UCAS personal statement for Cambridge Math

hey everyone,
sorry if this is a dumb question, so I'm applying to cambridge maths with IB diploma and I'm intl btw, and I wonder if there's advice on how I should write the personal statement, should it be more literary with depiction of emotions etc or should it just be a formal piece of writing, like some examples I've seen online, about what supercurricular you've done, books you've read, hobbies, and so on?
also on mycambridge they also have space for another personal statement, does this matter in anyway and which PS should I focus more on?
TYSM for anyone who replies!

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

It's more about your academic interests in the course and what you've done to explore that beyond the curriculum. I don't think emotions and such are really that relevant, or general hobbies or unrelated extracurricular activities (the latter might be worth briefly mentioning for other unis but the UK isn't like the US where they want to see you've done everything and anything, they really almost exclusively care about your academic background and interests for the most part).

In terms of the main personal statement I wouldn't overthink it too much, Cambridge have stated before it's one of the less important parts of the application for them as they have a lot more information than other universities with the interview and any admissions assessments, and also they've stated they have no real way to know it's the student's own work anyway.

The additional personal statement is purely optional, it's mainly for applicants to courses that are relatively unique at Cambridge (e.g. ASNAC, Natural Sciences, Land Economy etc).

If you want feedback for your personal statement, TSR offers a free confidential personal statement review service here which you can read about here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4237154

Please don't post your personal statement anywhere else on TSR though as it's a public website and would get cached by google and flag as plagiarism if you post it elsewhere!