Mathematics Personal Statement Guide

Your Personal Statement plays a crucial role in your mathematics university application, as it’s the first chance you have to introduce yourself as an individual to the admissions tutors.

You can demonstrate your passion to study maths, show the contribution you would make to the cohort, and prove that you have the abilities and motivation to receive an offer.  

A lot of applicants struggle to write personal statements. It’s difficult to balance writing about academic interests with personal achievements, keep everything relevant to the maths courses you’re applying to, and fit it all within just over one A4 page of text.  

To help you get on the right track, our Personal Statement Guide takes you through everything you need to know to create a great maths personal statement: 

• Why are Personal Statements Important?
• What Should I Include in a Mathematics Personal Statement? 
• What Should I Avoid in a Mathematics Personal Statement? 
• Advice on How to Start a Mathematics Personal Statement 
• Advice on How to Finish a Mathematics Personal Statement 
• FAQs 

Why are Personal Statements Important? 

The personal statement is a written piece that you submit as part of your UCAS application. You write and submit one statement that is sent to all of your university choices, and it must fit within either 4,000 characters or 47 lines in the UCAS form (whichever limit you reach first).  

The personal statement gives Admissions Tutors a feeling of who you are as a potential student. It gives a personality to the rest of your application and helps universities decide between applicants with very similar qualifications, based on who they think is best suited to the course.  

As an applicant, you have to check certain boxes in your personal statement. You have to prove that: you have the skills to succeed on the course, you are academically curious about mathematics, and you are motivated and passionate about studying mathematics at a high level.  

This means that a successful mathematics personal statement needs to be unique, interesting, and packed full of specific interests that you have within the field of maths. If you’re applying to Oxbridge or other top-level universities, you especially need to make sure the statement is focused on your academic interests and only includes maths-relevant achievements.  

What Should I Include in a Mathematics Personal Statement? 

A mathematics personal statement needs to cover your passion for studying maths, your academic achievements and experiences relating to maths, and your specific interests or evidence of research you’ve done within the field of mathematics.  

Passion for Studying Maths 

You need to demonstrate your passion and motivation without being general or telling a long story.  

Begin by thinking about why you decided you wanted to study maths? Perhaps you’ve always loved working with numbers, maybe you want to use maths to solve engineering or mechanical problems, or maybe you find beauty in the logic and process of pure maths proofs?  

Whatever the reason may be, it should be unique to you and a genuine reflection of why you love maths. 

Academic achievements and experiences 

You should think about what you are proud of having completed in your mathematics career so far. This could be ‘proper’ achievements like winning a maths competition or receiving a school prize, or it could be more personal, like persevering at solving a difficult problem.  

When it comes to experiences, this could be anything provided you can link it to maths (either directly or indirectly). Think about transferable skills here; for example, undertaking a law internship could be relevant if it involved lots of data handling and statistical work, as well as analytical and critical thinking.  

Specific interests and evidence of research 

The point of this element is to show that you have thought about maths beyond the classroom.  

You could discuss interesting academic books you have read, relevant news stories that relate to or involve maths, or multimedia sources like documentaries, films, or TV programmes that in some way relate to or have inspired you to pursue mathematics.  

Rather than producing a list of sources, you should pick some key examples and discuss them in depth: get to the heart of the mathematic principles involved, and engage with them on a personal level. Not only will this make for a good personal statement, but it will also help prepare you for Oxbridge interviews.

What Should I Avoid in a Mathematics Personal Statement? 

Do not be wishy-washy with your statements. Rather than saying that you have always loved maths, perhaps explain how numbers or equations fit into your world view; rather than saying you like a particular mathematician, discuss their specific contributions and how they have inspired your maths journey.  

Being specific and digging down into the academic side of maths is what is really going to impress admissions tutors.  

Avoid cliched statements like the plague. Even though you are passionate about maths, don’t state “I am passionate about maths”; find a less cliched way to say it instead.  

Your statement might require several drafts to ensure the language is interesting yet accurate, but it’s worth it: if you came up with something in a minute, then it’s likely so did lots of other applicants. 

Don’t be tempted to mention personal achievements that are not related or involve transferable skills relevant to maths. We understand that it’s tempting to include details of your Judo black belt, your gold Duke of Edinburgh award, or your prize for best history essay, but unless you can clearly argue its relevance to studying mathematics, then it won’t impress the tutors.

Advice on How to Start a Mathematics Personal Statement  

There are a thousand different ways that you can begin a personal statement, which often makes it the most difficult part of the process.  

There’s one one-size-fits-all answer to this: some applicants begin with a quote from a mathematician that has inspired them, others start by discussing what inspired them to pursue maths at university, whilst others jump straight into a discipline that they find most interesting.  

The opening of the statement sets the tone for the entire personal statement, so it’s crucial that it’s in your own words and reflects your own personality; admissions tutors will be able to tell if it’s someone else’s words! If you’re struggling to find an opener, we recommend drafting the rest of the personal statement before coming back to write the introduction.  

This can help you have a better idea of what opening will best set the groundwork for the rest of the statement body.  

Advice on How to Finish a Mathematics Personal Statement  

Knowing how to close out a personal statement can be just as difficult as beginning one. The final paragraph of your personal statement should round up the statement and summarise your dedication to maths and your academic interest.  

Like the opening, the final section of your personal statement will likely need a good few rewrites, so don’t feel disheartened if you haven’t captured it perfectly first time round.  

FAQs