Anyone applying to UCAS this year should know by now that the Personal Statement (PS for short) is the most difficult part of the application. Writing it is a challenge, writing mine was a challenge, but there is a good load of advice out there about how to write it and plenty of samples to read and to compare with (don’t copy them). Anyway a good PS is vital as most of the it is the only thing that will set you apart from everyone else. If your applying to a heavily demanded course, lets say Medicine, then the chances are that everyone who stands a chance have the same high grades and even then there are too many people. So to get an interview your PS is the way in.
So the most striking piece of advice I found on the web when I was writing my PS last week was that the PS is not supposed to be about you! The message is to not write your life story or why you love your social life (unless having a social life is the name of the university course). Alternatively you should write about why you like your chosen course and why you’d be good at it. You should also keep a paragraph or two for maybe the most important parts of your non-academic life.
Another annoying aspect of the PS is that it’s way too short, 4000 characters short! The way I went about mine was I wrote down everything I wanted to say first without counting the characters (frighteningly it was 6500 characters long). Then I picked out what I felt had to be said and what needn’t be. Throw in some of your best English and it’s done! Great! Read it again, well maybe not so great, don’t be afraid to scrap it and start over.
On the up side I start school today, I just thought I’d get a post in before breakfast. Couldn’t sleep, back to school jitters and that. I’m going to see what criticism my English teacher can come up with for my PS.
So to anyone like me you still have until 30th September to submit your UCAS application for science courses. (15th October for late entries). Oh and Don’t forget about the BMAT for medicine, but I’ll blog about that another time.
PS(post script) – Hi everybody and fellow bloggers, good job everyone with your intros. A lot better reading than my own, I think I’d better start writing with my brain – rather than the first thoughts that come to mind- it has better vocabulary. Also I see a lot of future doctors on the blogging team. If we all get in to university in Ireland then by the Pigeon Hole Principle some of us will be in the same lecture halls in the not so distant future. I look forward to saying hello in reality!
I love this post! Well, I don’t in that it’s reminded me that I really need to get cracking on my own PS, but that point about it being about your course and not your personal life is succinct and spot-on. I’m applying for English, so the competition will be almost as intense as it is for you, but I’m hoping that I’ll be up against nothing but fellow lackadaisidal, artsy, head-either-in-a-book-or-in-the-clouds people instead of the driven types who go for Medicine. Bah, digression. Anyway, hi, fellow UCAS-er!
I wrote one, spent ages on it too but I’ve decided not to apply 🙁 – I’ll go anywhere in Dublin 🙂
– They love it if you mention your relavant work experience and how it affected you/increased your interest in the course.
Really enjoying the blogs so far michael.Fingers crossed itll be all celebrations this year for all the bloggers :/ … I dont speak to many people who plan on doing medicine,so seeing all the hopeful future doctors on this site is the job 🙂
another thing..embarrassing question but WHAT IS ucas??I never heard of it!!
Aofe – I know they like that work experience stuff, which kinda got me down as I didn’t do TY and I haven’t done any medical related work experience. I have plenty of other things to talk about anyway. And to be honest as far as medicine goes the stuff other people write is really fake ( at least it sounds fake) I mean they all say they enjoy watching people die and the only things that they menton that they have learned is the emotional stuff. Science I think would be better.
Kiera – Thanks! UCAS = University and College Application Service. Basically it is the CAO of the UK.
(sorry – I mispelled my own name:)
Michael 2010: I didn’t do TY either. I volunteered in a hospice (which you can do too -even for an hour or so – they don’t mind) and I also have a few days in two other relavent places.
Granted, I don’t know whos ‘stuff’ you have been reading, but the majority of it doesn’t sound fake – its a recount of actions (or should be).
I have never read a statement that mentioned watching people die. (‘they all say’ is a bit harsh? and really general)
You don’t need to have been anywhere on work exp or anything. There is plently of other ways to get around it.
Oh yay! more UCAS-er! They’re so hard to find nowadays i think we are becoming extinct! I’m not exactly applying for english but in fact journalism 🙂 So Naoise we are somewhat alike. I’ve written around 50 PS and disguarded them all :/ I can’t seem to find the courage to just write a final one. Thankfully I’ve work experience under my belt so that’s one thing I dojn’t have to worry about.
OK point accepted. I was a bit too dramatic. I guess it was really one of the first ones I read where he had “conversing with terminally ill patients” and “thoroughly enjoyable” in the same sentence. After that I must had one of those déjavu kinda memories and kept hearing the same thing. Having re-read some statements now with a bit of open-mindness I guess they work well in the PS and are quiet relevent.
But still I’d like to see a greater emphasis on science, afterall it is science that they’ll be teaching.
And about the work exp. if I was a city kid I’d do it no problem. But no I’m stuck out here in the countryside and all I’ve got is this wifi blip connecting me to the rest of the world.
Oh and I just remembered another one I read somewhere and it was funny cos someone commented at the end of it.
“I sneezed cos I’m allergic to bullshit!”
and then after that somebody said something along the lines of: If you gotta lie to get into medicine fair enough, you should do what ever it takes.
Sorry if I was a little influenced by these guys.
love your blog michael, btw me just a randoner=)
they are quite a lot ucas-ers here~i was thinking of applying ucas as well for radiation therapy but the living cost is just too much, so i decided not too~ hopefully i get into the only radiation therapy course in the country (a course for doctor wannabes apparently)
good luck in your LC!
@ Michael2010: Congrats on the blogs! Just did the Leaving Cert there in June, and although i never wanted to do medicine, i had lots of friends who applied for it through UCAS…and just to let you know, the aptitude test for most universities is the UKCAT, and the BMAT that you mentioned in your blog post is just for a few uni’s! Also, the closing date for the UKCAT is pretty soon…as far as i can remember, the girls i knew did it only a couple of weeks after starting back in september! Just wanted to let you know, cos it would be awful if you missed out!
Thanks Emily. I’m only applying to one course in UCAS and I’m sure that the BMAT is the only test I have to do. But thanks anyway. But just to let everyone know the BMAT deadline is coming up soon and exam centres are processing applications soon. You can’t register yourself so call them soon.