UCAS has stated its plans to eliminate the 4000-character personal statement that all students have - up to now - been required to submit, in order to overhaul the university and college admissions procedures. Instead, university applicants will respond to a set of brief questions from the 2024 admissions cycle, according to The Evening Standard.

In February 2022, UCAS revealed that it was exploring changes to university admissions.UCAS engaged with 1,200 students, 170 instructors, and more than 100 institutions and colleges before implementing the modifications, reports from  The Times claim.  According to UCAS, while 72% of respondents questioned were enthusiastic about the personal statement, 79% agreed that writing the statement without assistance is tough, and 83% stated the process was stressful.

At the time, Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, said “I have always felt that personal statements in their current form favour the most advantaged students.

“So I’m pleased that UCAS have confirmed that reform of the personal statement is in their plans so that personal statements work to the benefit of all students.”

The structured questions aim to “bring focus and clarity for students, reducing the need for support”. Kim Eccleston, Head of Strategy and Reform at UCAS, added: “We believe this will create a more supportive framework, which in turn will help guide students through their responses by removing the guesswork, as well as capturing the information universities and colleges have told us they really need to know from applicants when it comes to offer-making.”

Cambridge Assessment also indicated earlier this year that they will make modifications to their admissions exam since they were operationally unsustainable and in order to "provide them cheaply to students and higher education institutions." 

In summary, please find below the UCAS adjustments we should expect for the 2024/25 admissions cycle:

• Students will no longer have to write a 4,000-character personal statement.

• Instead students will be asked different higher education subject specific questions.

• Other entry requirements such as BMAT, NSAA, ENGAA and TMUA examinations will also be phased out.

Changes to the admissions procedure will be implemented no earlier than 2024 for students starting university in 2025. In the future, UCAS  stated that  it would consider shifting away from textual material and toward multimedia contributions.

Here at Melio Education, our mission is to help international students to make informed and competitive applications to UK universities. We want to see students reach their full potential, so from our perspective any move that evens out the playing field and helps the most talented students get into their dream university is positive. 

Emily Bisset, Head of Product and Operations at Melio Education says: ‘We have always enjoyed working with students on their personal statements, and we appreciated the opportunity for students to display their creative flair. However a free-form piece of writing does disadvantage non-native speakers of English (who make up many of the students we work with), and therefore we are pleased to see this move to a fairer process. We are interested to see in due course what the exact questions will be and how they will be framed. We will continue to support our students in every way that we can to get into the universities where they most want to study.’

Guidance counsellors - wondering what the changes will mean for your students?

Please join our upcoming webinar in February where we will be discussing all things Oxbridge applications, and will include a discussion around these planned changes.

Students - thinking ahead?

If starting to think about university or simply looking for some guidance or preparation on how to get there, we’re here to help! At Melio, we map out the key stages of this journey for you - from what course to pick to submitting your UCAS application, so that every part of the  process feels stress free! Interested in learning more? Book a call with one of our admissions advisors to find out more.