OK, let me introduce the UCAS Personal Statement, probably one of the most important essays in your life. It is one of the factors that the universities consider and also your only chance to talk about your weird hobbies/your inner fantasies/your prediction for the future. Keep in mind though that you can only write one essay to your 5 choice universities, so it might be a bit hard for you if you applied to 2 obviously different courses, i.e. accounting and computer science. If that happens, some universities will a)outright reject you (LSE), b)request you to write additional personal statements (UCL) or if you are super lucky c)accept you without further questions (Manchester). So for those with conflicting interests, you can contact their admission officers and explain your situation to them. I think that is one way to go about it instead of taking risks.
So now under 4000 characters or 47 lines (whichever comes first), you are going to describe why are you going to study the subject you chose, what you have done up to this moment that makes you eligible and basically, sell yourself.
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| But how am I supposed to do that? |
1. Start early. I cannot emphasize this enough. You need to complete it at least a week before the deadline in January or even worse, for those going to Oxbridge, Mid-September. This is easier said than done. So during your honeymoon semesters in Pre-U, try to write a personal statement now and then, although you might later find it repulsive and hard to look at, I assure you that this exercise will definitely help you when you are seriously writing it out. Also, be on the lookout for your exam periods. If your exam period is near the deadline, writing it early will make you have a peace of mind to study. Trust me, you don't want to be in a I-need-to-write-my-personal-statement-yet-I-have-to-study-for-A2-and-take-my-SATs-so-I'm-going-to-cry-myself-to-sleep-now situation. Also check with your referee to see if they had completed their references. If you inform your referee at the last minute and write your personal statement then, most likely you won't be able to apply for UCAS in time.
2. Join relevant clubs and activities. Again, in your honeymoon semesters, you should do something worthwhile that you can write in your personal statement. To be honest, not every budding engineer has a father that owns a garage and had dismantled engines before, and not every future doctor had a mission trip to Indonesia/Myanmar or did blood donation drives. Some of us may discover our passion in a job fair during form 5 and doesn't have much to show for it. So one simple way to show your passion is through your activities. If you had shadowed an engineer or was previously attached to the hospital, the admission officers will surely see that you have the passion for it. After all, its not something that you'd do for fun right? So in Pre-U, you should start doing something to advance towards your future studies even if you don't have such an immersive childhood. It is not too late.
3. Be academic. That's right, be super academic. 80% of your essay should be about the subject that you are about to study and nothing else. Extra-curricular activities should be just some minor statements to show that you are not a machine, unless it is all directly linked to your intended course. Top universities have said that what they want to see is your academic potential and not your athletic prowess on the field. After all, they want you to study there, not to play rugby (As opposed to US universities).
4. Don't copy. As much as you are tempted to use the ctrl +c, ctrl + v cheat code, don't ever do that in your Personal Statement. UCAS runs an anti-plagiarism engine that will detect if you try to rip off other people's work. Also, even modifying other people's work is a weak strategy. You cannot make someone's voice and style your own. Finding your own voice is infinitely better and easier to accomplish.
5. Write long and cut short. I suffer the curse of this generation. I can write short answers and medium-length pieces but not sprawling essays. Hence, my work is always short of word length as I tend to summarize. Don't do that, the best (actually the only) strategy in writing the personal statement is to rant and ramble and write as long as possible. Then only you merge them up and edit your work. That way you can keep the unexpected sentences that adds value to your essay, instead of thinking of how to fill the gaps with "what else can I write about?". I believe that the raw sentences contains a kind of power that is not found with edited and well thought of answers and is the one that we should seek.
6. Write a draft. Writing a draft is the one of the best advice for the personal statement writer. Instead of staring at a blank document, paralyzed by fear to write the first paragraph, you should start a draft which will proceeds to be a readable essay to be the perfect personal statement. Writing the personal statement is like a distillation process - no one gets it right the first time (unless they happen to be accomplished writers). One of my earliest draft was said to be too cocky by my mentor who proofread it, but as time passes (and many drafts deleted), I managed to write a personal statement that's just right. It sounds exactly like what I would say and is exactly what I want to portray myself as.
7. Cover everything. Make sure you cover everything that matters in a personal statement. If your whole essay is about a work experience in an engineering firm, the readers will definitely have some unanswered questions about you, such as your aspirations or your current courses. Make sure you don't break that reader-writer's pact. Even a mention in passing is better than none, so make a checklist and make sure that you try to cover as much (important) ground as you can.
8. Ask people to proofread. Do not be scared of plagiarism. If what you are writing is your own personal statement. there shouldn't be a fear of people robbing you because they won't have the same personal experience. You should let the people around you who knows you well to read it to see if the essay sounds like you, a best friend/classmate would usually do the trick. At the same time, you should let someone who doesn't know you that well (a teacher usually) to read it as well as they does not have the "auto-correct" that your friends have when reading your essay. That way, you will know which parts require clarification. In short, the more the merrier. Even I had a minor correction after my mum (a true Grammar Nazi) read my personal statement. She was the tenth reader or so.
9. Seek an English teacher. Sometimes we are blinded by the mistakes made in English, and our friends and relatives too, but nobody fools the English teacher. As the final step, we should always consult a professional.
10. Stay positive. Even though you feel that you don't have the impressive material for a Cambridge essay, or you can't even wring a single word out of your unreliable brains, don't give up. I had friends who continuously rambled on the Anthropic Principle and stellar mysteries, who reversed the 80:20 ratio and they still managed to get offers from university. These 10 tenets are just guidelines that I felt was the most useful in crafting the personal statement. So whatever I say you shouldn't do, you can still do it and prove me wrong (if you are really, really sure about it). Like I said, the personal statement is the weapon of your choice.
In the end I still feel that the best way to write a personal statement is to lock yourself in your room, think deeply and fall into zen state for a few days, write a first few drafts, and finally reveal to the public your latest draft - a method that my friend used to craft one of the best essay I've read in my life. No matter what your modus operandi is, make sure that you really perfected the personal statement. The rest are just base stats, the personal statement is your weapon.
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| Don't sell yourself short - give it your best shot! |
As always,
TIPS
1. Start early.
2. Join relevant clubs and activities.
3. Be academic.
4. Don't copy.
5. Write long and cut short.
6. Write a draft.
7. Cover everything.
8. Ask people to proofread.
9. Seek an English teacher.
10. Stay positive.
11. Visit collegelah for personal statement examples.
Copied from its 'about us': CollegeLAH is a website by the students for the students, featuring the honest story of applications and university life as told by Malaysians. So be sure to check out this website.
Still don't know what a personal statement is and how it fits into the overall scheme of things, refer to my previous blog post. Still confused? Leave a comment below.
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