[sarahlouiseee]

I have spelled Psychology with a capital letter throughout my personal statement, is this grammatically incorrect?
My English is dreadful.

[Potally_Tissed]

Capital letter if you are referring to a specific course, eg. 'I am looking forward to studying the Psychology course.'
No capital otherwise, eg. '...and psychology has always interested me.'

[Glaciology]

Is this correct then?

I have always loved geography ever since primary school and my interest has grown rapidly over the past two year. The Geography degree appeals to me because blah blah blah.

[Potally_Tissed]

Yeah that would be correct. But if that's actually from your personal statement, I suggest you change the first bit. Saying you have loved geography since primary school might be true but it sounds cheesy.

[Good bloke]

Originally Posted by Glaciology

Is this correct then?

I have always loved geography ever since primary school and my interest has grown rapidly over the past two year. The Geography degree appeals to me because blah blah blah.

Aside from the naivety of your example above, you should be talking about the subject in your PS (and therefore not using an initial capital letter). Think about it logically: you cannot sensibly be talking about a specific course as you are applying for five different ones and they are all different. Although they obviously have things in common if they are for the same subject, they cannot logically be spoken of simultaneously with the same name, as proper names are unique.

You should not need to boringly keep repeating a subject name anyway; surely you can find a way round that?

[MathsHamster]

My head of sixth form sent my PS back to me so I could turn all the "maths" into "Maths", no matter where they were.

[Potally_Tissed]

I'm guessing your head of sixth form doesn't teach English. I hope not, anyway.

[Good bloke]

Originally Posted by MathsHamster

My head of sixth form sent my PS back to me so I could turn all the "maths" into "Maths", no matter where they were.

I've posted this before, and I'll probably post it again, but if the teachers in our schools don't have a decent grasp of English grammar (as your head of sixth form clearly doesn't) there is no wonder that pupils are being turned out into working life without the skills needed to communicate effectively in the business environment (as they are). The much-vaunted academic exam "success" statistics sound very hollow in this context, and it is high time English grammar was returned to the curriculum.

Ignore him, and show him this thread.

[Glaciology]

Originally Posted by Good bloke

Aside from the naivety of your example above, you should be talking about the subject in your PS (and therefore not using an initial capital letter). Think about it logically: you cannot sensibly be talking about a specific course as you are applying for five different ones and they are all different. Although they obviously have things in common if they are for the same subject, they cannot logically be spoken of simultaneously with the same name, as proper names are unique.

You should not need to boringly keep repeating a subject name anyway; surely you can find a way round that?

I'm in Year 11. I am not trying to write a PS and I sure as hell wouldn't have a clue what to put in it but. So I put something basic just to see if it was right and the capital letters were where they should be.

[ferdi.g]

The university will not cast you aside because you used some caps or not.

I wouldn't worry about it to much.

This is fine:
- I have always been interested by history.
- International Relations is a subject/course that I am very interested by.

If you are unsure, try to put it at the beginning of your sentences (like that it has to be cap.):

- History has always fascinated me....

[Potally_Tissed]

Originally Posted by ferdi.g

The university will not cast you aside because you used some caps or not.

I wouldn't worry about it to much.

This is fine:
- I have always been interested by history.
- International Relations is a subject/course that I am very interested by.

If you are unsure, try to put it at the beginning of your sentences (like that it has to be cap.):

- History has always fascinated me....

No they won't just 'cast you aside', but using incorrect grammar won't do you any favours.

[sophiemallinson]

I did.