The Student Room Group

Local Politics on UCAS Personal Statement

I went to the Warwick University open day on Saturday and in a presentation they told us not to include "controversy" on our personal statement, and I was wondering whether working with local politicians campaigning and canvassing (and even doing paid work at one point) would be classed as "controversial" to admissions officers? I really want to include this in my personal statement to show dedication, ability to communicate with the public, etc however I am worried that this may count against me if whoever is reading it has different political views than me? For the record, I am talking about working with a mainstream political party rather than a fringe or extremist one.

Thanks if you can help :smile:
Personally I wouldn't mention the party but I'd discuss the activities participated in.
@joddcfc


1) Why should you tailor your UCAS statement to the demands of Warwick when you have 4 other options as well?

2) You should look at the plain literal meaning of 'controversy'.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/controversy
I don't see how 'working with local politicians campaigning and canvassing (and even doing paid work at one point) would be classed as "controversial" to admissions officers?'

Controversial is when you say that David Cameron is a useless PM who has never done a proper day's work in his life and the reason why he is sad about Brexit is because after he completes his tenure as PM, he now cannot progress onto the EU to continue being a politician there.

3) Admission tutors are suppose to be free from bias but then again you never know. If you're applying to do law at uni and in your personal statement, you write 'now with Brexit, there isn't any need to study EU law given that EU itself is a corrupt institution which hasn't been brought to task for various breaches of ethics and code of conduct regulations'. Imagine if the admissions tutor reading your PS is someone from the EU cluster of countries :eek:

4) Once you get familiar with how uni admissions operate, you will realize that very little importance is placed on personal statements and the referee reference. Cambridge released a report not too long ago that talked about how these two aspects of the UCAS application was susceptible to exaggerations and unfounded claims.

In order to get a place at uni, depending on your course and the unis you want to apply to, you need to have a good set of GCSEs and be getting top grades at A-levels. Having rubbish GCSEs and A-level grades but impressive referee reference and UCAS statement is not going to get you an offer.

There will be people here that tell you otherwise. If you're heading to uni it means that you must be able to think for yourself, evaluate different people's perspective and then come to a decision.

I wish you luck.
Agree with JamesN88, mention the activities, what you learnt from them and how that's relevant to your course rather than the specific party and your views.

Original post by Audrey18

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Agreed about grades being the most important part of your application but the PS and reference are also part of it and there's no harm in making sure they're the best they can possibly be. Different unis look at these things differently.
Reply 4
Original post by JamesN88
Personally I wouldn't mention the party but I'd discuss the activities participated in.


Original post by alleycat393
Agree with JamesN88, mention the activities, what you learnt from them and how that's relevant to your course rather than the specific party and your views.Agreed about grades being the most important part of your application but the PS and reference are also part of it and there's no harm in making sure they're the best they can possibly be. Different unis look at these things differently.





Good idea, thank you :smile:

Original post by Audrey18
@joddcfc


1) Why should you tailor your UCAS statement to the demands of Warwick when you have 4 other options as well?

2) You should look at the plain literal meaning of 'controversy'.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/controversy
I don't see how 'working with local politicians campaigning and canvassing (and even doing paid work at one point) would be classed as "controversial" to admissions officers?'

Controversial is when you say that David Cameron is a useless PM who has never done a proper day's work in his life and the reason why he is sad about Brexit is because after he completes his tenure as PM, he now cannot progress onto the EU to continue being a politician there.

3) Admission tutors are suppose to be free from bias but then again you never know. If you're applying to do law at uni and in your personal statement, you write 'now with Brexit, there isn't any need to study EU law given that EU itself is a corrupt institution which hasn't been brought to task for various breaches of ethics and code of conduct regulations'. Imagine if the admissions tutor reading your PS is someone from the EU cluster of countries :eek:

4) Once you get familiar with how uni admissions operate, you will realize that very little importance is placed on personal statements and the referee reference. Cambridge released a report not too long ago that talked about how these two aspects of the UCAS application was susceptible to exaggerations and unfounded claims.

In order to get a place at uni, depending on your course and the unis you want to apply to, you need to have a good set of GCSEs and be getting top grades at A-levels. Having rubbish GCSEs and A-level grades but impressive referee reference and UCAS statement is not going to get you an offer.

There will be people here that tell you otherwise. If you're heading to uni it means that you must be able to think for yourself, evaluate different people's perspective and then come to a decision.

I wish you luck.


Hi, Warwick is the only uni that I am interested in that has mentioned about 'controversial' statements, however I would assume it is possible for that to apply to other universities too, but I can't be sure of that. Obviously I wouldn't mention any direct opinions of mine, but I was just slightly worried that an admissions officer may themselves have differing political views to mine which may count against me. That may be a little unprofessional of them to discredit me for that, however it may happen perhaps. I have heard similar to what you say about the PS being over exaggerated in terms of importance, however I am still going to perfect it as much as possible, in addition to obviously working hard for the grades themselves. Anyway thanks for the reply, much appreciated :smile:
Original post by alleycat393

Spoiler

Agreed about grades being the most important part of your application but the PS and reference are also part of it and there's no harm in making sure they're the best they can possibly be. Different unis look at these things differently.


If you say so. As for me, my friends and I previously wanted to do law. So we spoke to people from the top unis and they told us they don't look at referee reference and the UCAS statement. They only look at the LNAT score first. If you score above a certain figure, then you will be given an offer.
Original post by Audrey18
If you say so. As for me, my friends and I previously wanted to do law. So we spoke to people from the top unis and they told us they don't look at referee reference and the UCAS statement. They only look at the LNAT score first. If you score above a certain figure, then you will be given an offer.


I do actually from having worked in these top unis. You may want to think about the fact that, as I said before, different unis look at things differently, things change year on year and each department has more than one admissions tutor so the person you may have talked to may be talking about themselves or their department but not necessarily about all unis in the UK.
Original post by joddcfc
I went to the Warwick University open day on Saturday and in a presentation they told us not to include "controversy" on our personal statement, and I was wondering whether working with local politicians campaigning and canvassing (and even doing paid work at one point) would be classed as "controversial" to admissions officers? I really want to include this in my personal statement to show dedication, ability to communicate with the public, etc however I am worried that this may count against me if whoever is reading it has different political views than me? For the record, I am talking about working with a mainstream political party rather than a fringe or extremist one.

Thanks if you can help :smile:


I applied for Law but wanted to include some campaigning I did for Labour before the last general election, so to avoid controversy I described what I did, but didn't mention Labour, instead simply stating "for a major political party". If you can describe what you did without naming names and parties, then that's probably the best option.
http://university.which.co.uk/advice/personal-statements/personal-statement-advice-politics-philosophy-sociology is worth a read

I think the statement from the RH admissions tutor is particularly helpful - they want applicants who will have enthusiasm for the academic study of politics - political ambitions and activities might be worth mentioning but over-emphasis on campaigning gives the impression that you're only interested in a career and not in succeeding and excelling in the academic study.

Engagement beyond the curriculum in lectures/online content/documentaries/TEDtalks or moocs are much more useful and compelling to admissions staff than political campaigning.

Remember you're applying to STUDY politics and not for the job of politician.
Reply 9
Original post by doctorwhofan98
I applied for Law but wanted to include some campaigning I did for Labour before the last general election, so to avoid controversy I described what I did, but didn't mention Labour, instead simply stating "for a major political party". If you can describe what you did without naming names and parties, then that's probably the best option.


That's a good idea, will probably do that, cheers.

Original post by PQ
http://university.which.co.uk/advice/personal-statements/personal-statement-advice-politics-philosophy-sociology is worth a read

I think the statement from the RH admissions tutor is particularly helpful - they want applicants who will have enthusiasm for the academic study of politics - political ambitions and activities might be worth mentioning but over-emphasis on campaigning gives the impression that you're only interested in a career and not in succeeding and excelling in the academic study.

Engagement beyond the curriculum in lectures/online content/documentaries/TEDtalks or moocs are much more useful and compelling to admissions staff than political campaigning.

Remember you're applying to STUDY politics and not for the job of politician.


Thanks for the reply, the link was very helpful. Although, I will be applying for economics rather than politics, will that change anything?
Original post by joddcfc
That's a good idea, will probably do that, cheers.



Thanks for the reply, the link was very helpful. Although, I will be applying for economics rather than politics, will that change anything?


In that case experience with a political campaign is really not very relevant. The bulk of your PS should be talking about your academic interests and experiences around economics.
http://university.which.co.uk/advice/personal-statements/personal-statement-advice-economics-student and http://whystudyeconomics.ac.uk/Your-ambitions/economics-personal-statement/ give some ideas

And devour http://whystudyeconomics.ac.uk/blog/

Admissions tutors are looking for 3 things in a PS:
1) you know what you're applying for (so demonstrate that you understand what topics you'll be covering and the likely content of the course....if you apply to maths heavy econ courses then your PS is likely to be different to a PS for econ courses that don't require maths AS/A level)
2) you have the enthusiasm for the subject to get through 3+ years (so demonstrate that you've researched what you'll study at university and look into it in more detail. For econ wider reading and relating current and historical events to theories is the easiest way to talk about this but they aren't the only way).
3) you have any necessary skills to succeed on the course (for econ this isn't really required - they'll look at your academic qualifications and your reference to determine this).

Everything you include should either be ticking off one of these 3 things or give the reader an insight into you as a person and how you approach life/study/work/people/problems/etc.
Reply 11
Original post by PQ
In that case experience with a political campaign is really not very relevant. The bulk of your PS should be talking about your academic interests and experiences around economics.
http://university.which.co.uk/advice/personal-statements/personal-statement-advice-economics-student and http://whystudyeconomics.ac.uk/Your-ambitions/economics-personal-statement/ give some ideas

And devour http://whystudyeconomics.ac.uk/blog/

Admissions tutors are looking for 3 things in a PS:
1) you know what you're applying for (so demonstrate that you understand what topics you'll be covering and the likely content of the course....if you apply to maths heavy econ courses then your PS is likely to be different to a PS for econ courses that don't require maths AS/A level)
2) you have the enthusiasm for the subject to get through 3+ years (so demonstrate that you've researched what you'll study at university and look into it in more detail. For econ wider reading and relating current and historical events to theories is the easiest way to talk about this but they aren't the only way).
3) you have any necessary skills to succeed on the course (for econ this isn't really required - they'll look at your academic qualifications and your reference to determine this).

Everything you include should either be ticking off one of these 3 things or give the reader an insight into you as a person and how you approach life/study/work/people/problems/etc.


Thanks a lot for the links and advice - really appreciate it. Will keep referring back to this as I write my PS.

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