The Student Room Group

PS substituted characters?????

When pasting my personal statement into UCAS it comes up with a second version saying 'Character Substitution Version' and is asking me to tick a box if I agree with it.

My PS is within the character and line limit.

Does anyone know what this means?

Thanks
Original post by leverarch
When pasting my personal statement into UCAS it comes up with a second version saying 'Character Substitution Version' and is asking me to tick a box if I agree with it.

My PS is within the character and line limit.

Does anyone know what this means?

Thanks
Have you used any foreign/european characters in your PS?

It's just a technical thing where it swaps some of the ones you've used with replacement ones.

https://www.ucas.com/file/26/download?token=fm3WIt6N
Reply 2
Original post by 04MR17
Have you used any foreign/european characters in your PS?

It's just a technical thing where it swaps some of the ones you've used with replacement ones.

https://www.ucas.com/file/26/download?token=fm3WIt6N


Nope, pretty sure I haven't and they both seem completely identical to me which is why I'm confused..
Original post by leverarch
Nope, pretty sure I haven't and they both seem completely identical to me which is why I'm confused..
Keep scrolling and you'll find they aren't identical. Look at page 11.

Now are you sure there's nothing with an accent on for instance? Or something from perhaps an author's name if you've copied and pasted it?

It doesn't really matter anyway, the point is, that is what the tick-box does. Converts it automatically from one set of characters you've used to another. And you can see the conversations in the link above.
Reply 4
Original post by 04MR17
Keep scrolling and you'll find they aren't identical. Look at page 11.

Now are you sure there's nothing with an accent on for instance? Or something from perhaps an author's name if you've copied and pasted it?

It doesn't really matter anyway, the point is, that is what the tick-box does. Converts it automatically from one set of characters you've used to another. And you can see the conversations in the link above.


I just found a tool online to compare them and I found what it was!
It's converted £ to GBP- Do you think it's okay to have that in my PS or is it better to type it out.

EG:
I put £7
UCAS converted to GBP 7
Should I change to written words ie 7 pounds?
Original post by leverarch
I just found a tool online to compare them and I found what it was!
It's converted £ to GBP- Do you think it's okay to have that in my PS or is it better to type it out.

EG:
I put £7
UCAS converted to GBP 7
Should I change to written words ie 7 pounds?
If you're still within characters to do so, I'd write 7 pounds.
Reply 6
what was this tool as my personal statement is doing this but can’t find the error
Reply 7
Original post by leverarch
I just found a tool online to compare them and I found what it was!
It's converted £ to GBP- Do you think it's okay to have that in my PS or is it better to type it out.

EG:
I put £7
UCAS converted to GBP 7
Should I change to written words ie 7 pounds?


what was this took as my personal statement has done this but can’t find the error
Original post by lilymaee
what was this tool as my personal statement is doing this but can’t find the error

Have you used any foreign names?
Any spellings with an accent?
Any symbols like ~ < > ^ \ etc?
Reply 9
Original post by 04MR17
Have you used any foreign names?
Any spellings with an accent?
Any symbols like ~ < > ^ \ etc?


nope searched for them all also compared them on a website couldn’t see any difference
Original post by lilymaee
nope searched for them all also compared them on a website couldn’t see any difference
Then my only guess would be its in the spacings. Sometimes a foreign character can be a space that is of a slightly longer or shorter length. Needless to say, if you can't notice a change then allow UCAS to make the change - there clearly is no harm caused.

Quick Reply

Latest