UCAS personal statement help!

Keep it mostly about why he wants that subject and what he has already done to explore it — reading, a project, work experience, a taster day. Mention hobbies only if they show something transferable. Get him to draft it himself; AI drafts get spotted now.

Just to say Ds application for similar subjects included him talking about his interests. One was a piece of software aimed at kids about designing fancy rockets but he got intrigued about minimum viable designs - lots of things didn't work but he learned a lot about physics and engineering because of it and he could show that and his enthusiasm. Not working end products still say more about skills and interests than someone who doesnt do them at all.

Focus on the skills he has learned doing these activities and how they will help him with his studies/career aspirations.

Is the OU course YASS? If so I would definitely mention it and all the skills he has from doing it - time management, independent learning etc.
If his school don’t send a lot of people to uni then is it in a deprived area where he could get an adjusted offer?

Yes this! You can't do an apprenticeship and study full time.

What is the OU course? If it relates to his uni subjects that would be well worth mentioning on the PS. Assuming it's a similar level to his current course rather than an undergraduate degree ...

I’m even more confused now! Apprenticeship is a job? OU is open university? Both whilst at school?

Is he doing 6th year? The C in English will just mean a conditional offer including his 6th yr grades (is he doing engineering higher now, that seems the obvious thing to have done).

I read a lot of personal statements and I much prefer a structure where the sentences don't all begin with "I...," I would group his paragraphs thematically instead, for example "There are a variety of ways that I've pushed myself to work and focus independently outside of school, I play chess, I taught myself coding and regularly build and develop electronic models in my spare time."

Good luck, I'm not worried about him getting in if 6th year is going well for him, well done to you all.

What is he applying to do? UCAS site has a lot of help and some subject specific guides.https://www.ucas.com/applying/applying-to-university/writing-personal-statement/how-write-personal-statement

Why is he applying to do the subject? What sparked his interest? what elements of the subject is he most attracted to? Consider the course structure - ie small group work/ lectures/placements .

How is it assessed - ie essays/presentations/ exams how has what he has done before prepared him for this. ie if he is doing A'levels how has the things he has studied so far helped prepare for undergraduate studyWhat skills does he have that will help with the subject.

What has he done outside academic prep that might help ie shadowing? blogging or if unrelated how can he link his experience? such as working with people from a variety of backgrounds.

If he mentions hobbies - keep it brief and try to link to skills he will continue to use.
What would he like to do in the future?

This may help, this is London School Of Economics from a few years ago showing good statement sentences and not so good.

https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Assets/PDF/Advising-Advisers-2018-The-Personal-Statement.pdf

Definitely mention the CAD stuff and the gizmos, it doesn't matter that they didn't work out it is about the process he went through researching, making, testing, what he learned from it, what that led to next. From Ds's PS are sentence openers like I first learned, I engaged in, to widen my knowledge, to deepen my understanding, through researching, this allowed me, I attended etc.

When DD applied she was on a Gap year so had no help from college. Luckily I have friends who have a lot of experience in this area (reading and writing them) and the advice was to tell a story of how they came to decide on that course etc. No point in listing achievements without relating them to a relevant skill
Her PS was really good, one friend who works in Uni applications checked it and said she wouldn't change anything. She got offers from all her chosen Uni's and while the PS isn't read by all we were told that if she didn't hit her grades it would be. On one offer holder day a member of staff mentioned her PS to her!
She did have a slightly unusual path tough

I'm a bit puzzled by this comment @Whatthewhatnowreally: what he does do is answer questions in class in a way that seems more sensible to him, so far it’s meant that he got told off because although that was clever, it wasn’t what they were learning.

This suggests to me he is still in school, so are the grades he has Highers? Is he now planning to take Advanced Highers?

I also find it an odd thing to mention – is this really how he behaves in sixth form lessons? Is that due to a misplaced sense of humour or a lack of understanding?

Anyway, he can still do supra-curricular activities that show his maths or engineering - and then talk about them in his PS. UCAS deadline isn't till the end of January.

@Whatthewhatnowreally I think the big question is what does he want to study and what career might he want? Engineering is best done with an engineering degree. Many in unis give a steer as to what to put in the PS. I just think he needs to narrow down what courses would suit him best and write a ps to address why he wants that course.

I would just put the experience of other dc to one side. It’s not relevant to your DC. Is he applying with grades in hand.

So is he applying for some courses with lower offers? I presume it is standard in Scotland to be applying with grades in hand is it? Has he left school or does he have the rest of this year and then more exams to sit? If he's left and is effectively taking a year out, he should make sure he shows in his PS how he is keeping up his maths learning as that is really important.

And is he looking at engineering courses? There is still time but if he wants to be an engineer (or might want to be) then that is the way to go.

Don't worry about someone's kid who is in private school - focus on helping your son get where he wants to be.

About 75% of the statement should be academic &/or relevant. He should reflect on what he has learned. So- the CAD/ gizmos are fantastic. Ie ‘ to explore this further, I have build…. by using …. software….. although they did not achieve my original aim, I learned that…’

Universities want to see academic interest and motivation.

He should talk about the process and what he learned from it. He dies sound as though engineering would suit him better.
My ds successfully applied to the top UK unis for maths/physics.His personal statement was primarily about things he had read and his thoughts on them.How does he see maths influencing the world?
But increasingly unis are very aware that the PS is often not the students own work .

Since they mostly don't get read I wouldn't overly stress about it.

This all uni application needs to be about the extra academic to show enthusiasm for your subject.

Much less weight on basketball. More on a computer science master class on X etc that enrichment they knowledge of coding with Y.

Hey @Whatthewhatnowreally I'm a bit confused by your post so excuse my ignorance. Do you mean he has already completed his schooling and got his grades? Did he do 5 A levels or are you in Scotland where things are different (and I think students take more subjects). I cannot imagine any school in England making someone take English A level against their will.

Does he have AAAAC and needs AAAAA - is that correct? where is this for? Is he also considering unis that have a lower offer?

I agree with Tizer that if he wants to be an engineer he should definitely look at taking an engineering degree. He has time to get advice on this.

He also has time to do some research on his subject, whatever he goes for, watch some lectures online, look at possible careers, have something to say about why he wants to study the subject, what modules appeal, that kind of thing. UCAS deadline is not till after Christmas. If it helps, you could talk together about some of these things and record it so he can use it as a starting point, if he finds it hard to write.