Is it possible to put different personal statements for different uni applications?

I'm thinking of applying to Oxford for PPE, and other unis for pure Economics, but then I would have to have different personal statements. Would it be safer to just apply for the E&M course at Oxford?

Reply 1

Plagioclase

Original post by amelienine

As far as I'm aware, Durham and Cambridge allow you to submit an additional personal statement but for everywhere else, the same personal statement gets sent to everywhere. I honestly don't know how similar PPE and Economics are so I can't judge whether it's okay to apply to both but if you do apply to PPE, you need to make sure that your personal statement isn't exclusive to pure economics.

Reply 2

amelienine

Original post by Plagioclase

Thank you!

Reply 3

Pars12

Original post by amelienine

PPE at Oxford say they are not interested in personal statements. We were told to write the PS for the other universities you are applying to.

Reply 4

amelienine

Original post by Pars12

PPE at Oxford say they are not interested in personal statements. We were told to write the PS for the other universities you are applying to.

So does Oxford just look at your grades at AS, TSA and interview then? I've seen lots of other people on TSR asking about which books to read and mention in their PPE Personal Statements for Oxford?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

Pars12

Original post by amelienine

So does Oxford just look at your grades at AS, TSA and interview then? I've seen lots of other people on TSR asking about which books to read and mention in their PPE Personal Statements for Oxford?

My impression is that you will get an interview mainly on the basis of the TSA score.

You will get an offer mainly on the basis of the interview. If you get a poor interview score at your chosen college the other colleges will not want to interview you. The interview questions will centre around understanding demographic graphs for economics and logical statements/word definitions for philosophy.

The open day is this Friday 16th September and I don't think they will mind at all if you ask them these questions direct. If you can't make it you should email them with your questions. You certainly should not rely on the accuracy of my comments. This is TSR, after all. The earlier comment about personal statements came from an Oxford PPE tutor at an open day.

Reply 6

Zeumryn

I know Durham allows you to provide them with an alternative personal statement but I haven't seen that advertised heavily elsewhere.

Reply 7

Pars12

Original post by Zeumryn

I know Durham allows you to provide them with an alternative personal statement but I haven't seen that advertised heavily elsewhere.

[Just looked it up] Durham allow you to upload a substitute personal statement which their selectors will use instead of the original i.e. Durham does not allow its selectors to look at the original PS [I think].

I would be interested to know which other universities offer this facility. To me the idea that most students are "passionately" interested in only one subject is a complete nonsense.