How important is it to talk about your A-Levels in your personal statement?

Hey, basically I've done my personal statement but i haven't really talked about my A-levels in real detail only like a few lines. plus i don't have any space to. will i be at a disadvantage if i don't talk about my A-levels

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No.

I think it's absolutely necessary to make a large section of your personal statement academic - it shouldn't all just be personal details about you such as what sports you do at school or something. As far as actually discussing your A-level course, I didn't talk about it much. I pretty much said A-levels bore me <_<.

Reply 3

jonnythemoose

I think if you blabber on about the subject you want to do at uni, then mention briefly the subject(s) you do at A Level, and have done to AS level, and what they have given you, in terms of skills.

For example, I'm applying for languages, and have a History AS. I dedicated two lines for this, saying something like 'AS History has given me analytical skills...etc.'

Reply 4

musicbloke

If your A levels are relevant to your subject, and there are aspects that particularly interest you then mention it. Often this is something like coursework in an arts subject, and is worth talking about as a means to discuss your subject in a little more detail. If you want someone to look over your PS and see what they think, then you can post it in the PS Help forum.

MB

Reply 5

RosiePosiePuddingAndPie

I briefly mentioned my subjects, but went into English Language in more detail because I'd done things in it which were relevent to the course (we're learning about language acquisition, and I've applied for speech therapy, so it was good for me to mention it :smile:

)

Reply 6

jus-mi

dnt no about 'mike543406'........but u will be at a disadvantage if you dnt talk about yur subjects ur doing now, or else how do u xpect the uni's admission tutor to know why your doing dem subjects and what relevant is it to the course yur applying for.....e.g. if i'm applying to do ermmm maths but i'm doing eng lit/lang alevel then in my ps i would say that me doing english alevel is good for my writing skills etc etc' at least this way they know that you didnt just chose to do a subject randomly and you, yourself know exactly what you are benefitting from it.

Reply 7

coldplasma

Yes, you need to talk about your A Levels. Why did you choose them? How are they relevant to your chosen course? The university needs to know more about you other than predicted grades.

Reply 8

UPsilamba

coldplasma

Yes, you need to talk about your A Levels. Why did you choose them? How are they relevant to your chosen course? The university needs to know more about you other than predicted grades.

Well the OP is not just sending his predicted grades. He is sending a full personal statement, it might just be a bit broader than mere mention of the schoo0l curriculum.

Reply 9

mike543406

jus-mi

You type like that, clearly haven't read anything about the application process and want to correct me OK!

The admission tutors know what subjects you are doing from your appliciation (OBVIOUSLY). Are admission tutors going to care if you write write A levels have given you? NO. Everyone will be writing the same stuff. Use the space for more important things.

Reply 10

Juncture

I didn't mention my A level subjects at all in my personal statement last year but still got 5 offers and an interview, however it depends what you've written in your personal statement already and what subject you're applying for

Reply 11

MGT_90

Don't, unless you've got something especially interesting to say. There's more important things to say and admissions tutors, contrary to common belief, are not stupid. They know that English gives you analytical skills. However, they would not know that you found a particular novel increased your interest in your university subject choice in its exploration of themes x/y/z. Mention that, but don't spit out generic waffle for the sake of it.

Reply 12

sunspoon

I've only devoted a short sentence for my A-level subjects; but immediately afterwards I talk about something off syllabus that has fascinated me and led me to do some wider reading around it.

Reply 13

Red Dust

I personally didn't mention my A Levels in my personal statement at all, and I got offers from all of the universities that I applied to.

However, if you're applying to do a course at university that you're doing at A Level, it's probably a good idea to throw in what you like about the course at A Level that has inspired you to do it in university.

Reply 14

Ziggy_Stardust

If you're applying for a subject at uni that you're doing as an A level then I'd probably mention what aspects of the course you've been interested in and how you've developed that interest. If your other subjects are relevant then you could probably mention how they apply to what you want to do, but otherwise I'd not bother - most applicants are gonna have A levels, so your personal statement isn't going to really stand out to admissions tutors by discussing them.

Reply 15

coldplasma

Matthew2007

Well the OP is not just sending his predicted grades. He is sending a full personal statement, it might just be a bit broader than mere mention of the schoo0l curriculum.

So, what difference does it make?

Reply 16

UPsilamba

coldplasma

So, what difference does it make?

The difference it makes is that you suggested all the uni knows about him are his predicted grades.
However, they can learn more about him from his personal statement without it having to mention his A-level study. Every uni learns 4000 characters about us. It's up to him what the content is, but the uni will know who he is through the PS, regardless of whether it is a commentary on his A-level subjects.

Reply 17

tommy999

Basically I only talked about the subject that I want to take next year... My referee said that it was their job to discuss our academic performance and potential... Don't know if this helps but I didn't discuss the subjects as such...hope this helps

Reply 18

Angelil

jus-mi

Yes, because clearly your writing skills have benefited from doing English Language A Level :rolleyes:

Personally I would say that it's more important to talk about what you've done OUTSIDE the syllabus than what you've done in it. If I were an admissions tutor I would be far more interested in an applicant for English who talks about what they've read outside of A Level, rather than an applicant who spends a paragraph of their PS reeling off the titles of books included on the A Level syllabus.

Plus, tommy999 is right - all of your subject tutors should be contributing to your reference, and so the admissions tutors will get a sense of what the subjects have given you from that anyway.

Reply 19

* Catrin *

i only included a short paragraph about my alevel subjects, simply because we were forced to by our head of year, doesn't look to have done me any harm :smile: