Reapplying to Uni - Personal Statement help

Hello, i'll just get straight to it.
I went to Uni last year (Sept 2012-Aug 2013) and I ended up failing my Maths course due to some social anxiety/worry problems. But i'm dealing with those fairly well at the moment.
For now i'm applying for Uni again for Sept 2014 and I had a few questions regarding my personal statement:

Can I reuse my old personal statement that i used when applying for my first uni and would this be a good idea?

Can i copy & paste parts of my old personal statement for a new personal statement?

If I do have to end up writing a new personal statement should I explain why i failed uni last year and then perhaps go on to say how this year i'm making changes to better myself? or should i just avoid it all and not mention anything too personal?

Really it's that last one that bothers me the most. I don't know whether or not the uni i apply to will be able to see my fail from last year. If they can then i'll imagine they'll want to know why i failed, but then i don't know if i should tell them about my social problems and then go on to say that i'm improving that part of me this year, or if i should avoid it all together.
I don't want them to just look at my file or record and see 'failed uni' and then throw my personal statement in the bin.
Sorry for the ramble, I know it's alot to read. (well for me anyway, i'm more maths-and-science-exams than essays and cw :L)

Reply 1

tsultana1

2

No you cant reuse your old personal statement and you cant just copy and paste bits. You have to rewrite it again completely
When your ucas gets sent off, ucas will put your personal statement through plagiarism software which will compare it to personal statements sent to ucas in the past. It will even compare it to ones sent by you. If it detects a certain level of plagiarism, ucas will inform the uni's that you have applied to and the Uni's may decide to reject your application because of it
So best thing to do would be to rewrite a new one

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Reply 2

matt_g96

10

plagiarism is using someones work and claiming it as your own

i dont see how you can get in trouble for copying your own work

im not familiar with ucas rules, id email or call them though

Reply 3

SlowlorisIncognito

16

Are you reapplying for maths? How long has it been since you last studied maths, and will you be doing any maths study over the next year? Unfortunately, some universities dislike gaps in your maths education, as they believe that higher level maths skills are very quickly lost. It may be best to contact any universities you are thinking of applying to, and asking if they will consider you in your current situation or not.

In general, your referee should explain your personal circumstances. However, if there is anything you don't want to explain to your referee, you can discuss it breifly in your PS. I do think you should mostly write a new PS, as surely your interest in maths has changed and developed over the last year. You will probably be able to write a stronger PS having studdied maths at uni.

Reply 4

tsultana1

2

I know that you cant really plagiarise your own work because its yours
But ucas compares the personal statement sent in to all of the ones sent in previously
If they're too similar, universities are informed

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Reply 5

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by tsultana1

I know that you cant really plagiarise your own work because its yours
But ucas compares the personal statement sent in to all of the ones sent in previously
If they're too similar, universities are informed

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yes, that is true, except that in the case of reapplicants, the Ucas ID numbers allow them to match up the two applications and use common sense in excluding such cases from the plagiarism report.

Reply 6

7080

OP

thanks for the replies, although there are some conflicting ones but i guess that can't be helped.
I think i'll just play it safe for the time being and write a new one. There are some things from my old PS i'd like to include though so maybe i'll just re-word them perhaps?
i'm still a bit unsure of whether or not i should mention previously studying maths at uni and how to go about it, any ideas? :s-smilie:

Reply 7

tsultana1

2

Wont you have to put down that you did Maths on the qualifications bit of UCAS? So that means they would know
So maybe you could say that you did it but put it in a good light somehow
As for why you failed, im not quite sure
Your referee could mention your circumstances but i don't know about whether you should mention it in your personal statement
Theres organisations that help with university application stuff like IntoUniversity
They came to our sixthform last year
They help with personal statements too, maybe you could contact them and ask them?
Sorry for not being much help

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Reply 8

7080

OP

No need to apologise, i'll take any advice i can get :smile:

yes i did get a CertHE in maths from uni, so i'll probably have to add that under qualifications in UCAS i think. Don't know how i'm going to put a fail in good light tho, perhaps if i say that i failed not because i wasn't smart enough (i know i can get a degree) but instead put the fail down to my social-anxiety/lack-of-friends problem.
Then go on to say that next time it most likely won't happen again because i'll have learnt from my mistakes from last and i'll have spent a year trying to fix it. something along those lines

Reply 9

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by 7080

No need to apologise, i'll take any advice i can get :smile:

yes i did get a CertHE in maths from uni, so i'll probably have to add that under qualifications in UCAS i think. Don't know how i'm going to put a fail in good light tho, perhaps if i say that i failed not because i wasn't smart enough (i know i can get a degree) but instead put the fail down to my social-anxiety/lack-of-friends problem.
Then go on to say that next time it most likely won't happen again because i'll have learnt from my mistakes from last and i'll have spent a year trying to fix it. something along those lines

Nonononono! Don't say anything in your ps! Put it in your qualifications section and leave any explaining to your referee to do. Your ps should be a positive document about your future study, not an apology for the past. Spend the time enthusing about your choice of course and your suitability for it, not drawing their attention to something they can see anyway.

Reply 10

tsultana1

2

Original post by 7080

No need to apologise, i'll take any advice i can get :smile:

yes i did get a CertHE in maths from uni, so i'll probably have to add that under qualifications in UCAS i think. Don't know how i'm going to put a fail in good light tho, perhaps if i say that i failed not because i wasn't smart enough (i know i can get a degree) but instead put the fail down to my social-anxiety/lack-of-friends problem.
Then go on to say that next time it most likely won't happen again because i'll have learnt from my mistakes from last and i'll have spent a year trying to fix it. something along those lines

I don't mean that you should put that you failed in a good light
Your referee can talk about the circumstances
Don't mention the failing in your personal statement
But in your statement maybe you could talk about how you know how much the degree involves because you did it last year so you know how hard you have to work
Or something like that
Get it?

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Reply 11

jelly1000

21

Original post by tsultana1

No you cant reuse your old personal statement and you cant just copy and paste bits. You have to rewrite it again completely
When your ucas gets sent off, ucas will put your personal statement through plagiarism software which will compare it to personal statements sent to ucas in the past. It will even compare it to ones sent by you. If it detects a certain level of plagiarism, ucas will inform the uni's that you have applied to and the Uni's may decide to reject your application because of it
So best thing to do would be to rewrite a new one

Posted from TSR Mobile

I used pretty much the same personal statement both times I applied to uni and I was fine.

Reply 12

7080

OP

The problem is tho is that my reference is my teacher from school, not a professor from uni, so my teacher won't really know much about my circumstances. I'd rather they give me an interview so i can explain things in person. An i wouldn't be really saying sorry for failing or anything like that, it'd be like trying to explain how i've learnt from my mistakes of the past year and therefore better prepared now for uni than before
Or does everyone have to sound confident and perfectly suited for the course in the personal statements?
Also if i tell them i studied at uni last year, how can i say that without saying that i failed?

Reply 13

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by 7080

The problem is tho is that my reference is my teacher from school, not a professor from uni, so my teacher won't really know much about my circumstances. I'd rather they give me an interview so i can explain things in person. An i wouldn't be really saying sorry for failing or anything like that, it'd be like trying to explain how i've learnt from my mistakes of the past year and therefore better prepared now for uni than before
Or does everyone have to sound confident and perfectly suited for the course in the personal statements?
Also if i tell them i studied at uni last year, how can i say that without saying that i failed?

Yes, if you can. They may be sympathetic when you get there, they may be sympathetic to the mitigating circumstances explained in the reference, but no one wants to take on someone who can't move forward and dwells in the past when they should be looking forward to a successful and enjoyable future doing a new course at university. Your previous education will be in the education section and they can read it and take it into account if they want. They may well not want to, because they know that everybody makes mistakes sometime. The important thing is to move on from them, not spend the ps lamenting and beating themselves up about it.