Biology Personal Statement Guide

Your Personal Statement is your chance to show the admissions team who you are and why they should take you on their course, so it’s important to take the time to get it right.

While this can seem intimidating, you are in the right place – our Biology Personal Statement Guide takes you through the whole process and gives you some top tips to get you well on your way to a stellar Personal Statement.

This guide is split into the following sections:

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

Why are Personal Statements Important? 

While your grades – both completed and predicted – give the admissions team raw data on your academic abilities, your Personal Statement offers context. It shows them who you are, what you’re passionate about and, crucially, why they should want you on their Biology course.

Together with the other information in your application, the Personal Statement is a key piece that helps admissions teams to decide whether or not to offer you a place (or an interview (for courses that offer interviews). It is therefore important for you to dedicate time and effort to your Personal Statement in order to make sure it best reflects you and your abilities.

What Should I Include in a Biology Personal Statement? 

In broad terms, you should include why you want to study Biology, why you’re ready for university-level study, and why the university should want you. We can boil these down into several key elements: your passion for the subject; your academic ability; and your ‘soft’ skills. We’ll look at how you do each of these in a little more detail below, but the key is to use evidence – in each case use an example to show the admissions team that you have the specific skill, rather than just telling them.

Your Passion for the Subject

A degree is a big commitment, and the admissions team are looking for students that are truly passionate about Biology. Take a moment to think about which area(s) of Biology you find most interesting, and what sparked this interest – it could be that you went on holiday to the coast, for example, and found yourself fascinated by the collection of life present in rockpools, or perhaps you watched a documentary on the incredible abilities of animals to migrate.

You then want to show that you have actively pursued this passion since this motivation struck: perhaps you then went on to research why such life is present in these pools, or the mechanisms by which animals navigate over long distances.

Your Academic Ability

While the admissions team will have your grades, you can use your Personal Statement to show the breadth of your academic ability beyond just these exams. You can use direct examples – such as taking part in Maths Challenges or essay competitions – or indirect examples of where you have gone beyond your classwork to learn more about the areas that interest you. You may have attended a lecture, read a book, or read a recent article in the area in which you are most interested.

For such indirect evidence, the key part is to show that you have thought about it afterwards – don’t just say that you read a certain book, but say what you learnt from it, how it changed the way you think about Biology, or how it led you to further research a certain area.

Your Soft Skills

At degree level you are responsible for your work-life balance and will be working independently for much of the time, so the admissions team are also looking for someone with the skills to thrive in this environment: time management, self-motivation, and persistence, to name a few!

You can use examples from other areas in your life to show these skills. Perhaps you play an instrument or are part of a school club, and these extra commitments mean you have to schedule your time carefully. Or perhaps you can think of a time when you persevered through a tricky situation despite its challenges. The key here is to stress what you have gained from these activities that you can bring to your Biology degree.

What Should I Avoid in a Biology Personal Statement? 

Try to avoid ‘telling’ rather than showing. Anyone can say that they are passionate about Biology or that they read into their favourite topics in their spare time. Instead, try to back all of your attributes up with examples and evidence from your school work or super-curricular activities.

That said, it is also important to avoid simply listing achievements or examples without reflecting on them. In each case, think about what you learnt, how it changed how you think, or how it will help you in your degree. This reflectance shows critical thinking and makes for a quality Personal Statement.

If you can’t think of what you’ve gained from a certain experience, or how it will help you in your degree, it may not be relevant and you should consider not including it. Due to the word limit (see below), each example needs to show a strong attribute of yours – if not, it can be chopped!

Finally, try to avoid cliché statements such as the classic “I have always wanted to study Biology”. While it may have been what you’ve wanted to do since you were little, there is always a better way to show this and to be a little more creative.

Advice on How to Start a Biology Personal Statement  

Ultimately, there are no rules on how to start a Personal Statement and, perhaps apart from using a cliché statement (as above!), you can’t necessarily go wrong.

That said, you should try to express yourself and show your passion for Biology early on. You could open with a line summarising where your interest comes from, or the particular area you want to study (if you know this). For example, this could be something like: “While my interest in Biology was sparked early on by a family visit to the coast, my appreciation for the complexities and intricacies of the natural world has only grown since, and is ultimately an area to which I wish to dedicate my career”.

Advice on How to Finish a Biology Personal Statement  

Again, there are no hard and fast rules on how to finish a Personal Statement and it is an area where you can apply a little creative licence.

The general aim is to wrap up with a concise one or two lines summarising why you’re passionate about Biology, why you’re ready to study it at degree level, and why you’re a good candidate.

If you opened with a particular structure or example, it can be nice to come full circle and refer back to this – perhaps referencing how you feel that this example, combined with your academic ability and the ‘soft’ skills you evidenced in the body of your statement, makes you a good candidate to study Biology at degree level.

FAQs