Can the student work under pressure?
Will the student be able to adjust to their new environment at university?
What are their communication skills like?
Are they dedicated to this course and have they researched it well?
Do they have a genuine interest in the subject and a desire to learn more about it?
These are the sorts of questions you need to answer in your personal statement.
Unfortunately you cannot answer them directly with a simple 'yes' or 'no' - you need to provide evidence and make it sound believable.
Ultimately, admissions tutors are human too, and may well have hundreds of personal statements to sift through, so even if you think you've answered all these questions really well you may still be unlucky.
There are other techniques you can use to make your statement stand out and appeal to admissions tutors, but remember people are all different and therefore may have different ideas about what they look for in a prospective student.
Some of these techniques are discussed in the personal goals section further down.
Notes about yourself
Now you have some idea of why you're writing a personal statement, you need to think about what you're going to put in it.
You don't need to start thinking about the wording or structure yet - the first thing to do is get down some ideas on what you could include.
The best way to do this is to use a set of headings and write bullet points about how you relate to these headings. Here are some example headings you may wish to think about.
What you want to study at university and why Specific aspects of the courses that interest you
Examples of coursework you have completed
Practical work you have enjoyed
Books, articles, etc. you have read related to the subject area
Work experience or voluntary work in this area
Conferences you have attended
Personal experiences that lead to the decision to take this subject
Where you hope a degree in this subject will take you in the future
Experiences that show you are a reliable and responsible person
Part-time job
Business enterprise
Community and charity work
Sixth form committee
Helping out at school events and open days
Young Enterprise, World Challenge, Duke of Edinburgh award, Asdan Award, Debating societies, and what you have gained from these experiences.
Your interests and skills
What you like to do in your free time
Sport and leisure activities
Subjects you study that are not examined
Musical instrument(s) you play
Languages you speak
Prizes you have won or positions achieved in your interests
Gap year (if applicable)
Why you want to take a Gap year What you plan to do
How this may relate to your course
Obviously, if you're not taking a Gap year (http://www.studential.com/sixthform/afteryouralevels/gapyear), you can avoid this section. If you are it could still be left out, but you may be asked why you're taking it at interview (http://www.studential.com/interviews/default.asp).
You should now have lots of bullet points about yourself, all of which will be useful in preparing your personal statement.
Don't worry too much if you don't seem to have done many of the things outlined above - just think about things you've done that show all your good qualities, or could be written in a way that displays your good qualities.
The important thing is that you have a good reason for why you want to study the course. It doesn't matter if the reason sounds silly at the moment - you can work on the language later.
All admissions tutors will be looking for people who are enthusiastic and passionate about the subject(s) they want to study, so make sure you really are.
If you're choosing this course just because you can't think of anything better to do, that's not a good enough reason, and maybe you should consider looking for a course you would enjoy more.
You and your subject
Can the student work under pressure?
Will the student be able to adjust to their new environment at university?
What are their communication skills like?
Are they dedicated to this course and have they researched it well?
Do they have a genuine interest in the subject and a desire to learn more about it?
These are the sorts of questions you need to answer in your personal statement.
Unfortunately you cannot answer them directly with a simple 'yes' or 'no' - you need to provide evidence and make it sound believable.
Ultimately, admissions tutors are human too, and may well have hundreds of personal statements to sift through, so even if you think you've answered all these questions really well you may still be unlucky.
There are other techniques you can use to make your statement stand out and appeal to admissions tutors, but remember people are all different and therefore may have different ideas about what they look for in a prospective student.
Some of these techniques are discussed in the personal goals section further down.
Notes about yourself
Now you have some idea of why you're writing a personal statement, you need to think about what you're going to put in it.
You don't need to start thinking about the wording or structure yet - the first thing to do is get down some ideas on what you could include.
The best way to do this is to use a set of headings and write bullet points about how you relate to these headings. Here are some example headings you may wish to think about.
What you want to study at university and why Specific aspects of the courses that interest you
Examples of coursework you have completed
Practical work you have enjoyed
Books, articles, etc. you have read related to the subject area
Work experience or voluntary work in this area
Conferences you have attended
Personal experiences that lead to the decision to take this subject
Where you hope a degree in this subject will take you in the future
Experiences that show you are a reliable and responsible person
Part-time job
Business enterprise
Community and charity work
Sixth form committee
Helping out at school events and open days
Young Enterprise, World Challenge, Duke of Edinburgh award, Asdan Award, Debating societies, and what you have gained from these experiences.
Your interests and skills
What you like to do in your free time
Sport and leisure activities
Subjects you study that are not examined
Musical instrument(s) you play
Languages you speak
Prizes you have won or positions achieved in your interests
Gap year (if applicable)
Why you want to take a Gap year What you plan to do
How this may relate to your course
Obviously, if you're not taking a Gap year (http://www.studential.com/sixthform/afteryouralevels/gapyear), you can avoid this section. If you are it could still be left out, but you may be asked why you're taking it at interview (http://www.studential.com/interviews/default.asp).
You should now have lots of bullet points about yourself, all of which will be useful in preparing your personal statement.
Don't worry too much if you don't seem to have done many of the things outlined above - just think about things you've done that show all your good qualities, or could be written in a way that displays your good qualities.
The important thing is that you have a good reason for why you want to study the course. It doesn't matter if the reason sounds silly at the moment - you can work on the language later.
All admissions tutors will be looking for people who are enthusiastic and passionate about the subject(s) they want to study, so make sure you really are.
If you're choosing this course just because you can't think of anything better to do, that's not a good enough reason, and maybe you should consider looking for a course you would enjoy more.
You and your subject
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