The Personal Statement can Ruin Your University Application
How to frame a good personal statement in this “Xfactor age”
The last thing we did at school at the end of the summer term was a first draft of the UCAS Personal Statement. I am finding it quite difficult to condense what I want to say into the 4,000 character limit. You want to be different from all the other applicants; you want to stand out; you want to get the reader on your side; you want your application to be remembered; and ultimately you want it to be accepted.
However, the cynical education editor of the Telegraph, Javier Espinoza is suggesting that applicants are being “too Xfactor”. His research says that Oxbridge candidates are often classed in one of the 5 following categories:
The profound applicant
The tear-jerker applicant
The over-emotive-but-not-really-believable applicant
The instant-expert applicant
The I-amaze-myself applicant
I can see fusty, book-lined rooms with dons laughing fit to bust as they read the applications. I wonder what the non-oxbridge universities think? Are they going to be a bit more Xfactor and, more importantly what do I put in my statement?
To parody The Bard: to be Xfactor or not to be Xfactor, that is the question… Feel free to read either of these articles: i) Oxbridge applications: Cut the talent show-inspired personal statements, hopefuls told or ii) The top five types of Oxbridge applicants – but I’m not sure either one is much help to me.
When I ask myself “why do I want to be a vet?” – I don’t know or at least I can’t easily put my finger on a reason. I just do. I like animals. I like science. Health and medicine interests me. My mother, who is a GP, has suggested that I don’t become a doctor.
We’ve always had animals at home. I’ve been to the vets many times with our animals. I held our Labrador when the vet put her down. I thought the way she handled us was as important, if not more important than her handling of our poor old dog. I think I could do that… but if I said that in my statement would I be a “tear-jerker”?
