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Quirky PS??

Hiya, I'm in the middle of writing my personal statement at the minute & i'm still not really sure what tone i'm supposed to be using? personal or impersonal? Will being a bit quirky & different or jokey grab their attention? or will they just think it unprofessional & bin it? I want to stand out of the crowd (as does everybody else obv) with my personal statement but i'm not sure how to go about it. Bearing in mind i am applying for english lanugage/english language & creative writing/english language & media courses. Do different subject admittance tutors want different things? I.e should somebody applying to do a geography course have a differently formed ps to somebody doing a creative writing one?
oh & one more thing, should i write about my work experience? because i just worked in a hotel for 2 weeks in year 10- dont really see how tht has much to do with the course i'm applying for

thanks :smile:

Reply 1

anna_spanner89

try popping what you have via the ps helper service, im sure they can give you a direction, plus it's free...!!

Reply 2

sidewalkwhenshewalks

14

I wouldn't mention the hotel work, it doesn't seem relevant.
As for the rest of it, i don't know

Reply 3

Angelil

19

raiiindroplets

Hiya, I'm in the middle of writing my personal statement at the minute & i'm still not really sure what tone i'm supposed to be using? personal or impersonal? Will being a bit quirky & different or jokey grab their attention? or will they just think it unprofessional & bin it? I want to stand out of the crowd (as does everybody else obv) with my personal statement but i'm not sure how to go about it. Bearing in mind i am applying for english lanugage/english language & creative writing/english language & media courses. Do different subject admittance tutors want different things? I.e should somebody applying to do a geography course have a differently formed ps to somebody doing a creative writing one?
oh & one more thing, should i write about my work experience? because i just worked in a hotel for 2 weeks in year 10- dont really see how tht has much to do with the course i'm applying for

thanks :smile:

I cannot express enough the need to just be yourself when writing your PS. Don't try too hard to be different, and you will be just fine.

Of course there are a few general rules: don't use 'passion' or 'fascinate' (or their derivatives): they appear in 90% of PSs and mean very little. Very rarely do I let their usage go through. Following on from this, take the 'show don't tell' principle into account big style. Give relevant examples of what you've done, what's interested you about what you've read etc etc and your passion/fascination etc will come through without you needing to use the words. Less is definitely more in a PS and all the best ones I've seen have been mature, sophisticated, and with excellent demonstration of enthusiasm, all without using the above mentioned words of evil :evil:

Your PS should also have no more than a third of it devoted to extra-curriculars. These should be relevant if possible, but you can mention your hotel work if you want to: it shows the admissions tutors that you have a life outside of your subject.
Finally, don't go in for overkill with your career ambitions: unless it's a very vocational subject like teaching or medicine, tutors would rather feel that you want to study the subject for its own sake, not merely as a means to an end.

Hope this is useful, and please feel free to put your PS in PS Help.

Reply 4

undisclosed?

14

raiiindroplets

Hiya, I'm in the middle of writing my personal statement at the minute & i'm still not really sure what tone i'm supposed to be using? personal or impersonal? Will being a bit quirky & different or jokey grab their attention? or will they just think it unprofessional & bin it? I want to stand out of the crowd (as does everybody else obv) with my personal statement but i'm not sure how to go about it. Bearing in mind i am applying for english lanugage/english language & creative writing/english language & media courses. Do different subject admittance tutors want different things? I.e should somebody applying to do a geography course have a differently formed ps to somebody doing a creative writing one?
oh & one more thing, should i write about my work experience? because i just worked in a hotel for 2 weeks in year 10- dont really see how tht has much to do with the course i'm applying for

thanks :smile:

I once read a statement which ended with "therefore i plead guilty beyond any reasonable doubt in wishing to study at your university".

:no:

Reply 5

ninety_nine

12

Don't mention the hotel work. Everyone does year 10 work experience - it's hardly ever relevant, people don't tend to know what they want to study at 14/15.

Reply 6

ElvisAint-Dead

9

Original post by &#1109

I once read a statement which ended with "therefore i plead guilty beyond any reasonable doubt in wishing to study at your university".

:no:

i read one which said " thank you for reading this very personal statement (for yours and my eyes only!) and hope to please you at the interview and around the lecture theatres and hospitals in a city near you"

O.P sorry im not much help :s-smilie:

Reply 7

ilikepiesandstuff

11

anna_spanner89

try popping what you have via the ps helper service, im sure they can give you a direction, plus it's free...!!

Does really help.

Reply 8

sidewalkwhenshewalks

14

Oh wow
I've been censored. How pathetic
too paraphrase a fairly long post I wrote but was deleted/not allowed to post
TSR personal statement helpers are a 6/10 at best

Reply 9

raiiindroplets

OP

So the conclusion is.. it's best not to be quirky & keep to the formula?

Reply 10

Smiling...Rain

2

raiiindroplets

Hiya, I'm in the middle of writing my personal statement at the minute & i'm still not really sure what tone i'm supposed to be using? personal or impersonal? Will being a bit quirky & different or jokey grab their attention? or will they just think it unprofessional & bin it? I want to stand out of the crowd (as does everybody else obv) with my personal statement but i'm not sure how to go about it. Bearing in mind i am applying for english lanugage/english language & creative writing/english language & media courses. Do different subject admittance tutors want different things? I.e should somebody applying to do a geography course have a differently formed ps to somebody doing a creative writing one?
oh & one more thing, should i write about my work experience? because i just worked in a hotel for 2 weeks in year 10- dont really see how tht has much to do with the course i'm applying for

thanks :smile:

Well add the odd 'quirky line,' but an understated one if that makes sense. Just show your enthusiasm without using 'enthusiastic words.' You wouldn't believe by just writing how you normally do, how your enjoyment and 'passion' for the subject comes across.

Plus, most admissions tutors just glance over these things. Start and end it with a killer line, together with a pretty good line at the start of each paragraph, as this'll stand out more than blabber...blabber :P

Reply 11

QuantumTheory

12

I had a really awesome PS Helper, I guess they're all different.
I think it's important to take on others advice, and also be yourself. Like, I've had help from my mum, loads of teachers, friends, family friend who helps greek people get into Oxbridge (don't ask), and the PS Helper. Now I'm so happy with my PS :biggrin:

Reply 12

raiiindroplets

OP

Okay makes sense, i just throught as i was applying for an english course i might hav to work extra hard on the actual english of the statement?
anyway thanks for all the advice guys :smile:

Reply 13

Good bloke

19

sidewalkwhenshewalks

TSR personal statement helpers are a 6/10 at best

Thus speaks a person who has this year submitted multiple drafts of two personal statements for two different subjects to the PS helpers, and received help on both. In each case you thanked the helpers concerned and made no complaints at all about the advice you received.

Reply 14

GrahamFromJeremyKyle

9

TSR personal statement helpers are actually great, not 6/10 at best. I received lots of help with mine. Especially when I was getting confused on a grammar issue - despite being an English Literature student :P

So I'd post your PS there if I were you!

Reply 15

Juustuburger

9

I think the personal statement helpers are good, but shouldn't be treated as having a monopoly on what to put. It's important to use your own instincts and consider your college and so on, because helpers have got into University but - unless I'm wrong - none actually work in admissions so won't know exactly what individual tutors want. Thus it's better to use them for a bit of advice and bear that in mind when writing it, without doing everything that is said automatically.

In my case I put my first two drafts on there, and done my final two myself after showing a teacher at my college. The teacher at my college disagreed with the helper in one case too, so it's worth bearing that in mind.

Reply 16

F1 fanatic

16

Juustuburger

I think the personal statement helpers are good, but shouldn't be treated as having a monopoly on what to put. It's important to use your own instincts and consider your college and so on, because helpers have got into University but - unless I'm wrong - none actually work in admissions so won't know exactly what individual tutors want. Thus it's better to use them for a bit of advice and bear that in mind when writing it, without doing everything that is said automatically.

In my case I put my first two drafts on there, and done my final two myself after showing a teacher at my college. The teacher at my college disagreed with the helper in one case too, so it's worth bearing that in mind.

I think its worth just re-iterating what we are. We are not a professional body, as you say, we are not specially trained although there are a few helpers who are linked to admissions or who are teachers themselves. We are just volunteers, most of whom are at university and who by virtue of being helpers often have experience of 100s of reviews/statements to draw upon. However, that said we can only offer an opinion (as can a teacher) and at the end of the day it is down to the individual applicant to take on board what advice they agree with.

It is best to get opinions from as many different groups of people as possible - teachers, parents, friends, PS Helpers because they all may be able to offer a different insight or a different perspective. Nothing offered is gospel and you should not exclusively take the advice of one over all others and presume it to be correct. The same can be said of teachers - they are often no more qualified than us (in some cases less so in subjects they are unfamiliar with) they're just a valuable opinion to obtain. In general we know what we're talking about, but that doesn't mean that you should blindly follow advice. A personal statement is the work of an individual and they take full responsibility and control of its content.

Reply 17

peachmelba

8

From what I heard from admissions tutors at Open Days, the PS for English is often the thing that differentiates between many well qualified candidates.

They want to hear why you want to study English (not just that you like reading. they want to know that you've gone beyond the set texts. they want to see that you can write well.

They are largely not interested in your extra curriculars unless relevant (and for creative writing, you probably need some relevant ones).

good luck

Quirky PS??

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