Should personal statement be 75% academic?

Today I handed in my personal statement to my tutor, who read it and said that it was mostly extra-curricular based, and apparently I should be aiming to make it 75% academic. I have mostly talked about books I've read and some of my thoughts, also about how I became interested in philosophy (the course I'm applying for). My tutor said that I should be talking more about the A level subjects I take and how they relate to philosophy, and even though I pointed out that it will only be generic stuff, she told me to still include it. Should I take her advice? Without sounding snobby, I feel like this would be good advice for students applying to average universities (sorry), but I want to apply for top(ish) unis, and after reading some good examples of statements online, I feel I should be basing it more on original ideas rather than generic comments.

Today I handed in my personal statement to my tutor, who read it and said that it was mostly extra-curricular based, and apparently I should be aiming to make it 75% academic. I have mostly talked about books I've read and some of my thoughts, also about how I became interested in philosophy (the course I'm applying for). My tutor said that I should be talking more about the A level subjects I take and how they relate to philosophy, and even though I pointed out that it will only be generic stuff, she told me to still include it. Should I take her advice? Without sounding snobby, I feel like this would be good advice for students applying to average universities (sorry), but I want to apply for top(ish) unis, and after reading some good examples of statements online, I feel I should be basing it more on original ideas rather than generic comments.

I am applying for Cambridge this year, and there is a guy at my sixth form college who deals with all the Oxbridge applications. He always recommends 75% academic for Oxbridge including further reading, relevant experience etc., even though some of the other universities I am applying to like to hear a bit about your extra curricular activities.

So from what I have heard, it is the other way around. The more 'academic' your uni, the more academic the statement

That's what I always thought but my tutor said that my further reading was "extra curricular"

Whilst I agree with you about A levels, your PS should definately be at least 2/3 accademic. However, books you've read should count towards this section. I would discuss it further with your tutor if you feel that what they've said about it mostly being extra curicular is incorrect. I'm slightly confused as to how much non-accademic content you have.

If your A levels are relevant to philosophy, you should be mentioning some of the things you've enjoyed from your current study. This is a bit more personal to you, and won't be so generic. It's also more relevant than an EC that doesn't directly relate to philosophy.

There is more than one way to write a good PS, but whatever you write needs to be tightly focused on philosophy.

Is it possible that your tutor doesn't think you're relating it back to Philosophy enough? That you're talking more as if reading were one of your hobbies rather than your reading having aided your Philosophy studies?

How much of your personal statement actually is about books? Because "most" does sound like a bit too much.

That's what I always thought but my tutor said that my further reading was "extra curricular"

Oh :s well I'm not sure then. Just make sure you keep relating everything back to the course If you're aiming high, keep as much of it as course related as possible.

Possibly, she didn't say that though, but I honestly don't know how I could relate it back to philosophy more. So far I've only written about half of it, one paragraph is based heavily on books, the other is on a topic in philosophy that drew me to the subject and the rest is mostly notes on what else I could include.

I would say my statement is at least 2/3 academic because I talk about further reading and my interest and touch on how psychology is related to philosophy. But I think my tutor wants me to talk about all my subjects specifically - even biology :s