do you talk about a-levels in your personal statement

hi everyone, question in the title, thanks

This 'listing of A-Levels' got me into UCL Law and got my friends into both Cambridge and Oxford Law, so it can't have been so bad!

It didn't. You got in despite having weaker, redundant elements within your PS. You clearly had a strong PS overall, but claiming that "I got in, therefore these elements must have been valuable" without knowing the scoring criteria is faulty logic.

I've recently re-read my own PS and I can tell you in no uncertain terms that it is HOT GARBAGE. I got in because they were desperate enough to have me. Not because I bumbled about enjoying Computer at AL and reading Sci-Fi in my spare time.

Like PQ, I now read PS's for a living. I can score 40+ a day and I can very quickly pull out the aspects that make it unique and compelling. PQ's advice to use only specific, clear examples is spot on. Everything else is just fluff.

@rxrx2004 - I agree heartily with everything PQ says. We both do this for a living and our guidance is well qualified.

Say what you want but, and I say this with all due respect, I have more confidence in a Cambridge Law tutor than in TSR users who happen to read personal statements.

As explained, the Law tutor scored and enjoyed the other, relevant interesting parts of your PS. You did well in those!

Here, to explain another way. You mentioned that there is not just one way to write a PS. This is a fantastic point. A unique, non-standard PS is an absolute joy to read. So that being said, how can a PS be unique or interesting if they are just reeling off AL topics which 90% of other applicants also took?

It's like stating that completing the Duke of Edinburgh improved your team-working skills. I can assure you that nothing would make that Law tutors eyes roll harder.

Say what you want but, and I say this with all due respect, I have more confidence in a Cambridge Law tutor than in TSR users who happen to read personal statements.

Cambridge don't put much weight on the PS - they have interviews and tests to use to make decisions. The same is true for all Law courses that use the LNAT - your PS is interesting but it isn't likely to lead to an offer or rejection except in the most extreme cases.

And we're not just amateur PS readers - we work in admissions processing applications and making offers and rejections every day.

FWIW - the vast majority of universities and courses don't take the PS into account when making offers. A handful do (and in those cases having details that go beyond the mundane is really important). In most cases the PS is used in anger when an applicant has missed their offer and we're trying to decide who to accept. That doesn't make it worthless - writing a coherent statement about why you want to study a degree is a very valuable exercise before committing to 3+ years of studying a subject, it's also building experience in the sort of writing required for many job applications.

(and on capitalising subjects - A level History, A level Law capitalised yes. LLB/BA Law capitalised yes. But if you're not writing the full name of the qualification and just the subject then it's not a proper noun and shouldn't be capitalised. To quote the Cambridge University editorial style guide "Use lower case as much as possible. There is a tendency for people to capitalise words unnecessarily just because they are deemed ‘important’. Resist this." - luckily university academic staff are the WORST for capitalising subjects so it's unlikely to be noticed in most PSs either way but there's no harm in using proper SPaG in a formal PS. The daft thing is that the subjects that are most likely to pick up on incorrect capitalisation of subjects are the languages and so tend to be proper nouns and require capitals)

should I capitalise 'chemistry' then?