Tragedy Tale for personal statement?

[SmurfHaribos]

My DD is in Year 12. I was talking to a friend whose children have gone to university. She was saying it’s very important to include a Tragedy Tale in your personal statement eg a diagnosis of something, an experience of prejudice, coming from a difficult/different background etc etc. You then have to say how you overcame it/live with it and how it has made you more resilient and determined etc etc.
As it happens my DD has 2 tragedy tales she could include but she really doesn’t want to as she feels it’s private and she is still coming to terms with a significant medical diagnosis.
How important is a Tragedy Tale in a personal statement? Does everyone include one? Is she shooting herself in the foot if she doesn’t include them?
Thanks in advance.

I think it’s ok to mention it but a good 80% of the statement needs to be about the subject they want to study.

My view would be that it's a shot in the foot to include it. Any significant issue is much better dealt with in the school reference, not the personal statement. People really do talk bullshit, it's not X Factor.

I hadn't heard of this. Seems very odd.
My dd didn't include a Tragedy Tale and got offers without one.

I was an A-level tutor and our head of sixth form used to write the references. Anything like this would go in the reference rather than in the personal statement. I'm sorry your daughter has had a tough time.

Rubbish
They need to talk about the course, why they want to do the course and what activities they have done/ articles they have read that relate to the course

None of my eight DC included anything about resilience etc, although several could easily have done. The DC who is deaf never included that and her school didn't reference it either. They showed resilience instead of shouting about it.

No don't do this. You don't give someone a shot because they bleat poor me. Just tell them why you want to do the course and what you've done to prepare yourself for being on the course

You have sick friends and they’re talking rubbish.

No, don’t include this. If it’s relevant, the school is aware and can include it in the reference. The PS should be about her interest in and aptitude for the subject.

One of my students wrote a fantastic personal statement based on her own life though. She wanted to study law and her father had been wrongly convicted of murder. She wanted to become a defence barrister. As it took a long time to have him freed, she followed each step from his arrest to the retrial and got to know all the court processes. It was an incredibly powerful personal statement and she got accepted at the university she wanted to go to.

Well , no, don't do that.
I have a friend who told me a lot of PS aren't even read in detail.

+If it’s relevant, the school is aware and can include it in the reference*
That is what my DC’s school did.
My friend’s DC whose father died days before AS levels did include it and received five unconditional offers. The DC is so hard working they went on to get all A’s in their A levels.

Your friend is bonkers. We want to read about the applicant’s interest in and work on the subject they want to study.

I’m really not interested in my students’ private lives.

Absolutely not. The most effective personal statements are focused on the course subject and demonstrate the required skills. The best advice on how to write a good one (backed by research) is here https://causeway.education/howto

Please don’t. Not unless she can directly relate it to why it’s sparked an interest in the subject. I look at hundreds of statements a year and rarely see anything like this and if it was not related I wouldn’t be interested.

Great. Thank you everyone!

The personal statement should be focused on your daughter’s academic journey - her interest in the subject, knowledge and skills gained from A Level studies and extra/super-curricular activities.

There is a ‘more about you’ section which is the place to note medical or SEN diagnoses which have had an impact on studies and which student support services at Uni should know about.

I also agree that this information would be included in the school’s reference.

A load of rubbish, the vast majority of personal statements aren't even read!

It's not X-Factor.

When I helped out with interviews, we used to base some of the interview on the PS. So I have read a lot of real PSs.

I can't recall a Tragedy Tale feel in the format. We tended to have 3 main types of applicants for medicine (many people were mixed types, too): 1. someone who had personal experience of seeing the system at work as a patient or as relative of a patient and wants to help others in similar way; 2. kids whose parents were health professionals and identify with that role; 3. scientists who like people or people people who like science, and want a nice blend of both aspects. Always Liberally interlaced with factual bragging about other life achievements. So their format was "why do I want to study medicine, how I learned more about medicine, why it's a good student life & career fit for me, and by the way I'm amazing at all this other stuff, too." That must be basic format for most PSs, for all subjects?

I find the references awful, I'd rather read a hundred curated PSs than 2 references. Most references are not actually personal and just restated the info we got from exam record or in student's PS , the ones that are personal stand out hugely. That's not fair, that only a few students get really personal references.

Work experience OTOH: we liked to see some evidence of resilience in those statements. We'd ask questions about resilience anyway, though.

We don't trust the PS to tell us anything accurate & truthful. PSs are too curated. But they are more interesting than the references, at last.

Do you have evidence for that?

I’ve probably read thousands over the years. We base part of our interview on the personal statement.

Course and subject are primarily important. If there are circumstances which may qualify them for a contextual offer they are worth mentioning or the reference should. Many ps do not get read!

@DollyParkin no concrete evidence, but from the school, reading TSR and even on here. Ds is doing medicine and was told that the interviewers would not have read his PS. The same for pharmacy.

Most subjects don’t interview. Most subjects at most universities just send offers to everyone with the right predicted grades. So most personal statements aren’t really read. Maybe a cursory glance.

There's no need. Mine had 0 tragedy and I got accepted to 4/5 schools including top 10s.

She's making things up. It's meant to be about your passion for the subject, how this is demonstrated, showing interest, learning and determination.

Not sob stories.