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Uni personal statements

By Cinnamon, in The Nesting Box

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ubereglu Golden Egg

ubereglu

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Tutors are usually the best option, or subject teachers anyhow. She could also join the studentroom forum, as it has a really useful personal statement help section and advisers too.

 

My UCAS got sent off by college this morning to be processed...it's finally in motion now and a bit scary!

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LisaP All Knowing Superchicken

LisaP

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We relied on tutors here as OH and I didn't have a clue :roll: DD's application has just gone off after a lot of help and guidance from her Head of 6th Form. ES still has to do his but is also getting help with it at his school.

 

When DD gets in I'll ask if she has any tips to pass on.

 

Lisa P

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the bradley bunch Frequent Layer

the bradley bunch

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hi sarah,

i'm pretty qualified to take a look at the statement & offer any suggestions if you like? you could pm it to me. it's really hard to advise without knowing what she's studying & seeing the statement, but here's a few pointers:

:arrow: the tone should be professional, and be written in the context of what she's 'gained' & 'learnt' from relevant experiences & studies, rather than what she 'can do'.

:arrow: the content should be influenced by that of the subject she is applying for - course guides give a good base for expectations and areas of study - she should be relating the bulk of the statement to these.

:arrow: it's good to refer to learning curves both inside & out of an educational context, and to demonstrate how what she's already learnt formally & informally has laid a good foundation to build further knowledge on.

:arrow: it's beneficial to give examples of any relevant achievements, and if possible to give examples that show her academic capabilities. she needs to show confidence in her ability, without being 'overly confident'.

:arrow: always show an amount of gratitude for the opportunity, and it's nice to end the statement with a mention of where she'd like the degree to take her in the future - discussing long-term & short-term goals. this shows a motivated, focused & reliable young person. so many people drop out of university in the first year that your daughter will need to show that she is serious about her studies and that she would thrive on the opportunity.

:arrow: keep the writing clear, concise and as simple as possible, and make sure it's properly paragraphed.

 

good luck to her :D and like i say pm me if you like.

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Lewis Chronic Clucker

Lewis

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I'd ask her form tutor to have a look, our head of year had a look at everyones for a final check, but the best people would be English teachers.

I had a lot of help from Biology, but I also asked an English teacher I got on really well with through drama stuff, and she had a different view to the biology, so think that helped mine anyway :D

 

Can hardly remember mine now :lol:

Write about what experience you've gained, what you think you'll get out of the degree, what you can put in. What you want to do after ... eg Vet schools seemed to love if you talk about doing research after.

 

 

Mines obviously a different subject but can send you mine if you wanted to have a look or want me to look at Devons :)

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Martin B Henmaniac

Martin B

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Hi Sarah,

 

Tell her to literally cram in eveything that sound's good - volunteer work, societies or clubs she is member of, does she play sports?

 

Also be quirky and original. They've heard the same stuff over and over again and she will want to seperate herself from the rest.

 

One example that was shown to us started with...

 

'If you were a squirell and I was a nut then you'd definatley want to store me away for the harder months...'

 

Obviously I wouldn't reccomend that particular annecdote but the Personal Statement really does need to make a STATEMENT!

 

Good luck to her, I'm sure she will be fine...

 

What courses/unis is she applying for/to?

 

 

Best Wishes

 

Martin

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LisaP All Knowing Superchicken

LisaP

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Take back what I said last night, DD's statement hasn't been finalised after all. Her Head of 6th Form decided she needed to be more to the point with her aims - she needs to project how badly she wants to do medicine and leave out the bit about possibly having psychology as a backup. Logically that makes sense as medicine is very very difficult to get into (about 2000 people applying for every 150 places apparently) although I still really don't understand the system :roll:

 

Whatever happens it needs to be sorted soon as her application has to be submitted by Friday :anxious:

 

Lisa P

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LisaP All Knowing Superchicken

LisaP

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Whatever happens it needs to be sorted soon as her application has to be submitted by Friday :anxious:

 

Lisa P

 

:shock:

You had me worried there! My son is just procrastinating over his, but he wants to do Physics, and medicine needs to be in earlier I think (hope!)?

 

 

Oops sorry, yes it has to be in earlier for Medicine. ES is still procrastinating too but his doesn't have to be done until February (currently Motorcycle Engineering vs English Lit).

 

Happily now though DD's was finalised today and has been sent off, everything firmly crossed now :pray:

 

Best wishes and good luck to everyone going through this.

 

Lisa P

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LisaP All Knowing Superchicken

LisaP

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Thank you Ubereglu and well done to your sister's friend. One of my daughter's tutors told her that 2 other students from her school failed to get into medicine last year, despite excellent grades :(

 

She moved to her current school last year just for the 6th form, it is a very good school and previously she was at a rubbish one (enough said :evil: ) but ironically it would appear that her uni chances may have actually been better had she stayed at the low performing school :?

 

Lisa P

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ubereglu Golden Egg

ubereglu

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Thank you Ubereglu and well done to your sister's friend. One of my daughter's tutors told her that 2 other students from her school failed to get into medicine last year, despite excellent grades :(

 

She moved to her current school last year just for the 6th form, it is a very good school and previously she was at a rubbish one (enough said :evil: ) but ironically it would appear that her uni chances may have actually been better had she stayed at the low performing school :?

 

Lisa P

 

It really is a funny old world isn't it. You can never work out who will and who won't get in for medicine, it depends on how much they like you at interview really-a friend of mine has a brother and the university he applied to for medicine liked him so much they lowered his offer to BBB.

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ubereglu Golden Egg

ubereglu

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Looking at the news,it's now debatable if we will be able to afford her going anywhere.

:roll:

 

Take the risk, as my Mum keeps saying 'they're all jostling for position' at the minute, and she's right. Currently my brother has never earned over the £15 000 limit to start paying off his student loan and he's 29. Take a leap of faith and with any luck the new system, (whatever they decide) is likely not to come in until 2012.

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Lewis Chronic Clucker

Lewis

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Was going to say, I think the £12,000 is ridiculous, but it won't be for 2 years at least, so Devon won't be affected ... I don't think they will raise them for people already at Uni before the rise, just those after.

 

Probably affect any post-grad courses she wanted to do tough, so vet school for me :roll:

... if I end up going that route :lol:

 

They're raising the pay-back limit to £21,000 too.

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Cinnamon Cocka-doodle-loopy

Cinnamon

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Yes,it looks like we may be safe,but she wanted to take a gap year in 2011,starting uni on a deferred place in 2012,and it looks like she may not ba able to do so now.

 

Shame,cos she wanted to work the year (Waitrose want to train her as a customer service advisor,which means great pay!)to help pay for her 3 years at Uni :roll:

So it looks like an earlier start 7 more of a financial struggle is on the cards instead.

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drcara Chicken Eggspert

drcara

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Hey!

I'm a Consultant in the NHS and take part in med student selection and interviews. If anyone wants any tips PM me with Qs/advice I can help perhaps!! :dance:

 

Medicine is so hard to get into, but the cleverest candidates dont get in on just their predicteds and AS and GCSE results. We look for all rounded, well adjusted responsible young people, with initiative and aspiration. Work experience in a medical/social field is usually vital.

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LisaP All Knowing Superchicken

LisaP

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Hey!

I'm a Consultant in the NHS and take part in med student selection and interviews. If anyone wants any tips PM me with Qs/advice I can help perhaps!! :dance:

 

Medicine is so hard to get into, but the cleverest candidates dont get in on just their predicteds and AS and GCSE results. We look for all rounded, well adjusted responsible young people, with initiative and aspiration. Work experience in a medical/social field is usually vital.

 

Don't want to go hijacking this thread, so if it's ok I'll get my DD to PM you drcara, any advice would be very welcome :D

 

Lisa P

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