Does anyone ACTUALLY read the personal statement?

[llareggub]

Genuinely, I’ve always wondered. If someone does read them, what importance is given to them? Can an amazing personal statement result in a lower offer? Surely there is a point where they are all really quite similar?

I think that's fair enough, but where they talk about a particular author/event/concept in the PS, they can expect to be asked to develop their thoughts in interview.

I think the range of responses highlights just how varied the use of personal statements is by individual institutions and/or departments within them. Which means students can’t assume it is unimportant and won’t be read but also for some courses it is not nearly as important as some might think. It does seem to be increasingly true that institutions recognise the personal statement might not be fair in the sense one can never know just how much support a potential student has had with it. In addition, some very able candidates might just not have had the opportunities to develop a really impactful, interesting PS with lots of supercurriculars. Of course, anything a candidate writes in a PS he/she should expect to have to justify in an interview (although of course most courses don’t interview) but equally, it might be disappointing to put all the effort in and have no reference made to the PS whatsoever.

All this stuff about interviews is pretty irrelevant. Clearly, if one is to be interviewed the PS is quite likely to matter, or at least one can't take risks of being caught out etc (there are exceptions eg many med schools), Oxbridge being the clearest example. Likewise, for the most competitive/top tier universities one has to assume they read them - how else is UCL deciding to turn down candidates with perfect predictions. However, for the main slew of non-interviewing mid and lower tier universities, for non-vocational courses, I think most offer on grades, as demonstrated by offers often coming through within a few days of submission. Maybe a quick flick through for atrocities at best, but even that would I think take too long.

But it is a rather depressing conclusion, given how long is spent on them, and there is value in the process beyond admission, as it can help to focus candidates' minds on whether and why they actually want to study the subject.

The new format is interesting - I hope the word count is flexible so that candidates who want to do a very academic PS, as required by Oxbridge/Imperial etc can just load all their reading and thoughts etc into the first section. And I am not sure why the new format is meant to reduce possible advantage of doing lots of expensive courses/activities, as the third question speaks to all that stuff.

@SlenderRations "And I am not sure why the new format is meant to reduce possible advantage of doing lots of expensive courses/activities, as the third question speaks to all that stuff."

Universities have always made it clear that low cost activities such as reading and watching podcasts are just as valuable as courses. Good UCAS advisers in schools will make that clear to their students early in their sixth form journey, so there really is no reason to continue to be cynical about it.

As you say, even if nobody reads the PS, it is valuable self-reflection. But it is also valuable if it encourages supra-curricular engagement with the subject they intend to study. (And that's another reason not to openly express cynicism ... it will discourage students from engaging).

Reading with interest. My DC is applying to Uni for next year, but the college he is at doesn't offer much guidance around the PS. Other than the UCAS website does anyone know of any resources/ guidance out there that could help him please?

We interview (STEM subject) - but I do read the personal statements beforehand. I see them a little as a "could they be bothered" test - did they take the time to produce something that is readable, no glaring grammatical mistakes etc.

It's going to change a bit for next year, and subjects will vary. The template that I think works well is:

Para 1: Why I want to do X at university
Para 2: Stuff related to the subject (school and super-curricular). Biggest para
Para 3: Other academic stuff
Para 4: Extra curricular (short para!)
Para 5: Why you want me (summing up and why you would be a good student to take)

Also do some internet searching - there is free help and advice out there: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/find-out-more/teachers-and-advisers/helping-students-prepare

One important point is that students apply to more than one university, so the PS has to fit all of them! It doesn't matter if one university doesn't read them if the other ones do.

Bath is the one uni we have visited that said they read every single one and it influences who they offer to.

Thank you @Pallando, that's really helpful!

I went to Oxford and they definitely used mine as a springboard at the start of the interview for the ‘getting you settled/easing you in’ type questions. So in my view, it’s worth a) spending time on and b) not trying to bullshit - if you say you’ve read something, make damn sure you can talk about it if they ask!

It’s my impression that most Oxbridge interviewers only use it to launch areas of discussion for part of the interview. This is based on working in Cambridge. Remember Oxford and Cambridge have their own admissions exams in many subjects. Cambridge interviews most applicants, Oxford not so much.

At the Durham open day 2023 the English prof at one of the lectures said decisions on offers were made by the admissions team not the faculty. I’m guessing they offer based on predicted grades and look at personal statements and references.

DC applied to Oxford and took the famous ELAT online test last yr for which the tech failed. Oxford decided to discount it altogether for all students and asked them to submit a piece of work. His piece of work had a teacher comment on that said it was a truly outstanding essay. They didn’t even interview him. Everything in the UCAS application was excellent and he got offers from everywhere else he applied. There is an element of luck in these things.

That’s a really good point. A decent sixth form will advise on this. DC’s sixth form careers office even had a seminar for parents

I would suggest yes - in one of the letters my DS received from his subject department following his offer, his EPQ subject was mentioned. Also he was invited for pre season training of his chosen sport because of - we believe - what he mentioned in his statement

Applicants apply for all 5 courses equally, there's no first choice.

They initially apply for 5 - then after they get their offers they firm their first choice, and select one insurance choice.

Yes, they do. They incorporated it into my son's offer email.

St Andrews said that they read and place emphasis on Personal Statements- given that I believe they have the lowest offer to applications ratio in the UK (as they are one of the smallest universities) this makes sense. The majority of applicants who are successful also apply with way above the ‘standard offer’ predicted grades (A stars in the majority)

It’ll be interesting to see how the new system works going forward

@OhshutupSimonyounobhead That's interesting. Do you mind sharing what subject that was for at Bath? Thanks

I've heard before that St Andrews reads personal statements as it's so small (as @Lovetobake2 says).

I was at Edinburgh's open day yesterday with DC (stem subject) and they specifically mentioned that they read all personal statements. Quite interesting as they are a big uni with a lot of applications, but why mention it if they secretly don't?

Every person my son spoke to at Bristol today said they don't read the personal statement. It's all on A Level and GCSE grades which they convert to a %. 🤷‍♀️

But my kid was asked a question about her studies by Bristol admissions that they would only have known about if they read the Ps very carefully (it appears about 3/4 of the way through it).

Which subject area was it? Each department will do their admissions differently.

My DS has applied to an engineering course at Bristol. He didn't ask at the Bristol open day whether they read the PS but their reply to his application suggests they do ... "Because of the large number of high-quality applications ... we are unable to make all our final decisions immediately. It takes time to ensure that your application is given full consideration, but we guarantee that it will be assessed thoroughly and fairly, in competition with other applicants."

In any case, at least two of the other unis he has applied to definitely mentioned in their talk that they do use it.

I was at Bristol uni today with a dc interested in Economics and both the staff person we spoke to and at the information talk they said they don't read the PS, it's on GCSEs and A levels.