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"From a young age I have always been..." What not to write in your PS

UCAS have shared the top 10 phrases used in personal statements.... :hide:

Spoiler

Nelson Mandela's famous quote also came in at no.11 "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world".

Anyone feel busted right now?

Personally I think some of these are quite hard to not use :colondollar:
(edited 7 years ago)

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Hahaha, when we started with our PS's the first thing our advisors said was to not include cliche stuff like this... I'm pretty sure a lot of people did, but then got told to take them out!! :rofl:
SCORE!!! Had non of that stuff in my statement. I pretty much opened about the importance of my course and the profession.
I remember the medicine applicants...

"I want to study medicine to help people"
"I'm an altruistic person"

The little ********ters just wanted that guaranteed good employment and social status.
Original post by tengentoppa
I remember the medicine applicants...

"I want to study medicine to help people"
"I'm an altruistic person"

The little ********ters just wanted that guaranteed good employment and social status.


Which will be the first and last time they will ever use the word altruistic.
Original post by tengentoppa
I remember the medicine applicants...

"I want to study medicine to help people"
"I'm an altruistic person"

The little ********ters just wanted that guaranteed good employment and social status.


No, that's why I want to study medicine - the money and status is a bonus. Don't speak on behalf of all medics


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"Ever since I was four, I wanted to be an Accountant." I actually read this on a student's personal statement.

:facepalm:
Original post by She-Ra
UCAS have shared the top 10 phrases used in personal statements.... :hide:

Spoiler

Nelson Mandela's famous quote also came in at no.11 "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world".

Anyone feel busted right now?

Personally I think some of these are quite hard to not use :colondollar:


i see this will be super useful when the times comes for me to write my personal statement, i'll be sure to include all these phrases to make the most cliché PS ever
Original post by Aceadria
"Ever since I was four, I wanted to be an Accountant." I actually read this on a student's personal statement.

:facepalm:


:facepalm:

Seriously? I wanted to be a zookeeper or a blue peter presenter at that age! :bl:

Original post by thefatone
i see this will be super useful when the times comes for me to write my personal statement, i'll be sure to include all these phrases to make the most cliché PS ever


Fantasy PS :moon:

Maybe we should start up a new thread, everyone posts a paragraph of cliches about their subject :rofl:
Yesss, show, not tell. I'm guilty of putting in a random quote by someone and then saying nothing about it in one of my drafts. :colondollar:
Original post by Sacred Ground
No, that's why I want to study medicine - the money and status is a bonus. Don't speak on behalf of all medics


Posted from TSR Mobile


I wasn't. I was speaking on behalf of all medic hopefuls at my old school and, believe me, the money and status was the most important thing for them.
Original post by She-Ra
:facepalm:

Seriously? I wanted to be a zookeeper or a blue peter presenter at that age! :bl:

God, that sounds like fun!
I used a Richard Dawkins quote 😄


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by tengentoppa
I wasn't. I was speaking on behalf of all medic hopefuls at my old school and, believe me, the money and status was the most important thing for them.


Well that's sad 😑


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by She-Ra
:facepalm:

Seriously? I wanted to be a zookeeper or a blue peter presenter at that age! :bl:



Fantasy PS :moon:

Maybe we should start up a new thread, everyone posts a paragraph of cliches about their subject :rofl:


Nothing will beat this: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Personal_Statement:Juggling_-_What_not_to_do
Reply 15
Avatar for math42
math42
20
Didn't use any of that crap, but my PS was still tremendously pretentious and verbose
The way I started my ps tho ' I have always been interested in worldly affairs...' a load of BS followed after too.
The opening sentence that make my heart sink is "I have always wanted to study ...". No you have not. You did not emerge from your mother's womb shouting 'I want to be a Geography student'.
It took a couple of drafts, but once I had a general idea of what I wanted to express, I didn't find it too hard to come up with a starting sentence that differed from this, to be honest. :dontknow:

I didn't start with a sentence that stated I wanted to study the subjects at all, thinking about it. I made a statement about myself that related to the main reason I was saying why I wanted to study my subjects.

I definitely tried to go with the "Show, don't tell" approach. :lol:

Original post by 1 8 13 20 42
Didn't use any of that crap, but my PS was still tremendously pretentious and verbose


I feel like this could be applied to mine, too. :lol:
(edited 7 years ago)
A good test on 'verbose and pretentious' is to imagine reading this out in class. If your friends would wet themselves laughing then you need to rewrite it.

Words/phrases that are guaranteed not to pass this test are

'....... piqued my interest'

'enthused by ....'

'academically excited by . ..'

Any mention of your parent's occupation.

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