I've got too many!!!

I was going through the academic achievements , the work experience/voluntary work and extra curricular stuff that i've done in the last year and a half for my personal statement (which i know is too early to be writing, but i'm a perfectionist and like to redraft a lot) and i noticed i simply had too much stuff to write on. Given there is a UCAS personal statement word limit, i don't know how to make it all fit, without excluding some achievements.
Any tips on how to shorten this list to help to make my personal statement more succint? I'm intending to apply to read medicine at Cambridge, Imperial and UCL for 2009. I think my grades should be ok to apply (by reading the numerous "am i good enough for medicine" threads), but the main problem is the personal statement.
I know peple say one should be very selective but i've done that and the list still remains long!!!!

thanks guys

Reply 1

musicbloke

Well your statements should be very academic-focussed, and as a med student you'll also be wanting to talk about work experience. Remember that your statement is not telling them everything about yourself, rather you're trying to tell them why you should be accepted onto their course.

MB

Reply 2

OllyThePhilosopher

You can let your referee mention some acheivements so you don't have to. Also, have a look at some of the examples on here to compare. I know some go over the limit but they should help.

Reply 3

Excalibur

Try and group them into categories, e.g. work experience, volunteering, activities showing comm skills, teamwork yadda yadda. You'll find that some activities are pretty redundant in terms of what they've taught you. Rather than a superficial treatment of a variety of things, I think it's better to focus & explain in depth about a few, and mention the others in passing (so that they can inquire more at interview) or don't mention them at all.

And I agree, let your referee mention stuff that you can't fit in/are redundant. In my PS the vast majority of school related stuff that I didn't think were important enough to put into my PS, but would look quite good when mentioned collectively, were pushed to my reference (prefect, House Captain etc etc). Awards and things also (imo) look better when coming from a third party, as mentioning them yourself can make you look a little arrogant...

For Cambridge you can also make use of the additional spaces on the SAQ/CAF (although I've heard they're scrapping the CAF?) to squeeze more stuff about how brilliant you are, although they would care predominantly over academics.

If you give us/PS helpers an idea of some of those achievements then we might be able to give you more specific advice.

Reply 4

uk_chip

i had this problem.. and i was able to twist it quite effectively apparantly.. see i had alot of extra curricular activites... so what i did was list them all in a realyl long list.. and then end it with something along teh lines of doing all this in a week require great time management and motivation.. blah blah... and people tell me it was quite effective...

Reply 5

talespirit

OllyThePhilosopher

You can let your referee mention some acheivements so you don't have to. Also, have a look at some of the examples on here to compare. I know some go over the limit but they should help.

There's a problem with that because your referee's account is supposed to reflect what you write so that it's consistent. If you say different things just to cover everything then it sounds like you made up half of them (which is the impression when you put too much qualifications). I had the same problem, and when i tried listing my ECs on a piece of paper it filled a whole page. So i think you should just pick out the ones that really matters for your course (i.e. work experience, leadership activity, grade 8 instrument, community service) and mention others in passing (e.g. won 3 MVPs and play 5 different sports). And mention international awards which sums it all up like the Duke of Edinburgh.

Reply 6

Medicine Man

thanks guys..bit will it be perfectly fine to just mention the sports and musical stuff i do in passing?

Reply 7

MGT_90

Medicine Man

thanks guys..bit will it be perfectly fine to just mention the sports and musical stuff i do in passing?

Yes, because it's not all that important in comparison to the other things you need to mention.

As a Medicine applicant, work experience should take priority over any other extra curriculars. Music, whilst it presents you as a well-rounded individual, doesn't explictly suggest why you'd make a good doctor. Work experience, on the other hand, does.

"I play football and have achieved Grade 7 in Piano."

That's as far as you need to go really.

Reply 8

aloof47

Medicine Man

thanks guys..bit will it be perfectly fine to just mention the sports and musical stuff i do in passing?

for medicine definitely your work experience will be a huge part of your PS.

academic achievements like what??because if u mean ur academically advanced they can see it through ur grades anyway that you put into the application??!!! but u dont have to put in the "i won the best student award in my school" kind of thing.... :rolleyes:

and sports and extra-curricular stuff, very briefly and relate it to ur personal development - leadership, teamwork..blah blah...

Reply 9

Medicine Man

aloof47

academic achievements like what??because if u mean ur academically advanced they can see it through ur grades anyway that you put into the application??!!!

stuff like the biology olympiad..chemistry olympiad..UKMT maths challenges..Various Science Challenges..will that sort of stuff be pointless then for a prospective medical student personal statement? :confused: