Application update

I doubt it would make a difference - if someone capable of winning such an award were rejected there would be a good reason. Also, you raise an interesting point - here it is generally considered vulgar to brag about achievements, yet this makes writing a personal statement rather difficult. An interviewer commented to me that she hates reading personal statements that sound arrogant, so one has to strike a fine balance.

Well, I'd say no matter what country you're in, it involves striking just the right balance, like you said. Here we have a strong liberal arts education so even though I want to major in astronomy and that is what I truly love, I'll still put a regional Spanish award on there, because it really just can't hurt, here, and it shows them that I'm multi-dimensional. In Cambridge, I would figure that I might not want to put that award on, but I should probably mention the one that I recently won (and described in the first post) since the passion of my high school years has been my astronomy research (I'm applying for Physical NatSci) and winning the award really validates the quality of my research.

Just wanted to pick up the point on 'arrogant' personal statements. Personally, I can't stand sounding as though I'm bragging, and I didn't mention any prizes or anything like that on my PS. Instead, I tried to convey what I really loved about my subject, how I'd explored it further, any relevant extra curric and at one point a short paragraph about wider interests that weren't as subject relevant. I noticed that every other PS, e.g. my friends', largely consisted of listing their achievements - prizes they'd won at school and stuff.

I find it interesting that an interviewer actually told you they didn't like that, as it seems to be the usual format! Like you say it's probably best to reach a balance - I should probably have tried to sell myself a bit more, but I didn't want to come across as some cocky b*stard and found it impossible to phrase it in a way that avoided this - so just avoided mentioning things like that altogether! The way I saw it, hopefully my teachers would say some positive things about me, but I just wanted to show why I wanted to go to uni. I'm not necessarily recommending this method though, as I've only received one offer so far

I think they just get fed up of reading 100s of PSs that all carry on in the same way ie 'I've done this, won that etc...' After a while a really impressive award starts to sound mundane because all of their applicants will be the best of the best. I think you are spot on with trying to communicate a real love of your chosen subject - they will appreciate that far more in the long run.

I thought that everyone loved their subject so i tried to communicate why i wanted to study specifically in cambridge as opposed to any other university.


Extra-curricular things seem to make a huge difference in the states, where as here they tend to me a nice addition from what i can make out.