Questions regarding personal statements (general)
I'm currently writing my personal statement to apply for computer science, however, I have a few questions.
First of all, I graduated this year and am currently spending a gap year during which I'm doing internships (two to be exact, one is almost over and the other one will start in November and last about half a year). So this plan is sure but I'm not really sure if I should mention the names of the companies that I'm doing the internships in and if I should put such a large focus on it as it's in the future. What do you guys think? Should I mention the companies? Should I mention what I'll learn there and how it will benefit me, despite the 2nd internship not having started yet?
Also, I'm not sure about word structures such as "I'm", "haven't" etc., do I have to write "I am" and "have not" or are the short forms just fine?
Then there's the academic achievements. I graduated from my school as second-best student with a perfect score but I don't really know what my academic achievements are, except for good grades. I participated in a math competition with my class twice and received awards in maths, history, English, art, my allover performance and a couple of other subjects but I feel that, except for maths, none of these awards are relevant to the subject so I'm not sure if I should waste the characters on mentioning it. I taught myself how to code independently and am currently teaching myself how to work with the PowerShell but that's not an academic achievement but I feel like that's not a real academic achievement, since I didn't take that subject in school. Are my academic achievements sufficient or does anyone have an idea of what other academic achievements could be?
I also have language certificates for English and French, but I don't know how that would be relevant for computer science.
And lastly: where can I find someone to read through my personal statement and give me feedback? I don't really have anyone I could ask
Thank you very much in advance!
First of all, I graduated this year and am currently spending a gap year during which I'm doing internships (two to be exact, one is almost over and the other one will start in November and last about half a year). So this plan is sure but I'm not really sure if I should mention the names of the companies that I'm doing the internships in and if I should put such a large focus on it as it's in the future. What do you guys think? Should I mention the companies? Should I mention what I'll learn there and how it will benefit me, despite the 2nd internship not having started yet?
Also, I'm not sure about word structures such as "I'm", "haven't" etc., do I have to write "I am" and "have not" or are the short forms just fine?
Then there's the academic achievements. I graduated from my school as second-best student with a perfect score but I don't really know what my academic achievements are, except for good grades. I participated in a math competition with my class twice and received awards in maths, history, English, art, my allover performance and a couple of other subjects but I feel that, except for maths, none of these awards are relevant to the subject so I'm not sure if I should waste the characters on mentioning it. I taught myself how to code independently and am currently teaching myself how to work with the PowerShell but that's not an academic achievement but I feel like that's not a real academic achievement, since I didn't take that subject in school. Are my academic achievements sufficient or does anyone have an idea of what other academic achievements could be?
I also have language certificates for English and French, but I don't know how that would be relevant for computer science.
And lastly: where can I find someone to read through my personal statement and give me feedback? I don't really have anyone I could ask
Thank you very much in advance!
I vant comment on the internships since i really dont know, but your personal statement doesnt have to be entirely academic achievements. Mentioning learning to code is a valid point. (In guessing powershell is too though i dont knoe whwt it is so can't really comment)
Can you not ask teachers at your old school to look through your statement? Head of sixth form could be good. It's a bad idea to get a stranger to read it since they may plagiarise bits of yours and post it online so get you in trouble for plagiarism when you send yours off. Maybe friends or family could be good.
Can you not ask teachers at your old school to look through your statement? Head of sixth form could be good. It's a bad idea to get a stranger to read it since they may plagiarise bits of yours and post it online so get you in trouble for plagiarism when you send yours off. Maybe friends or family could be good.
Original post by A_Human_Being
I vant comment on the internships since i really dont know, but your personal statement doesnt have to be entirely academic achievements. Mentioning learning to code is a valid point. (In guessing powershell is too though i dont knoe whwt it is so can't really comment)
Can you not ask teachers at your old school to look through your statement? Head of sixth form could be good. It's a bad idea to get a stranger to read it since they may plagiarise bits of yours and post it online so get you in trouble for plagiarism when you send yours off. Maybe friends or family could be good.
Can you not ask teachers at your old school to look through your statement? Head of sixth form could be good. It's a bad idea to get a stranger to read it since they may plagiarise bits of yours and post it online so get you in trouble for plagiarism when you send yours off. Maybe friends or family could be good.
Thank you for your reply and help!
I don't think my family knows what to look for in a personal statement but I think I'll ask them! I don't really want to bother teachers from my old school since I already asked a couple of them for the reference (I think there's one teacher I could ask, that's a good idea!) and I don't have any friends, but I'll think about other teachers I could ask! (I was also rather afraid of just sending it to someone, due to the point regarding plagiarism, that you mentioned)
You can ask just any person whp ypu trust that is good at English to check it at the end to see if your quality of writing is good, if its not too informal, maybe ways of worfing it differently, grammar and punctuation errors, etc. It's a good idea to get another pair of eyes on it.
You're allowed bother your old teachers. They're used to helping people do their personal statements and some of the older ones have often helped 100s of students in regards to their personal statements. I did this with my head of sixth form today and experienced members are extremely helpful. Ask more than one teacher till you feel it's perfect. They want students to do well-it's why they teach.
You're allowed bother your old teachers. They're used to helping people do their personal statements and some of the older ones have often helped 100s of students in regards to their personal statements. I did this with my head of sixth form today and experienced members are extremely helpful. Ask more than one teacher till you feel it's perfect. They want students to do well-it's why they teach.
Original post by A_Human_Being
You can ask just any person whp ypu trust that is good at English to check it at the end to see if your quality of writing is good, if its not too informal, maybe ways of worfing it differently, grammar and punctuation errors, etc. It's a good idea to get another pair of eyes on it.
You're allowed bother your old teachers. They're used to helping people do their personal statements and some of the older ones have often helped 100s of students in regards to their personal statements. I did this with my head of sixth form today and experienced members are extremely helpful. Ask more than one teacher till you feel it's perfect. They want students to do well-it's why they teach.
You're allowed bother your old teachers. They're used to helping people do their personal statements and some of the older ones have often helped 100s of students in regards to their personal statements. I did this with my head of sixth form today and experienced members are extremely helpful. Ask more than one teacher till you feel it's perfect. They want students to do well-it's why they teach.
I guess you're right, and asking doesn't really hurt! I definitely want to do a good job at writing the statement so I should just get over myself haha
Original post by cappa2
I guess you're right, and asking doesn't really hurt! I definitely want to do a good job at writing the statement so I should just get over myself haha
Yeah, definitely! Its better for yourself. Good luck with writing it.
Original post by A_Human_Being
Yeah, definitely! Its better for yourself. Good luck with writing it.
Thank you!
1. Mention your internship in more detail if it's relevant to your course choice but focus on what you've done rather than what you will do. A brief 'I've got another internship planned' is fine - you don't need to name the companies. Focus on why it's interested you related to CS
2. Use formal language, no contractions
3. Your referee can mention those academic achievements that are relevant
4. Coding is definitely relevant. Not sure what PowerShell is!
2. Use formal language, no contractions
3. Your referee can mention those academic achievements that are relevant
4. Coding is definitely relevant. Not sure what PowerShell is!
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