The personal statement

Step 2: Applying

This is the applicant's chance to tell the conservatoires why they are applying and why they should want them as a student. The audition panel will want to know why applicants are interested in the courses for which they have applied and what they hope to do after their studies. A good personal statement is important - it could influence a conservatoire's decision to offer a place.

Please remind your students that their personal statements must be all their own original work. We will undertake checks to verify this through our Similarity Detection Service>>

Applicants do not have to use all the space provided. They should consider carefully what information to use in support of their application and the best way to present it effectively. Everything they write must be truthful and accurate. The personal statement should be a true match of the applicant, their aspirations, personality, feelings about music and experience. Showing understanding of today's music profession, which is competitive and requires versatility, is helpful and indicates a suitable temperament. We suggest that applicants include the following information in their personal statements.

  • Why they have chosen the courses on their application. They should remember that each conservatoire will be able to see the other conservatoires to which they have applied.

  • What interests them about their chosen study area (whether playing an instrument, singing, conducting or composing).

  • Their experience of playing their chosen instrument(s) or in singing, conducting or composing. They should also mention any other activity related to the course(s) for which they have applied. bassoon student

  • They should mention membership of national and/or international orchestras, choirs or chamber groups, for example, NYO, NYC or EUYO.

  • Their career plans after completing their course.

  • Any job, work experience, placement or voluntary work they have done, particularly if it is relevant to the course(s) for which they have applied. They may also want to mention the skills and experience they have gained from these activities. They should try to link any experience to skills or qualities mentioned in the Entry Profiles.

  • Any involvement in widening participation schemes such as summer schools or mentoring activities.

  • Involvement in master classes or other Gifted and Talented programmes.

  • Details of accreditation achieved for any activities in preparation for Higher Education, for example, through the ASDAN Aimhigher Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (COPE qualification).

  • Details of non-accredited skills and achievement that they have gained through activities such as:

    • ASDAN (Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network awards), for example, Universities Award

    • Diploma of Achievement

    • Duke of Edinburgh Award

    • OCNW Level 3 Certificate in Personal Development for Progression (previously known as the Liverpool Enrichment Programme)

    • vfifty award

    • Millennium Volunteering Certificate of Volunteering Achievement

    • Young Enterprise.

  • Their future plans: if your students know what they'd like to achieve after completing the course, they should explain how they want to use the knowledge and experience they'll gain at the conservatoire.

  • Any subjects they are studying that do not have a formal assessment.

  • Any sponsorship or placements they have or have applied for.

  • Their social, sports or leisure interests and any other achievements that they are proud of. Your students should think about how their interests and social activities demonstrate their skills and abilities. If there's anything that relates to their course or to the skills needed to complete the course, they should include it - the more evidence the better.

  • Any positions of responsibility that they hold/have held both in and out of school, eg form prefect or representative for a local charity.

  • Attributes that make them interesting, special or unique.

Unit grades - applicants can include grades or marks for individual units of a qualification (such as GCE AS or A level) in their personal statements. They must not include this information in the education section.

Employment - applicants who completed their full-time education several years ago should provide information about any relevant paid or unpaid work experience or activities. They should also give details of their current and previous employment.

If applicants cannot enter all the details in the space provided on the application, they should send additional information direct to all their choices of conservatoire after they have received their Welcome letter. They must not send additional information to CUKAS.

International students should also try to answer the following questions.

  • Why do they want to study in the UK?

  • How they can show that they can complete a higher education course that is taught in English? They should say if some of their studies have been taught or examined in English.

  • Have they taken part in any activities where they have used English outside of their studies?

Preparation of the personal statement

The personal statement must be written in English. Applicants can enter up to 4,000 characters (this includes spaces) or 47 lines (this includes blank lines of text), whichever comes first.

We strongly recommend that applicants write the statement using a word processing package and paste it in to Apply. After pasting it in, they should click 'Save' before making any other changes to it.

Whether applicants are typing their statement directly into the box, or amending a statement they pasted in from a word-processing package, they should click 'Save' regularly - the Apply system will time-out after 35 minutes of inactivity. Typing in the personal statement box does not count as activity.

The online application system also provides detailed guidance about entering personal statements.

More detailed advice about personal statements is available in the students' section>>