This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

words that look good on your personal statements

hi
i am going to apply for unis this year and i was wondering that ppl who have already applied and are going to unis ....could they help ppl who are going to apply this year with what words to avoid in their Personal statements and what words would look good in their Personal Statement.

Thank You

Reply 1

Xxx Mini xxX

1

what are you applying for?

Reply 2

Xxx Mini xxX

1

because i have a personal statement which u can use to get some ideas if you wish, just pm me if you want to have a look at it!

Reply 3

BenThackray

'whore' is a good one to avoid.

Reply 4

BenThackray

Seriously though, I can PM you my personal statement too if you like.

Reply 5

rafer88

OP

BenThackray

Seriously though, I can PM you my personal statement too if you like.

hey
ye i am applying for biomedical sciences at KCL,UCL,QMUL,royal holloway and 2 more unis in london...

Reply 6

*titanium*

12

Avoid writing it like "When I was 15 years old i did did such and such then I did this then i did that. I want to do this when im older"

Reply 7

Juno

20

"Outside of academia" is definitely one to avoid!

Try to avoid anything that you cannot spell or pronounce.

Reply 8

RyanY

1

I think words or phrases like 'furthered', 'Furthermore', 'in addition' and phrases that link the previous sentences on to the next are always appropraite. :smile:

I've done my personal statement, but i'm applying for pharmacy so... :smile:

Juno: would you mind looking at my ps, it is in the ps helper thread on persoanl statement-pharmacy
No-one is answering!! lol

Reply 9

Juno

20

I can't do pharmacy, sorry. I can look, but it would be from a general perspective and I can't comment much on the subject

Reply 10

RyanY

1

That's fine..just have a look, where are all the pharmacy ps helpers all the people who can look at them?? Juno it is called personal statement-pharmacy, just if you would look at the structure etc..but i want to know where all the medicine or healthcare ps helpers r!! thanks neway

Reply 11

sugardaddy

1

Juno

"Outside of academia" is definitely one to avoid!

Why? Just curious.

Reply 12

Juno

20

sugardaddy

Why? Just curious.

Because everybody does it, and it just sounds pretentious

Reply 13

badgerbadger

3

Personal statements are really strange, artificial things to have to write, and this leads a lot of applicants to over-compensate for the simplicity of what they want to say with flowery, over-processed phrases. Naturally this ends up sounding awkward and pretentious, so my advice would be to write it all down in rough first (without worrying about diction or structure), then start streamlining your sentences, deleting any unnecessary add-ons and using single words, if you can find them, to replace phrases of the same meaning.

Anybody can insert archaic, professional-sounding words or, God forbid, new-age corporate-speak into their statements; tutors are not impressed by it, and it can be off-putting. They are interested in what you have to say, and the simpler your style the more clearly you can express yourself, and the more information you can fit into the word limit!

In short: don't put anything in there that doesn't mean everything. Ideally, every word in the PS should add value to it.

For this reason, I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with RyanY and say avoid words like 'furthermore' as they fragment a sentence unnecessarily. Having said that, I found trying to write my PS to be a complete nightmare and undoubtedly spent too much time obsessing over the style and phrasing, so mine is by no means more valuable an opinion than anyone else's.

Make sure your grammar is good (punctuation used correctly, tenses in agreement, etc), don't use abbreviations or unintroduced acronyms, and remember that most Writing Style books always favour simplicity of diction over pompous verbal theatrics.

PS - For goodness's sake don't put quotes, poetry or song lyrics in there: chances are they won't mean the same to tutors as they do to you, and anyway this is your personal statement; everything in it should come from your own brain! Starting with a list of 'good words' and trying to find places for them will only make the task harder for you than it needs to be.

Bonne chance.

Reply 14

Kittennffc

15

Be concise. Don't waffle or use big words to make yourself sounds better; the admission tutors will see straight through it. Get to the point, but make it sound convincing.

Don't say 'I have a passion for...'; they will have heard it a million times and be bored to death of seeing it. Show you have a realy love for the subject you want to study, but avoid things like 'I love English because...'

I think I might have just stated the obvious..

Reply 15

rafer88

OP

Kittennffc

Be concise. Don't waffle or use big words to make yourself sounds better; the admission tutors will see straight through it. Get to the point, but make it sound convincing.

Don't say 'I have a passion for...'; they will have heard it a million times and be bored to death of seeing it. Show you have a realy love for the subject you want to study, but avoid things like 'I love English because...'

I think I might have just stated the obvious..

thank you..i havent added any poetry type stuff coz firstly i dont get it miself and secondly they mite ask me to interpret the poetry thing i wrote in mi Ps..and at tht time i honestly know tht i will be sitting blank....thank you guys..

Reply 16

Kittennffc

15

rafer88

thank you..i havent added any poetry type stuff coz firstly i dont get it miself and secondly they mite ask me to interpret the poetry thing i wrote in mi Ps..and at tht time i honestly know tht i will be sitting blank....thank you guys..

Thats really good; if you don't understand something yourself, or don't know the meaning of a word, don't put it in. Its not worth the risk if you get asked about it in the interview.

Where are you applying to and for what course, out of interest?

Reply 17

ForumFreak

9

When you write your personal statement just be yourself but avoid slang. A lot of people start putting in all these posh poncy words which I dont think is a good idea unless you're applying for something like English.

Reply 18

in-between-dreams

I've just written it in the language/style that I'd usually write, say an essay. I'm still struggling with piecing it all together...I've got paragraphs that I want to include but just not sure of linking and order of them :confused:

I really can't think of a good way to end either!

Reply 19

silent ninja

19

I am going to minimise or avoid completely the use of the word "interested." It just sounds so common: "i became interested... my interest was... I am interested in... I find it interesting..."

Its a bit like the word 'nice,' and perhaps we need to be a bit more specific?

words that look good on your personal statements

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you