UCAS - Personal Statement.

[Tomo1794]

Hi everyone

At the moment my mind is totally blank in how I am supposed to write this thing, so any help in terms of opening line, content, conclusion etc. would be much appreciated.

I'm looking in to some sort of business course at Brighton University as I would like to spend a lot more time in and around the city as unfortunately I grew up in Bedfordshire

 

[seagulls4ever]

Category:Business and Management Personal Statements - The Student Room

 

[Sajerz]

Boom, I'm in the same situation. Starting a bit early though arn't you?

Before you start you really need to decide which course you are going to study as its imperative you show how devoted you are to studying that course.

 

[seagullondon]

good luck. UCAS is a truly painful and stressful experience

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Top rated personal statements

As a suggestion though and having read hundreds of CVs, think about the message you want to convey first and then construct your statement around them. Don't use "standard" phrases. The trend today is for CVs to be linked to personal websites where candidates present a short clip on video which employers can log onto. Are you allowed to do this - could always add a link at the end pf your statement if it is?

 

[Tomo1794]

Boom, I'm in the same situation. Starting a bit early though arn't you?

Before you start you really need to decide which course you are going to study as its imperative you show how devoted you are to studying that course.

Yeah that's true but my school wants a first draft for it in by Thursday They're saying that it can be tweaked depending on the course you want to study, however after reading the first statement on the link S4E posted this could prove to be quite difficult.

 

[Sajerz]

I was planning on applying for biology and business but because of stupid ucas and there personal statements I've had to sacrifice biology

 

[Tomo1794]

Top rated personal statements

As a suggestion though and having read hundreds of CVs, think about the message you want to convey first and then construct your statement around them. Don't use "standard" phrases. The trend today is for CVs to be linked to personal websites where candidates present a short clip on video which employers can log onto. Are you allowed to do this - could always add a link at the end pf your statement if it is?

This could be a good idea, however as universities will have to go through a load of statements they probably won't have time if everyone did one of these I'm also not a very confident speaker so this prehaps wouldn't work in my favour, although some exquisite cover drives might win them over

 

[Colossal Squid]

Surely these days all you need to put is "I can afford to go to uni, take my money"

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

Dont use a quote as the opening sentence - it is the WORST thing you could do!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Feel free to ignore this, but I wrote mine in the third person. I described myself and what I had done and wanted to achieve from the view of another person.

Have a look at the websites of your potential universities and see if there is anything about what they expect from you.

As for the opening gambit, I can't remember what I wrote, but if I were to do one today, I would write the rest of the statement and hopefully have a feel of what to right at the beginning.

 

[Sam Ovett]

Just big yourself up in a way that doesn't make you sound arrogant, but passionate and devoted to learning the course. Or something like that? If you've been anywhere related to the course, so for example, I applied for physical geography, so I wrote about visits to some pretty interesting places

 

[Philzo-93]

I'm in the exact same pain-in-the-arse situation as you I'm afraid. Remember, the personal statement is EVERYTHING.

 

[Tomnorthi]

I know you have probably made your mind up. But Uni is such a waste of money imo. There are apprenticeships, college courses, and employment, all of which are debt free. Even the open university can get you a degree with very little debt. I dont see why you would get into that much financial debt without even a guaranteed job at the end of it. Just my opinion of course.

 

[beorhthelm]

to you young chaps starting out, do yourself a favor and study a proper degree, not "business". every one and anyone can study that, so you get yourslef nothing of advantage at the end. at Southbank many moons ago, i knew several people doing Business Studies and half the syllabus was stuff i covered in A level - and that in their 3rd year. i took Computing, and frankly you should avoid the "studies" flavor of that. do a proper degree that gives you a specialism, so you get a foot in the door of an industry. companies arent interested in people with "x studies" because there are so many. you're paying for it now, so make sure its worth while or for f*** sake dont bother and get a job instead and learn an industy that way.

 

[CP 0 3 BHA]

to you young chaps starting out, do yourself a favor and study a proper degree, not "business". every one and anyone can study that, so you get yourslef nothing of advantage at the end. at Southbank many moons ago, i knew several people doing Business Studies and half the syllabus was stuff i covered in A level - and that in their 3rd year. i took Computing, and frankly you should avoid the "studies" flavor of that. do a proper degree that gives you a specialism, so you get a foot in the door of an industry. companies arent interested in people with "x studies" because there are so many. you're paying for it now, so make sure its worth while or for f*** sake dont bother and get a job instead and learn an industy that way.

Sound advice.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I know you have probably made your mind up. But Uni is such a waste of money imo. There are apprenticeships, college courses, and employment, all of which are debt free. Even the open university can get you a degree with very little debt. I dont see why you would get into that much financial debt without even a guaranteed job at the end of it. Just my opinion of course.

Nail on the head.

 

[seagulls4ever]

I know you have probably made your mind up. But Uni is such a waste of money imo. There are apprenticeships, college courses, and employment, all of which are debt free. Even the open university can get you a degree with very little debt. I dont see why you would get into that much financial debt without even a guaranteed job at the end of it. Just my opinion of course.

It completely depends on the circumstance, university and course. It can give you a great head start in many areas of employment, subject to how well you do at uni of course. And in some areas of employment (law, medicine), uni is the only way to get there.

Besides, university is about so much more than just getting a job at the end of it. You make friends for life, you mature, you develop your mind, you become a more well-rounded individual and at the end of it you leave uni with a different perspective of life.

I highly recommend it.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Nail on the head.

It's not really a nail on head, is it? We don't know what the OP plans to study and whether it is necessary to go to University or not.

 

[seagulls4ever]

I'm in the exact same pain-in-the-arse situation as you I'm afraid. Remember, the personal statement is EVERYTHING.

The personal statement is most certainly not everything. Grade are everything. A personal statement is subsidiary, and only really makes a great deal of difference at the more elite universities.