friends and personal statements...

Just wondering how many of you have got or would recommend getting your friends and family to read over your personal statements for grammar/weird sentences or just a general opinion of the sort of person you're presenting yourself as?

NM

Reply 1

bright star

get everyone you can to read it for you. just make sure that you don't rely entirely on their advice as obviously they're not ps experts. they have a helper forum here too for you to get advice on it from people who've seen loads before.

Reply 2

Rainygal

The more the merrier I say!!! Just getting people to read it and point out things that could be misinterpreted or things like that can be helpful :smile:

Reply 3

fatal

yup especially people who you think have a particular ability at english and grammar! Maybe even people on this site who dont even know you xx

Reply 4

Excalibur

I've been showing my family everything, but then we always share stuff anyway so it isn't anything new - and I would feel uncomfortable sending it off without their advice. I have to show it to my head of year and my tutor, so I've done that, and I might show it to my former tutor and head of English to check my grammar. In terms of friends I really haven't shown it to many people because they probably won't be able to give me too much constructive advice...

Reply 5

qwerty3

I got my mate to help me write mine as he is super duper in english hehe :biggrin:

was well good but just ask them unless they are really poor at english hehe

Reply 6

brown

Yes get as many people as possible to read your PS. Even if they know little about the subject you're applying for, their comments could prove helpful.

Reply 7

Seanisonfire

Yeah ask, and it'd be a good decision to use personal statement forum on here. I'm sure those guys can give great advice.

Reply 8

jonjoe

Mine seems really cringeworthy so i have only shown one friend so far, others might take the mick, yes i have great friends. :p:

Reply 9

bright star

they're always really pretentious. i was really embarrased of mine until i read someone elses.... of course people'll laugh a bit, if they don't stop then maybe it's a clue to tone it down a bit.

Reply 10

RosiePosiePuddingAndPie

I'm showing mine to lots of people. The more the merrier! :redface:

Reply 11

Lizzielizard

I got a couple of friends to look over my PS, and they ended up shifting (they didn't mean to though) quite a large chunk of my PS onto theirs. :frown:

Reply 12

8EnglishRoses

In my opinion, you should only let your friends read it if they are not applying for the same course as you. It's so easy to read a friend's personal statement, think "that sounds good!" and write it into your own without meaning to. I know that it sounds horrible but it's the policy I have taken. Otherwise, get as many people as possible to read your statement - any feed back even if it's about the tone of your writing or whether it really sounds like "you" is invaluable.