Ucas Personal Statement

[Cat Woman]

OK, does anyone have any tips for how to write your personal statement for a ucas form?. The first one I did involved a lot of help from my tutor but now Im going it alone!

[Twigman]

You better hurry up...deline is 15th iirc.
Try not to repeat what qualifications you already have or are doing...they are already put on the page before so your wasting your time.
Put down things like work experince, hobbies/interests, future plans/ambitions. Why you want to study the particular courses you are appling for.
Any worthwhile activities you do outside school sports community service etc.
Any responisbilities you have eg prefect/mentor whatever.
You have 47 lines, use them productively .

[Slick]

Think about the course you're applying for then think what their perfect student would be like for that course, then try to describe yourself to be that perfect student.

If you don't think you're going to get an interview (most uni's now just give out offers without interviewing you depending on the uni and course) lie through your teeth, or atleast serverly exagerate the truth. Trust me...it helps

[Swafe]

it depends what u wanna do, heres mine for an example (im doin chemistry), and for gods sake HURRY UP !!


Chemistry and all things related have been my passion ever since I first studied them at primary school. I went on to do Double Science at senior school where the subject developed with a lot more depth and information; this is where my love for the subject grew. Now at A-level standard I have come to understand and love everything about the subject area.

My favourite area of Chemistry from A-Level has to be Atomic Structure and bonding. I love this as I found it so intriguing as there were so many gripping new concepts to come together with and understand. Most of the other modules include bonding as well, so the knowledge I had learned in Atomic Structure and bonding, could be applied elsewhere in the course, this is why I enjoyed it so much.

I wish to study Chemistry, as I want to progress in the subject and hopefully in the long term to become a chemist, industrial chemist or go into a similar career in the industry. My other subjects are Computing, General Studies and Mathematics. General Studies is an all round subject - where I learn about various things to give me a broad all round knowledge, whereas Mathematics is more technical - and due to Chemistry needing calculations when working out things, such as enthalpies of combustion, it gives me a real advantage as I find it a lot easier to understand.

In my free time I enjoy going out with my friends, to the cinema, playing football with my friends and various other recreational activities. I also play snooker and pool on a regular basis with my friends, and I am a proud member of the local club. On my own I enjoy listening to music, cycling and using computers for information and games.

[Anders]

Is that all you enjoy on your own Swafeman? (Sorry)

Cat Women, I would avoid being vague about anything, such as Swafeman’s “and various other recreational activities”. You definitely need to convince them you really want to do the course, like Swafeman did. As mentioned before, showing you are responsible will go down well. You’ll need to draft this a few times.

[dgr]

depending where you are applying, you are quite possibly already too late - when i applied to cambridge, the official deadline was middle of october though if you applied that late, almost certainly the uni had selected its interview students already.

if the uni you are applying to works in the same way, good luck ...

advice - write mostly about the subject you are applying to, as swafeman did in his P.S, leave at most 1 paragraph for extra cicicular - they don't need to know unless its achievements that will help you get a place (rowing, rugby...). write mostly about why you LOVE the subject. don't just say "i especially liked this part of the course," write about what YOU do to further your knwoledge - anyone can listen to a teacher, it takes intellegence to go read a book for the hell of it.

have a few pet subjects (e.g. quatum gravity if you were a physicist) that you can say you like espcially. BACK IT UP - you subscribe to relevant journals and magazines. YOU ARE CURRENTLY reading a topical book.

AND GOOD LUCK. type the damn thing if you can - it will look a hell of a lot better.

dgr

[dgr]

oh and listen to what i say and you will go far.

[dgr]

I love this as I found it so intriguing.

n.b. - good idea to stick to the same tense

[Lee]

My uni couldn't get enough of the "personal achievements" in ones own time. The Duke of Edinburgh Award goes a long way indeed.

[Swafe]

bah , it sounds convincing but you are right, the last paragraph needs some tweaking, but im not applying to oxford, so i cba

[Trash Man]

type the damn thing if you can - it will look a hell of a lot better.

dgr

Depends how good you handwriting is. I think a well hand written letter look 100 times better than a typed letter, but that is just me

[Twigman]

Yeah do it on a computer, will be much better.
And get it in quick!
Yeah the be specific bit it good. Find areas that you like and say you particularly enjoyed those bits of the course.
What are you appling for btw?

Selected bits from mine:

Reasons for choosing the course: Science has always been my greatest passion at school, particularly Physics and Maths. I would enjoy the chance to apply a logical approach and creative imagination to given problems. I attended a Headstart course at Swansea University and was exposed to the full range of engineering courses available. This, together with work experience, has confirmed that electronic engineering is the career for me. I have always had a natural curiosity about how things work, and in this technology driven age would be excited to be involved in this field of work.

Make sure you have "the vision" as our careers guy said. In the future I would like to work in the area of research and development for a multinational company...blah blah blah.
Don't lie. If you get called for an interview they will have your UCAS form there and could ask you questions on it. You can manipulate the truth though .
Yeah duke of edinburugh, trident award, things like that.
What have you got so far? We'll all chip in and help you

[pyro]

I wrote mine in 3rd person...It was poo and I got into a poo uni

[Cat Woman]

depending where you are applying, you are quite possibly already too late - when i applied to cambridge, the official deadline was middle of october though if you applied that late, almost certainly the uni had selected its interview students already.
dgr

Its ok as Im going through route B. My deadline is March 24. Im applying for Contour Fashion, which is mosly lingerie, swimwear and bridalwear. I have already done a fashion course and there is good money in lingerie. Its the only course (of its kind) in the country with only 20 places too, so that puts even more pressure on me!

I think typing it is good idea, but how do you make sure you dont go over the lines on the stick on thing?

P.S.-This advice is really helping me out, peeps, especially snippets from actual P.S's Swafeman and Twigman!

[Twigman]

If you are typing it your school/college/whatever should have a program that you install on the computers and it leads you through all the sections and tells you what you need to do. It won't let you submit it if you haven't finished or haven't done certain sections and it quite useful.

[Cat Woman]

If you are typing it your school/college/whatever should have a program that you install on the computers and it leads you through all the sections and tells you what you need to do. It won't let you submit it if you haven't finished or haven't done certain sections and it quite useful.

Woah, I never knew that. That is useful! Ta very much!

You people are great. You do realise this will be the place I'll look first for advice now dont you ?