Many students agonise over writing a UCAS personal statement. As a general rule, I suggest keeping it relatively simple – be honest, and give the impression you would be a suitable student for the course. Don’t worry if you haven’t got a huge list of extra curricular activities. At the same time, you don’t want to appear one dimensional.
Things to Do in Your Statement:
- Write with perfect grammar and spelling.
- Be Honest
- Give the impression you are interested in this subject and will be motivated to study
- Give the impression that you will be a likeable student to teach.
- If possible, Make a link between what you have done in your spare time and the course you propose to do
Don’t
- Be arrogant. You have to give a good impression of yourself without appearing over the top. It is a fine balance, which many students have difficulty doing.
- List your hobbies with little explanation ( I play football, I watch TV e.t.c)
- Say in your spare time you play computer games (yes, I have seen drafts with sentences in like. ‘My favourite hobby is playing computer games’
- Feel obliged to excessively promote yourself (your not a politician standing for election. – Your admission to University does not depend on how many swimming badges you received at the age of 11.)
- Put in tired cliches “It’s always been my life long dream to be an Economist…” (no body has this dream)
- State the obvious all the time. “I read newspapers, which gives me upto the date information about the economy”
- Make sentences excessively long
More ideas here on writing a personal statement
If you are still unsure what to write check out this model College application letter , which is apparently real 
