Checking your Personal Statement How to make it stand out for the right reasons!

THE BASICS Your brief was to produce a piece of written work on one page of up to 400 words. It was suggested that you structured it to include a section about your current education, other activities that you do including hobbies and interests, and finally information on your future plans.

How did you do? There were some really excellent pieces of work that showed care and attention to detail. However….. There were also some very common mistakes that were unexpected for pupils in Year 11? Every one has been read and there are comments on each.

Please check for the following… Did you spell-check it??? – Do you really spell COLLAGE or PHYCOLOGY like this…. ….or even Apprentship or Barton Pevaril ? Did you copy from an existing example – the phrase “Positions of authority” (responsibility?) appeared on a large number of statements.

And….. Did you really ask someone else to read it to ensure that it made sense? “To enrol in this I presented self-management, I did this by use of organisation.” “This is a variety but its due to I can understand numbers extremely well and I am extremely interested in advance and sport.” “This means that I have experience working with big corporations and this has meant that I have future plans to work for these company’s and may already have job offers.” “These subjects have lasted through my existance”

How not to impress…. “ I have not researched the jobs that are “ Outside of school I mainly play games and watch You Tube” “ I have not researched the jobs that are available that are related to this subject” “I have gotten very late and the lates I have are for a very good reason”

And finally – some “Howlers” “All three of these subjects is a three year curse” “I didn’t really PE because I got really exhausted really quickly” “I go abroad eggless once a year” Please check your Personal Statement thoroughly and make sure that it stands out for the right reasons!