Mature Student Personal Statement

Aaaaack I need help. I'm applying in 2008 to study Radiography. I'm good at writing a Personal Statement in general, and it was easy when I was 18. I knew what I should include, and left my tutor to give the more academic view etc.

But, hm... timeline.

18 - applied to Crimal Justice & Criminology, 6/6 offers (one unconditional!), goes to Leeds.
19 - dropped out, course not what I wanted to do with my life...classic case of going to uni despite not really having a clue.
19 - returned to full time work, learning a range of skills; work in computing and with people, able to serve all range of customers and put them at ease and also to help them to understand what's going on... also setup individual systems and networks and returned to those sites to assist in further tasks/perform further work, in teams and solo.
20 - still working..
21 - still working.. and now want to apply to study Radiography. Will be visiting two hospitals next month for some experience.

My boss is going to do my reference - likely with some of my own input as I'm the A Level English student here :wink:

- and I need to separate what to include where.

The thing is, I have a lot of skills that I personally value that would be really useful in the profession... technological proficiency aside, I've always been very good with our customers. We're not just a PC World type supermarket, we take the time to listen and help them to understand what's going on, also do repairs which can involve some calming down. It would be easy to get frustrated at repeating things (especially with older clients) but I've always maintained my professionalism and the necessary degree of confidentiality.

But they are all work-based, so I'm thinking they should go in my reference? How much weight would that carry as part of my reference?

I need to talk about the hospitals experience, gloss over academia, why I want to do the course... ooh there's just not enough words!

Reply 1

kellywood_5

Well, if your boss includes all the work related skills and qualities in your reference, that leaves more space on your personal statement to write about why you want to do the course and your work experience.

Reply 2

WokSz

Focus on why you want to study this course. Leave the explanation of your situation for your reference. Just my two cents.

Reply 3

Hornet

Hi, i also have a question about personal statements and hope nobody minds me posting it here. It is a basic question and can probably be answered easily and with few words:
is there any point in writing a personal statement about myself if i dont know what coutrs i will apply for, which university i will apply to or even what country i will study in (i know for sure that i will only apply to unis that teach their courses in english).
is there too little for me to focus on or should i write a PS which focuses on myself and my interests but which does not atate what courses i am interested in and which can not 'argue' about certain points e.g. why i should be accepted for one specific course at the university or why i think that a specific uni is suitable for me?
should personal statements in general be written individually for every university or even course you apply to or is it common to have one generalized PS that is sent to every uni you apply to?

Reply 4

kellywood_5

Hornet

If you apply to UK unis, you apply through UCAS and can only have one personal statement which is sent to all the unis (a maximum of 5) you apply to, so you shouldn't mention anything about a specific uni. However, the bulk of the personal statement should be about why you want to do a certain course. Only a small part should be about extra-curriculars, and even those should be linked in some way to the course if at all possible. So I don't think there's any point in trying to write one before you know what you want to study.

Reply 5

suek

Although you could put across personal qualities which support going to university in general if you really are that uncertain

Reply 6

Greenmile

My tutors told me that approximately one third of the statement should be why you have chosen that particular course, what led you to that decision etc. The rest should be work experience personal experiences and other relevant details. You should mention your work, but perhaps not more than a sentence or 2 and leave the rest for you boss to put on their reference.

Mature Student Personal Statement

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