Personal statement: what to do if applying for two quite different courses?

[Fatbadger50]

Help - I’m confused! DD is applying for 2027. Her preference is a Sports science + maths degree but only at a specific university. If she doesn’t get the offer she’d want to do a Business degree. I don’t understand how the personal statement may work in this situation where she’s applying for two quite different courses. She’s been advised by her school to email admissions to see if she can send them an alternative personal statement.

My DD's friend did this. She phoned admissions and they told her to send an alternative personal statement. She wanted to do either an allied health degree or a history degree. It worked! It might not work for every uni though so it is important to contact admissions for the uni and course she wants first.

Some unis will accept an alternative personal statement, some won't so you need to ask Admissions.

Would question the course choices though if they are that different.

If DD is interested in doing Maths at degree level at one uni, why not apply for combined Maths with Business at others?

Then the PS could be largely maths focussed. With just a paragraph about her interest in sport science.

As a former admissions tutor I agree that starting by contacting the admissions tutors is a great idea. Many specialist degree programmes understand well the issue you describe, OP, and are the ones that will allow an additional PS to be sent directly. 🤞

One practical angle: the maths, data and research-skills paragraphs will do double duty here. Quantitative analysis is genuinely central to sport science and to business, so DD can anchor the statement in those shared strengths and only swap the course-specific paragraph: one showing why sport science appeals (physiology, performance psychology, any lab or coaching experience), one showing commercial awareness for business (a project, part-time work, a company or market she has followed closely). The school's advice is sound - some universities accept an alternative personal statement sent directly to admissions, and it is worth asking rather than assuming, as Hapagirl48's example shows. Also worth knowing: many universities let students transfer between related courses at the end of first year, so if she starts on one route and finds it is not right, that door often stays open.

If the request to submit an alternative personal statement isn't successful UCAS has a guide on their website.

Not able to link but it's called 'how to write a personal statement that works for multiple courses'.

Thank you. @poetryandwine if emailing or calling the admissions department, do you think context (ie, why there are different choices of courses/universities) needs to be given when asking if the university would accept a direct submission of a personal statement, or would it be better just to ask the question?

a sixth former said this to me recently. I didn’t realise you can only send one personal statement? I thought you write different ones depending on the course you chose and uni. He said that if you apply for medicine at one place and history at another then it would look bad because you’re not sure what you’re doing. Is that right?

Yes, @OrchidRosetta , that is correct. There is no hope of getting onto a medical programme unless your PS makes it clear that you are devoted to the subject.

God this sounds so AI-generated.

Hello, @Fatbadger50

First, the admissions team will appreciate email. It can be directed to anyone on the public face of the team, and they will forward it appropriately. An email can be tweaked until it is clear and concise, and it will be useful for DD to have a written record of the response (especially if positive).

The Sports Science and Maths is the specialist programme, so that is the one in need of the specialist PS.

Then DD’s general PS can be directed towards Business. I agree with @gradroutes that anchoring this PS in quantitative interests and skills will make it more powerful than a more general Business orientated PS. Along with @Twiglets1 , I wonder if she has given any consideration to a Joint Hons programme combining Business and Maths? I would think it at least worth comparing initial prospects and starting salaries. IIRC Maths graduates generally trump Business graduates on these factors. But of course if DD has strong feelings she should follow them.

Good luck to her.