Synonym help!

You don't need to make it sound more academic, it's fine just how it is Your personal statement needs to be thought out, but it doesn't need to be written like a piece of academia or serious research. Both personal statements I've written made use of contractions, which definitely wasn't very scholarly of me, and I was interviewed by Oxford one of the times I applied, so it truly isn't important to have an academic-sounding personal statement, as long as you can convey that you've read around the subject and are passionate for it. Good luck!

Thank you so much! I'm really stressed about how academic to make my personal statement sound. I have had lots of contradicting advice - some people say that my personal statement is too focused on the subject and not enough about me, and others say it is not academic enough. Please could you advise me?

Yeah, that's the problem with having your personal statement read by many people, you get many contradictory opinions! At the risk of introducing one more opinion, you can read this thread: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4237154 to see the instructions on privately submitting a personal statement to be reviewed by experts here on the student room.

NEVER post your personal statement on the public forums on the Student Room - there is a specific private forum for this, post it there.

Hope this is useful

What's a more academic way of saying 'But I understand that it is not always the case for x'?
This is for a personal statement for Oxford Uni. Please help!

Hi @.z.

I like to think if a personal statement being a reflection of your own voice, as if you were speaking directly to the university through your statement.

You should still try and be formal with your writing, but also be genuine and include information that you think is generally relevant to you.
I wrote two personal statements after taking a foundation year before heading to university, and when I re-read my first statement I couldn't recognize it as my own as it was more about which authors I'd read and less about me and my general interest in my subject. So try and write as openly and as naturally as you can.

Best of luck with your application!
Emily