Nothing personal for personal statement.

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Hi. My son has just started his alevels and they are already talking about personal statements for uni. Tbh I never thought he would be taking a levels as he has a language processing disorder and this has resulted in him being quite introverted. However we sought support and he worked hard to get good GCSEs all as and bs and a c for English not bad for a kid who couldn’t speak properly until he was 7. But he has no extra curricular interests. We have tried to get him involved with football teams and martial arts clubs but he always stops after a year or so. We don’t want him to get a job at the moment because the employers who take on teenagers around here are notorious for exploiting them, making them work unsociable hours which impacts on there study time. A personal statement requires them to include something that makes them stand out as a candidate and he just doesn’t have anything. Any advice please?

What subject is he interested in? What about additional reading and lectures, visits to places e.g. specialist museums connected to his subject. Any additional roels at schol? Prefect, Mentor, helping in clubs etc.

Volunteering , in or out of school, D of E, Saturday job, online short courses? What does he hope to study, maybe work towards something relevant to that.

The personal Statement should mainly cover why he wants to do a particular course. So if he wants to do English, he should read books he can write about. If he wants to do History, he should read History books and attend History lectures, which he can write about. The same goes for every other subject.

Is your DS doing or intending to do an EPQ? If so gear this is some way to his potential degree course. Have a look at courses on Futurelearn or MOOC (both free online courses) which your DS could undertake.

The only reason for including activities is if they support the course he wants to do, so "I have been editor of the school newsletter" if he is applying for journalism, rather than "I have DofE bronze" (every other middle class child dies, it means nothing)

does oops!

His personal statement should only reflect why he wants to do the course. Admissions tutors aren't remotely interested applicants' football/netball/swimming/violin/shelf stacking abilities.

I would try and get him to broaden his knowledge about what he wants to study. Volunteering can help if it’s relevant. DofE and working isn’t relevant other than showing you are reliable, can manage your time and can work in a team. If he applies for courses where they need bums on seats, (generally at mid-lower tariff universities) it won’t matter too much anyway. However the best advice is to do extra for his subject. You don’t have to attend lectures (you just turn up and Mum and Dad have paid) but reading relevant magazines, exploring personal interests in the subject and perhaps becoming involved with a local club or interest group will help. If he needs work experience (and some courses require this) start thinking about this now.

Some admissions tutors are interested in how you manage your time and whether you can manage a high workload. The very best universities do look at the whole candidate.

The very best universities do look at the whole candidate.

Oxbridge and one or two other might that's true. But with As and Bs at GCSE I'd suggest he won't be looking at those.

It sounds like your DS has had to overcome challenges that others take for granted. By doing this, he's learnt skills and built his resilience. Gaining great GCSE results is his success story. His personal statement is about who he is, what he wants for his future and how he intends to achieve it.

It is still worthwhile broadening out your “education” and life skills instead of being a narrow introverted person - if you can. When looking for jobs it really will help if there is more to a young person than qualifications. Employers take less notice of “success stories” regarding qualifications but like a rounded person.

Wow thanks so much for all the great advice. It's definitely given me a clearer ideas of what is expected. His LPD which is an umbrella term affects his schematic memory so he has by necessity developed a fine attention to detail. He is studying art, physics , biology and the Welsh Bac which will provide opportunities for work experience. He feels that biological research that relates to environmental issues is where he wants to go so having read the comments it seems that his best option would be to try and get some volunteer work in one of the woodland parks. We live in Wales so won't need to go far!! He won't have to do much "peopling" either as he calls it😕. It's very hard to change an introverts world view as they find too much stimulation from others exhausting and I'm not sure if it's his personality or a characteristic of LPD. But he has grit we were told in the early days not to expect too much from him academically but he's already proving them wrong. Thanks again.

Volunteering at a woodland park would be perfect if he wants to study that sort of thing.

Bubbles, uni admissions officers are interested in why you want to do their subject, not 'broad education experiences'. So I completely agree with PPs in that you just really need to demonstrate interest in that subject. And useful to add something personal so yes overcoming personal obstacles is perfect.

DD has been told time and time again at talks about personal statements that they don't care about extra curricular stuff/jobs/clubs unless they directly relate to the course they are interested in or demonstrate particular skills.

Instead, they want supra curricular. DD has done the volunteering that was required as part of the Welsh Bacc, but then picked up museum volunteering in the summer hols too as she's interested in history. She did a couple of free online courses (the OU and other places offer them) and picked up some books related to her area of study from the library to extend her reading beyond the subjects just covered on her A level syllabus.

Have any of you read my first post??? I said to broaden his knowledge about what he wishes to study!!!! However, I also talked about broadening skills for employment, not just admission to university! Introverted, non people personalities find it difficult to relate to others and therefore can find interviews and working in a team difficult. If he can start doing volunteering this will help his personality. I cannot see anything wrong with that advice because post university is an important consideration for all grads!

The good news is that he's still got time to find things to put in his PS even if not extra-curricular.

DD is mainly concentrating on academics in her PS. As others have said anything he can refer to showing what he's done in relation to the course subject, why he wants to do course, perhaps future job aim. eg, DD got a couple of books and has referred to them, she wants to do sustainability so spent a day at a foodbank (not a regular voluntary role but she gained a lot of insight). She's even twisted her work experience in year 10 (which wasn't in sustainability) referring to what she learnt there and sparked her interest.

He could apply for support roles at school, prefects, peer mentoring and what he's learnt/what quality it's brought out in him.

My DD's largest achievement isn't actually in connection with the course she wants to do but she's referring to it as only a limited number have it and it shows she's focused/driven/determined.

He sounds amazing to have overcome his language processing issue and get fabulous GCSE results. If I were you I would mention this because that shows what a resilient and determined young man he is. Contrary to what you say he definitely stands out!

As somebody who reads LOTS of these I'd say the extracurricular stuff means very little: focus on the course itself, the kinds of texts/subjects being studied and why they are of interest, what that particular institution offers that appeals to the candidate (ie they've done their research). Good luck!

Apologies Bubbles, that makes sense

There's good examples on ucas and on university websites - don't copy but you can get ideas.

I'm going through the personal statement process with DS2 at the moment for next year!

He also said how there is nothing personal to talk about ( or so he thinks.. ) so I've gently pushed him to look at other choices to pad it out!

Has anyone else seen this thing called The F Factor? I saw it on Facebook and twitter with a few celebs tweeting about it. I’m going to get my boy to enter, if anything it looks good on his personal statements and gives him something to talk about in interviews. They’re offering kids a £10k prize to turn a business idea they might have into a proper business. Looks like they do apprenticeships too. Have linked the Facebook post here for you. www.facebook.com/f.factor/videos/1987605298211578

Hope it helps somebody!