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"From a young age I have always been..." What not to write in your PS

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What if you do it as satire? Does that impress?
Original post by DanteTheDoorKnob
What if you do it as satire? Does that impress?


What do you think?
Do what 'as satire'? Write a silly PS?

As above, use your common sense.
Original post by PQ
What do you think?


I think it gives me a creative outlet i'm lacking in my work
Also, it's not a good idea to include that anecdote about setting fire to your pyjamas at the age of eight...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6426945.stm
Would be interesting to see how many of these individuals still got offers.....
Original post by returnmigrant
Do what 'as satire'? Write a silly PS?

As above, use your common sense.


If I was applying for a lit course surely witt (yes two ts) and understanding of literary techniques like satire would be invaluable?

Furthermore if I was applying for philosophy my willingness to challenge common sense conceptions would also be useful.
Original post by DanteTheDoorKnob
I think it gives me a creative outlet i'm lacking in my work


If you're applying for a degree in comedic writing then a pisstake PS might go down well.

In all other cases it makes an extremely poor impression.

That isn't to say you have to be totally serious and po-faced but it's risky to put "funny" content in a PS. You don't know your audience, prose is a difficult medium to express comedy over and you risk turning the reader off you completely as someone who doesn't take their subject or application or studies seriously.

If you can't contemplate studying at a university where the staff don't share your sense of humour then go for it - but be aware you might end up not studying anywhere.
How can you not use the 3rd one????
My tutor wrote my whole PS. LMAO
It was drilled into me when I applied that you shouldn't start a personal statement like this so I didn't fall victim. Although looking back on my personal statement I do wish I calmed down with the flowery language a bit! Still happy with my quote choice though.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by returnmigrant
A good test on 'verbose and pretentious' is to imagine reading this out in class. If your friends would wet themselves laughing then you need to rewrite it.

Words/phrases that are guaranteed not to pass this test are

'....... piqued my interest'

'enthused by ....'

'academically excited by . ..'

Any mention of your parent's occupation.


This is good advice, one of my friends and I even read each other's personal statements out loud to each other and quite a lot of the content provoked stifled giggles. :redface: At least it highlighted areas which sounded embarrassing and ridiculous, and it turned out well... :colondollar:
I remember in my first draft I included loads of these phrases, but my final personal statement didn't include any! :smile:
Original post by BookBird
How can you not use the 3rd one????


I agree, nothing wrong with that. It may be "boring" but that's much better than being stupid or grandiose.
There was a pushy careers lady at my sixth form who insisted that my personal statement end with 'the skills I have gained whilst volunteering will help me to achieve my goal'. I also apparently 'relished' the challenge of volunteering (I have never relished anything in my life, unless burgers count). It really was vomit-inducing.
Original post by Charlotte49
There was a pushy careers lady at my sixth form who insisted that my personal statement end with 'the skills I have gained whilst volunteering will help me to achieve my goal'. I also apparently 'relished' the challenge of volunteering (I have never relished anything in my life, unless burgers count). It really was vomit-inducing.


Hope it wasn't a literature course. That is horribly dehumanizing language, you sound like a project from Manchester's artificial intelligence department.
Original post by DanteTheDoorKnob
Hope it wasn't a literature course. That is horribly dehumanizing language, you sound like a project from Manchester's artificial intelligence department.


Cheers pal, you sound just fab too
Not quite in the same league, but one of our year ten students began their application to be a year eleven monitor as follows:

"I am writing to you as I suddenly acquired adesire to become a monitor"

International students, don't you just love them?
Wouldn't an extravagant display of laziness or nihilism be considered much smarter than being boastful?
A complex knowledge of self doubt/pity and entropy will get me more points surely.
Reply 39
I saw these in school a lot:

"Medicine has always fascinated me from a very early age"

********.

If you're talking about the time you scraped your knee whilst out in the garden, that's not amazing work experience.
Unless you are some genuine child prodigy who was given anatomy books for a first read, the only thing you could be fascinated about was Lego and TV.


"The definition of doctor is (insert Oxford Dictionary Definition)..."

Like they don't know that already. And what the **** do I gain from reading that? Thank you for lecturing me on the definition of a word (which I already knew), but I still know **** all about you mate.

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