Would you pay for personal statement support? How much would you pay? What would you expect?

[DirtyDennis]

I'm setting up a side business of tutoring but have had a few people ask whether I'd offer UCAS personal statement support too.

It got me thinking that it'd probably be quite a good idea but I'm not sure how big the market is. So my questions are;

• would you pay for one-to-one personal statement support for your child?
• what would you expect to pay?
• what would you expect for that?
• what would you expect the qualifications of the person providing the support to be?

Really appreciate any thoughts. Thanks

[iwantatattoo]

My ds struggled with his due to an underlying spld and the school helped, but I had to push them. To be fair his teachers seemed very happy to help once I'd got past the Head.
While recognising from personal experience that some students will need more help, I personally don't like the idea of wealthier students - who are already at an advantage - paying for independent support.

[VanCleefArpels]

I do have first hand experience of the different way schools/colleges support their university applicants. At schools my kids went to (admitedly private) work started at end Y12, timetabled sessions, PS looked at and edited by at least 3 staff members. At local FE college where I was doing a course a few years ago there was zero support, kids had no clue when deadlines were, no “outreach” by staff to monitor the applications, help with choices etc etc. Given the latter students were far more likely to be the first in their family to even consider higher education then this to me was shocking as there should be no expectation of parents knowing what to do and how.

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how good my DS's personal statement was (written totally by himself).

I applaud your enterprise OP, but my inner socialist thinks that it is just another way for the wealthy to push their DC to the front of the queue in the university race (which I'm totally against ideologically).

[VanCleefArpels]

marianovelli that’s rubbish I’m afraid. At Y10 no student will even know what likely A level study they will be doing let alone what university course. Yes they do need to do some reading around and show some (not actually much) interest in the subject outside the curriculum but in the sixth form and not before. (Disclaimer: have supported both my children through university application)

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I personally don't like the idea of wealthier students - who are already at an advantage - paying for independent support its alright they won't be at an advantage for very long once they realise how little the maintenance loan is they can apply for

I think its so poor that schools aren't on board with this, I thought the support ds had was standard,I'm not sure there's an excuse tbh.

[Hollowvictory]

Yes I would.
What makes a good ps in your view

[Applesbananaspears]

Apparently round here everyone pays someone for this support. Then again my local FB group had someone looking for a tutor to help her child write her dissertation. Words failed me

[titchy]

For over-subscribed courses, the PS is more important as you'll be faced with hundreds of equally excellent applications (in terms of grades). So, to distinguish, we'd go to the PS.

That's not universally true though. I'd argue that the number of oversubscribed courses where a further differentiator is needed (and that would mean courses with 8 or more applicants per place) is so low as to not be worth it.

That's not to say people won't pay for the service, just that they'd be largely wasting their money. If you have Oxbridge admissions experience that may swing things though.

[titchy]

And to be honest as an admissions tutor I think you're on morally dubious ground, given that you're offering a service that discriminates against the already-disadvantaged.

Maybe you should think a bit more about that.

[worstofbothworlds]

At Y10 no student will even know what likely A level study they will be doing let alone what university course
And yet they will be finding out what they want to do through extracurricular activities, reading, hobbies at home and moving on to work and volunteering. High level music can be spun to help an application for a non-music course.
I'm an ex-admissions tutor, we didn't read many PS due to sheer number. But some were read, I'm in STEM any I remember reading one ages ago from an applicant who'd started out at stage school and wrote very well about how this informed her decision to move into a more academic school and course.

[MariaNovella]

titchy - there really is nothing “immoral” about helping children to do their very best, providing they are not cheating.

[LIZS]

No, and there was recently a report on how formulaic ps are picked up and queried.

[pqgh04]

And to be honest as an admissions tutor I think you're on morally dubious ground.

Not just morally dubious - OP would be expected to declare tutoring/personal statement work to their university and the PS work would also certainly be vetoed as inappropriate, representing a conflict of interest.

It's simply not true that PS makes a difference for more than a very tiny minority of courses. One can't trust that the applicant wrote it without help, so admissions can't put that much weight on it. It's also utter rubbish that extra reading and activities are expected - this would not even be relevant for many courses in STEM areas anyhow.

[DirtyDennis]

@titchy

And to be honest as an admissions tutor I think you're on morally dubious ground, given that you're offering a service that discriminates against the already-disadvantaged

Maybe you should think a bit more about that



It's a shit system. The whole of HE is completely fucked. Personal tutoring is a way for rich kids to game a system they're already winning at. However, the boards on here show there's no shortage of parents willing to pay to game that system. I'm setting up a business, not a charity.
I would like to see radical change in HE but it won't happen.

[Tiramisu1]

Can't admissions tutors see through all this? I mean, a personal statement isn't really a 'personal' statement anymore if a lot of outside help has been offered. Is there a risk that you're harming your application by doing this?

[MariaNovella]

The “personal” statement is surely as much about the person as by the person?

[DirtyDennis]

@pqgh04 I should've been clear, I'm thinking about leaving HE. I'd be doing the PS stuff after leaving HE so it wouldn't conflict with my role as admissions tutor

[Tiramisu1]

I wonder whether admission tutors have ever actually penalised those applicants whose personal statements were obviously 'supported'?

In other words could too much help actually hinder an application?

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

How would you be able to tell if a PS had been obviously supported though?

[MariaNovella]

Tiramisu - as someone who does regularly support PSs, albeit for DC not educated in English, I don’t correct every last idiosyncrasy of expression. Sometimes applicants write things that are passionate and endearing and deserve to stay - that’s their voice.

[Asdf12345]

I have done some personal tutoring for medicine personal statements and have four of five so far gettings offers. If asked to doing it for money I would probably be able to do the process well over three hour long sessions and suspect one could easilly get £50 per session.

It may be more effective to run a single day course for ten.

[Tiramisu1]

Four years ago at an Open Day at a Russel Group University, students and parents were told, "We don't consider the PS because we don't know who wrote it".

[DirtyDennis]

There's huge diversity in how much the PS is considered and perspectives given on here are based on personal experiences at particular universities for particular programmes. So one can't say "Nope, they're never read" or "Yep, they're always read" because there is no universal rule.

[CatandtheFiddle]

OP what you’re thinking of offering is little better than being paid to cheat. Your business idea is about as ethical as an essay mill, but I suppose you think that’s just business. Disgusting.

As an Admissions Tutor, if I discovered an applicant had paid for someone to write their Personal Statement for them, I’d be very reluctant to offer them a place (and my league-topping Department is very much a “selecting” one in MN parlance).

[DirtyDennis]

@CatandtheFiddle I'm not offering to write PS for students.