can I apply for 2 different courses on my personal statement?

hi! at the moment I'm trying to work out what I want to do at Uni.. even though I'm only in year 12 I want to decide soon so I can start looking at uni's/ thinking about my personal statement.. and I'm debating between Maths or Pharmacy.. these may seem quite different but I'm really struggling to pick between them. I'm going to try and get some work experience in pharmacy and see what it's like and results day could possibly make my mind up for me but if I still really can't decide could I apply for both or would that be totally out of the question???

Reply 1

Hanover

Original post by hannahjk97

You could, the problem is how to make your PS suitable for both courses, which is often very difficult. You can have the first paragraph focussed on Maths & the second on Pharmacy, however, the universities will definitely notice that you're also applying for another course, making a not-so-positive impression. It also shows your indecisiveness because Maths & Pharmcy are 2 completely different courses.
UCAS recommends applicants to choose similar courses, for instance, Pharmcy/Medicine/Dentistry or Economics/Business/Finance or Maths/Physics/Engineering etc...

Reply 2

xMissDebby

I had this problem last year, I wanted to apply for Psychology and TV & Radio production courses to keep my options open, but I couldn't tailor my ps to one or the other.
So I found a joint honours in media & psychology which my statement worked perfectly for, try looking for some joint honours or give yourself some more time to decide. There's lots of time yet and youre certainly looked further ahead than I did!

Reply 3

Jkizer

Its risky but it can work. Lots of my year mates have applied for different courses and got in, ranging from history and business to geophysics and environmental geology.

But pharmacy and maths are insanely different. Your idea of work exp is probably the best way :biggrin:

(FYI its still really early you know. Dont need to worry about these things)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

mathsmusician

Original post by hannahjk97

No it's not at all out of the question. Your circumstance is extremely similar to mine only a few months ago. I wanted to apply for Mathematics at Warwick, but I also wanted to apply for Music (completely unrelated to Maths) at Cambridge. I've had offers from both. I decided my first choice would be Cambridge, so I choose to write my personal statement completely about Music. I emailed the Universities I applied to to study Maths, explaining my circumstances, and asked whether they would allow me to send an additional personal statement to them. Most of them were happy for me to do so, but before I had finished writing the 2nd personal statement, they had all sent me conditional offers, so in the end I didn't bother. Warwick in particular said that they tend to base their decisions on AS UMS marks for Maths, and they are not so concerned about the personal statement.

With this in mind, I would advise you to base your personal statement purely on Pharmacy, and contact the other Universities outlining your situation, unless of course your first choice University is to study Mathematics, then I would write about Mathematics. I don't think you should write about both, because you don't have enough words to enthuse adequately about two unrelated subjects.

Hope this helps.

Reply 5

SlowlorisIncognito

I think getting work experience in pharmacy would be a good idea. It will also help you get a place if you do decide to apply for pharmacy.

However, pharmacy statements (like statements for medicine, nursing and other health care professions) are a bit different to normal statements, and sending off a mixed statement, or a statement solely focusing on a different subject is likely to lead to rejections. On the other hand, maths admissions tutors may be put off by a statement focusing solely on pharmacy. Therefore, this strategy is more likely to lead to rejections than applying for just one subjects.

Some universities may let you send off a secondary statement, but not all will accept/allow this. Unless you're an outstanding applicant, they may reject you because they think you lack commitment to the course.

As you have months yet to decide, it would be best to do everything possible to come to a decision before you decide to apply. As well as getting work experience, going to open days and asking questions at different departments may help. You could also ask current students questions on here. As others have said, it's not impossible to get offers for two unrelated subjects, but the ideal is to only apply for one, or closely related subjects.

Reply 6

pythagorean

I applied for 3 different courses this year: economic and social history at Edinburgh; economics and politics at Leeds and Birmingham; and economics and sociology at Glasgow and Manchester.
As you can see all of the degrees are related however I did have to manage to talk about all of the subjects, without being too specific - therefore I mainly referred to "social sciences" throughout my PS.
I received all 5 offers so yes it is possible, it can actually be an advantage as it gives you more scope to talk about your subjects, you don't find yourself trying to add in pointless sentences to make up the word count