Personal Statement when course choices vary

Notaclu · 2023-02-27T13:37:24+00:00

DD is looking at courses which are not exactly the same at each possible univ choice - think Oxbridge quite unique course as one option, and then others more similar to each other. She isn’t getting a lot of insight from school on how to handle the personal statement which they say has to be highly tailored to Oxbridge but which we know other univs will look at (eg LSE). Any advice appreciated

Rosebaywillow · 27/02/2023 14:29

It can be awkward to tailor the PS when applying for different subjects though if those subjects are loosely linked then it is possible to write about the skills/experiences/super curricular work done to cover all bases. Many unis do not look at the PS at all (Bristol is an example). Others may use it as a starting point in interview, for example. The important thing for RG/Oxbridge is that the focus is fully on academic skills and commitment to the subject(s).
For 2024 applicants UCAS will provide a set of prompts/questions to help students. Changes to PS

bguthb90 · 27/02/2023 14:43

@Rosebaywillow - curious as to why you think Bristol don't look at personal statements.

For the course my DS has applied for they're the only university who explicitly call out, on the course admissions page, the attributes they're looking for on the PS

Rosebaywillow · 27/02/2023 14:52

curious as to why you think Bristol don't look at personal statements.

This is what we have been told by Admissions at Bristol. Perhaps they were speaking generally and some departments clearly do, as your DS has been told. Whatever the individual uni/dept policy is, the students still have to produce a PS, which can be a very trying experience for some! Hopefully the new format will be helpful.

Original poster

Notaclu · 27/02/2023 15:55

DD is applying in the next round so the PS changes wont have happened; some univs seem to be using them as a key component eg LSE identify the PS explicitly in ‘no offer’ feedback for some courses this year.

OP posts:

Revengeofthepangolins · 27/02/2023 16:06

I think this is such a problem. Makes me quite cross that there isn't the option to post different ones.

Some unis (Durham and StA's leap to mind) make such a thing about wanting PSs to be tailored to their courses, and about the need to show that the candidate really understands their particular course offering, but how is a candidate to do that for more than one uni?

So, no answers, OP, I am afraid - just some teeth grinding.

ErrolTheDragon · 27/02/2023 16:06

Don't they still get the option of an extra PS for oxbridge? My DDs was mainly focussed on the more specific course she applied to for her other 4, then the Cambridge supplemental thingy gave her the chance to say why she was interested in their general engineering course.

SeasonFinale · 27/02/2023 16:10

Rosebaywillow · 27/02/2023 14:52

curious as to why you think Bristol don't look at personal statements.

This is what we have been told by Admissions at Bristol. Perhaps they were speaking generally and some departments clearly do, as your DS has been told. Whatever the individual uni/dept policy is, the students still have to produce a PS, which can be a very trying experience for some! Hopefully the new format will be helpful.

Bristol do look at statements but for some courses only in a tie break situation. Each course has a separate admission criteria document and it will say its approach in it.

SeasonFinale · 27/02/2023 16:11

ErrolTheDragon · 27/02/2023 16:06

Don't they still get the option of an extra PS for oxbridge? My DDs was mainly focussed on the more specific course she applied to for her other 4, then the Cambridge supplemental thingy gave her the chance to say why she was interested in their general engineering course.

Yes Cambridge still has the supplemental but not Oxford.

ErrolTheDragon · 27/02/2023 16:14

Ah, right.
I assumed it was because quite a few of their courses won't be what the applicant has applied for elsewhere - Nat Sci vs separate sciences etc.

SeasonFinale · 27/02/2023 16:16

Durham will accept a separate personal statement where the course you apply for there is not the same as the course the ma

If the course at Oxford is so unique as to not be held elsewhere (can't actually think of any) then they would expect it to be geared to the mainstream one to some extent.

If anything I expect the questionnaire approach from 2025 entry to be less flexible

gogohmm · 27/02/2023 16:17

Unfortunately there is not a lot you can do, afterall if I was the admissions tutor my first question would be what course do you actually want to do! I would carefully consider why such a range of subjects

SeasonFinale · 27/02/2023 16:19

ErrolTheDragon · 27/02/2023 16:14

Ah, right.
I assumed it was because quite a few of their courses won't be what the applicant has applied for elsewhere - Nat Sci vs separate sciences etc.

Quite a few other unis do offer NatSci now but yes it's for courses like that where they may apply for physics somewhere else, or History rather than Anglo Saxon and Norse etc or His/Pol rather than HSPS etc..

I know a student get 4 x economic offers with his PS but a NatSci offer with his separate Durham statement.

Original poster

Notaclu · 27/02/2023 16:23

Thanks all and really interesting @SeasonFinale - school is adamant that DD needs to tailor to Oxbridge and the example of good they have given her is more like an essay appealing directly to the course content/structure more than a personal statement; so that might be making her problem worse. BTW the school doesn’t get huge numbers in to Oxbridge each year at all.

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 27/02/2023 16:33

Notaclu · 27/02/2023 16:23

Thanks all and really interesting @SeasonFinale - school is adamant that DD needs to tailor to Oxbridge and the example of good they have given her is more like an essay appealing directly to the course content/structure more than a personal statement; so that might be making her problem worse. BTW the school doesn’t get huge numbers in to Oxbridge each year at all.

So... the advice from the school may not be very good.

(I think the advice my dd got was more like 'describe how you came to be passionate about this field, but without using the word 'passionate')

Rosebaywillow · 27/02/2023 16:34

Search How to Write a Killer Personal Statement on YouTube (Prof Matt Williams Jesus College Oxford) for more help. It doesn't solve the issue of applying for different courses but gives very good advice for Oxbridge/RG applicants.

SeasonFinale · 27/02/2023 16:37

Notaclu · 27/02/2023 16:23

Thanks all and really interesting @SeasonFinale - school is adamant that DD needs to tailor to Oxbridge and the example of good they have given her is more like an essay appealing directly to the course content/structure more than a personal statement; so that might be making her problem worse. BTW the school doesn’t get huge numbers in to Oxbridge each year at all.

It will be more like an essay but should focus on what supracurricular reading or activities have led your child to an interest towards that course and their views on the books, articles, show, mooc etc rather than narrating content (or a more general course) rather than repeat back course content. They already know what their course covers.

Teriyakieverything · 27/02/2023 17:34

I think writing a PS for 5 unis but focusing on a particular course content or structure is inherently tricky. We had to navigate this issue for NatSci/Physics/Biology, we found what worked for us was to pitch the main PS at the course subject level and linked it to her super curriculars, which makes specific uni course structure largely irrelevant.

MarchingFrogs · 27/02/2023 17:41

Notaclu · 27/02/2023 16:23

Thanks all and really interesting @SeasonFinale - school is adamant that DD needs to tailor to Oxbridge and the example of good they have given her is more like an essay appealing directly to the course content/structure more than a personal statement; so that might be making her problem worse. BTW the school doesn’t get huge numbers in to Oxbridge each year at all.

If anything, it's the LSE course towards which she should aim the PS . Somebody on another thread posted a section from the Oxford website wrt the university appreciating that the application there is only one of up to five that the applicant issuing. Whereas yes, LSE do regularly quote the PS not being what they are looking for one to say as a reason for rejecting the application (not just this year - it's something which has been commented on by rejected LSE applicants posting on TSR for quite a few years now.

Tbf, LSE does say:

If you are applying for a range of slightly different courses, we recommend that you focus your personal statement on the areas of overlap between them, so that your statement appeals to all of your UCAS choices.

So it's possible that a number of the 'your PS wasn't LSE-centric enough' rejects missed orignored that and didn't include every LSE bit in the overlap.

Survey99 · 27/02/2023 18:53

Have you tried asking in The Student Room. There is a topic for UCAS applications etc and a few admissions people there who give out advice. I have seen this question a few times, but cant remember the advice.

Dancingdreamer · 28/02/2023 22:42

One of mine had this issue with universities known for reading the personal statement. On paper they were completely different courses think politics v geography (not the actual courses). We focused on the themes that were common in the courses they wanted to study and never once mentioned the name of the course they wanted to study. They got 5 offers from Russell Group and other top universities.