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?

Secretsquirrels, for maths we hardly read the personal statements - they are mostly used for small talk in interviews. UMS scores, MAT scores and responses to maths problems in interview are used for selection.

uilen Oh! I knew the UMS was the main thing but I didn't realise the PS was quite so pointless. I won't tell him that . He did average 98% UMS in his modules and his interview was essentially an oral maths exam so I guess that follows.
Are there other subjects where the PS is so irrelevant?

Yes I guess so circular.

secret I think with an average of 98% your DS could have afforded to say any old rubbish in his ps and still get five offers :)

These statements are used differently by different universities and even different departments within the same university, so I don't think its really possible to generalise.

Friend who was in admissions for Oxbridge (being deliberately vague) medicine for years (but isn't anymore) said he rarely read PS's, just went on grades achieved and predicted, and teachers' references. Which I bet those would-be medics carefully crafting the perfect PS would not be impressed to hear!

It's always better to write a good PS, just in case. I don't think it is ever time wasted because writing a summary of one's interests and achievements is surely a useful exercise in itself.

In maths far too many candidates mention loving popular maths books (Du Sautoy, Iain Stewart) or being interested in high level maths topics, and then can't really say anything about them in interview. Far better to be honest and not exaggerate interests or experiences.

I hope you all know how lucky you are to have hardworking 17/18 year olds redrafting their PS. Just a few initial first thoughts would be welcome here.

Ds who insists he will be going to a RG uni despite his AS grades is yet to start on the first draft and is yet to decide what he wants to apply for and is also yet to read anything about any subject, course or university . He promised me he would start this weekend and is now sitting on the sofa catching up on Match of the Day and Facebook.

And he's bloody clever and could be doing it if he gave half a fuck.

Haffdonga - DS hasn't started his either! Complaining about the lack of even a first draft the other day and his brother's girlfriend (hard working straight A*, Uni prize winning etc etc) looked at me and said, "bit early - I shouldn't think anyone's written them yet ....."

There is still plenty of time Haffdonga (although best not to tell him!!)

Teenagers can bee sooo irritating sometimes can't they? Hopefully his teachers will prompt him to do something at school. Does the school have any UCAS / PS sessions?

Haffdonga To be fair though, unless applying for medicine or Oxbridge he has plenty of time yet. But yes, I know that strategy. A deadline is a target to be aimed for. In all the UCAS stuff DS waited until just hours before the absolute deadline to press "submit".

Haffdonga DS's school deadline was Friday, so not much choice here. The whole year also had to give their first draft ps in by the end of the summer term. Surely that isn't unusual, since the staff have to write their references over the summer? Possibly brother's girlfriend is just being consciously laid back - easy in retrospect :)

My d's form tutor has advised her to take out the section about her main hobby. That can't be right, surely?

Thanks nice people . You have calmed me down. You're right ds has lots of time - the school has set its own arbitrary deadlne for 2 weeks, obviously for good reasons, so reading about everyone busily planning their futures gets me twitchy.

I suppose it depends how long the section was that she wrote Decorhate, and the hobby in question.

Decorhate - it depends what her hobby is and how it links to her chosen subject. ds1's PS is 95% about his subject and relevant work experience. His (irrelevant) hobbies and interests are just mentioned in passing.

Her hobby is dance & she's applying for medicine so obv not related. But shows teamwork, experience of working under pressure & commitment. She wasn't planning to say any more than that. Just think it will look odd if she doesn't mention any hobbies?

In that case I completely disagree the school. DS1 is reading Medicine at Oxford and got several offers and did several interviews and doing something like dance is a really good extra curricular which is an ideal stress buster for a medic - that sort of question featured in each interview. She probably needn't waste words on the 'teamwork' angle since it's obvious - maybe how long she's done it for though, to indicate her capacity for commitment. These outside interests are really important for Medicine - different from any other subject. I'd definitely put it back in!

Thanks Molio! I am slightly wary of the school giving advice tbh as they don't get many pupils applying for medicine.

Dd is about to 'pay and send' her personal statement and is having a last minute wobble about one sentence. It is..
I look forward to immersing myself in the unique combination of blaaaa and blaaa that subject A and subject B has to offer.
Or is it have to offer?
Does the has refer to 'the unique combination' singular or 'subject A and subject B' plural.
Everyone chez cathyandclaire disagrees and as subject A is English it really matters. Please help!
I've posted this in pedants' corner as well :)

Decorhate has she really combed through the advice on the med school website? They are very specific in what they are looking for.
Dance is def worth mentioning for dealing with stress.
Ds s school got 14 out of 17 applicants into Medicne last year and he has been told to mention his footie , cricket and sailing, emphasising how long he has played for team and how he uses sport to deal with stress

Decor it sounds like sensible generic advice but is wrong for Medicine. Remember it's her ps, not the school's. She was right to put it in, but perhaps keep that piece relatively short - it doesn't need to be long, but it should be there. Good luck to your DD!

Not sure cathyandclaire, but it might be easier to restructure it altogether. Sometimes makes life easier.

Thanks all. I think I gave persuaded her to put it back in. She needs to edit a bit more out now!

Good luck to your DD Decorhate, I did medicine and it was all about the extracurriculars and searching for rounded individuals then in the dark ages
DD has bitten the bullet and paid and sent. I think it floats around the school for a bit having references added etc but feels a bit scary. Sadly I think all her courses interview or take months to give their offers so no chance of a quick reassuring offer here. Lots of nail biting to come < slugs >

Thanks. I'll be glad when my d's us sent too! They are spending tomorrow at school polishing them. Then have to be submitted to the school for references to be added by Friday.

Despite having been through this last year with dd1, no one remembered to allow spaces for paragraph breaks, which means the darn thing is a bit too long. Precious words have been slashed tonight by dd2 in readiness for deadline. All very stressy.

Personal Statements have been sent to try me.