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2 weeks
Original post by 11234
Anyone got advice for personal statement for maths


@physicsmaths is an expert at writing

Original post by Serine Soul
2 weeks


it's so weird that i'll be at uni before results day xD
Original post by Student403

it's so weird that i'll be at uni before results day xD


Look yeah, shush yeah. And I wasn't talking about results day yeah, it's my mum's birthday in two weeks too.

Spoiler

Original post by Serine Soul
Look yeah, shush yeah. And I wasn't talking about results day yeah, it's my mum's birthday in two weeks too.

Spoiler


Oooh nice :rofl: I'll be sure to remember!

Spoiler

Ok enuf of my grammar jokes.
If i wasnt ok at maths i would be doing like travelling studies or something which is very very good guven a good uni.
With an BB in english lit and lang gcse I will 100% get unconditional(yeh student103106839017383.45recurring your not the only one with unconditonals mate)
Shame is on you cause i have a backup plan when zacin pops my armbands in summerpool and i drown.


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Original post by physicsmaths
Ok enuf of my grammar jokes.
If i wasnt ok at maths i would be doing like travelling studies or something which is very very good guven a good uni.
With an BB in english lit and lang gcse I will 100% get unconditional(yeh student103106839017383.45recurring your not the only one with unconditonals mate)
Shame is on you cause i have a backup plan when zacin pops my armbands in summerpool and i drown.


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<3
Original post by Student403
Oooh nice :rofl: I'll be sure to remember!

Spoiler



which university?
Original post by gasfxekl
which university?


cornell
Original post by 11234
Anyone got advice for personal statement for maths


I should emphasise that the PS is far from a priority for maths. That borne in mind, the structure I used was along the lines of

- Intro: a deepish-sounding notion of what mathematics 'is', or what core feature you love about it. Best if it's concise, original and memorable. It may be appropriate to link this in to a (perhaps non-technical?) maths book of your choice, though preferably not a clichéd one (where clichéd here means 'written by one of Simon Singh, Marcus du Sautoy or Ian Stewart').

- I followed this up with some stuff about the maths Olympiad stuff I had done up to that point, plus a little about my formal qualifications. (Note that while lying is normally a bad idea on personal statements, elision and ambiguity can work wonders if correctly applied.) A teacher once told me 'Don't state - relate', in the sense that while merely saying you got a Gold in the SMC or whatever is a bit dull, following this up with '... which I could not have achieved without my natural ambition' or 'which inspired me to learn more about combinatorics' or whatever is a bit more useful for whoever is reading it.

- I then talked a little about specific things I had looked at beyond the syllabus. Were I to rewrite mine I would be a lot more specific than I was; rather than saying 'I extended my knowledge of integration' it may be more fruitful to say that 'I looked at DUTIS/reduction formulae/dimensional analysis methods*' and going into a little more detail. The risk is that you'll be asked to show that you can walk the walk as well as talk the talk in the interview, so don't mention it unless you're rather confident.

- I then used a chunky paragraph to discuss my experiences with physics, which made some sense in my circumstances I assure you. If this applies, it may be appropriate to couch this more as applied maths than as physics (the two, after all, are asymptotically equal).

- I also discussed my maths mentoring experience. In this sort of scenario it is important to ensure that you discuss the benefits that proceeded for you, rather than the students in question - for example, concise explanation, communication and so on.

- My school insisted that I had a paragraph utterly unrelated to maths, which was probably a good idea in fairness. Just throw anything in here that makes you look interesting. Perhaps it was not a good idea to do as I did and try to link activities to mathematics in a cringe-inducing manner: I find it doubtful that anyone would be convinced by my assertion that my DofE expeditions improved my mathematical ability through the experience of practical problem solving, but who knows. It may yet succeed.

- A short concluding paragraph is generally a nice idea; essentially restate in a couple of sentences why you're a good applicant, convey your passion and round it off by summarising what you hope to get out of university.


That ended up longer than I anticipated - rather like my personal statement, in fact, so be prepared to judiciously trim. In the end, it's unlikely to be a major factor in the decision, though it may well be used in interviews as either introductory general chatter or as a lead-in to some maths you may have mentioned.

Feel free to let me know if you have any more specific questions.







*sadly underrated

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It's okay, go to sleep, don't let them get to you. Haters gonna hate
Original post by physicsmaths
Ok enuf of my grammar jokes.
If i wasnt ok at maths i would be doing like travelling studies or something which is very very good guven a good uni.
With an BB in english lit and lang gcse I will 100% get unconditional(yeh student103106839017383.45recurring your not the only one with unconditonals mate)
Shame is on you cause i have a backup plan when zacin pops my armbands in summerpool and i drown.


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That was inspirational 👏
to distract you all from the tension


yesterday was watermelon day!

I know you're all kicking yourselves for not remembering, but that's okay because you've already marked it in your calendars for 364 days time :smile:
Original post by Student403
to distract you all from the tension


yesterday was watermelon day!

I know you're all kicking yourselves for not remembering, but that's okay because you've already marked it in your calendars for 364 days time :smile:


My mum actually made us celebrate this... :lol:
Original post by Krollo
I should emphasise that the PS is far from a priority for maths. That borne in mind, the structure I used was along the lines of



be more concise

also stop throwing in dimensional analysis propaganda ****s sake m8

also your post is literally taller than you if you printed it out

also my ps was probably shorter than your post end my ****ing life
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by tinkerbella~
my mum actually made us celebrate this... :lol:


best

mum

ever

edit: how did you celebrate?
(edited 7 years ago)
I just found out that the STEP Prep Thread has a Facebook page, a bit too late. I've missed out on all the banter. :frown:

And zacin, physicsmaths, Krollo were all there, why no one told me about it?
Original post by Insight314
I just found out that the STEP Prep Thread has a Facebook page, a bit too late. I've missed out on all the banter. :frown:

And zacin, physicsmaths, Krollo were all there, why no one told me about it?


Lol it was mentioned alot at the start.


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Original post by Insight314
I just found out that the STEP Prep Thread has a Facebook page, a bit too late. I've missed out on all the banter. :frown:

And zacin, physicsmaths, Krollo were all there, why no one told me about it?


Also no banter.
Just one person talking to himself
You know who you are.
Hint square 3 and you have your answer.



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Original post by physicsmaths
Lol it was mentioned alot at the start.


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When was that? I joined the thread after I received my offer in January, was lurking for a while during interview time on this thread though.
Original post by physicsmaths
Also no banter.
Just one person talking to himself
You know who you are.
Hint square 3 and you have your answer.



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whoah, is n9's initials CS?