THE PERSONAL STATEMENT [RMG Presentation] How to sell yourself effectively without telling lies!
Your Audience The same statement will be seen by up to FIVE different Universities admissions staff [That is why applying for several unrelated subjects will undermine your application] Joint applications will be seen by BOTH subject admissions tutors
Admissions tutors do NOT see which other Universities you have applied for
Your Purpose You have to PERSUADE the admissions tutor[s] that you are as good a prospect for a place on the course as any other of the several thousand UCAS applicants that he or she will be reviewing.
Not an easy task…………..
STRUCTURE
• 2/3rds subject related •
rd 1/3
other factors [Hmmmm..]
• Your ACADEMIC POTENTIAL is what REALLY matters
• The admissions tutor who reads your statement will be an
ACADEMIC subject specialist
D of E /sport/ Community service is wonderful–
BUT…………
Not actually very important
to university admissions tutors
What Do Admissions Tutors Want? • They’ll be looking for evidence that you’ve DONE something to illustrate your intellectual interest in and commitment to the subject:–
• field work, work experience, work
shadowing, correspondence or contact with someone in your field of study, wider reading, study out of school, summer schools, courses/ conferences, individual projects/ research, University visits, comparisons to and awareness of related subjects
What to highlight? Sell yourself – be positive FOCUS ON:
• • • • • •
Academic interest Knowledge of the subject area Evidence of research Enthusiasm [for subject & for undergraduate study] Experience
The rounded person – leadership, contribution to school, community, teams, responsibilities……..
What to include? • Academic interests – WHY this subject?
• Detail of reading/ work experience/ motivation – anything that is BEYOND the standard classroom subject
• Specifics of achievement [or enjoyment!] within the classroom
The Enthusiastic, Potential Undergraduate • Admissions tutors read LOTS of personal statements for their particular subject
• They want to get the best possible potential undergraduates
• They need to be convinced that you are genuinely keen to do THEIR subject
I’m a wonderful person – really! • Be positive about yourself • Try to examine all that you have done
• Rank the relevance of your experiences – study, reading, travel, work shadowing - to the course you want to take
• Sift through what you have done and achieved to revaluate yourself
But I’m not an arrogant brat…. • The personal Statement is a difficult balancing act between pointing out your strengths and avoiding making your admissions tutor loathe you for sounding pretentious and precocious!
• Modesty is a virtue – your tutor and teachers can sing your praises more effectively than you can, but you must try to reveal what is interesting and special about yourself. Talk to your TUTOR about what you will write and what aspects he/she can highlight.
HOW? • Write several drafts and discuss them with your TUTOR – starting TODAY
• • • • •
650 words Excellent, CONTINUOUS English NO mistakes of grammar Good range of vocabulary NOT JUST A LIST
[They’ll be looking for evidence of an intelligent person who can express him/herself fluently and elegantly]
PERSUASIVE WRITING – REMEMBER GCSE ENGLISH?? • • • •
Why THIS course? When did you FIRST become interested? What further motivated you? Where does this course fit into your bigger scheme? • What SPECIFIC elements of school work have been relevant to you? • How have you taken them further?
NB: Think about ways of linking the different aspects of YOU that you wish to highlight.
EXAMPLES Good, bad and trashable Further examples are available from your Group Tutor and RMG
NB: Confidentiality of examples
DON’T be boring – you’ll disappear into the waste paper bin with 400+ identical candidates [More, depending on the subject] Not bad, but it could be SO much better….
Inane Openings. • I have chosen to study Medicine at University because I want to be a Doctor. • I have always wanted to study Pharmacy. It is an incredibly interesting aspect of scientific application and a rewarding subject.
• I have always wanted to be a Geographer. My interest in Geography is life long - as a subject, it fascinates me.
• I have always wanted to be a vet. I adore animals and really love the idea of
working with them. I have had ten pets of my own in the last eight years and have had sole responsibility for their welfare.
Avoid the pitfalls – repetition, inanity and vacuity [We’ll deal with MENDACITY in a minute]
So say the other x thousand applicants.
Admirable, but a bit vague. What made you feel this way? Have you specific plans? Have you seen social injustices that you want to put right?
I have always wanted to study Pharmacy. It is an incredibly interesting aspect of scientific application and a rewarding subject because it will allow me to put something back into society by helping people.
‘Incredibly interesting’? Oh, PLEASE – surely you can manage something a bit more dynamic? WHICH aspect is ‘interesting’? WHY are you attracted to this work? Be specific and link your interest to your studies
Same subject but more passionate: WIDER AWARENESS & CAPACITY TO SEE A BIGGER PICTURE MOTIVATION IS REVEALED & PRACTICAL ACTION DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPECIFICS – KNOWLEDGE & APPLICATION
Geldof is right – we can make a difference to the world, and I strongly believe that the way in which we in the developed world share or withhold our pharmaceutical knowledge with regard to the third world is a critical factor in this battle. On a recent visit to my church’s missionary camp in Kebkabiya, Africa, I saw scenes which made me determined that I would use what my teachers have always called my ‘aptitude for sciences’ in an ethically acceptable way. I believe that Chemistry is the basis of all biological processes: it is a discipline that underpins most of our medical advances. The importance of applications of the naphtha faction to the pharmaceutical industry formed the basis of my special investigation project for my Chemistry coursework, and was supported by work shadowing at Bayer laboratories in Harlow, which, in turn, has led to the offer of sponsorship if my University application is successful. EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS & ESTEEM OF OTHERS
Another one hits the waste-paper bin……. Veterinary Science is not about cuddling fluffy bunnies. This candidate may not fully comprehend what is in store.
I have always wanted to be a vet. I adore animals and really love the idea of working with them. I have had ten pets of my own in the last eight years and have had sole responsibility for their welfare.
Whilst one might expect an interest in animals, this is the most competitive discipline you can apply for – something more than pet ownership is called for.
Er… ten in eight years doesn’t sound like good odds for number This may be an excellent candidate, but eleven. Is this the poor admissions tutor won’t know essential this from such a woolly & vague personal statement. information? The candidate is simply not ‘selling’ him/herself in the best possible way.
THE EVILS OF MENDACITY DON’T TELL LIES – YOU’LL GET CAUGHT OUT [ as famously happened to one of our History applicants!!]
“I have a strong interest in the relationship between power and iconography and the relevance of this to the revisionist historians’ view of the bloodless revolution of 1689. Having read GM Trevelyan on the subject, I recently read Steve Zwicker’s appraisal in his book, Lines of Authority: Politics & Culture in the Restoration. I found his ideas very interesting”
IT SOUNDS FANTASTIC, DOESN’T IT? BUT IT NEEDS TO BE TRUE.
You’ll need to be able to talk about this. ASSUME THAT YOUR INTERVIEWER WILL HAVE READ BOTH BOOKS AND WILL ASK YOU ABOUT THEM! [IT HAPPENED] DANGEROUSLY VAGUE! EXPECT TO BE QUIZZED ON THE PRECISE NATURE OF ‘VERY INTERESTING’
DON’T restrict yourself to what is on your syllabus – everyone will have that in common. What makes you different?
I have thoroughly enjoyed my studies for Unit 2 of the course, and hope to extend my understanding of this interesting aspect of Origami when at university.
BEWARE OF RESTRICTING YOURSELF TO THE A LEVEL SYLLABUS [ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE HIGH ASPIRATIONS]
“To thine own self be true…….” • Excellent advice = be YOURSELF
• Honesty vs false perceptions of ‘crowd-pleasing’
• Make it personal – experiences/anecdotes
And here’s one that worked………… Successful KES applicant for PPE I was taught to play Monopoly aged five, by my sister. Having decided to apply my mother’s advice about saving, I avoided all expenditure and lost the game. I would be lying horrendously if I claimed that at a tender age I was grasping the concepts of economic scarcity. My study of the subject began when I asked for a definition of ‘monopoly’. As my first economics teacher, my sister also taught me – at the simplest of levels – about capitalism, communism and the collapse of the USSR. I have always hungered for knowledge of alternative political and economic systems. This appetite – and my interest in different cultures – has inculcated within me a travel addiction that has led me to a wide variety of places. The chandelier-lit underground stations of Moscow have illuminated the high quality of social overhead capital provided under communism. Hitch-hiking a ride in a ‘Dacia’ on a Romanian highway has shown me how much care and attention is put into the manufacture of luxury goods under a similar regime. The streets of Saudi Arabia have shown me how average living standards and GDP can be entirely unrelated; those of Shanghai, where buildings on the verge of collapse cluster around the bases of glistening skyscrapers, showed me that some ‘pigs’ really are more equal than others.
And now for something entirely different‌ It is genuine, but we don’t know whether or not it was successful. NB: Imitation is NOT advised!! College Applicant: Hugh Gallagher. New York University
I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I am innovative and have been known to re-design shopping malls during my lunch-break to make them more energyefficient. I am an upstanding, liberal, member of my multi-cultural society and translate ethnic slurs for foreign refugees, create prosthetics for land-mine victims and write award winning operas. Fortunately, I manage my time efficiently and, for relaxation, have been known to tread water for three days in a row. I am musical, and woo women with my sensuous and Godlike trombone playing. I also play
bluegrass cello and was scouted by the New York Met. I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes and fifteen seconds. I am an expert in cubism, a veteran in love and an outlaw in Peru. Children trust me. Continued
Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of vicious ants. I still consider this my greatest achievement to date, although when bored I build large suspension bridges in my backyard. I have been the subject of numerous documentaries. I enjoy urban hang gliding and on Wednesday evenings, after school, I repair electrical devices for old ladies – free of charge. I participate in full-contact Origami at weekends. I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst and a ruthless bookie. I can hurl tennis racquets at small, moving objects with deadly accuracy; I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week and when I sleep, I do so at my desk. I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic. I catch speeding bullets in my teeth. I have won
bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri-Lanka and spelling bees in the Kremlin. Whilst on vacation I have performed open-heart surgery in Borneo and negotiated with terrorists who seized a small bakery in Kamloops, Canada. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
I have spoken with Elvis and he told me to apply for this course.
There has been quite a lot of negative press for the personal statement, largely due to the incidence of plagiarism. You must ‘sign’ that what you have provided is uniquely yours and completely true – this includes the material in the personal statement. Whatever you write, you need to be aware that it is your academic profile that will REALLY matter. Academic profile includes GCSE grades, AS performance and predicted or achieved A2 grades. At A2, it seems that achieved grades weigh more than predicted grades – understandably!
Your Turn For something more plausible REMEMBER:-
• 650 words [format is irrelevant as APPLY will automatically adjust to its default point size and font]
• Academic / subject based information as priority • Good continuous written English • Use the student resources on the University bit of our website – there are lots of examples there