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Personal Statement: Do universities prefer you to write Maths or Mathematics?

So I have nearly finished my personal statement but I am a few characters over. I can correct this by changing the 'Mathematics' to 'Maths' throughout my personal statement but how will Universities feel about this? Will it be frowned upon or is it generally okay?
Thank you in advanced.
Original post by melissaox
So I have nearly finished my personal statement but I am a few characters over. I can correct this by changing the 'Mathematics' to 'Maths' throughout my personal statement but how will Universities feel about this? Will it be frowned upon or is it generally okay?
Thank you in advanced.


I'd always choose mathematics (without a capital). Lose a sentence that doesn't say anything instead.
Original post by melissaox
So I have nearly finished my personal statement but I am a few characters over. I can correct this by changing the 'Mathematics' to 'Maths' throughout my personal statement but how will Universities feel about this? Will it be frowned upon or is it generally okay?
Thank you in advanced.


The PS is a piece of formal writing and using "maths" is inappropriate. If you have repeatedly used the word "mathematics" in your statement you haven't done a very good job. Surely you can find a way of not repeating it?
First off, no caps for the subject name. Try not to use it too much in your statement. Mathematics is better because the PS is a formal document. But this kind of thing is not going to be the difference between offers or no offers.


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BSc Biochemistry with a year in industry, University of York
PhD in molecular biology, Queen Mary University of London
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MMJZ
If you need to drop something like five characters substituting mathematics for maths shouldn't cause any problem. They won't look at your application and compare it by saying 'well this one said mathematics' regardless of how 'formal' it's meant to be.

Being consistent is a nicer idea. Choose maths or mathematics and STICK with it, as switching between the two shows more informality.
Don't use informal language like 'maths' in a formal document like a PS - treat it like a job application. Also, if this is to get you under the character limit, you will probably have to cut more out because the vast majority of people reach the line limit first

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