UCAS
Going to uni is one of life’s most exciting experiences. Unfortunately, writing the personal statement to get you there is not. Luckily, we’re on hand to help make the process as painless – and hopefully successful – as possible.
What’s the point of personal statements?
Picture this: you’re an admissions tutor. You’ve got tonnes of applicants to your course, all with identical qualifications and grades. How are you going to choose between them? The answer is, of course, their personal statements. It sounds cheesy, but the personal statement is your only chance to shine, and tutors will be looking out for people who are interesting, engaging and above all enthusiastic about their subject. Without the statement, you’re basically just another computer record – so make sure your’s is a good’un!
Before you start writing…
Obviously the most important thing is to decide exactly which course you want to study. The main bulk of your personal statement will detail your reasons for choosing a particular subject, so you need to have a better explanation than ‘just can’t think of anything else’. If you don’t then it might be time to think again about whether this is right course for you – remember, you’re going to have to spend three or more years studying it and these days uni isn’t cheap.
Before you start writing, plan out the structure of your statement and the main points you want to make. It’s also worth having a read of other people’s personal statements (your school/college might provide them or you can take a look here) in order to see the kind of things people write about.
Areas to include…
The subject – First and foremost, the personal statement should explain why you’re applying for the course you’ve chosen. Admissions tutors need to be convinced that you’re committed to the subject and have a good knowledge of what the course entails. For example, someone who applies for Experimental Psychology and thinks they’ll just be sitting around reading about Freud all day has clearly got the wrong end of the stick. While it’s difficult to talk about specific modules (unless you’re only applying to one university), you can still demonstrate knowledge of what’a involved in degree level study, and emphasize any aspects you’re particularly looking forward to.
Your suitability – You also need to illustrate your suitability for a particular subject. Which relevant skills and qualities do you have? For example, someone wishing to study Law will need good analytical skills, while an aptitude for research is useful among History hopefuls. It’s important to give examples to back up what you say – rather than just stating ‘I have strong business acumen’ provide details on how you’ve shown this through your previous studies and experience.
Skills and achievements – UCAS applications will already include details of your academic qualifications, but listing any relevant achievements outside of this can help admissions tutors learn more about you. By ‘relevant’ we’re talking things like Duke of Edinburgh, Young Enterprise, Grade 5 Theory of Music or playing for your county hockey team – not winning the prize for ‘Most likely to become a stripper’ in your school yearbook. You might also want to include information on your part-time job, charity work or a 6th form committee position here – just try and make sure you link it to your subject of choice (particularly important for medicine and vocational courses)
Hobbies and Interests – Again, it’s all about linking your extra-curricular hobbies to the skills necessary for your course. For example, playing sports can show good teamwork, determination and effective time-management, while learning an instrument illustrates attention to detail and self-motivation. Explaining your hobbies is also a way of showing that you’re well rounded and able to contribute to university life – just don’t mention how much you’re looking forward to getting hammered with the rugby team every Wednesday.
Gap yah (sorry, year) – You don’t have to mention plans for a gap year in your application (especially if you’re not actually taking one – duh). However, if you are applying for deferred entry you might want to explain what you’re planning to do, particularly if it’s relevant to the course (nursing orphaned turtles in Thailand might help your chances for Marine Biology etc.)
Future plans – A nice way to round off your personal statement is to emphasize your readiness to pursue the next stage of your education, and, if you have future career plans, show how this degree will help you achieve them.
Tips for writing
A good personal statement should flow naturally and not sound overly-elaborate. Avoid being too formal or too friendly, and definitely don’t shove in random words to sound clever when you don’t really know what they mean.
Personal statements are all about selling yourself, but you want to avoid sounding arrogant. Don’t go off on one about how you’re the next Einstein – quiet confidence is the look you’re going for, with evidence to back up any boasts.
Aim for variation i.e. not always using ‘I’ and applying a range of sentence structures.
Always open and close strongly. The first and last sentences should give tutors a great impression of you.
Don’t bother with jokes and quotes (although if you’re the type of person who wants to put them in, then you’ll probably ignore this advice anyway).
After you’ve written your statement
When you’ve finished your first draft (yes people, there might be a few), it’s time to get it checked over. Your school should help you out with this, although you could also ask parents and/or friends that can spell for their input. See if there’s anything they think you should add or leave out, and make sure your spelling and grammar is perfect – there’s no excuse for it not to be!
Once you’ve re-drafted the personal statement (and re-drafted, and re-drafted…) then it’s time to submit it to UCAS. At which stage, all we can say is good luck and fingers crossed!
(Article from Student Beans – www.studentbeans.com)