1. Ballakermeen Sixth Form
Writing your personal statement

2. Healthcare courses Occupational Therapy Physiotherapy Nursing
Midwifery
Dietetics
Funded by the NHS, check that they have ‘non NHS funded places’

3. Work experience Healthcare, including Medicine and Dentistry
Journalism
Teaching
Law
Social Work

4. What is your personal statement for?
To show your interest in the course
For admissions tutors to find out more about you and whether you are an attractive intellectual proposition
For you to have the opportunity to sell yourself, both in terms of your existing skills and your potential for the future
For admissions to have an excuse to reject you!

5. Interviews Face to face interviews are rare
Your Personal Statement is the only thing that makes you an individual
It could mean the difference between and offer and a rejection
Admissions tutors want to see someone who is self-aware, reflective and an appropriate candidate for their course.

6. Basic Personal Statement Information
47 lines, 4000 characters
It can be written in word and pasted in
Underlining, italicising and the use of bold print will not transfer
Each time you amend it in APPLY, click on save

7. Style Do not use bullet points Write in prose and avoid a list format
Use the personal pronoun, but do not begin every sentence with ‘I……’
Capital letters – be consistent in your use

8. How to start
The course, your motivation for applying for it and what makes you a suitable applicant should take up a third to half of the space available.
You must remember that you are competing for a place and that the reader is a subject expert who expects that his/her enthusiasm and passion for the subject are mirrored in your writing
Talk about ‘the journey’

9. Subheadings Aspirations School Community Service Work Experience
Hobbies and Interests
School Prizes and Achievements
Sport (or Sporting Achievements)

10. Admissions Tutors are looking for a ‘well rounded’ student…..
Part time job?
Work experience? NOT Year 11!
Sports teams?
Hobbies?
Musical instrument?
Duke of Edinburgh?
Head Boy/Girl or committee member?
Voluntary work?
Drama/music productions out of school?
Be selective about what you choose to include………

11. Dos Mention the subject, and show your enthusiasm and passion for it
Give the reader a reason to make you an offer because of the positive tone of your writing
Show knowledge of the course content
Give supporting evidence when you make a statement, showing how YOU benefited from the experience you are mentioning

12. Don’ts Teach your granny to suck eggs
Make spelling mistakes. This will make your statement memorable for the wrong reasons
Use pat phrases such as ‘I have always’
Use humour, it may backfire
Say ‘I hope to…’ for something you really should have done already

13. Don’ts
The reader will be interested in your reading for pleasure. Do not mention a set text in an effort to pass it off as something you have read.
Be too arrogant, but a certain level of quiet confidence may be appealing
Waste time mentioning something that is listed elsewhere on the form ‘At A2 I am studying……’
Fail to appeal to admissions tutors for different courses if you are applying for a variety of different areas.

14. Redrafting
Please do not waste our time by making two minor changes and expecting us to read it again
If you edit in word, check that the amended version makes sense
Edit by taking out spaces, punctuation or by making contractions. RE-WRITE the sections that need to be edited.

15. And finally…….
‘My mother and I frequently attend dog shows, where we have won many prizes’
‘I own my own horse and exorcise him regularly’
Did they get a place?????