UCAS Personal Statements

[TuTuKu]

Right.. i'm going to have to get my bum into gear before tuesday and get a rough draft of my personal statement written.... Has anyone got any good websites or tips to help me! Seems like a huge task... I hate writing about myself... I want to do geography if that's any help!!

Thanks

TuTuKu Xx

 

[Janet Watkins]

I hope that all of you applying for University places through UCAS realise that music exam Grade results can add to your points score!

See the website below for more information. (The relevant table is at the bottom of the page.)

http://www.ucas.ac.uk/candq/tariff/

Points range from 75 for a Distinction at Grade 8 Practical down to 5 for a Pass at Grade 6 Theory.

I know of one A Level student who has used this information to his advantage! It was the difference between getting into his first choice University, or going through clearing.

Hope this helps

Janet

 

[trombelle]

that is so true abou the points for music grades, recently found that out and i have a feeling it will be a big help!!

in terms of writing your personal statement, im doing the same thing at the moment and im finding it really hard! it's really embarrassing to have to 'sell' yourself to admissions tutors and i feel kinda big headed. the best advice (tho u prob know this already) is to get someone close to you to have a read through it. they will often think of really good stuff about you that you didn't think of or just didn't think was significant. or maybe just point out any spelling errors!!

good luck anyway!!

ps: just out of interest, what are you planning to study?!

 

[sparkling_quavers]

Just wait till you graduate and you have to write loads of these sorts of things for job applications !!

My advice is make sure you back up qualities etc with evidence i.e if you are saying you have a certain skill make sure you say how you learnt it.

Working as part as a team is always a useful one. You can use band as a good example of that. If you have experience of committees, tutoring younger pupils then make sure you mention it.

If you have a part-time job explain how it has taught you to deal with a range of people from all sectors of the community, time-keeping and organising your studying with other committments.

Finally try and have a balance of academic and non-academic achievements.

Not that I am an expert or anything! :biggrin:

 

[mikelyons]

Are your tutors not giving you any help with this? Form tutor/personal tutor?

I'd agree with most things already said on here. Make sure you back it all up with concrete facts. Watch you word count as well. I'm sure there's a website somewhere with lots of guidance. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[TuTuKu]

Thanks for your replies!

Are your tutors not giving you any help with this? Form tutor/personal tutor?

Yes they are, have been very helpful, it just still seems like such a onerous task! I'm sure, like most things it'll be fine once i get it started!

I had heard about the music exams carrying UCAS points.... i have grade 8 pass so that will be helpful for some Unis, although not all I'm appling to use the tariff

ps: just out of interest, what are you planning to study?!

Geography hopefully!!

Writing will commence approx 0900 sunday morning, so wish me luck!!

 

[stephen2001]

One tip is to make sure that each sentence/paragraph starts differently.
It is very easy to start each one with "I have" which is actually fairly difficult to read I think!

Hope that helps

 

[kate_the_horn]

and most of all, blow ure own cornet!!

 

[lynchie]

ooo, you just reminded me of this!

Application

Someone please use it!!!

 

[horny]

having interviewed potential candidates at a local uni for the teaching degree and pgce, I was very surprised to read handwritten personal statememts with grammatical and spelling errors, make yours look professional and get someone the proof read it, some one who knows you well and may be able to add things, I always get my best professional buddies to read all my applications and they allways offer great ideas to improve my applications.
good luck

 

[horny]

oops i spelt always wrong!?!? put that down the the heat and alchohol this sunday afternoon!

 

[aimee_euph]

so my grade 8 honours counts also as an extra 70/75 points?!

 

[Cantonian]

having interviewed potential candidates at a local uni for the teaching degree and pgce, I was very surprised to read handwritten personal statememts with grammatical and spelling errors, make yours look professional and get someone the proof read it, some one who knows you well and may be able to add things, I always get my best professional buddies to read all my applications and they allways offer great ideas to improve my applications.
good luck

And do not forget to use capital letters and full stops in the correct places!

 

[sugarandspice]

ooooh, im doing mine at the mo too. well let me re-phrase that, im meant to be oding mine at the moment!!
my tutor has been really really helpful and given us a list of everything we can talk about-cant remember it off hand (we did this before the summer!) but i'll see if i can find it. hope it goes well

 

[Liz Courts]

my tutor has been really really helpful and given us a list of everything we can talk about

Well at least SOME tutors are helpful...:-?:x

I haven't a clue of what to write for mine...:--(

 

[dorris cole]

:-( :-( I HAVE GOT TO DO A ROUGH COPY OF MY PERSONAL STATEMENT TODAY NOT GOT A CLUE OF HOW TO START IT OR EVEN WHAT TO PUT IN IT ANY IDEAS

 

[sugarandspice]

i wrote mine last night! well i did the rough copy
i found a good format was;
courses being studied, reasons for applying for the course and professional ambitions
relevant work experience and achievements
other achievements
hobbies (music!!) interests and personality

well thats what i did!! now does any one know if there is a word limit? mines 4 sides of A4.hmmmm. about to type it up and get a proper word count!

 

[mikelyons]

It has got to fit on the space on the form - I seem to remember it's about 400 words @ 12pt Times New Roman.

 

[sugarandspice]

It has got to fit on the space on the form - I seem to remember it's about 400 words @ 12pt Times New Roman.

just given it to my tutor- she said its ok cos i have big hand writting!! its not that big tho!

 

[zebrazoo]

PS formet

Hooookay,

So I know there is some crazy format for this thing but does anyone know what the margins are on word for typing a personal statement to put in the EAS??

Muchas Loving xx