Personal statement - mentioning unis

I know you're not meant to mention what university you're interested in or anything. But is it alright to use the names of universities you've done a masterclass, an insight day, or entered the lecture of? Or do I have to leave it vague on what institution I did it with. I just feel like they should know what exact programme it was to seem credible

Reply 1

McGinger

Yes - all fine, but do you even need to mention which Uni?
Its what you got out of the activity that is important, not the name of the Uni.

Reply 2

Levihour

Original post

by McGinger

Yes - all fine, but do you even need to mention which Uni?
Its what you got out of the activity that is important, not the name of the Uni.

I guess but I just wanted to know if it was bad or not

Reply 3

DishPerson :)

Yes it's totally fine to but if you've done enough supercurricular activities your not going to have the character count to mention it. 😂

As McGinger said, it's not the important bit so make sure it's the first to get cut if you're over your characters.

Reply 4

Levihour

Original post

by DishPerson :)

Yes it's totally fine to but if you've done enough supercurricular activities your not going to have the character count to mention it. 😂
As McGinger said, it's not the important bit so make sure it's the first to get cut if you're over your characters.

Alright I only mentioned two. I'll probs keep the name of one tho bc...not to be that person but it was a Cambridge programme so maybe it'll look good 👀 idk

Reply 5

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

I’d have to agree that reflecting critically on the experience is going to count a lot more than name dropping the uni itself.

As for including the name, it doesn’t really matter one way or the other.

Reply 6

Kingston Trenyce

Official Rep

Original post

by Levihour

Hi @Levihour 😊 That's good question and you're absolutely right to check! In general, it's best to avoid naming specific universities in your PS, just wording it by mentioning you went to for example an engineering masterclass, is all you would need to specify.

Trenyce (Kingston Rep)

Reply 7

University of York

Official Rep

Hi Levihour,

I have just been reading your query about mentioning the institution where you did your activity.

Our student recruitment team advise lots of students on how to write a strong personal statement. One of the things we say to students when preparing and writing their PS is, remember that you are writing one PS for all of your choices. So, for instance, if you wanted to apply to University of XYZ, and you mentioned about attending a course, etc, at University of ABC, then this information wouldn't necessarily be relevant to them, or any of your other choices, and wouldn't necessarily help them make a choice as to whether or not to make you an offer. As advised in the other comments, it's better to state what skills and experience you took away from the course, etc.

We have more information about writing your personal statement, including top tips and a video on our website, please do check it out if you think it would help 🙂

Good luck with everything!

J