UCAS considers scrapping personal statements for uni applications

Tbh some university’s especially over in Northern Ireland don’t even read it

Getting rid of the personal statement is a good decision. So many students are coached through the personal statement writing process and end up writing impressive-sounding BS. Without interviews, there is no way of finding out which personal statements are genuine, and which are effectively the product of coaching. Using a set of questions instead is a slight improvement (less time wasted for everybody involved) but is associated with the same general issues as the personal statement.

I don't see why they don't just get rid of it entirely - no written answers, just grades and a reference. The most competitive courses will use admissions tests and/or interview(s) and/or a course-specific personal statement. But most courses are not massively over-subscribed so there really isn't any issue with just using grades.

Very few universities /subjects read a PS in any detail at the offer making stage. There’s a constant misunderstanding from applicants and teachers about how and when a PS is used. It’ll get a read before any interviews but the main critical use is in August when universities are making decisions on which applicants to accept with grades below their offer.

So you're telling me that for subjects that don't have interviews, they don't even read the PS?

A lot of unis write in their admissions statement that it’s only used as a last resort if they have to decide between candidates with identical ranking elsewhere.

But for 'top' unis, loads of people would have A* in everything, so I assume that they would place more emphasis on a PS since everyone has high grades. Is that the case?

But for 'top' unis, loads of people would have A* in everything, so I assume that they would place more emphasis on a PS since everyone has high grades. Is that the case?

So you're telling me that for subjects that don't have interviews, they don't even read the PS?

I was at an open day recently where they talked through the admissions process. They explicitly said that, for all courses, they read neither the personal statement nor the school reference, as they were worried about the risk of unfairness. (Due to the different levels of support available to some students in writing personal statements, and the fact that all schools writing glowing references for all their pupils.)

The only time they'd refer to either would be in borderline cases. Having said that, I don't recall whether they meant in the context of "near miss" candidates in August or at the offer stage too.

Quite how these documents can be unfair in general, but perfectly valid to use in borderline cases escapes me.

I was at an open day recently where they talked through the admissions process. They explicitly said that, for all courses, they read neither the personal statement nor the school reference, as they were worried about the risk of unfairness. (Due to the different levels of support available to some students in writing personal statements, and the fact that all schools writing glowing references for all their pupils.)

The only time they'd refer to either would be in borderline cases. Having said that, I don't recall whether they meant in the context of "near miss" candidates in August or at the offer stage too.

Quite how these documents can be unfair in general, but perfectly valid to use in borderline cases escapes me.

Good point - they aren't fair to use in August either.

So you're telling me that for subjects that don't have interviews, they don't even read the PS?

I was at an open day recently where they talked through the admissions process. They explicitly said that, for all courses, they read neither the personal statement nor the school reference, as they were worried about the risk of unfairness. (Due to the different levels of support available to some students in writing personal statements, and the fact that all schools writing glowing references for all their pupils.)

The only time they'd refer to either would be in borderline cases. Having said that, I don't recall whether they meant in the context of "near miss" candidates in August or at the offer stage too.

Quite how these documents can be unfair in general, but perfectly valid to use in borderline cases escapes me.

They’ll be read. For competitive courses without interviews or other additional information (tests portfolios etc) then they can be read very closely - and they can be ignored. It’s unlikely that all 5 choices would ignore it completely if applying for a competitive course/university.

Those courses that reject substantial numbers of applicants are in the minority.

For the majority of courses they will be skim read very quickly to make sure that the application is for the right course.

The situation where a university is likely to need to narrow down 10-20 applications to identify the best 1-5 is most likely to occur at confirmation in August. That’s when everything on an application will be looked at again including the PS.

Can you name the university?

It’s more likely that they are ignoring them due to laziness/lack of staff (and no substantial rejections) than fairness tbh

It was the University of Exeter. The session was called "Applying to Exeter", held at their 29 October 2022 open day. The presenter was Jo Hamilton, Head of Admissions.

I've tried to find a video (or at least the slide desk) as "evidence" that this is what was said, but haven't been able to find either. The best I've come up with is this from 2020 where slide 3 (entitled "Myth Buster") includes the text "Personal Statement use". That perhaps alludes to the fact that they're used in a way that applicants might not expect (hence "myth"), but I fully appreciate that it's hardly conclusive.

That you means you need to rely upon my memory of what was said, and the notes I made on the day. Those notes include this: "Personal Statement rarely used selectively". (The underlining is in my notes.)