Personal Statement

Discussion and advice on Sixth Form matters

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quasimodo
Posts: 3854
Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:47 pm

Re: Personal Statement

Post by quasimodo »

I have found the information on Repton Schools website useful over the years on this link.

https://fluencycontent-schoolwebsite.ne ... 5entry.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On the personal statement the information on pages 24 and 48 give useful general advice.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Personal Statement

Post by Guest55 »

This information describes THEIR internal processes - many schools have different ways of organising UCAS.

I would suggest you look at general information rather than the above ...
KB
Posts: 3030
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Re: Personal Statement

Post by KB »

Broadly -
1st section: why do I want to study this course?
2nd section: why will I be good at it

1st section requires demonstrating that you understand what is involved

2nd section requires evidence especially of an interest in/study of the subject or related areas outside of school/ the A level curriculum.

Non-academic extra curricular activities as G55 says need to be targeted so they are used to illustrate/ provide evidence of skills etc that are relevant. Creative thinking can be used eg. If you do loads of activities you can use this as evidence of good time management for a course that has a heavy workload or an arts degree where you need to organise your own study.

As G55 says there is no point just listing activities.
The main focus needs to be on th course and your suitability for it. Departments do the recruiting and they are interested in students who will do well academically. Being an asset to the Uni football team won't help your cause :wink: If you want to mention your sporting prowess you need to show why it's relevant ( tenacity, skill in reviewing performance and improving .....)

Generally the non-subject related extra curricular should be absolute max of 1/3 - my advice would be much less unless for some reason it is particularly relevant to the degree.
tiffinboys
Posts: 8022
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:00 pm
Location: Surrey

Re: Personal Statement

Post by tiffinboys »

KB wrote:Broadly -
1st section: why do I want to study this course?
2nd section: why will I be good at it

1st section requires demonstrating that you understand what is involved

2nd section requires evidence especially of an interest in/study of the subject or related areas outside of school/ the A level curriculum.

Non-academic extra curricular activities as G55 says need to be targeted so they are used to illustrate/ provide evidence of skills etc that are relevant. Creative thinking can be used eg. If you do loads of activities you can use this as evidence of good time management for a course that has a heavy workload or an arts degree where you need to organise your own study.

As G55 says there is no point just listing activities.
The main focus needs to be on th course and your suitability for it. Departments do the recruiting and they are interested in students who will do well academically. Being an asset to the Uni football team won't help your cause :wink: If you want to mention your sporting prowess you need to show why it's relevant ( tenacity, skill in reviewing performance and improving .....)

Generally the non-subject related extra curricular should be absolute max of 1/3 - my advice would be much less unless for some reason it is particularly relevant to the degree.
Very practical and concise advise.
Catseye
Posts: 1824
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:03 pm
Location: Cheshire

Re: Personal Statement

Post by Catseye »

although not of imminent importance to us as yet, it will be in a years time and I can imagine it would be perennial issue .
I think making it a sticky would be useful,it would save me searching for this thread in years time !
2childmum
Posts: 523
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 4:02 pm
Location: S E London

Re: Personal Statement

Post by 2childmum »

The only 2 unis DS looked at who mentioned anything about the personal statement both said they don't really look at it - they both only looked at past exam performance and predicted grades. One said they knew that it wasn't a level playing field when it came to opportunities for different types of experience so they didn't take a lot of notice. The other 3 talks didn't mention it at all. This was for physics - maybe it's different for arts/humanities.
DS school has told them it should be almost all academic stuff. A high flying school, though, with most going to the top unis, so maybe that is relevant too.
ToadMum
Posts: 11946
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Personal Statement

Post by ToadMum »

I don't remember much mention of the personal statement at any of the universities I looked round with DS1 last year, either. The only one that stuck in my mind was Southampton, where the gist was that they only really looked at the PS if you dropped a grade. This was for Biochemistry.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Personal Statement

Post by Guest55 »

2childmum - I teach at GS - many of ours study science at uni - really you will get a range of answers depending on who you talk to.

As you apply to 5 unis you need to cover all bases ...
copella
Posts: 1200
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 3:51 pm

Re: Personal Statement

Post by copella »

Interesting Toadmum and 2childmum that the Unis you looked at said they didn't look at Personal statements. We had a very different experience at the two we looked at. Just goes to show you need to cover all bases
solimum
Posts: 1420
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 3:09 pm
Location: Solihull, West Midlands

Re: Personal Statement

Post by solimum »

Trying to remember back to when my DD applied: she had an interview at Manchester (also for Biochemistry) and she said the interviewer clearly had a copy of her PS and used it as a starting point for the conversation (at least partly to check it was genuine I guess!). And other places that interview are quite likely to take odd points from the PS to talk about - so don't mention a book you've read if you haven't!
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