Question re personal statements on behalf of DC

[Isthiscorrect]

Dc has asked me to post on here (before I become a pushy parent). The question is dc school heavily promoting a certain style of ps. Dc recognises the need (as per MumsNet for a killer ps). Dc has interviewed a famous person on behalf of school newspaper and would very much like to use a quote from said person as the "hook" in the introduction and build upon it during the statement.
The careers advisor has said admissions tutors dont like quotes but given this particular quote has relevance to dc application and chosen subject, also indicating relevant experience for said subject. would this be such a bad thing?

Dc has looked on Student room and of course everyone there is fantastically brilliant read with a pinch of salt and its difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Name-dropping will not make your DS look good. I would advise a great deal of caution in how he presents this info.

Err you'll get better advice on the Student Room than here IMHO (uni admissions tutor). It mostly depends on his subject and where s/he is applying.

When I read PS's it is usually to check out something unexplained on the rest of the form (for example awesome predicted grades rubbish GCSEs), check if the student has any personal circumstances that might sway me if they are a borderline for other reasons (we have an application test so students sometimes have good predicted grades but do poorly on the test and depending on how many applicants got above our predetermined pass mark on the application test we'll re-read the PS). Despite telling them at Open Days not to bother with quotes 75% of PSs start with a quote. Quotes will not be the difference between offer and not-offer so long as the rest of the PS tells us what we need to know.

BUT

Other disciplines make more use of the PS especially arts subjects, so your DC really needs to check with people on the Student Room about this one.

I think if the explanation of the interview (ie, how it came about, how it relates to his subject/interest and what he gained from it is clear and not boastful or shallow, it will be fine. It's the searching of wiki quotes to find an erudite opening that is a bit trite. I would say he ought to be able to achieve this without looking as if he is name dropping and the quotation is then personal to your son.

Ask a critical friend to check when it's done!

Thanks everyone. Its not a wiki quote, its something the guy said at the interview and it really resonated with Dc. Its seems to DC that it can be built upon to explain why this uni course is the one above all others, what action was been taken to get said interview, why this interview was so important. Its really not about name dropping, careers advisor didnt like it because she didnt know who this person was but certainly anyone related to the subject would. DC sees it as a hook to tell a story about the past the present and what is wanted for the future.
Maybe its too risky? Will recommend going back to student room I think. PS are just so difficult a one off shot to write the best sales pitch ever. Very hard IMHO.

I really think it sounds fine. Doesn't matter whether the interviewee is a 'name' if something was said which encouraged your son to think for himself.

What is he looking to study?

My DC's PS's were not that polished and were a little bit cliché ridden (I believe there was the odd quote too ) They were, however, 'honest' (IYSWIM) and clearly their own work.

I took the opinion that it didnt matter too much. They both got offers from all the places they applied for so they can't have been that bad. (for medicine and comp Sci)