Personal Statement

Discussion and advice on Sixth Form matters

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SteveDH
Posts: 464
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:30 pm
Location: Harrow

Re: Personal Statement

Post by SteveDH »

As pretty much everyone's personal statement is moulded by the advice they are getting from the people around them I think it unfair that it can have so much importance in deciding if someone gets an offer.
That aside I'm pretty sure that some of the RS group universities that my DD applied to said they didn't even look at personal statements.

a bit old.. but sort of supports what I am saying :)
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... statements
ToadMum
Posts: 11947
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Personal Statement

Post by ToadMum »

SteveDH wrote:As pretty much everyone's personal statement is moulded by the advice they are getting from the people around them I think it unfair that it can have so much importance in deciding if someone gets an offer.
That aside I'm pretty sure that some of the RS group universities that my DD applied to said they didn't even look at personal statements.

a bit old.. but sort of supports what I am saying :)
http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... statements
I thought that Cambridge was a Russell Group university! Possibly just not one that any of the students in the Sutton Trust experiment applied to? Although the colleges don't all necessarily do the same thing, I suppose, so some of the killer Sutton Trust PS s may have got themselves read.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Warks mum
Posts: 538
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:30 am
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Personal Statement

Post by Warks mum »

I'm surprised that article is still on the Guardian website given that it was written in 2009 and the conclusion of its first few paragraphs ('[Jane] might have spared herself the bother' of writing her Personal Statement) is completely contradicted a little further down:

"Cambridge probably interviews more applicants than any other UK university, and we necessarily use personal statements to inform the interview process because a purely academic record tells us nothing about the personality we are engaging with and how well they will adapt to college life."

That seems to underline the advice given by Guest55 and others 'in the know' on this forum!

If a student is invited to an interview the Personal Statement is an obvious link in for an interviewer - if only to have something to chat about with a nervous candidate to help him or her relax and give the best answers to other questions later in the interview.
Catseye
Posts: 1824
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:03 pm
Location: Cheshire

Re: Personal Statement

Post by Catseye »

Warks mum wrote:If a student is invited to an interview the Personal Statement is an obvious link in for an interviewer - if only to have something to chat about with a nervous candidate to help him or her relax and give the best answers to other questions later in the interview.
I agree, my OH concurs. The same is true for Med School interviews although Manchester Med School has moved towards multiple mini interviews (MMI)- A bit like the old objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) that my OH and I did for medicine(although I only did the pre-clinical years)- where there are about 7 or 8 stations but they all start with the personal statements-SO it is important.

I still remember my Anatomy OSCE we just copied the answer of the person in front but made sure the lead person in the front of our little cabal was a competent anatomist :oops: He was paid handsomely with the promise of ten free pints of larger :D
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