Support thread for anyone applying through UCAS this year

[Lorelai]

Following on from a thread in chat I thought I would start this so that we can hold each others' hands through the UCAS process with all its challenges.

Who's with me?

shall be watching the thread but may not join in with details. We are currently in personal statement hell - the word total was 666 at one attempt . It is much easier when they are sure what they want to do.

For anyone who has not found it yet this is essential reading www.thestudentroom.co.uk/ I do not know why more schools don't recommend it, perhaps because they dislike students having an alternative source of advice. However do not rely on the information given without checking, it is often excellent but of variable quality. Yellowstone it has a particularly helpful section on medicine, look for medicine wiki.

I would ask the school to mention the DofE - if they're anything like me, having suggestions on something to put in the references is a major bonus...

Writing them is worse than writing end of term reports. You're not allowed to be critical so all those wonderful phrases such as "I am sure that X will mature into a reliable student" and "X shows a marked interest in ".

Actually though, writing them for star students is just as difficult! When you have someone who is heading for three A*, the reference becomes very difficult to write so that they stand out from all the other bright kids heading for the same grades.

Thanks, Fluter, an interesting insider perspective.

at Brownie badges, Eatyourveg. Ds' amazing scouting career did flash across my mind...but he hasn't put it in; it did end at age 11... Think he feels he's done more relevant stuff since!

I wondered whether ds1 should mention being part of the young carers group locally. His brother has LD and severe autism and he does help out a awful lot at home but he hasn't actually been to the group for several years.

Am having to clutch at straws however short they are because he doesn't actually do much outside school and making no mention of some sort of extra curricula activity would probably result in a 100% rejection from anywhere he applied

He only went to Beavers for half a term so has no badges to boast about. I wonder if cycling proficiency would go down well with anyone

Honestly, I think he should mention young carers and make a big deal - rightly - out of helping at home. If asked about the group, he can say 'not so much lately, but I learnt this and that which I put into practice at home every day' - eg time management, self-care or whatever.

He could write tons about skills he's learnt from helping you out at home. I bet he's far more self-reliant than most boys his age. He'll be the one showing the others how to cope at uni.

Probably not cycling proficiency so much though.

eatyourveg DD1 did very little outside school I think she just put playing piano and guitar (self taught rather than formal lessons) and a bit about being in the school choir. She missed out the fact that she was forced to be the choir by a slightly overbearing music teacher. The rest of her personal statement was about why she wanted to do her subject and she didn't have any problems getting offers.

DD2 had done millions of things and she just had to leave most of them out so that she could write about her love of maths(!)

Eatyourveg -unless he is applying for medicine or such like, they are not interested in his extra curriculum activities. He certainly would not get 100% rejection unless he had the wrong subjects/grades.
DS1 first applied for 2010 entry. Never did anything after school, as soon as bell went he was out. However, he had intellectual interests in the subjects he wanted for study at university and had read extensively in these areas.
His paragraph regarding hobbies etc was about 3 lines, the rest of the PS was about his interest in the subject itself.
He got 5 offers at 5 top universities.
(BTW he has still not gone to university! Changed his mind about what to study, took another A level and is applying this year......ho hummm)

Yes, good point, it's mainly meant to be about how you adore the subject you are dying to study. Think many people put in too much extra-curricular and not enough adoration of the subject.

thats ok then - he can talk for hours on that!

I'd like to join in too. DS1 applying for medicine this year. We are also currently in PS hell. Have to fit in (and comment intelligently) on all the visits to hospital that he has done.
We are in Scotland so he is only applying for Scottish universities. Would really like to go to Edinburgh but realises that getting into a medical school anywhere would be a good result.

The extra curricular stuff is useful if you're a bit stuck for non-sickly adoration of your chosen subject (i.e. you only chose it last week) and have spent no time at all 'reading around' - or for example if you're applying for a sandwich course and you have to find your own placements, then it shows a bit of "get up and go". It's also good for showing that you are capable of teamwork if that's what the degree expects, or that you are capable of independent thought and responsibility outside school.

I agree, though, if you are one of those lucky people who have always known what subject you wanted to apply for, have read around and can talk for Britain on the subject in hand, then the outside interests are less important. It's where you've changed subjects mid-A-Levels, dropped out and gone back years later, got really bad grades in something, etc etc then these outside interests become more important.

I think the important thing about the statement is to be positive about yourself and your abilities. That can be very tricky for teens, as they tend to describe themselves and their interests in quite "lukewarm" terms out of embarrassment at talking about themself at all. DS got quite a pat on the back from his teachers for having such a "positive" personal statement by the time DH and I had suggested things to put in and better ways of getting things across, because they had had so many from other pupils which came across as pretty dismissive of the person and their interests.

I don't mean they should sound boastful, but they should try to talk about things that genuinely are their good qualities in a way which gets those across to the reader. Even if their good qualities are being very involved in lots of activities rather than being utterly focussed on one thing, make that a positive description of their energy and enthusiasm.

Some subjects I think you do have to sound like you have lived and breathed nothing else for many years - medicine, vet, law, etc. But the admissions people know that not everyone who applies for every subject are going to be utterly single-focussed and they want to know that you are keen, enthusiastic people in a more general sense.

Libra if you log on to The Student Room and into the medicine forum there's a considerable selection of PS specific to medicine. Some are excellent, some less so, but it does gives another perspective. www.studential.com/personalstatements/getpscourse.asp?type=36 also has some available to read.

Thanks ellisbell.

Are there any medics out there who know anything of Bristol? DS might be very well advised to substitute another uni for one of the three BMAT unis he currently likes, but we looked at Bristol last night in the latest league tables and 'student satisfaction' was noticeably low. It would be very helpful if anyone could shed any light since we only know people in other departments who all seem dead keen on the place, as a place. He's clear that he doesn't want to take UKCAT, so has limited his options.

@yellowstone encourage him to try UKCAT anyway. Generally the advice is to do both UKCAT and BMAT if possible as some do better at one test than the other. Admittedly it's a wierd and (not) wonderful test that seems to bear very little relevance to medicine but some schools aren't too bothered about what result you've got as long as you've done it. The average score is 600, ignore the student room on that as people tend only to declare their score if it's high. (The UKCAT report doesn't give a lot of information but does confirm the average.) Scores may be lower this year as they aren't allowed handheld calculators.

Sorry no knowledge of Bristol but I assume he's looked at Birmingham (they do early offers and that can be encouraging). I think Liverpool may be another one that still don't require UKCAT.

Thanks Lostmymind. He has been looking at them and has been given a lot of help from school as well. There is just so much he wants to write about and so few characters!

Count me in please.
Ds assures me his personal statement is going swimmingly well

Count me in too.

Can someone please tell me why the research rating seems to be so important in the rankings? Surely if somewhere has a low RAE score it doesn't necessarily mean that the teaching is poorer - or does it?

research is important for a department for two reasons...

Firstly, a research rich department where a majority of the academic staff are engaged in research is more likely to have a curriculum that reflects the latest trends and interesting new areas for research. A vibrant research culture will more likely result in more research seminars and academic visitors and possibly more popular topic talks by guest visitors too.

Secondly is the financial advantages to the department. A department that does no research only gets income from its students, whereas research generates a wide range of additional funding sources from QR funding, overheads and often external sponsorship. More money for the department, even when not specifically targeted at the students, means it's less likely to fold or be amalgamated with another department and students are likely to benefit tangentially from an economically secure department (things like better admin, more postgrad demonstrators etc).

This is our first delve into the world of university applications.
Dd has apparently spent the last few weeks 'thinking' about writing her PS, completed stress induced (me), draft copy yesterday, when she realised she had to hand it in this morning
She is the most laid back individual, who leaves everything to the very last minute. So I will join you all here, bore you with any anxieties, while in RL, just go with the flow of tranquility that is my daughter.

Another first timer here. This board how already been so much help and support. It's going to be a long year. I hope all our DC's get the outcomes that they are working so hard for.

thanks gelatinous

@yellowstone re Bristol, I understand they have quite a high applicant to place ratio (20+ last year TSR suggests) so your DS would be well advised to spread his choices by doing the UKCAT. Many med schools use it as just one part of their selection process rather than a stand alone asssessment.

Thanks both ellisbell and lostmymind. DS is thinking hard about the UKCAT. His problem is that he likes non UKCAT unis anyhow and has seen a few friends crash on the UKCAT. He says his main reason for taking it would be so that his choices don't think he's arrogant with his app but he's concerned that if he crashes too he'll have notched up a rubbish mark which all his choices can see but for no real reason other than the political one. I've never done the medic stuff before so not seasoned enough to advise.