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'Personal statements don't matter'

So today at Royal Holloway open day I went to a talk by an admissions officer who told us personal statements don't matter and we shouldn't spend more than an hour and a half on them. Apparently all they really care about is good predicted grades. It was quite interesting to hearing something the complete opposite of what college have been telling us for the past two months.
I was wondering if maybe they just have this approach as its a less competitive uni :confused:

So I was thinking, how long did you spend on your statement and how much do you think they actually matter?

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Original post by Piledriver
So today at Royal Holloway open day I went to a talk by an admissions officer who told us personal statements don't matter and we shouldn't spend more than an hour and a half on them. Apparently all they really care about is good predicted grades. It was quite interesting to hearing something the complete opposite of what college have been telling us for the past two months.
I was wondering if maybe they just have this approach as its a less competitive uni :confused:

So I was thinking, how long did you spend on your statement and how much do you think they actually matter?


I spent ages on mine but everybody knows they don't matter. Unless you're a total idiot you'll have had loads of advice, so it isn't really your writing anyway. Just as long as it isn't terrible, they won't pay any attention to it.
Reply 2
It depends on the uni. Some unis don't care about them - it sounds as though you've found one. But other admissions tutors do.
I'd say it differs for subjects. Obviously in English, they're going to care about how you can write. Sciences/maths-y subjects focus a lot more on grades.
Reply 4
I spent ages on mine. My predicted grades were lower than the entry requirements for 3/5 of my uni choices and I managed to get all 5 offers so I think personal statements definitely matter since I wouldn't have got my offers if I had relied on my predicted grades alone. It's common for people to not do so great at AS but improve a lot at A2 so I think uni's take this into account.
I spent about 2 hours on it and that wasnt it. Didnt waste time with drafts, instead i spent my time sensibly on work. Personal statements arent important, so its supid to spend excessive amounts of time on it as you arent going to reap any benefits from redrafting it over and over.
Reply 6
Original post by Piledriver
So I was thinking, how long did you spend on your statement and how much do you think they actually matter?


Original post by wendlabergmann
I'd say it differs for subjects. Obviously in English, they're going to care about how you can write. Sciences/maths-y subjects focus a lot more on grades.


Original post by Rlove95
My predicted grades were lower than the entry requirements for 3/5 of my uni choices and I managed to get all 5 offers so I think personal statements definitely matter since I wouldn't have got my offers if I had relied on my predicted grades alone.


Original post by newblood
Personal statements arent important, so its supid to spend excessive amounts of time on it as you arent going to reap any benefits from redrafting it over and over.


here's what Nottingham uni's admission tutor had to say about Personal Statements and more.

[video="youtube;DvqFG-C9RvY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvqFG-C9RvY[/video]
this is useful advice about Personal Statements:

http://university.which.co.uk/advice/10-things-not-to-put-in-your-personal-statement

i especially liked 'Weird is not a selling point.'
Spent about two hours on mine when I applied to uni. It was a big talking point in all of the interviews I went to. Can't say it wasn't important.

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Some care, some don't. My course I only thing they gave a crap about grades.
I don't know who important the personal statement is towards gaining an offer but I'm pretty sure they are read anyways so I wouldn't make it a half-hearted attempt
I think it depends on both the uni and the course that you're applying for.

My school makes us write a first draft for a personal statement around March time of our AS year. Then we redraft and redraft and redraft until she (the careers teacher) deems it perfect. I was lucky because I only had to do 2 or 3 drafts, but I know people who are on their fifth or more and still aren't finished it.

It's because of this that I hope that it is taken into consideration, otherwise I've just spent the past 6 months obsessing over something that doesn't really matter.:s-smilie:
they matter but not as much as people think.when you are on clearing and call the uni the conversation lasts 15 seconds when your grades are a bit lower than the required
I would suppose it matters on the subject - something vocational like Nursing would require a good personal statement as your work experience is going to matter a lot. Something like Maths, however, is going to be all about your grades.

I spent quite a while on mine, but then again I did have to write two, and a couple of my courses are punching slightly above my weight.
Original post by Piledriver
So today at Royal Holloway open day I went to a talk by an admissions officer who told us personal statements don't matter and we shouldn't spend more than an hour and a half on them. Apparently all they really care about is good predicted grades. It was quite interesting to hearing something the complete opposite of what college have been telling us for the past two months.
I was wondering if maybe they just have this approach as its a less competitive uni :confused:

So I was thinking, how long did you spend on your statement and how much do you think they actually matter?


I probably spent upwards of 25 hours on mine...
Reply 15
Don't know about other unis (since they do not specify how important they consider the PS) but Bristol definitely values it highly. Some of their courses place 70% on the PS about whether an offer should be given or not.
Original post by Piledriver
So today at Royal Holloway open day I went to a talk by an admissions officer who told us personal statements don't matter and we shouldn't spend more than an hour and a half on them. Apparently all they really care about is good predicted grades. It was quite interesting to hearing something the complete opposite of what college have been telling us for the past two months.
I was wondering if maybe they just have this approach as its a less competitive uni :confused:

So I was thinking, how long did you spend on your statement and how much do you think they actually matter?


That's maybe for unis that don't get more applicants with good grades than places...complete and utter bs elsewhere.
Original post by Piledriver
So today at Royal Holloway open day I went to a talk by an admissions officer who told us personal statements don't matter and we shouldn't spend more than an hour and a half on them. Apparently all they really care about is good predicted grades. It was quite interesting to hearing something the complete opposite of what college have been telling us for the past two months.
I was wondering if maybe they just have this approach as its a less competitive uni :confused:

So I was thinking, how long did you spend on your statement and how much do you think they actually matter?


All its about is saying stuff you cant put anywhere else, giving them extra information (and hence reasons to accept you) whilst not saying anything stupid (such as "I want to study medicine because my father was a doctor").
Original post by SarcasticMel
That's maybe for unis that don't get more applicants with good grades than places...complete and utter bs elsewhere.


Well, my Director of Studies at Cambridge said something similar about his attitude to the admissions process. He said that because schools coach students on personal statements so excessively, they don't fulfil their intended function anymore because it's so manufactured and refined. Interviews, in his opinion, matter much more.
But of course, you talk about your personal statement in the interview, so you don't want to write something you might regret when being questioned on it.
Original post by Jamerson
Well, my Director of Studies at Cambridge said something similar about his attitude to the admissions process. He said that because schools coach students on personal statements so excessively, they don't fulfil their intended function anymore because it's so manufactured and refined. Interviews, in his opinion, matter much more.
But of course, you talk about your personal statement in the interview, so you don't want to write something you might regret when being questioned on it.


Not all unis do interviews...and not like fancy prep schools coach their students better for Oxbridge interviews than state schools.

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