UCAS Personal Statement Advice

hi my name is Richard patient I'm here from student recruitment and outreach at Imperial College London if you're watching this and you're thinking about coming to University Imperial in particular fantastic and if you are applying to university you'll definitely have to write a personal statement along the way I think it's worth given that we are placing emphasis on the personal statement to ask where does it fit in to the application process and how do we at Imperial choose the right students for our courses as you are aware you apply to us through you Cass which is an entirely online application process and as part of that you'll put in all the qualifications you have completed so things like your GCSEs or equivalent AAS levels if you're doing them or anything you have done very recently you'll also include all those qualifications that you are in the process of studying that you have yet to be examined on so normally the way it works for UK universities is that you'll apply while studying your a-levels or IB or ApS or advanced hires or whatever it may be and that's what you normally think of you think of a grade offer and that's certainly one of the key ways we make our decisions another part of that process will involve the personal statement this is your chance to show us why you'd be a good fit for the program that you are applying for the bit that you have least control over is the reference which is a kind of counterpart to the personal statement if you are at school this is usually written by your subject teachers maybe your form tutor a Qi adviser ahead of six form or combination of these working together to reflect and show how you perform in class in your subjects outside at any particular circumstances surrounding your application and the school that you've been to as I say you can't influence this other than working incredibly hard putting your hand up in class and contributing to make the right impression alongside these more selective universities we'll use a couple of other ways of assessing your application then may use admissions tests which you are probably aware we here at Imperial do for a number of our courses including medicine and maths this again is useful way of comparing applications across the entire cohort interviews perhaps relate more directly to the personal statement as not only in order to get you to your interview your personal statement may really come into play at interview it could give you topics of conversation or be something that your interviewer can use to get the conversation going if you're stuck for words or maybe it will give an example of a skill or quality that you have that you can build on so I'll go on to talk about that in a bit as well why is the personal statement important it's a chance to stand out from the crowd as you probably know the most competitive University has received thousands of applications for our courses the most competitive courses at Imperial are looking at 10 or 11 applications per place and these are usually all very well-qualified applicants if you've glanced through the prospectus you will have seen that our grade requirements are very high here students will be coming in with a z' and a star's at a-level so really for us it is important to be able to distinguish a little bit more we can't just say accept all those who've got the grades because that is more than we actually have space for this may sound a little bit daunting but actually it is a good thing that we are able to select in a more nuanced way that we are able to look at the personal statement look at the sort of student you are the sort of thing is you're showing us the skills and qualities you have and what you could bring to your time with us and that interview we can talk to you about that see if you'll be a good fit for us if we'd be a good fit for you it is a two-way process your personal statement gives that extra information it gives the context behind the grades so yes you've got good grade but how did you get that what are your motivations how well do you work what sort of student are you do you just perform well in exams and a guided school environment or can you flourish after that in a very independent learning atmosphere at a university like Imperial it's a chance and to demonstrate that you are an ideal applicant so I would qualify that by saying that there is no one ideal applicant there's not going to be one person out there who fits every single criteria and every single thing we're looking for and that's fine this is a chance to show the particular skills and qualities that you have and show them off to the best advantage to accentuate the positives there are many different routes and options that our courses could lead you onto beyond even what you're thinking of at this stage I do employ you that you don't waste this opportunity because other students won't well obviously some will but I'm sure that you don't want to be amongst that number and while the gossip online sometimes act says actually universities aren't so interested in the personal statement a lot of us very much are it will play a key role in in the decision-making whether it is because we interview you and therefore we want a little bit more to go on for topics of conversation well otherwise because we don't interview for that course and this is the only chance we will get to find a bit more about you it is important in both situations and again even if there is one university that really isn't going to pay much attention or one particular course out there that's not so interested if you don't get the office you are hoping for then you never want to think maybe if I had put in more effort I would have got there in order to keep things interesting I've littered this presentation with a few tips I'm not saying that all solid gold nuggets of wisdom but there are things that strike me as useful to keep in perspective whilst thinking about your personal statement do you remember it is not just a hoop jumping exercise it is not just a matter of oh well I've been told that all of these skills and qualities are important so I will mention them many times I need good communication skills I need time management skills I need good leadership skills think more critically about why we might want that information why might we want this skill not everything will be equally relevant for every course we don't necessarily need the world's most active student to be a great mathematician maybe there are other skills and qualities that we are looking for for that course so think very carefully about why we might want to see these skills and why you think they're important and then you are already thinking with a sort of mindset that will help you produce a better personal statement so what our admissions deuter's looking for it is by thinking about your audience admissions tutors at most universities applications including personal statements will go through a filter they may well go through a central admissions team or departmental or faculty level staff who are expert in what they do but not necessarily subject experts maybe they'll just be looking for various contextual information or maybe they'll be highlighting certain bits of information you have included and then it will go to admissions tutors and these are members of academic staff so they usually have their own research interests they're probably teaching as well they might be fairly senior in the department they may be fairly new but alongside their usual duties they are taking on X to run and coordinate the admissions for their course it's not only are they very busy but they are also specialists so think about that when you're writing and what sort of level of knowledge to assume they have but also perhaps be aware of passing off a casual interest as a passion as they will probably be able to spot that so think about what you actually want to do it what interests and abilities have led you to want to do this course what have you done to prepare academically not just that you are good at this at school what have you done outside of school to pursue this we have amazing very challenging degree programs here so actually we are looking for students you can go above and beyond the curriculum in order to find out the information they need and that could be through such things as wider reading or other activities which I'll come on to what have you done perhaps to prepare through extracurriculars they could be subject related or non subject lated what makes you a good choice for that university is another thing to be thinking about remember of course that your application can go off to up to five universities and the same personal statement will go to all of them so this one bit of writing will be seen by all the universities that you apply to even if they don't know who else you have applied to they can get a sense of the sort of course that you are applying to by what you're writing which is why we recommend and I'm sure your schools will recommend that you are applying to courses that are similar across universities that you are applying to so that you are able to dedicate this time in this space to one area and really show your passion okay so what is this actually going to look like it is a fairly short bit of writing so even those of you who gave up essay writing subjects as soon as you possibly could this is not going to feel like a particularly extensive bit of fighting it's a maximum of 4,000 characters 47 lines so about side of a4 in size 12 font really not very long at all to cover everything so think about what our expectations could reasonably be we're not expecting your life story I hope even at your young age that that's going to take a little more than one side of a fall but how are you going to start structuring it and again this advice will vary for universities which is why I've given a sort of rough percentage range here but really competitive universities are going to be looking for about 75% of your personal statement to be related directly to your knowledge of the subject and your interest and enthusiasm in that area although this is not unique there's just one thing that sets the UK higher education system apart from other application systems among the world it is very much based on the academic and subject interests when you are looking at the most competitive universities and those very selective and specialist courses like the ones we offer we may be even looking for more than that so maybe 18 90% academic focused for the rest of the application 10 to 25% can be spent on extracurricular activities so non subject related whether that be school-based activities like being a prefect school-based sports non schools based sports music whatever again it may be worth thinking about what sort of skills you have and I'll come on to talk about that favor buzzword transferable skills later so this is just a suggestion for sometimes it helps to think about how you might want to start writing this and structuring this this is not a big league earth-shattering formula but it might be useful I'll go into more detail about the sections as the presentation goes on start with a brief introduction to catch the reader's attention and introduce your particular interests in the subject you are applying to that could be a little more on the personal side moving very swiftly into your subject knowledge and interests what have you done so far in class in school that you've been interested in and that you've started to develop the outside the obvious thing will be further reading and in the 21st century further reading also means lectures on YouTube and podcasts as well as ebooks and physical journals it could be a whole host of things including attending an event at someone like Imperial we have a number of subject lectures that members of the public can come along to it could be work experience it could be career interests so you've now written about the most pressing area of interest for us but you should also include a bit about extracurriculars this could be around some of the skills and qualities that you've gained or it could be just showing us that you have another side to you this is how you relax this is how you switch off and then a quick conclusion which doesn't have to be more than a line or two as I say this is just a suggestion be flexible maybe you want to talk about some teamwork and skill you have and actually you have a nice example in a project at school that you had to do in groups maybe you also have a sport that you play where you've worked together well or a debating competition and you wanted to link these extracurriculars and team working skills together in which case feel free to be flexible with the structure now let's talk about these sections in detail I've got a few examples here that I will read out to you for your edification of all the areas in the personal statement the introduction is the one that seems to give people most grief you want to catch the reader's attention but how do you have to be amusing do you have to be entertaining remember offers are made on academic merit and to motivation it is not essential for you to be the most riveting and exciting person in the world you'll be pleased to know we have many witty and charismatic students but is not a key assessment criteria it's important to stay relevant think about what actually got you interested in the course it's not uncommon for many personal statements to include statements like I knew I wanted to be an engineer because I took apart the toaster and my family would have been really upset but they weren't because in that moment they saw my point future as an engineer unfolding before me that may have been an inspiration but really on its own did it actually lead you to doing something concrete don't be attention-grabbing for its own sake if you are trying to get the person reading your application to want to read on make sure that it is relevant and it is important remember that you are not lighting for the Sun we are not looking for one words punny openers this is a personal statement that is being read by an academic whose job it is to read this and who is there to read it and select the best students for their course you have an audience who is willing and ready to read so think about that very carefully I have a few examples here anonymized and edited for clarity perhaps this one is not the way to go it starts with a quotation all your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them more Disney now if this was for media or film course and they've gone on to talk about Walt Disney's contribution to the animation industry it might have been interesting but saving the authors blushes it didn't an inspirational though it may have seemed at the time it doesn't really say anything of substance it is not closely subject related and most of all I think be a few fifty our medics who disagree that dreams alone gotten through I'm not saying that any of these examples I'm giving a perfect but some of them do some things that are white as well as some things not so white so this is one from another applicant the world is a fascinating place filled with numerous phenomena which have yet to be explained I would love to be able one day to explore at least one of these and devise a solution I believe that this is only really possible by increasing my knowledge and understanding other principles of science that's actually three and a half lines and you can probably lose it and that's another thing that does tend to happen with introductions and personal statements normally the first pitch is seeking to find out what you actually want to write you can normally lose it and go straight to the matter so in this example I'd start here three lines in form a young age I have been wondering why people only laugh when they are tickled by someone else not by themselves how great scientific minds work eh anyway and the answer was a field when listening to a podcast entitled why do we laugh from the makers of neuroscientist it turns out that when people tickle themselves it generates the command and the brain anticipate a response and a overrides it this intrigued me to explore further into the brain so I started to read editions of the New Scientist about neuroscience in particular the chance to challenge my understanding on issues such as this is something I've really looked forward to at university this is not perfect but it quite nicely shows how someone can go from an observation about the world to listen to some podcasts to reading a slightly more scientific journal like the New Scientist to developing more fully their ideas ok another quick tip it is often worth coming back to your introduction later on if you're not sure how to start if you do feel a little bit weighed down with a stressed of getting it perfect and actually you just want to talk a little bit more about what you're good at and give us some examples go on like that and come back to it you don't have to know exactly what you want to write until you say it and certainly if you've not written anything like a personal statement before this might be a little journey of self-discovery for you who knows how are you going to go about demonstrating knowledge and interest first of all why that subject it may seem really obvious and yet hearted fine it's a competitive program two great University and everyone wants to be a medic engineer scientist why wouldn't you so think about your motivations some are good some are not so parental influence may be something that has taken part in your decision-making but hopefully that's not the only thing and if it is something you are thinking of mentioning think very carefully about it this is quite a good example this is someone who was actually applying for biomedical sciences environment significantly influences people they've already shown that they have an awareness of human behavior raised by my parents who are both doctors I was naturally very interested in their careers fair enough the human skull perched on top of my father's desk fascinated me and the next thing I knew I have my own human anatomy book now I am assuming here that they did actually purchase or ask for the human anatomy book and that some didn't just toss it upon him saying happy Christmas anyway it finishes here although this didn't lead me to medicine it did interest me in human anatomy and then they go on to talk a little bit more in detail so again they've shown that actually although this is something that was always there this is something they have thought about and developed themselves really when you're starting to show knowledge of the subject or interest whether you've done your research will start to tell do you actually know what this course is about do you know what is covered and what is not different courses will teach things in different ways even if they have similar titles so if you are talking a lot about a particular area that we don't really do then that will probably put us off again what careers does the course open up assumably if you're applying for Chemical Engineering you are aware of what that is the number of people who think well I'm good at chemistry I'm good at maths and I want to make a lot of money this is one for me and not actually sure what it entails so I think very carefully about the course and what it's about go and do your research areas of particular interest when people are thinking about applying for general engineering or Natural Sciences degree elsewhere and a specific program at someone like Imperial they say how do I show that how do I satisfy both universities who are both going to be very selective if you're applying for mechanical engineering at Imperial you better make it clear to us that you are interested in mechanical engineering that course is one of our most competitive however it is fairly easily overcome because even if you are applying to a degree program that is more general at some point you're going to specialize but also passion is specific very few people are passionate about engineering in an abstract sense or if they are they are also passionate about a particular area of research or particular application within that there are very particular things that we are interested in so find out what they are unbelievably if you are going to apply from Chemical Engineering your examples will be around that and that is not going to put off a university that offers a more general course because he was showing that you are passionately interested about areas of engineering although in that case it may be useful to spend a sentence or two showing an awareness of the range of engineering options and how interdisciplinary it can be career aspirations a good way of showing that you understand what a degree course is about is where you could go with it and what you've done to get there awareness of cultural industry affairs there's so much out there in terms of periodicals and journals and our particular areas for medicine it is essential that you have an awareness of what the NHS is looking for what the values are the current political situation is things that come up in the news may be relevant so keep an eye on that and see what developments so are the courses that we teach are heavily influenced by industry and government research as well and you nearly always have options to go off and join some of that somehow so what is it that interests you that's out there that you could get involved in relevant work or voluntary experience it is by no means essential that you have work experience unless you are looking at healthcare related programs in which case we would expect you to have some if you are struggling to get into a hospital or GPS paddock think about the experience that you may have in a care home or a nursing home what medical professionals were there what further reading can you do to supplement this but if you've done work or volunteer experience that it has to be relevant and you have to actually show that you've learned something from it great you've been off somewhere but did you arrange it did your school away did you do anything more than photocopying or making tea and coffee here's a nice example form another biochemistry applicant this summer I gained further experience working in a laboratory with the searches at pharmaceutical firm this has not only improved my laboratory skills but has also reinforced my determination to strengthen my understanding of science and to cope with its fast rate of development so they used a bit of work experience to show an awareness of skills that have gained in the labs and awareness of what it might be like to be in that environment I've also said about the fast rate of development and that's great because it shows that they are aware are the sort of things we will teach you and actually one of the main things we will teach you is how you can cope and survive and thrive in a world of technology and science where things are changing at a very fast rate okay another quick tip remember if you are being interviewed anything you've written in your personal statement is fair game that's not some threatening but you wrote this and if the interviewer is trying to help you and says let's talk about this and you don't know anything about it that's very disappointing so hopefully your personal statement is something that you are able to discuss and it's a lifeline rather than something to be a little embarrassed about when it turns out you didn't actually finish reading that book that you said that you'd read you thought that you were going to finish you actually got sidetracked because Game of Thrones will start in three weeks I can sympathize okay extracurriculars it is worth emphasizing now that sometimes I get a few word faces coming up to me at the end of presentation saying oh well I don't do end all of these things I'm not head boy head girl I'm not on this sports team I don't play that instrument I don't volunteer here I don't lead this whatever it may be and yes some of those things will be very valuable and for certain courses those sorts of skills are in demand but also remember that imperial is very much places for specialists so you have very specialist interests and if your passions and interests range very closely to your subject and you find a lot of enjoyment and say going online and practising some computational mathematics problems it's probably a number of you then that's fine tell us that however if you do have anything else that you particularly want to mention then make the most of it think about the skills you may have gained or displayed I hope this won't be a surprise to you that you may have leadership teamwork problem-solving or time management skills I have an example here a part of my academic study I enjoy playing violin in the school orchestra of course as a group we make many mistakes in the beginning but after weekly hours of practice we were able to play many different pieces of music perfectly along with playing in the orchestra I'm also captain for the school bus routine and through these activities I learned to cooperate with others and keeps the morale of the team high they've given us an example of not being perfect but working to improve and get better and that is maybe all they really needed to cover in terms of the extracurricular quick tip if any of you do come to imperial and do the Horizons module on creative writing you may get told show don't tell it is so much more convincing if you could actually give us an example rather than just tell us you're great at something so maybe you think that because you do a sport you must have great teamwork skills maybe not maybe you're that player that no one likes because you never past give us an example of when you worked together and you can demonstrative ly show that you made a difference and that would be a lot more effective conclusion this may be an area that you may want to spend a little less time on and if you do find that you have a lot to say then this is probably not the most important bit but if you have some time it's nice to sum up your personal statement at this point sum up a couple of the key skills that you think you have those things you think you're strongest at or maybe finish by reinforcing your enthusiasm for the course that you've applied for and what you hope to achieve here's an example in the future I hope to apply the knowledge I will learn in university going on to work with professionals in the world of geographical and environmental organizations to communicate the most advanced ideas to protect and improve the environment in the most efficient way like this one you could give an indication of your goals post university and how University will help you achieve it so how are you going to go about writing this hopefully I've impressed upon you the needs to research what you're doing consider making a mind map around topics and skills as well as particular items you could say here's my work experience hizmet here is my subject knowledge here is my further reading or you could say these are examples of problem-solving skills here's examples of my team working skills and actually you may find that some of the examples that you have my double up and cover a couple of skills and that can help you to be more concise and you guys have a couple of worksheets so you can use them if you want a little more guidance with mind mapping write a first draft this won't be perfect the first time you write it so do get it out of the way as soon as you can and then show it to people your teachers will have experience of sending students off to university so they can give their advice and certainly a little bit of subject knowledge as well family and friends now remember that family members may have been out of a university situation for a while and school friends may be yes to go through it so always take it with a pinch of salt but again people like family and friends may be able to point out qualities and skills that you have that you weren't already aware of and feel free to then reach raft until complete you can't really get perspective until you've written something and given it a little bit of time to settle in so go back and reread it and rewrite later things to avoid talking exclusively about one University now I know how much you want to come to Imperial and I know that we're amazing but do not just write about that or other universities will get upset avoid slang and cliches for obvious reasons plagiarism if you've copied something from the internet or someone else you Cass will know as it will show up on the system and this is something you will have to get used to when you go to university anyway avoid repeating information we've given us this idea or this skill before there's probably not much room to talk about it again avoid inappropriate motivation to study just think of that broken toaster avoid statements without supporting evidence give us an actual reason to believe what you say avoid listing achievements again we'd rather know a little bit more about a couple of things you've read than nothing about five things you've read and a voyage irrelevant quotations Gandhi Martin Luther King jr. and Walt Disney wonderful though they were in many ways probably have very little to say about material science and engineering so a few questions that people tend to ask can I mention the name of the University as I've said you want to avoid showing a partiality towards one but if is particularly relevant for example you may have done research who attended a summer school or a tasted a that influenced your decision that's probably fine what if I'm applying to two different courses you probably shouldn't be looking at two very separate courses because you'll struggle to show your passion for either in your application but if you're looking at joint honours and you should be able to divide the space in your personal statement and show that you have an interest in both you can also perhaps show how they overlap and how they would support each other if you're looking at very specific or niche courses then sometimes they may be willing to accept a set of personal statement by email but do check if there's no other course like it in the country they'll be probably aware that your personal statement may not be as specific as you otherwise like to have made it if you're having a gap yeah I'd say it's worth mentioning that you have something planned to do we don't expect you to be studying the entire here but having some relevant study or interest to further yourself and bring you nearer to the first year of University will be better than just having no plans at all I would advise checking with individual departments about their expectations and policies around capias irrelevant work experience if you really can't find anything to say about it don't say anything about it but even if it's not related to your subject there may be transferable skills you can demonstrate if you have exceptional circumstances this is probably something for you to put in an email and send to our admissions team perhaps it's something that your teacher might want to include in their reference if you feel comfortable equally if you're looking for disability support then there is a box you can take on you cast so there are other ways to let us know that information this personal statement is a place to talk about your academic and subject interests do I have to write all 4,000 characters you don't have to write it all but you'll struggle not to and lastly can you lie I'm sure you can lie you're very creative and intelligent people I just wouldn't recommend it so good luck with your application and your personal statement writing and thank you very much for listening

Channel: Imperial College London

Views: 46,122

Rating: 4.9540982 out of 5

Keywords: imperial, college, london, science, university, UK, Personal Statement, Personal Statement advice, Applying to University, UCAS, Undergraduate

Id: ChuAMeDR6e8

Length: 28min 45sec (1725 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 27 2018