Free Tool

Personal Statement Clinic

Instant structural feedback on all three UCAS questions. Built by Cambridge undergraduates who read these for a living. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

The format changed for 2026 entry. UCAS replaced the single essay with three separate questions. You still have 4,000 characters in total, but each answer needs a minimum of 350 characters. Admissions tutors read all three together, so do not repeat yourself across them.
Total character budget 0 / 4,000
Q1 Motivation Q2 Studies Q3 Beyond

The limits of a free tool

This checks structure.
It cannot check substance.

Software can spot a cliché and count your characters. It cannot tell you whether your argument is interesting, whether your reading is the right reading for that course, or whether an admissions tutor will believe you.

Two Cambridge tutors read your draft independently, without seeing each other’s notes. They then compare, argue about where they disagree, and send you one moderated written report covering structure, argument, evidence, and what an interviewer would push on. A 30-minute call follows so you can ask why. You rewrite; the words stay yours.

£55Two Cambridge tutors · written report · 30-minute call
Personal Statement Review Free 20-min consultation

How to use each question

What tutors actually look for.

Motivation

The commonest failure is answering biographically instead of intellectually. Nobody cares when your interest started. They care what you have thought about since. Open on a specific idea, problem, case, or text, and say what you concluded.

Oxbridge note: name something you disagreed with. Certainty reads as shallow.

Studies

Link named topics from your A-Levels, IB, or EPQ to the course. The useful move is not "I studied X" but "studying X showed me that the subject works in this way, which is why I want to go further".

Russell Group note: this is where predicted grades get context. Use it.

Beyond education

Supercurricular reading, competitions, lectures, MOOCs, work experience. For Oxbridge, depth beats breadth every time: one book you can argue about is worth more than six you listed.

Not sure what to read? Our free library covers 33 Oxbridge courses.

Questions

About this tool.

No. Every check runs in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is saved, and nothing is sent to us or anyone else. Close the tab and it is gone.
It measures structural signals we know correlate with weak drafts: stock phrasing, listing rather than reflecting, vagueness, and flat sentence rhythm. It cannot judge whether your ideas are any good. A high score means you have cleared the obvious hurdles, not that the statement is finished.
Not necessarily. The 4,000 characters can be split however suits your material, provided each answer clears 350. A student with strong academic evidence but thin work experience might reasonably weight questions one and two more heavily.
No, and you should be wary of anyone who offers to. UCAS runs similarity and AI detection, and a statement you did not write collapses the moment an interviewer asks you about it. We review, challenge, and push. The words stay yours.
Two Cambridge tutors read your draft independently, compare notes, and send one moderated written report, followed by a 30-minute call. They judge the things software cannot: whether your reading is appropriate for the course, whether your argument holds, and whether you have said anything an interviewer will want to challenge. It costs £55.

Next step

You have the structure.
Now get the substance checked.

Two Cambridge tutors, one written report, £55. Or start with a free twenty-minute call.

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