3 Ways You Can Use AI to Help with your Personal Statement

If you want to use AI to help write your personal statement, then make sure you read this guide first.

Using AI alone to write your personal statement is a big no, no! However, using AI in the right way, can save you from the blank page of doom.

AI tools are now part of our everyday life. ChatGPT has over 800 million weekly active users. It’s our ‘go to’ adviser for all kinds of day-to-day queries. So, why would you not use it to help write your personal statement?

Well, essentially, using AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to completely write your personal statement, could be considered cheating and may impact your chances of getting an offer from your preferred university.

And, to make sure you’re being transparent, UCAS will ask you to confirm if you have copied your personal statement from another source – including AI. They also have an entire team, whose job it is, to check applications for unfair AI usage.

There’s no doubt, ChatGPT is an extremely intelligent tool, but how much does it know about you personally? The answer is, not much! Therefore, any personal statement that it produces will follow a basic pattern and this is not the personal approach universities want to see.

Your personal statement should be unique to you. It should summarise your ambition, skills and experiences, in your own words, which can be easier said than done. So, how can you turn to your favourite AI tool for help, without breaking any rules.

Here’s a few ways you can use AI to help with your Personal Statement:

Inspo and ideas

There’s nothing wrong with getting some much-needed inspiration to help you get started. You can ask AI to read the course information from the university website and give you a list of skills you might want to highlight in your write up. You can connect these skills with your own experiences and show how your strengths reflect the type of student the university is looking for on this course.

Example AI prompt:

I am applying to study Sports Journalism at University Academy 92 for September 2026 entry. I’m writing my UCAS personal statement and need guidance on:

• The key skills and qualities universities expect for Sports Journalism.
• How to demonstrate these skills effectively in my statement with examples.
• Any tips to make my statement stand out for this course.

Structure and format:

It’s useful to know how UCAS and universities require you to present your personal statement. Ask AI to generate some guidelines to help you develop a good structure to your personal statement or produce some prompts for each section.

Example AI prompt:

• I am writing my UCAS personal statement for a UK university for entry in September 2026. Please provide:
• A clear structure with section breakdowns and word count guidance.
• What content universities expect in each section.
• Tips to make the statement stand out and common mistakes to avoid.

Reviewing and checking

Once you have a draft of your personal statement, you can ask AI to check it and suggest ways to improve its readability. Make sure you consider the suggestions carefully as you still want it to sound like it’s your voice. Another option is to ask friends and family to read your personal statement too. They know you well and will be able to tell you if it sounds like it’s something you would write.

Example AI prompt:

Please review my UCAS personal statement and suggest ways to improve its readability while keeping the overall tone and voice consistent with my original style. Do not rewrite it completely—just provide specific, actionable feedback on sentence flow, clarity, and structure without changing the personality or tone.

Remember, your AI tool of choice will want extra brownie points and may suggest that it can create a full draft of your personal statement. Don’t fall into its trap! It might feel like a quick win at the time but is it worth risking a place on your dream course?!

Hopefully, you now understand the acceptable ways to use AI in your personal statement writing. If you are still struggling, you can reach out to our Student Futures team on futures@UA92.ac.uk or call 0161 843 4860 to book in a 1-2-1 session for personal statement writing advice. Alternatively, watch our video on the Web’s Most Searched Questions about Personal Statements.