 Hi, I'm Matt Williams. I'm a Tutor of Politics here at the University of Oxford and I'm going to share my five top tips for writing a personal statement if you're applying to Oxford. Tip number one, there is no special formula for writing a personal statement to universities like Oxford. We just want you to be yourself. We want to learn about you, just write honestly about your experiences. Tip number two, you can only produce one personal statement for all of the universities you apply to, so it should focus on the courses that you're applying to, not any particular university. So don't say that you just want to come to Oxford University because it won't help you. Tip number three, when looking at a personal statement, Oxford tutors will only be interested in what demonstrates your academic ability and potential. So if you can tell us what you've done to go above and beyond your school curriculum and what you thought about it, that would be really helpful. Tip number four, as a rule of thumb, you should have 80% of your personal statement focused on academic matters, so stuff that you've found interesting that you've read about that's relevant to the course you're applying to, and 20% can be extracurricular activities that have no bearing on your academic interests. Finally, tip number five, be honest on your personal statement, don't lie, but also don't feel the need to be modest, right? Tell us what you've done, tell us what you thought about it. Sell yourself a little bit. Check out our website for loads of great resources on preparing your application for university and don't forget to sign up for our Choosing Oxford mailing list.