Sob story PS?!?!

Original post by BubbyGirl

Hey,

So obviously I don't want my PS to sound like a sob story but i've read you should put in if you have had a bad year? I *should* have achieved AABB last year… It didn't happen. But all other evidence shows (GCSE's, CAT tests, ALICE..) I am a hard worker and should get it a good set of grades this year. So what do I put regarding my bad AS Levels? I have several 'at home' issues currently and during last year and thats whats really thrown me off track.

Any help is appreciated

Only explain positive things in your personal statement; any negatives can be explained in an interview if that is necessary. Putting information about your 'home issues' is going to highlight the negative parts, and might end up hurting your application (e.g- you're making yourself look inconsistent).

Reply 2

OP

Original post by Davalla

Only explain positive things in your personal statement; any negatives can be explained in an interview if that is necessary. Putting information about your 'home issues' is going to highlight the negative parts, and might end up hurting your application (e.g- you're making yourself look inconsistent).

Thanks very much for the quick response,

what if it is not an interview subject, and they just think I'm going downhill?!

Reply 3

cookiemonster15

17

Original post by BubbyGirl

Thanks very much for the quick response,

what if it is not an interview subject, and they just think I'm going downhill?!

Get it added into your reference- so they know why you got the grades that you did

Reply 4

username1230881

18

Original post by BubbyGirl

Hey,

So obviously I don't want my PS to sound like a sob story but i've read you should put in if you have had a bad year? I *should* have achieved AABB last year… It didn't happen. But all other evidence shows (GCSE's, CAT tests, ALICE..) I am a hard worker and should get it a good set of grades this year. So what do I put regarding my bad AS Levels? I have several 'at home' issues currently and during last year and thats whats really thrown me off track.

Any help is appreciated

Keep your personal statement positive - extenuating circumstances should go in your reference, not your PS. Your PS is designed to sell yourself to the universities, so portray yourself in the most positive light possible, and you should speak to the person who's writing your reference about any issues you've had that prevented you from getting the grades that you expected.

Reply 5

Maker

Uni admissions have BS detectors.

Reply 6

OP

Original post by cookiemonster15

Get it added into your reference- so they know why you got the grades that you did

Thanks very much - I shall do :smile:

Reply 7

OP

Original post by doctorwhofan98

Keep your personal statement positive - extenuating circumstances should go in your reference, not your PS. Your PS is designed to sell yourself to the universities, so portray yourself in the most positive light possible, and you should speak to the person who's writing your reference about any issues you've had that prevented you from getting the grades that you expected.

Thanks for your advice I will tell school to put it in :smile:

Reply 8

Chief Wiggum

Dunno about the personal statement, but it should definitely definitely get mentioned in your reference!!

Reply 9

OP

Original post by Maker

Uni admissions have BS detectors.

You have no idea what i've been through so don't comment unless it is something useful/advice. Thanks

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Chief Wiggum

Dunno about the personal statement, but it should definitely definitely get mentioned in your reference!!

Yeah it seems thats definitely the advice I'm getting!! - Thank you :smile:

Reply 11

Maker

Original post by BubbyGirl

You have no idea what i've been through so don't comment unless it is something useful/advice. Thanks

Original post by BubbyGirl

You have no idea what i've been through so don't comment unless it is something useful/advice. Thanks

What makes you think I was talking specifically about you? Are you suffering from a narcissistic disorder?

Reply 12

OP

Original post by Maker

What makes you think I was talking specifically about you? Are you suffering from a narcissistic disorder?

Maybe because this is my post and it is asking specific advice regarding my situation? Only common sense is required here.

Reply 13

Maker

Original post by BubbyGirl

Maybe because this is my post and it is asking specific advice regarding my situation? Only common sense is required here.

You make a lot of assumptions.

Reply 14

DylanJ42

18

Original post by Maker

You make a lot of assumptions.

She would be good at mechanics 1 then :laugh:

(someone please understand this)

Reply 15

mangala

3

if ur gonna write some negative stuff, write something like "although __________ happened, i learned the following things from this which has.............." kinda thing

Reply 16

Jenx301

19

No, you should not write negative things in your PS. It is for selling yourself and telling the uni why they should consider you for the course. Make yourself look good. Any extenuating circumstances should go in your reference.

Reply 17

Smonnie

15

Original post by BubbyGirl

Hey,

So obviously I don't want my PS to sound like a sob story but i've read you should put in if you have had a bad year? I *should* have achieved AABB last year… It didn't happen. But all other evidence shows (GCSE's, CAT tests, ALICE..) I am a hard worker and should get it a good set of grades this year. So what do I put regarding my bad AS Levels? I have several 'at home' issues currently and during last year and thats whats really thrown me off track.

Any help is appreciated

Don't do it! Big yourself up!

Reply 18

MagicNMedicine

I agree with the posts here that say things like this should be in the reference and not the personal statement.

You need to be careful with extenuating circumstances because, rightly or wrongly, they are nearly always seen as a negative. The more they tend towards the sob story angle the worse they are. This is true both with admissions tutors at uni and with employers.

The problem comes from tutors/employers previous experience of people with these stories before. At uni for instance the tutors will find that they spend inordinate amounts of time and effort on a small number of students with problems who end up wanting special circumstances exemptions, remarks, special consideration, requests to repeat the year and so on. It tends to be the same students that have a pattern - the ones who do this in first year will do it in second and third etc. Some of them are blagging it but some are genuine as well and they just have problems because they find it hard to cope with stressful things due to underlying anxiety issues or other problems. This is why especially where there are demanding courses or demanding jobs, people get put off by stories of extenuating circumstances: they don't want to put someone on a course or job where they are going to put that person in to a breakdown.

Now when they read stories of extenuating circumstances from somebody before they even take them on it will ring alarm bells....is this going to be one of those students who is going to have problems for 3 years...

So extenuating circumstances stories look better if they are explaining a unique set of circumstances that happened at one point in time and that aren't going to affect the student going forwards. Anything that makes the tutor think - hmm this could happen again, is going to be a negative.

But consider hard whether you really want to bring things up because admissions tutors and employers sometimes get put off by anyone with 'baggage', that may be harsh but it's true especially on anything competitive where they have a lot of other options to pick from.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 19

Interrobang