Personal statement hell, all advice welcome!

[cathyandclaire]

DD is wailing,gnashing her teeth and tearing her hair out writing her personal statement to apply for English and Drama. It is loooooooong at the moment and large chunks are going to have to be cut out.
In the qualifications section there's space to put vocational stuff... singing exams, dance, LAMDA etc. With an English/Drama degree it is sort of relevant but there simply isn't room for everything.
So... the question is...do they even glance at the extra qualifications section or does she need to shoehorn diplomas, medals and the like into the main bit?

My DSD is doing hers at the moment. She's at a very academic private school with a good track record of getting kids into Oxbridge and lots of support in writing the personal statement. She's been advised not to repeat Lamda, etc in the personal statement, if they're already in the qualifications bit.

Though she's applying for science, rather than English/drama, so they're more of a hobby for her.

Thanks Purple that makes life easier :)
I think I'm still stuck in my old UCCA days when we just wiffle-waffled on about extra curricular stuff and barely mentioned anything academic at all!

UCAS and quite a lot of individual Universities provide guides. They really want student to give them what they need. Worth Googling. My understanding was that at most, one third should be on extra curricular and then better if you can say how it will help with the course (time management, leadership, resiliance etc) rather than focus on the level of achievement itself.

Marking my place! DS is about to apply to study (Modern?) History (maybe a joint honours with Politics but isn't sure yet ) and I am sick of nagging him to make a start on his PS. He took his A levels this summer and will only be applying to unis where he already meets or exceeds the minimum requirements, so his PS will be the deciding factor.

How do folk manage when they are applying for 5 different courses? How on earth do you create the perfect PS when one course being applied for is History, another Modern History, another Modern History with Politics etc etc?
He is focussing more on the unis than the courses IYSIM and has a long-list of 7 (2 Russell Group at the top of the list, 4 'Red Brick' and 1 highly-ranked former polytechnic.) We are in the throes of uni open day visits and he can't seem to see the wood for the trees.

We are meeting his former head of 6th form next week, who has offered to assist with his UCAS application. Am hoping he can help!

Music PS in progress here. The rule on the maximum amount of extra CA stuff to include is a bit different from what DD1 has been told.

If using an 80:20 split say, basically, anything subject related - academic, work experience, reason for studying, extra CA etc counts as relevant in the 80%. The 20% will be anything non-subject related, ie other A level subjects, interests, work experience.

I agree. My stepdaughter is doing music and her youth orchestras etc were considered a main part of her personal statement and the non music stuff was the stuff to keep to a minimum and just mention how it helps the course and her as a person.
The stuff my son was told to cut down on was a large paragraph stating why he wanted to do his subject (engineering). He was told to cut that down and concentrate on his academic achievements, work experience in engineering etc. He was still to mention why mech eng to show he'd thought about it and not drifted into it, but not waffle on about it.

Marking my place. DS says he's 'doing in in tutor'. I've been informed that he's also got to apply to do LNAT test.
I handed over my CC for the £50 fee then suggested doing a practice. He was too exhausted form actually entering the details.

He was too exhausted form actually entering the details.

What do you do when one person takes a sentence out of the PS & a different person puts it back in? Toss a coin?

Trouble with the blasted things is that everyone has a different opinion.

Ruralmyth, my son did the LNAT. I would strongly advise him to practice as many example tests as he can. It is a hard test.

DD's second draft done and still 250 characters over :(

It's getting to the stage where the one line about sport is going to have to go, all those years of training/playing/winning a national schools comp and it doesn't even merit ten words

Oh well done to your DS maths I may have to get DH (aka hatchet man) on the case with his big red pen ( ooh err) to remove all conjuctives!!!

So good to hear that everyone else's DC are also feverishly googling, sighing over studential ( in my work experience last year I published two novels and won a Nobel prize blablabla) and strategically pen sucking.

I read an article that said that last year 240 students on UCAS had suffered the same unfortunate incident involving a burn accident in their pyjamas! I'm guessing studential provided ' inspiration' for that

I feel sorry for all the admissions staff that have to wade through all this

I have this vision of them making lots of paper aeroplanes & launching them at dustbins. Hopefully not my dd2's PS after all the suffering. Do all the PS get looked at do you think?

Just make sure you can waffle about what you write.

I grew up in the wilds of rural Wales, apart from Guides there was nothing much going on. I stuffed something about enjoying sailing. I don't I hate it, but my DDad dragged me along once in a while.

Sodding interviewer only sailed from flaming Aberystwyth too.

sorry... airplanes (& I'm the proof reader!)

Reminds me of a job interview I did when I was a lot younger, where I thought I had better put something sporty on the CV. I put that I enjoyed canoeing, got the job and then found out that my new boss loved canoeing. Spent four years in the company 'team' canoeing down the River Wye in all weathers, feeling utterly miserable. Never stretch the truth!

Don't read them!?! maybe they should do a Mumsnet and stick a few emoticons on to grab their attention? and would do it for me

A year after the event none the wiser when it comes to the PS. I think on the admissions thread someone referred to dark arts; the PS is maybe the darkest of them all. But from DS1's experience

• what written on a Uni's website about the PS can be completely at odds with what a subject admissions tutor at the same Uni says they are looking for. DS went with the latter's guidance.

• extra curriculars. DS went with just one line, as he felt pretty much all of his had little real relevance to the subject he was applying for. No idea if that is right or wrong, but he got 5 offers. This likely to vary quite a bit by type of course.

• school support. At 2 of the Unis, admissions tutors regaled those present with their game of "name that school" from personal statements. The inference being that the "personal" was missing from "personal statement". They did however recommend getting someone who did not know the DC to read it.

• do they get read? From the anecdote above presumably at some Uni's certainly yes.

• do they make a difference? The only direct experience was that DS and another DC at his school both successfully applied for the same subject at Cambridge. Both had extremely strong AS results, both with strong A2 predictions, other DC had a lot more A*s at GCSE, the school reference was, presumably, very positive in each instance. They also both applied for the same course at Durham. DS got an offer, the other DC did not. Maybe in that instance the PS was more weighted as a deciding factor. We will, of course, never actually know.

• maybe also worth knowing that Durham accept a specific PS for them, which if provided when UCAS form submitted will be looked at rather than the one on the UCAS form. DS1 did not make use of it, as the only difference would in his view be wasting several lots of 6 characters by inserting the word Durham in a number of places. But if looking at slightly different course mix it might be worth considering for Durham applicants.

boys3 - thanks for that tip about Durham. I think ds1 is planning to apply to Durham for Natsci and Biochemistry elsewhere, so it might be helpful for him to do a Durham-specific PS....

I work in an admissions role in in an academic department. I can assure you that we read every single application from cover to cover!

We take great interest in the personal statements too. When candidates come for interview, we personalise their info packs with details of clubs and societies that match their interests.

I love reading the statements. So many of the young people we see are hugely talented. It makes me feel quite thick humble.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know you are reading the personal statements. They do work so hard on them.