Business management personal statement: how to write it

Business and management degrees study how organisations make decisions: strategy, people, finance and markets. Tutors want applicants who are curious about why businesses succeed or fail, and who can back that up with evidence. For 2027 entry, UCAS asks three questions with a shared 4,000-character limit.

The three questions, for business and management

1. Why do you want to study this course?

Choose one business decision you find interesting, such as a company entering a new market, a merger that failed, or a firm that changed its pricing. Explain what you think happened and what you would want to study to understand it better.

2. How have your studies prepared you?

Any subject can count if you link it to the course. Psychology to how people are managed, maths to forecasting, history to how firms adapted. Name a specific piece of work rather than listing subjects.

3. What else have you done to prepare?

Running a small business, a part-time job, Young Enterprise or reading business books all count when you reflect on them. Say what went wrong as well as what went right.

Common mistakes

• The “I want to be an entrepreneur” opening with nothing specific behind it.
• Listing activities without saying what they taught you.
• Business jargon (“synergy”, “leverage”) in place of plain explanation.
• Ignoring the academic side. It is a degree, so show you want to study the subject.

Questions people ask

Sources: Imperial College London: the UCAS personal statement. Checked October 2026.