Personal Statements
Ella Filskow, Deputy Director of The Life Skills Company, delivered a workshop to Y12 Students focused on how to write a ‘winning’ personal statement as part of the university application process.
“Personal statements are the only opportunity pupils have to express themselves in their applications. Getting a place on just about any degree course in the UK is highly competitive and university admissions teams use personal statements to differentiate between candidates of similar academic ability and qualifications when making their offers.
“Of course, I recommend a workshop from The Life Skills Company to really get to grips with writing a personal statement and what to include. We encourage starting the process as early as possible, which is why we work with students before the summer break, so that they have maximum time for edit, enhance and really craft their statement.
“All universities use Copy Catch software to identify who is using ChatGPT to write their statements. Plagiarism of any kind (including AI writing) is a huge risk to an applications, and makes it easy for universities to say no. UCAS advise that AI can help with ideas and structure but of course it cannot write about your personal experiences and AI often gets things wrong.
“The best personal statements I’ve read are the ones that are ‘deeply personal’. Expressing yourself and giving ‘evidenced passion’ for your subject you want to study really makes the personal statement “personal” and shows the admissions team what you have to offer as a candidate
“My degree is in Evolutionary Anthropology. Of course this isn’t a subject that you can study in school. Do doing my research and learning as much as I possible about the subject myself was really important. I’m sure I fell prey to a cliche or two in my essay, which, if I could go back, I would definitely rewrite! The best advice I could give myself is: if you do the work and show your passion, it will speak for itself.”
Jude, a Y12 Student, who attended the workshop said “Edinburgh is my top choice university followed by Durham and Bath. All very competitive universities to get into. I would argue that the first line of a personal statement isn’t that important, it is far more important to avoid cliches which are likely to make the universities reject your application. I am going to focus my statement on my time management skills, organisation, determination, and enjoyment of learning. Thanks to the workshop, I now have a first draft which is very helpful. I will make good use of Dr Wilson and my family to check it over, and give advice. I intend to take my time and go very slowly and carefully, working on it over the holiday. I need to focus on getting the result I want.”
Dr Wilson, Teacher of English and Head of Higher Education, said: “We all learned a lot from the personal statements workshop. My key takeaways are:
1. to start planning your personal statement now.
2. Focus on your own story, your motivation and ambitions.
3. Evidence is key, be it reading, writing, volunteering.
4. Clarity and focus are hugely important because you only have 4000 characters to say everything you need to say.
Think about what you have done beyond the classroom, “Evidence your passion” is a nice hook, and think about the future – beyond doing a degree. What is it you want from life?
The six Learning Habits that are integrated into the curriculum at Ashford can help you give some structure to your statement and show that you are ready to study at university. Co-curricular experiences, sports, music and drama as well as volunteering are great ways to show how interested you are in a subject.”
