statement.

This is because it is not only your academic achievements that make up your identity. Never underestimate the power of being passionate about your chosen degree, it is a big factor that Admissions Tutors look for. It’s not all about your academic prowess.

This article is all about how to write an Oxbridge Personal Statement. We go through important considerations including how to genuinely demonstrate passion without saying “I am passionate”, how to write about reading and what Admissions Tutors are looking for. Let’s get started.

Writing About Your Subject In Your Personal Statement

Why exactly are you so passionate about studying this degree? Universities often hear phrases like, “I am passionate about the law and aim to one day work at a law firm”, however, this does not demonstrate what it is about law that makes you intent on studying it.

If there have been instances in your life that have helped you discover your passion for this subject, mention them. Discuss the qualities and skills that equip you for the subject; if you are analytical and adept at problem-solving, how would this assist you in exploring History or Law? Perhaps you have a systematic and organised brain, skilled at working through issues of Physics.

You might be completely passionate about a subject, but unless you demonstrate genuine reasons for applying, how are Admissions Tutors supposed to know you are truly passionate? Keep reminding yourself that the only things the Tutors know about you are through your Personal Statement until you get to the Interviews. Use this opportunity to showcase why you are dedicated to the subject.

Enrolling on our Oxbridge Premium Programmes will give you access to Personal Statement redrafts.

Your tutor will give you actionable feedback with insider tips on how to improve and make your Personal Statement Oxbridge quality for the best chances of success.

What do Oxbridge Admissions Tutors Look For?

Universities are there to teach you, and what is most important to them is not that you have a thorough knowledge of your subject, but rather that you have the skills to allow you to grow and expand your mind in your chosen field.

Admissions Tutors are looking to answer some questions about you, as they will be the ones who you meet each week and will play a huge part in your Oxbridge experience:

Will you be open to learning new things?
Can you cope with a challenging workload?
Are you a person that the professors will enjoy teaching?

Make this clear to the Admissions Tutors!

Let’s look at an example for Cambridge Medicine :

Your Oxbridge Personal Statement is your chance to not only demonstrate your intelligence (your school scores will prove that for you), but to show the kind of person that you are, and why you would be a valuable addition to their college community. Oxford and Cambridge particularly revel in the exploration of knowledge and are far more concerned with seeing how far you will push the boundaries of your subject.

But above all, be honest and ensure the qualities you discuss really do match up with what the Admissions Tutors are looking for.

For more inspiration, take a look through our other successful Personal Statement a nalysis articles:

Successful Personal Statement For Medicine At Oxford University

Successful personal statement for law at cambridge, successful personal statement for economics & management at oxford, successful personal statement for natural science (physical) at cambridge, successful personal statement for economics at cambridge, successful personal statement for land economy at cambridge, successful personal statement for chemistry at oxford, successful personal statement for geography at oxford, successful personal statement for classics at oxford, successful personal statement for law at oxford, successful personal statement for classics at cambridge, successful personal statement for engineering at cambridge, successful personal statement for philosophy at cambridge, successful personal statement for veterinary medicine at cambridge, successful personal statement for psychological and behavioural sciences at cambridge, successful personal statement for psychology at oxford, successful personal statement for history at oxford, successful personal statement for physics at oxford, successful personal statement for cambridge mathematics and physics, successful personal statement example for computer science at oxford, successful personal statement for english at cambridge, successful personal statement for oxford english language and literature, successful personal statement for modern languages at oxford, successful personal statement for engineering at oxford, successful personal statement for natural sciences (biological) at cambridge, successful personal statement for ppe at oxford, successful personal statement for dentistry at king’s college london, successful personal statement for medicine at cambridge, oxbridge personal statement wider reading.

With an Oxbridge Personal Statement, students will be aiming to display their knowledge and ability to study their subject at a top university. Therefore, it is essential to include evidence of reading material that might demonstrate initiative and your academic interest.

How Much Reading Is The Right Amount For A Personal Statement?

There is not a specific number of books that you should read to develop and enhance your interest and knowledge of your subject. You may notice that we did not say ‘the number of books you should read to add to your Personal Statement’. There is a huge difference, reading is not a tick box exercise.

As an Oxbridge applicant, you will be applying because you’re passionate about your subject and see yourself immersed in a career related to the subject. If not, then it will be a huge task to genuinely convince Admissions Tutors that you are driven and dedicated to study the subject. It will also be incredibly difficult to keep yourself motivated with the demanding workload of Oxbridge if the course doesn’t interest you.

Going back to the question above, the better way of phrasing it is ‘how do I include wider reading in my Personal Statement?’. We will go through this in more detail below but something we regularly stress with Personal Statements is when writing about reading, achievements, work experience etc. you must never list. To ensure you make an impact on the Admissions Tutors, you have to select relevant points and explain them, how they made an impact on your decision to study the course and anything you feel you gained from these opportunities.

If you are really stuck with wider reading, we have an article that provides reading lists for each Oxbridge subject .

The Different Types Of Reading

“ Wider Reading ” is a very loose term, and you can demonstrate your interest and initiative with different types of material and sources, especially if, as mentioned above, you can show that you have done something with it afterwards.

Here are some other kinds of sources you could try and find:

Don’t forget that you may rely on these sorts of materials in your Oxbridge studies so you should show that you can use and understand them in the same way as you would any other academic source.

How To Include Wider Reading

The difference between a good candidate and a great candidate can be demonstrated by actually doing something with the reading and research you do. That is, you can browse as many sources as you like, but in your Oxbridge Personal Statement, you should be able to demonstrate that you have opinions and can evaluate arguments. Therefore, you should leave space in your Personal Statement to write about how your reading affected you.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help with adding your reading to your Personal Statement:

Did you agree with the reading?
Does this exercise show that you can take the initiative and read around your subject?
Did this reading inspire you to look up something further, or perhaps carry out a project?
Why did you read this in the first place? Was it upon recommendation? Was it part of work?
Did you think of any challenges to the point of view put forward?
Did you go on to read something else as a result? What and why?
What have you done with your reading?

UniAdmissions Tip

We suggest reading outside of your subject as well to avoid running out of steam or getting too narrow. This includes personal development books to improve your organisation and time management skills. At Oxbridge, you will need good organisation skills to plan your time effectively around lectures, labs and leisure.

This is important, so make sure you are not just name-dropping but giving a real review of what you think. An Oxbridge Personal Statement will be put to the test at an Interview. It is very likely that Admissions Tutors will want to explore some of your ideas there so you need to be ready.

Final Words

You should now have a clearer idea of how to improve and strengthen your Oxbridge Personal Statement to ensure it makes more of an impact on the Admissions Tutors and demonstrates that you are Oxbridge material.

The content we have gone through can be used for other universities you are applying to and if you would like more general information on how to structure your Personal Statement, or how to make your Personal Statement Stand out , we have plenty of insightful guides for you to work through to help you write the perfect Personal Statement.

Looking for Personal Statement support to strengthen your application?

Students enrolled on our comprehensive application support Programmes will get access to Personal Statement redrafts.

Your tutor will give you actionable feedback with insider tips on how to improve your statement for the best chances of success. With UniAdmissions, you can triple your chances of success . Want to find out how?

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How to write a great Oxbridge Personal Statement

Tips for acing the oxbridge personal statement.

Writing a great Personal Statement is a prime opportunity to showcase yourself and stand out from the crowd. What Oxbridge looks for is a little different from other universities, so here are some tips to help you write a standout Oxbridge Personal Statement.

1. Start Drafting Early

The extra level of preparation that an Oxbridge application requires, combined with the mid-October deadline, means that you should try to start planning your Personal Statement towards the end of Year 12.

It usually takes a few drafts before you have a perfectly polished Personal Statement staring back at you, so ideally your first draft should be done by the end of the summer holiday before Year 13. This means that you should try to have completed any extra reading or work experience that you want to write about in your Statement by then as well.

Tip: If you haven’t decided which course you want to study yet, start planning a more general Personal Statement, or even two separate ones for two different subjects. Writing about your enthusiasm and experiences will probably help your decision-making process!

2. Focus on your academic interests and achievements

Admissions decisions at Oxford and Cambridge are solely based on academic ability and potential, so you should focus on showcasing your understanding and passion for your chosen subject. We’ve written a guide about navigating Oxbridge’s attitude towards extracurriculars which explains more about this.

You can show your interest and ability in your subject with examples of books you’ve read, an EPQ you’ve written, a prize you’ve won, lectures you’ve attended, documentaries you’ve watched, podcasts you’ve listened to, or really anything you can think of!

Tip:

Instead of: “I am interested in molecular biology”
Try: “My interest in molecular biology led me to read X”

3. Set yourself up for an interview

All successful Oxbridge candidates are interviewed as part of the admissions process, and interviewers often draw on things mentioned in the Personal Statement.

To help put you in control of the interview as much as possible, you can leave ‘hooks’ for the interviewer which direct them towards topics you’ll be able to talk about confidently. For example, if you write: “I was fascinated by the similarities between Ovid’s Amores and contemporary love poetry” , you should expect to be asked what in particular you found fascinating.

This is one reason why it's really important to be honest in your Personal Statement. You should never claim to have read a book that you haven’t (even if you plan to read it after submitting your UCAS form, because who knows what will happen!) You also shouldn’t pretend to have an interest in a something just because you think it will sound impressive. Interviewers are likely to ask you about it and it will be pretty clear if you aren’t genuinely interested.

4. Show that you are intellectually curious and thoughtful

Oxbridge admissions tutors are looking for thoughtful and perceptive students who are curious about their chosen subject. How much material you have consumed on your subject is not as important as how deeply you have thought about each one. For example, there’s no point listing thirteen books that you’ve read with no comments or thoughts about any of them.

To demonstrate a thoughtful approach to your studies, you can do things like:

Give an example of something you found particularly interesting in what you learned, and explain why you found it interesting.
For example: “Learning about A at school led me to read X. I was particularly interested by the chapter on B, because …. This led me to further research B by watching Y.”
For example: Did two different theorists interpret a concept differently? Is there a theme that runs through a set of books you’ve read? Did you disagree with an opinion presented at a lecture?

5. Try to be original…

In 2019, Oxford University received more than 23,000 undergraduate applications for roughly 3,300 places. The vast majority of these applicants have really good grades, which can make it difficult to stand out from the crowd. This is where your ability to be perceptive and original comes in. Think about how the subject that you are applying for relates to your other studies, the world around you, and even your personal experiences.

For example, almost every Classics student out there will know the plot of Medea , but how many of them will be able to demonstrate that it’s since been stolen by the screenwriters of Eastenders? Did campaigning for the most recent election remind you of a piece of propaganda from the First World War?

Remember that the people who will read your application, and interview you, have made a career out of their chosen subject, and it really is their passion. They will genuinely be interested to have a conversation with you if you can bring an interesting or original thought to your Personal Statement and interview.

6. …but don’t overdo it

Don’t try to be original for the sake of it. And don’t go overboard with the thesaurus - concentrate on being clear rather than trying to be a lexical aficionado (annoying, right?)

7. Proof-read, then proof-read again

One thing which can negatively affect the opinion of Admissions Tutors is a typo. Even if it’s something really minor, some tutors are very strict on accuracy, and it could be the difference between receiving an offer or not.

Proof-read your Personal Statement several times yourself, and then ask your parents, friends, or teachers to read it over, looking specifically for typos or grammatical errors. A lot of the time, it's easier for someone with fresh eyes to spot a typo than for the person writing.

8. Don’t name drop Oxbridge

Remember that you need your Personal Statement to be relevant to all five of the universities you are applying to. This means that you shouldn’t mention Oxford, Cambridge, or any other university by name.

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Personal Statement Guidebook: Examples and Advice for Top University Entry

Unlock your path to university success with our “Personal Statement Guidebook: Examples and Advice for Top University Entry.” This comprehensive guide offers expert advice, detailed sections, and real examples to help you craft a compelling personal statement that stands out to top universities.

Learn the dos and don’ts of personal statement writing, explore step-by-step guidance, and gain insights from admissions professionals. Whether you’re aiming for medical and life sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, social sciences, languages and literature, humanities, or the arts, our guidebook has you covered. Download your free copy now and start your journey to academic excellence.