Personal statement wording question!!

I'm writing my personal statement for maths, applying to top unis, I was wondering if I should say 'maths' or 'mathematics' when writing my personal statement? I know 'mathematics' is what I probably should say but it doesn't quite roll off the tongue as well as 'maths'.

Reply 1

Good bloke

19

Original post by redsquared

I'm writing my personal statement for maths, applying to top unis, I was wondering if I should say 'maths' or 'mathematics' when writing my personal statement? I know 'mathematics' is what I probably should say but it doesn't quite roll off the tongue as well as 'maths'.

Here's a clue: the PS is a formal piece of writing and should be treated accordingly.

Reply 2

redsquared

OP

3

Original post by Good bloke

Here's a clue: the PS is a formal piece of writing and should be treated accordingly.

Hahaha I know what the answer should be, but do you reckon writing 'maths' would be a bad thing for my statement? I say 'mathematics' in it quite a few times and i don't really like the way it sounds

Reply 3

Alevelstudent98

Write mathematics, they won't really look into it too much but it sounds better

Reply 4

username2015015

14

The whole deal with the PS is the character count. Write 'mathematics' throughout, then once you're done you can see if reducing it down to 'maths' will help get into the 4,000 character limit. Or, read other people's statements and see what they write; if they say 'maths' and it sounds too colloquial, change it to 'mathematics'.

Reply 5

ageshallnot

21

Original post by redsquared

I'm writing my personal statement for maths, applying to top unis, I was wondering if I should say 'maths' or 'mathematics' when writing my personal statement? I know 'mathematics' is what I probably should say but it doesn't quite roll off the tongue as well as 'maths'.

I think that admissions tutors in the relevant department will be more interested in your ability to do very hard sums. If you are seriously hung up on this but want to reduce your character count, use Mathematics in the first instance and Maths thereafter.

Reply 6

Doones

21

Original post by redsquared

I'm writing my personal statement for maths, applying to top unis, I was wondering if I should say 'maths' or 'mathematics' when writing my personal statement? I know 'mathematics' is what I probably should say but it doesn't quite roll off the tongue as well as 'maths'.

Original post by ageshallnot

I think that admissions tutors in the relevant department will be more interested in your ability to do very hard sums. If you are seriously hung up on this but want to reduce your character count, use Mathematics in the first instance and Maths thereafter.

^This

And for maths the PS isn't really that important anyway....

Reply 7

Good bloke

19

Original post by blue2337

The whole deal with the PS is the character count. Write 'mathematics' throughout, then once you're done you can see if reducing it down to 'maths' will help get into the 4,000 character limit.

No, no and thrice no. The most important limit for UCAS personal statements, by a mile, is the 47-line one. No properly-formatted personal statement can get anywhere near the 4,000 character limit.

If you are repeating the word 'mathematics' in a maths personal statement it is going to be a very tedious personal statement to read. Why repeat it? Do you think the attention span of an admissions tutor is so low that a reminder of the subject to be studied is needed in every paragraph of the personal statement?

See what I did there? I demonstrated, instead of telling you, how bad (and wasteful of space) avoidable repetition in a personal statement can be.

Reply 8

Peterhouse Admissions

Official Rep

13

Original post by Good bloke

No, no and thrice no. The most important limit for UCAS personal statements, by a mile, is the 47-line one. No properly-formatted personal statement can get anywhere near the 4,000 character limit.

If you are repeating the word 'mathematics' in a maths personal statement it is going to be a very tedious personal statement to read. Why repeat it? Do you think the attention span of an admissions tutor is so low that a reminder of the subject to be studied is needed in every paragraph of the personal statement?

See what I did there? I demonstrated, instead of telling you, how bad (and wasteful of space) avoidable repetition in a personal statement can be.

Good advice. The best advice for a personal statement is to make it personal. If it doesn't speak with your voice then it doesn't work. Don't worry about making it too formal, the important thing is to get the information in. Don't use colloquialisms, spell and punctuate correctly and split into sentences/paragraphs - just write normally.

The PS is quite short so don't repeat things! Don't repeat stuff that's elsewhere on the UCAS form:

•

Don't repeat yourself in the PS itself

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Don't tell us about your grades (that's elsewhere) or that you're top of the class (this should be in your teacher's reference)

•

Don't tell us you like maths - we can tell because you're applying to study maths. Tell us why you like it, what bits you find especially interesting and are excited to learn more about and what you've done about it (reading, maths comps etc.)

If you're thinking about competitive and high-tariff courses like ours, about 85% your PS should be a love letter to your subject talking about your academic interest and super/co-curriculars. The remainder can include work experience, sport, school leadership etc.

Personal statement wording question!!

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