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The Personal Statement Advice No One Gives

Useful personal statement advice for any subject area

Date : 27/07/2017

Author Information

Sam

Uploaded by : Sam
Uploaded on : 27/07/2017
Subject : Personal Statements

Despite the new academic year only just kicking off, hundreds of thousands of students will already have their eye on the next. 

 

For Year 13s across the country it’s both a thoroughly exciting and daunting time as they turn their attention to university applications. 

 

A large source of the fear comes from the all-important personal statement- a mere 4000 characters to woo the weary and cynical eyes of university admission tutors. 

 

I often get requests for assistance on personal statements and I’m repeatedly surprised at how poor the advice given from teachers to their students is (even from some of the top fee-paying schools in the UK). There seems to be no general consensus in what to include, what to exclude, and how to structure. 

 

But there is a reason for this. The thing is called a PERSONAL statement after all. The whole point of the piece is to express who you are and demonstrate the potential you have. 

 

There are obviously some loose structural rules of thumb to follow but the personal statement genuinely affords and encourages originality. 

 

So while there is no golden formula to write the perfect personal statement I propose that there are a few definitive dos and don’ts. These are principles I’ve personally followed and have instilled into others to help them reach some of the best universities in the country.  

 

Do Tell YOUR Story

 

Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of paying attention to the name of the thing- PERSONAL statement. 

 

This piece of writing is often being read by very disillusioned admissions tutors. The poor souls have to go piles and piles of the same dross every year. In the past 5 years they’ve probably seen 14538 English applicants whose “passion for English stemmed from reading Orwell, which gave me a compelling insight into...” Yawn. 

 

They honestly don’t really care what applicants are ‘interested` in. They want to see that applicants are ‘interesting`. 

 

I recently helped out an intelligent young girl with a Sociology personal statement. From reading her first draft I gained little insight into who she was as a person, and instead merely a dense set of descri ptions about what she had previously studied. When I then sat down with her to find out about her life and piece together the journey she’d taken to wanting to study Sociology, it became apparent she had a very interesting story to tell. Before the age of 11 she had lived in 5 different countries, mainly in the Middle East and Far East. And it was the richly stark contrasts in cultural idiosyncrasies from her nomadic upbringing that had ultimately led her down a pathway of wanting to think deeply about issues surrounding culture and identity. 

 

Yet her statement mentioned nothing to do with this. It opened with a generic line about how Sociology can help us understand our ever-increasing interconnected world. 

 

So I dare all students to be arrogant for a second. The following questions must be asked- “What’s awesome about me? What makes me positively unique?” Those nuggets of one’s personal prominence should act as the solid base and spine of a personal statement. This will then allow applicants to seamlessly tie in their academic interests, which will show how they’ve thought about longstanding ideas and theories from a perspective enshrined in their own PERSONAL experiences. 

 

Remember, the goal is to raise an eyebrow, not roll an eye. 

 

Don’t Worry About The Extra-Curricular Paragraph 

 

Characters are precious. They should not be wasted on the fact one has achieved Duke of Edinburgh Gold and reached Grade 8 Piano. 

 

Parents of students I help always tell me “She’s/He’s done so much.” And they have. But so has every other kid. 

 

Everyone has full-colours, plays an instrument, captains the debating team etc. 

 

The harsh truth is when these things are included in the personal statement they offer little value and if sloppily added, can actually tarnish a good statement otherwise. 

 

My advice is- if there`s nothing original to put into this section, then applicants should just mention the generics in passing. The depth of my ‘extracurricular’ paragraph was a one-sentence mention of playing football and going to the gym, followed by a brief mention of my upcoming voluntary gap year teaching placement in South Africa. This got me to Cambridge.

 

Admissions tutors honestly do not want to hear about generic achievements, they just want to make sure applicants are human and that they have lives. 

 

But if an applicant has done something out of the norm and it can be directly used as substance to boost their application for a specific subject, then a more detailed presentation of those endeavours should be offered. 

 

Do At Least 3 Drafts 

 

The personal statement is probably the most unnatural and uncomfortable thing most people will ever write. The reason being is that one has to present an amalgam of astute analytical musings but also an alluring personal narrative. Getting the blend right is pretty much impossible on the first few attempts. 

 

Applicants should accept and embrace that their first draft is going to be rubbish. I see personal statements as blobs of playdough that need to be delicately sculptured overtime to reach their attractive end form. 

 

In some senses it is a creative writing piece and what one must realise is that the creative process is one of perpetual refinement and reconsideration.

 

A classic example of this is the story of the development of the plot for the Pixar animated film Monsters Inc. The initial storyline was centred upon a 30-year-old man dealing with monsters that he drew in a book as a child coming back to bother him as an adult- a far far cry from the entire plot of the film we all know and love. Over a four-year period the story underwent a number of radical changes, where even the character of “Mike” (The green one eyed one) was added only just before production. This is not uncommon in the worlds of film, tv, and literature. But it’s a common reason why so many of the ‘greats’ whether they be books, tv shows, or films receive the acclaim they do. Creating something exceptional is merely the continual redevelopment of something average. 

 

Remember, the personal statement at the time of writing is the most important piece of writing ever written by a university applicant, so a desire to go back to the drawing board time after time must be accepted if one is to produce a truly mesmeric piece. 

 

Don’t Go Ahead With It If It Doesn’t Feel Right

 

Mum: “Well James really wants to do Law but he’s really struggling to put it into words."

 

Well Mum, I’m afraid that might be because James doesn’t actually want to do Law. 

 

Choosing a university course is costly decision. The last thing one wants to do is get it wrong. I’ve known countless students who’ve ended up hating their course, which sadly has lead to dropping out or even trudging through three years of misery to then not even get their 2i. 

 

Applicants should therefore be mindful that the personal statement is also a hugely reflective piece. If one can’t convince themselves why they want to study a particular subject then they might want to go back to square one.

 

It’s vital that applicants forget what mum and dad want, ignore the course suggestions from their schools, and that they don’t look into the average salaries of graduates from each subject area. 

 

University is about fully immersing oneself into something one is curiously compelled by. Following genuine academic cravings is a must in any university application and that in itself will make writing an accomplished personal statement a much easier task. 

 

If writing about one`s interest in a subject feels even remotely contrived and chore like then before ploughing on one should imagine what it would feel like to write essays on that subject every week. 

 

So this task must also be used to fully demonstrate to oneself that the chosen subject is really the right subject. If it becomes apparent the only attraction to the subject is its prestige, future prospects, or the fact it looks cool, then one must be prepared to concede to a further review of course options.

 

I myself came close to applying for Education courses at the start of my A2 year. But after recognising this subject area didn’t feel quite right I took the decision to postpone my university application until after I had completed my A-levels. This allowed me to identify my true interests and strengths over the next year. And if I hadn’t made this decision I wouldn’t have even applied to Cambridge, nor ended up studying my dream course of Psychology and Sociology. 

 

The personal statement is a marker of one of the most personal decisions in life. This decision should not be corrupted by the wants, desires, and expectations of others. 

 

Summary

 

The personal statement is justifiably a complex beast. It’s exceptionally difficult to get right but all too easy to get wrong. But these tips hopefully offer a fresh insight into not just writing a good personal statement, but also the right one for the applicant concerned. 

 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”- Nelson Mandela.

 

Take care in choosing your weapon.

This resource was uploaded by: Sam