Personal Statements PS Bath

Personal Statement – guess the right answer

Personal statement exercise

Personal statement timeline

Personal statement information on UCAS site

What admissions tutors are looking for Evidence of:  Independent study skills  Self-awareness  Motivation and commitment  An understanding of the course  Good numeracy and literacy  Essay writing  Research skills  Time management skills  Enthusiasm to go beyond the syllabus

Activity Benefit Course Activity Benefit Course What you’ve done What skills it has given you How these relate to your course Personal Statement ABC Guide Good Better Best

Reasons given to unsuccessful applicants Your personal statement does not strongly support your desire to study your chosen degree “ ” Your personal statement did not show sufficient understanding, relevance or knowledge about the course you are applying for You failed to demonstrate sufficient knowledge and interest in the subject in your personal statement Unsuccessful as you have not expressed a strong enough interest in the subject area in your personal statement

Don’ts  Intellectual Pretensions  Misdirected humour  Plagiarism  Mentioning one institution  Committing GBH on English language  ‘I so don’t want to miss this opportunity’  ‘It was a catch 12 situation’ Do’s  Mention future aspirations  Get feedback from others  Advisers  Parents / Guardians  Write it early and edit  Take it with you to interview  Be prepared to answer questions about it Personal Statement: Do’s & Don’ts

Edit, edit, edit!

Dear John: I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we are apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be. Yours, Gloria Dear John: I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we are apart. I can be forever happy – will you let me be yours? Gloria Why correct punctuation matters…..

Finally, do not go over the top… … and when I’m not working towards World Peace, I enjoy learning languages from scratch, writing symphonies and playing a standard of golf that Tiger Woods can only dream about.

Similarity Detection Service  Personal Statements are checked against a library of those already in the system, and from a variety of websites and paper publications  Each new statement is added to the library after processing

What you should be doing now?  Research the course  Do extra curricular activities  Gain work experience  Go beyond the syllabus  Focus on doing well in exams!