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My teacher wrote my personal statement, should I use it???

I asked my teacher to review my personal statement, but instead he wrote me a completely new one (the quality is brilliant). Should I send this of to UCAS? I feel like I’m cheating the system as it’s not me who wrote it. Advice would be helpful??

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Original post by Peterbokor
I asked my teacher to review my personal statement, but instead he wrote me a completely new one (the quality is brilliant). Should I send this of to UCAS? I feel like I’m cheating the system as it’s not me who wrote it. Advice would be helpful??


usee iiittttt give into peer pressure
If it's good then of course you should use it. Just make sure you're familiar with it in case it comes up in an interview.
Reply 3
As long as it's accurate, I don't see why not.
Original post by Peterbokor
I asked my teacher to review my personal statement, but instead he wrote me a completely new one (the quality is brilliant). Should I send this of to UCAS? I feel likbe I’m cheating the system as it’s not me who wrote it. Advice would be helpful??


I would advice strongly against that depending on the course ur applying to.
If ur applying to medicine u will be caught at some point during ur application. They will catch u out during ur interviews.
But if ur applying to other courses which still require an interview I would at least twick a few things to make it seem like it came from u.
But if no interview then I think u should go for it.
(edited 6 years ago)
hmmmm if your teacher does this to quite a few people then there may be detectable similarities in the statements. if it is just you then it should work.
Does it sound like you? If you're going to get into an interview and they realise it sounds toss-all like you, it won't go down well. If it sounds like you but at the top of your game (or slightly beyond) then your teacher did an excellent job and why not? Generally, the posher the school the more help kids get with applications. Back in the day when we did them on paper, there were paid services too that effectively co-wrote them with kids, or ghost wrote them for the less articulate ones, going through through practice sessions writing them out by hand and reducing them to half size on a photocopier to check they were still legible (because that was what happened when they were sent off to the unis) and kept going until they had the closest-to-perfect copy you could get. That kind of thing is gone with the paper application process, but there is massive help available for those who can get it in the new process. If you don't take the advantage, you have to know that some other kid out there will be doing so, and be OK with that. They system isn't terrible, but anyone who thinks it runs 100% fair is kidding themselves.I've also written plenty of friends' CVs for jobs post-uni down the years, because I'm a professional editor and writer. I've never lied, but I've phrased things in a way that they might have been a bit shy of saying, while still aiming to sound as close to their voice as possible, just with more chutzpah. We often find it hard to sell ourselves but easier to see the best in someone we know.
I'd say make sure they haven't taken stuff from online by running it through a plagiarism checker, but if it is all true then it's probably okay
Check that they haven't copied it from anywhere! If I were you I would keep your personal statement but perhaps copy a few of the good sentences over. So it would be 60% you and 40% your teacher. Essentially take the best parts of your statement and your teachers then make a new one using a combination of both. Then it would technically be your statement and your teacher would have given you support, which is fine.
Read it and make sure you understand why you think it's good. Then put it away and wait 24hours before writing one completely by yourself. You should remember the good parts and it will be your own work.
I wouldn't use it. I would look at the improvements he's made to your original one and then edit your one to be better. Too risky for my liking. How do you know he hasn't written the same thing for all students? Could go very wrong.
If you can produce an essay of the same quality as the PS made by your teacher then go for it......if not, you may struggle in assignments (if you get any) that you receive in Uni.
Original post by Peterbokor
I asked my teacher to review my personal statement, but instead he wrote me a completely new one (the quality is brilliant). Should I send this of to UCAS? I feel like I’m cheating the system as it’s not me who wrote it. Advice would be helpful??


If you read it out loud to someone who knows you do they believe that you wrote it and that it sounds like you? If not then it isn't a personal statement - it's just an admissions essay saying what you and your teacher think admissions staff want to hear (and that isn't often the same as what admissions staff are actually looking for - https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/teachers-and-academics-disagree-over-what-makes-a-good-ucas-personal )
I would never let someone else write my personal statement.
Personal statements are meant to be written by yourself and can be reviewed or edited by others. You should not have someone write the whole thing up for you though. It needs to be true and reflect on who you are. It most importantly needs to sound like you, because you cannot predict what may be asked in an interview. Sure, you can use it as a draft or template but make sure you are writing it. Hope this helps :smile:

I've just finished writing mine and I hope yours goes alright.
Original post by Peterbokor
I asked my teacher to review my personal statement, but instead he wrote me a completely new one (the quality is brilliant). Should I send this of to UCAS? I feel like I’m cheating the system as it’s not me who wrote it. Advice would be helpful??


Yeah, but how do you know it is any good? Because he used big words in it, whipped in a few em dashes? You have never written one, so you don't know if it's "brilliant" or crap. Your teacher might not have a clue how to write a good personal statement either.
Just do it
Don't let your dreams be dreams
Yesterday you said tommorow
JUST DO IT!
It's not really a 'personal' statement in that case to be honest. Do what you want (after you checked if he hasn't written anybody else's so there isn't too much similarities between other personal statements).
my freinds form teacher wrote her ps and she sent it off and got offers
Tweak it to make it you, it's supposed to be YOUR personal statement. You need to know it inside out.

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