Tell me how to write a stonking University personal statement please.

[JoyfulJanuary]

I'm applying to uni on my own, not through a college so I'm on my own with this. Can you help me with an outline of what to say & what to avoid? Many thanks

Hello Joyful, can you tell us how old you are as that will help us pitch it in the right direction for you.

A couple of questions:
What course are you applying for?
Why do you want to study this course?

Unless there's very good reason (eg., you're applying for Archaeology and you just volunteered on a dig), don't mention hobbies. Especially don't try to do a little character-sketch 'I enjoy reading and recently completed a half-marathon' type thing. It's irrelevant.

Other than that, it depends on the subject and your age (I'm guessing you're a mature student and mature students might tailor things differently).

Basically, they want to know that you're a good bet for the course, in terms of your existing knowledge and skills, your potential to pick up new knowledge and skills, and your work ethic. For some subjects you'll also want to demonstrate you have some sense of what the course is about.

UCAS have an personal statement tool that walks you through the different elements to include.

Psychology 19yrs old

I have a passion for psychology since I had a nervous breakdown and the whole family dynamic was exposed by psychologists. Since then I've grown enormously and our whole family has been bathed in therapy. We've all learnt an enormous amount about how we came to be who we were - we're all very different now! (for the better) Now I've come out the other side of that period I'm very aware of character traits in other people & fascinated by where they come from. (their life events)

I haven't done A levels, I did an NVQ level 3 in childcare but I've found 5 uni's that'll take me - I have enough points.

Well, I wouldn't say 'I have a passion for ...' anything. It's a bit of a cliche (you wouldn't know, so don't worry, but it is!), and it makes the mistake of confusing what you're trying to get across. You're trying to convince a university that you'll be a good, worthwhile student. You've told then you really like something. They're not the same at all, and a lot of students confuse being really enthusiastic with being prepared to work hard and learn things.

I think including your personal backstory makes good sense. Can you relate that the core contents of the courses you're looking at? Or to particular theories/methodologies you might study?

Please don't use the term "nervous breakdown" when referring to your past problems.

Yes, avoid ‘passion’. Talk about course content. I’d worry from what you’ve said here —especially as you aren’t coming via A-levels — that you might imagine a psychology degree involves mostly sitting about talking about feelings and family dynamics, whereas ideally, you’ve got to have a good maths brain too, the capacity to carry out research and analyse data, work accurately with statistics etc.

Have you read any books that have inspired you? What aspects of the books did you find particularly interesting? I’m sure there are books you’d be expected to have read.

This is a reading list from one university, you might have time to read one of these, I have no idea, I just googled ‘Psychology Reading List’.

Eysenck, M. W. and M. T. Keane (2010). Cognitive psychology: a student's handbook. Hove, Psychology Press.

Hogg, M. A. and G. M. Vaughan (2010). Essentials of social psychology. London, Prentice Hall.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., B. Fredrickson, et al. (2009). Atkinson and Hilgard's introduction to psychology. Andover, Cengage Learning.

Schaffer, H. R. (2006). Key concepts in developmental psychology. London, SAGE.
Gazzaniga, M.S., Ivry, R.B., Mangun, G.R. (2014). Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind, 4th edition. W.W. Norton

I agree that you could start with your own experience but use that to open up more specific research you've done since becoming interested. What therapies have you read up on, had experience of, found most useful? What directions are those therapies currently taking, or are their new ones emerging that you want to explore and study?
Definitely mention some of the key texts. Show that you've already read some of the core literature on the subject and some more wide-ranging stuff that demonstrates specific areas of interest within the field.
I don't know if it would help to say something about why you chose a BA over a BSc or vice versa, since that's one of the few subjects that can go either way.
You could mention current career plans or areas of specialism you'd like to explore once you've graduated.

The Student Room has some examples of personal statements. Whatever you do don't plagiarise.

Read the course outline and relate your experience to the way the course is covered at your first choice university. Do a rough draft and run it past one of the tutors at the college where you did your NVQ. Expect to make changes.

Make sure the course is accredited, most of them are BPAS (I think that’s right) accredited which means they follow a very similar curriculum. If it isn’t it will be harder to become a clinical psychologist if that becomes an eventual goal.

I've been checking a lot of these recently (yr 13 tutor)...
Generally structure works well if you focus on 'this is what I have done, this is the skill/ knowledge I learnt from it, this is how it has increased my interest in the subject/ ensured I will make a valuable contribution to x university.'
A good PS often has educational background and experience and reasons for interest in the subject, followed by a section on future plans and aspirations, followed by other relevant skills and experience.
Focus on specific examples and use key words and phrases from the university's website (there is usually a section on the person spec). Have a very clear idea about what the course entails- not only what you will be studying, but how it is assessed: are communication/ collaborative/mathematical/ independent research skills important? Evidence how you have attained these.
Proof read it carefully. Write simply and clearly, don't reinforce your adjectives ('skilled' not 'highly skilled'), use positive language, avoid oversharing about your personal experiences (this is a professional application) and don't use the word 'passion'!

A good tip is to put yourself in the place of the university and think about the type of person they’re looking for: bright, hard working, curious, able to work with others on projects etc. You can then work backwards from that.

If character traits is your interest you'll find 90% of a psychology course really dull. It's about science and brain chemicals and statistics. Social psychology is a tiny component.

For a course to be accredited it needs to include a lot of science and maths. An NVQ in childcare will not be good preparation for that so it would be tough.

If the course isn't accredited (and I suspect that a course which accepts childcare as a pre requisite may not be) then if I were you I would look at sociology or psychosocial sciences instead. You'll have less science and maths and more of the social stuff. Plus likely more flexibility and options.

As for the personal statement, it just needs to cover why you want to study the course and what will make you a good student. I wouldn't cover your personal history in detail. Saying your 'past personal experience of the profession has been very positive and sparked your interest' would be enough.

Thanks for all the above. Cheeky bump for the evening crowd..

I’m a course admin and admissions selector (have worked in UG admissions at two universities). Most universities receive multiple applications for each place so you really want to stand out and show your enthusiasm. We want to see why you deserve the place, what you will bring to the course and what you will take from it. Any relevant experience, research you’ve done, etc.

As others have said, we’re not looking to hear about hobbies or a grade 4 clarinet exam. Your personal statement should be a considered piece of writing relevant to the course you want to study.

Make sure that you will definitely be considered for entry with your qualifications. Not just your UCAS points - the actual qualifications you hold. If you don’t have something that the university asks for, you’ll be rejected immediately. So many people think ‘I don’t have a B in maths but maybe they’ll consider me anyway’. Less than 10% of our applicants get a place so people who don’t meet the minimum are weeded out in the first round.

Finally - and I can’t stress this enough - don’t apply to multiple courses in one university. Generally they can only make you one offer so it’s a waste of a UCAS choice.

DD got all of her offers within hours - they clearly did not read her statement.
DS got four of his responses within hours - they clearly did not read it either
Statements are rather overrated from what they and their friends say

Ta1kinpeace

I suppose it depends on the university. Both that I’ve worked at (one RG, one not if that makes a difference?) placed a lot of emphasis on the personal statement. We receive 5000 applications a year and we read the personal statement and academic reference of every single person who meets the minimum requirement. We’ve rejected people who didn’t show enough passion for the subject in their statement.

I suspect its more about the subject than the Uni.
Both my kids are doing pure science.
All of their friends at Unis up and down the country (and their college sends kids to EVERY Uni) had similar experiences

DD already has her A levels and has been to several open days recently. Three universities told her she would get an offer straight away. Newcastle said that they don't read the personal statements of students who meet their entry criteria, only those of borderline applicants.

This is for biomedical science.

I think it depends on the course as well. Psychology is usually very popular so the personal statement is more likely to come into it as the university is likely to have too many applicants who meet the standard requirements. Other courses with fewer applicants or that don't have the same staff/student ratio requirements set by a professional body can be less competitive so the statement is less important.

OP, I'd avoid using anything like "I have been interested in psychology from an early age" or "from the age of X" as it's the most popular (and overused) way of starting a personal statement. I would avoid using quotes (the university want to know about what you think, not Emily Dickinson) and make sure that at least 3/4 of the statement is about you, your understanding of the course and why you would be good at it. As others have said, it's not about what you would enjoy but what skills you have that would make you a better candidate than anyone else.

If you are hoping to work in psychology after your degree please do make sure the course is BPS accredited - it's a long road to chartered psychologist status and it'll be even longer if this course isn't.

(Old admissions bod - not RG but quite well thought of in this field)

I also work in a Uni - Not Admissions, but do have responsibilities for student number planning. I should say that we get a whole lot of students wishing to do Psychology because they, or family/friends have had psychological problems; something of a ‘physician, heal thyself!’ This isn’t necessarily the right attitude as it’s not all Health Psychology, unless the syllabus says so. Really do check for BPS accreditation, as if you ever want to practice, it’s pretty much essential.

Personal statement wise, really think of it as if you were applying for a job, in a way. Can you take a STAR approach?

Good luck! And - do you want to tell us which Unis, as we might have advice for certain programmes? There’s a lot of HE folks on here.