UCAS personal statement help!

[Whatthewhatnowreally]

DS is staring at the scepreen in a panic. He has listed things he think they might be interested and that was a real struggle.
Now he doesn’t know how to link things to the qualities they are supposed to show, in a lively way. He is writing stuff like ‘I enjoy basketball because it’s working with a team, and I like chess because it is not working in a team’.
he says it’s all stilted, he can’t say that everything is because he likes being in a team, and how does he make it sound like full, interesting sentences.
Has anyone any tips please?
He really struggles with the ‘woolliness’ of English, and likes the logic of maths.

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.

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.

@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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

Thank you so so much everyone! And thank you for the links ito and baggalotta really really helpful.
thank you ladyquachbeth that’s reassuring. Yes he is in 6 year.
he got the nat five years highest grade in engineering- and couldn’t take it as a higher because …time tabling.
he doesn’t actually know what he wants to do as a career, just that he loves maths and physics as they are interesting, logical and easy.
he’s decided to take 4 highers, and the ou and apprenticeship as well, because he’s not busy at school. 😳
I am a but seceretly concerned that he is taking on so much. Im guessing it’s better to focus on highers than ou and apprenticeship.
you are all so helpful and I really appreciate it. Thank you!

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

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 ...

Sorry guys! It’s all very confusing. His school offers some OU courses and apprenticeship courses. As well as advance highers. It’s a way of getting kids taught without paying for teachers I guess. He has highers and is doing advanced highers, ou and apprenticeship course which are all offered by the school (although taught in a college one day a week) They are all courses that relate to his interest.
Very confusing system!

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 it’s YASS but apparently he’s given it up, he’s lost interest, because he’s already covered most of it in school, so he’d like to do a diff erent ou course in starting February.

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

ladyquacbeth may I pm you?

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.