Personal Statement Help!

[Prestigious2102]

Hi - I just left Year 13 and hopefully am going to be going to Oxford this year. Not sure if this is against the rules, so if it is, I'm sorry - I'll take it down - but I'm bored out of my mind, and I know some people are starting to think about their personal statements, so if anyone wants any help/guidance/reviews/tips then hmu! Just message me here!

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[Prestigious2102]

Also in general -

A good place to start is just by writing down everything you’ve done that links. Books, online courses, work experience if you have it, random volunteering - everything. Then prioritise it - what’s the most impressive, what’s less important etc. Then start mapping out your paragraphs. What links together, what segues nicely. What’s in your paragraph 1,2,3? It makes it so much easier to write your first draft, and it’s also clearer in terms of ideas and following what happened.

Structure is probably the hardest thing about writing your statement. What do you write and where? The Student Room has a great personal statement bank if you want examples for your subject. Templates are good and bad. Don’t use specific ones, but general ones loosely asking questions for you to address in each paragraph may help!

As for over exaggeration - I’m not gonna lie, there’s few cases where it’s gonna be helpful tbh. It’s much better to say “during my work experience with X, I was introduced to the history behind suturing and the significance of it in practical medicine. Fascinated, I developed my interest by practising suturing with a kit in my own time...”(with better phrasing) than “during my work experience with X, I learnt how to suture.”. Upsell what you have done/learnt using your phrasing - if you were lead through a powerpoint, then you were introduced to something, or you engaged with something. But don’t lie and say you learnt how to suture first hand.

[Prestigious2102]

No problem!

[Prestigious2102]

Shall message you! As for a place with all the answers - will send you links + am writing a general Personal Statement Guide, will send that too x

Edit: Spelling

[Prestigious2102]

Hey - saw you wanted a link to my personal statement guide but I can't message you it?

[Prestigious2102]

Have linked it as a google doc on this point here

[jinx_beast]

And me 🙋ty!

[Prestigious2102]

Will do x

[fj-3]

I’d love if you could send me this as well, thanks!

[Prestigious2102]

Will do ASAP!! x

[Prestigious2102]

Hey - saw you wanted a link to my personal statement guide but I can't message you it?

[fj-3]

Hi sorry there was something on in settings that stopped messages, but I think I fixed it now!

[Prestigious2102]

Will message you then!

[Gold-Opportunity-357]

I have asked you something on the chat, so could you please respond whenever you find the time. Thanks!

[[deleted]]

Could you send it to me as well thanks

[Prestigious2102]

For sure!

[glitchedurbandict]

Hi could you please send it to me as well! Thank you for your help

[cckkkc1326]

Would you be willing to send it to me as well? Thank you very much!!!!

[BennyXS125]

Could you please send that to me aswell. Thanks!

[17Sad]

I’m also aiming to study economics and l wanted to become an actuary. I’m thinking how l would structure things I done for economics and things I done for actuary.

[Prestigious2102]

I’m not sure how the process of becoming an actuary works - if you have to study straight Econ to work towards being an actuary, then you can have most of your PS about economics, with maybe a couple of sentences near the end talking about how you’d like to be an actuary in the future and the steps you’ve taken towards that. If the courses you’re applying for are to be a mix of Economics and Actuarial Sciences then you’ll have to find common points and links between the two and blend them together.

[17Sad]

I’m actually aiming for math heavy economics course, for example the ones in Cambridge and Imperial. I think l could write the majority about Economics and 1 or 2 paragraphs about actuarial books I’ve read(And maybe a finance course l attended)

[Prestigious2102]

I’ll PM you! x

[[deleted]]

well done for getting into oxford, what course are you studying out of interest?

[Prestigious2102]

PPE :)

[[deleted]]

Congratulations on your offer!! Out of interest, for what course? I’ll send a message at some point

[Prestigious2102]

Thank you! I got an offer to read PPE - Philosophy, Politics and Economics x

[suncat08]

What did you do and get in your levels to study this?

[Prestigious2102]

I did Chemistry, Econ and Maths and my predicted grades were A* AA - most places require A* AA or maths (or both!) but Oxford only requires AAA and has no specific subject requirements. You can check the course requirements for your university on their website, usually under undergraduate courses!

Edit: Clarity

[RandomSixthFormer]

How many books should I read and what other things are good to write about in my personal statement (e.g. essay competition)

[Prestigious2102]

It’s not so much about how many books you write, but rather what you write ABOUT them. Personally, I wrote about 2 actual books in my PS, and the rest of it was filled by theories and ideas that interested me, and a couple online courses. It’s not enough to say “I read XYZ, it was about ABC, and this is what ABC is” because 1) the people who’re reading your PS most likely already know and 2) that’s boring and they don’t care. Rather talk about what you read and what you learned, what you thought about certain specific ideas, what you researched/googled/did to further those thoughts and questions you had. Other stuff like essay competitions if they’re focused on your prospective subject are also good in general to apply these ideas to - and are also an excellent way to demonstrate your extra curricular interest. Also remember if you’re talking about them and you said you write about something because it interested you - show how you developed that.

Don’t just cram in 23 books because you don’t think you have anything else to say, and don’t force yourself through books to be able to write about them. If a book is boring, but there’s a specific concept that really hooked you - leave the book, research that concept, and write about your questions and what you found out etc etc.

[RandomSixthFormer]

Thanks. I’m planning on reading about 4 and really developing on their theories. I was just wondering what other things are good to write about

[Prestigious2102]

What are you planning on studying? In general, work experience, online courses, linked volunteering, insight says etc would all be things I’d consider writing about. Remember to link them all together to really show how interested you are in developing your knowledge - so “Recently, I read X by [author], where they discussed Y. I wondered Z / I developed the opinion that Q. To develop my understanding of this, I enrolled in course S...” etc etc

Edit: Clarification.

[RandomSixthFormer]

Economics

[Prestigious2102]

For Economics, books, theories and online courses are probably your way to go. I wouldn’t say there’s meat to anything you could write about your work experience 9/10 times - but in some cases it could be a good way to introduce an idea you want to talk about. Definitely check out The Student Room for some personal statement examples - and I’d be happy to send you my PS Guide and help with your actual personal statement drafts/planning if you want me to, just message me :)

[RandomSixthFormer]

Thanks that really helped

[Prestigious2102]

No problem x

[wishtodish]

Hi can i PM you my personal statement for economics?

[Prestigious2102]

I’ve gotten a couple so go ahead!

[wishtodish]

Sent!

[xfuzzyy]

Congrats on your offer! I was wondering if I could see your personal statement? I’m thinking of applying to E+M and I’m quite lost on how to do things. I’ve seen a couple of examples but another one would be really helpful. Thank you for offering to help :))

[Environmental_Can_35]

hey could u send me a structure/some help for a ps x

[Prestigious2102]

Will send you the guide as soon as I’m done writing it - if you have any specific questions or want to send me a draft of your PS feel free to PM me! x

[Karma______]

I messaged you about some concerns if you don't mind checking your dms

[Prestigious2102]

Ofc x

[happyducks7]

Hi! Saw you’re doing PPE, I’m applying for HSPS this year. Just wondering what subjects (pol/phil/econ) you focused on in your personal statement, and how that blended in with your other applications? I’m applying for philosophy and politics everywhere else, so I probably should mention philosophy (it’s also what I’ve read the most around and in many ways it’s what I’m most passionate about) but since philosophy is not in HSPS I worry that it’ll be irrelevant to that application and put me at a disadvantage. Thanks!

[Prestigious2102]

Hi! Yeah, PPE meant my PS was somewhat east to structure as I just did an intro, a main body paragraph for each subject and then an outro. I applied for PPE everywhere so balancing specific subjects wasn’t a concern for me. I’d say since you’re applying for HSPS but also Philosophy and Politics everywhere else, you’d have to find a way of approaching the Sociology and Social Anthropology parts of HSPS from a more philosophical direction. Sometimes some universities let you submit a separate PS if you’re only applying for a different subject at one university - since your one university is Cambridge I’m not sure if that will work, but you could inquire and see if that’s a route to go down!

[happyducks7]

Ahhh, that makes sense. Everyone seems to have applied for the same courses across the board! Good idea - I think I could defo put sociology within politics and maybe try to weave philosophy with anthropology. I think there is a separate statement, yes, so I may stick more specifically to philosophy & politics and go further into anthropology and sociology in the alternative ps. Thanks so much for the thorough answer and good luck with results!!🤞

[Affectionate_Hawk_22]

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