Higher Ed Application System: Now and Back Then

The Ucas deadline is swiftly coming to a pass.  Panic is guaranteed to chase student-hopefuls, making it difficult to gauge the intensity of the application-competition.  Perhaps, it’s not too late to learn how to write a personal statement or grab your favourite teacher for reference?

But before you watch things go adrift in momentum, take some time to reflect the coming and going of this busy period.  This brings to mind an internal query: Is the application system always this hectic?

To answer that it would be essential to take the trip back to the former admission times.  Somebody, obviously, went to see the road and brought about the fundamental changes into sight.  In Julia Ryan’s evolution story entitled, “How Getting Into College Became Such a Long, Frenzied, Competitive Process,” the variables of change became much visible: access and application requirements.

This roundup consisted of the following periods of Tufts University undergraduate applications:

          1856-1857: Latin, Greek, and ‘Good Moral Character’

        1905-1906: Automatic Admission to Students

       at Select ‘School of New England’

        1925-1926: Limiting the Number of Students Who Get In

        1946-1947: Standardized Tests and Recommendation Letters

        2013-2014: ‘What Does #YOLO Mean to You?’

The first variable of change, access, had been easy to spot.  Its transition marked the early attempt to educate a wider scope of the American youth: from fortunate “Schools of New England” applicants to just everyone possessing the right credentials.

The second variable had been the set of application requisites demanded by the university.  The early year of 1856 required “Latin, Greek, mathematics and history;” and then later on, expanded to categorised subjects (i.e., the Primary and Secondary Group).

The changes might have been inevitable, but the competition among student applicants remains to be seen (perhaps, it grew fiercer).  Also, institution’s over-arching objectives of the past didn’t seem to be any different from today: “to benefit from the educational opportunities of the College…”  But, then again, you might just disagree.

UCAS Guide to Personal Statement

Many guidelines in writing a personal statement can be found everywhere. They come in a wide range that some of them can contradict others. Still, almost all of them are based on the guide UCAS gives. You should give your best to be able to write one because this is the most crucial component of your application. You can do so by knowing and following some important guidelines given by the admission service agency.

According to UCAS based on the guide they have given, personal statements should be 4,000-word summaries of the students’ motivation for studying the courses they have chosen. The writing should be about the student’s explanation of the reason why they want to study the subject. However, in giving this “why,” you should use information about yourself, specifically your character and experience. This is the overview of the whole task.

The UCAS guide says that it is the admissions tutors of the universities who read the personal statements of the students applying to their courses. The admissions service agency specifically says this because they want you to focus and bear this in mind when you write so that you will be guided on what information about yourself will the admissions staff find relevant, you will include and how you will do so.

Showing interest or enthusiasm is very crucial, more so if the predicted grades you have are poor. Your writing about how motivated you are for the course should be concretised by references from your tutors. Another instance where your predicted grades could be poor but you truly have the interest and the potential for success in the subject is when there are mitigating circumstances that can justify the grade prediction. This should also be supported with evidence.

UCAS also reminds applicants that they should always remember that in courses which application process involves an interview, the basis for such are the applicants’ personal statements. Again, it is the interest and motivation of the applicants which the interviewer will look for in the writings and will ask the students about.

Further, UCAS highly advises applicants to do their writing with the most amount of time possible so that it they can still review them with the help of their tutor or referee before submission. Aside from the motivation and personal information, writing style is very important because this writing component of the application is a sample of that will be shown to the admissions tutor on the writing ability of the applicant.

So, to summarise the true meaning of the personal statement based on the guidelines given by UCAS is to say that it is a writing that shows the students’ interest in the course which is done by giving personal information and it is a sample of the writing skills of the applicant.

What Personal Statement Writing is All About

For anybody, writing a personal statement is just like composing any academic piece. A personal statement is indeed an academic piece, as it is intended for the perusal of the members of the academe, particularly admission tutors of universities and colleges. For people who are seeking to become university or college students in the next academic year, personal statement writing is a very important and vital activity. For them, writing a personal statement is like moulding a path for their future. That is why, out of many academic pieces, the personal statement is something that should never be taken for granted.

Indeed, personal statement writing means a lot to hundreds of thousands of applicants seeking to study their chosen courses at their selected universities or colleges in the United Kingdom. The personal statement is their opportunity to show to their selected higher education institutions that they well suited to become their students. On the other hand, universities and colleges are feeling the importance of personal statements in their process of selecting the right students for their offered courses. For these universities and colleges, the personal statement is one great way of determining whether an applicant knows and has what it takes to be able to succeed on his chosen course. If the university or college determines that that an applicant is suitable to be offered a slot for one of their courses, it will not hesitate to make such an offer.

In other words, writing a personal statement entails the student to persuade his chosen university or college to allow him to study the course he is applying for. According to the Universities and Colleges Admission Service, a non-profit organisation that takes charge of managing the application process in the UK, writing a personal statement is all about showing commitment and enthusiasm on the course and proving that the applicant stands out from the rest.

How could a university applicant stand out from the rest? A person seeking to become a university applicant should show that he has what is needed to succeed on his chosen course. He could do this by outlining his qualifications, achievements, skills and experiences that are related to the course he is applying for.

This is what personal statement writing is all about. It is all about persuasion, which can be done by highlighting important qualities that makes an applicant stand out from the rest.

Looking Beyond the Personal Statement

Writing a personal statement is one of the most important tasks that a person seeking to study his chosen course in his preferred university should successfully accomplish. If a person could persuade though his personal statement that he is suitable to study his chosen course at his chosen university, then his life as student would then commence the next academic period.

However, hurdling college admission does not guarantee the success of a student as well as his future. Higher education schooling is much different than personal statement writing. True, many individuals seek higher education in order to gain knowledge and skills needed to land a good job. They seek to earn their college, master and doctor’s degrees in order to secure careers that offer high wage and income. In fact, it has been proven that those who have earned their degrees are more likely to get employed and receive higher salaries and greater benefits.

In order to succeed on a course, a newly admitted student should look beyond personal statement writing. In the personal statement, the newly admitted student has probably shown that he stood out from other applicants. The newly admitted student has probably stated well the reasons why he is applying for the course he has chosen. He has probably shown that he understands and discerns the course. Also, the newly admitted student has probably stated well the reasons why he is suitable to the course. He has probably shown that he has what it takes to succeed on his chosen course.

Looking beyond personal statement writing means the student must prove what he wrote on his admission essay. He must prove that his skills and experiences could catapult him into success, notwithstanding all the problems and challenges that may come along the way. University education is unlike primary and secondary educations that focus only on teaching students about the basic knowledge and skills. University education allows a student to learn and acquire certain knowledge and skills that could prove useful to his future career.

Students who are in their first year in the university should always try to look beyond what they wrote on their personal statements. Because if they do not, they would miserably fail to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to have a bright future. If a student struggles on his current course, he should reflect on what he wrote on his personal statement.

Help in Writing a Personal Statement

Writing a personal statement is an important task for any student who wishes to apply to and gain a place at his or her chosen degree programme in a university. A personal statement is one of the ways in which university admissions officers evaluate whether their applicants have the skills, knowledge and motivation to perform well and complete their degree programme.  Schools have to choose the best and most qualified students because their reputation in the quality of graduates that they produce will suffer. If they rely on government funding for financial support or have tie-ups with commercial organisations for their research projects, they must show that they have the best students in a specific field of study. Since there are more students applying than places available especially for popular degree programs in esteemed institutions, students must make sure to do their best when writing a personal statement.

Write personal statement is a prelude to many other academic tasks that the student will be assigned later such as Military essays, Philosophy essays, English Literature essays, Arts essays and many other coursework assignments depending on the student’s chosen subject of study. Below are some tips for writing a personal statement:

• Make an introduction that will catch the attention of the reviewer enough for him or her to continue reading through the personal statement. Bear in mind that university admissions officers are busy people who may have only spend less than a minute to decide whether to continue reading through the end of a personal statement or reject it altogether if the first few sentences appear to be insignificant or poorly constructed.
• Make sure that your grammar is correct, you have no spelling errors and your punctuations are placed appropriately. Using the language well ensures that your ideas will be communicated clearly to the reviewer.
• Avoid redundancy by deleting unnecessary words and lightening overweight phrases. At the same time, reinforce the message you are trying to convey by making strong verbs and using more adjectives, then eliminate run-on sentences and clichés.
• Create a well-structured personal statement that clearly separates the discussion of ideas from one another and uses transition words and phrases to guide the reviewer into the flow of ideas.

 

Foreign Applicants and Personal Statements

For a foreign student seeking to study at one of the universities and colleges in the United Kingdom, it would be a great help if he knows the intricacies of the application process. The application process to higher education institutions in the UK may be complex, as it entails not only a simple submission of requirements, but al calls for the applicant to write personal statement. All seeking to pursue a course at a UK university or college — whether a foreign or a local student — are required to submit a personal statement. But why is a personal statement important in the application process?

There are two primary beneficiaries for an applicant’s personal statement. The first beneficiary is the applicant himself. According to the non-profit organisation that manages the application process in the UK, the Universities and Colleges Admission Service or UCAS, that through an applicant’s personal statement, he could persuade admission tutors of his chosen higher education institution that he is suitable to become of their students. This is the best opportunity for an applicant, especially a foreign student, to demonstrate their commitment and enthusiasm, as well as to show that he stand out from the rest of the applicants. When interest foreign applicants write personal statement, they need to show that they have what it takes to become successful in the field they have chosen.

The second beneficiary is the university or college. Through personal statements, they are able to filter in applicants who are suitable to study their offered courses. While applicants write personal statement, admission tutors reads it to select only qualified students.

Foreign students really need to know more about personal statements. They could even acquire a good personal statement sample to make sure that they know a lot when they commence writing one.

Graze the Credential’s Anatomy to Write Personal Statement

University admissions approach with no respite but work, papers, and intermittent waiting. Students have to undergo all of these rites of passage of young adulthood and higher education. No doubt, students may have gone for a personal statement help.

Students understood that statement submission is a one-shot deal; there are no second chances or any revisions permitted. To write personal statement that meets the standards of an experienced set of admission committee is indeed a source of student pressure. The ideals of statement writing can almost be deemed synonymous to branding oneself, and having the institution acknowledge this student-branding.

With a lot of requisites waiting to be penned by prospecting students, it is visibly normal for students to get dizzy. Each student credential will beg for emphasis; this system will not work as personal statements are constricted by word counts. A suggestive measure to take is choosing among the student’s credential.

In the context of the confident credential-selector, how do students write personal statement that actually accommodates the chosen student credential? Provided below is a simple guideline:

1. Credential Introduction

Students may start with different methods; one such method is the use of a thematic diagram. Similar to this method is the use of bulleted list under the student credential. The objective of this step is to enlist all relevant information regarding the credential, having this list of information prioritised or synchronised to present an effective credential introduction. Hence, it should focus on the nature of the credential.

2. Credential Specifics

To write personal statement that caters the impacts of student’s credential must involve its specifics. By ‘specifics,’ it implies that the impact has to be unique only for you. Hence, credential specifics will need to include all those crucial events stirred by taking the credential. It is a challenge to every student’s usual writing because it asks of something very personal. Consequently, the key of composing for this part is the alignment of personal character, or principle to that of credential nature.

3. Credential Extras

Student credential may contain or is entailed with unexpected perks or surprises. It is up to the students to be cognisant of these extras and provide its brief or teasing highlight along the personal statement.

Knowing full well the extent of work and effort required in brainstorming, planning, and actual writing should encourage students to allot sufficient time and paper for this admission activity.

When and Why Personal Statement Matters

When does writing a personal statement matters? Why does a personal statement matters? These are just two of the many simple questions regarding personal statements. Simple as they maybe, these questions signifies the growing importance of personal statements in the lives of those who consider themselves as part of the academe in the United Kingdom

There are two instances in a person’s academic life that he has to employ personal statements just to show that he is far more suitable than his rivals in a certain field.

First instance is when a person is applying to study a certain academic course at a university or college in the UK. According to the Universities and Colleges Admission Service or UCAS, a personal statement is an applicant’s best opportunity to persuade admission tutors of his chosen higher education institution that he is fitted and suitable to study the field he is applying for. Thus, when writing a personal statement to apply for a course in a university or college, an applicant must prove that he understands and has what it takes to study and succeed on the course he has chosen.

Writing a personal statement is also needed when one is applying for an internship at a company. There are companies that provide internship programs for students who seek to gain necessary work experience and skills for their future careers. But they have the prerogative to choose internship participants that matches their given knowledge and skill set qualifications – through personal statements submitted by applicants.

A personal statement is great tool that a person could use to stand out academically from the rest of the crowd. An applicant who wants to use this tool to the full could seek personal statement help from experts to ensure this document will lead to his success.

Write Personal Statement & Catch Offers

Struggling to nail a university or college offer is like fishing. To ‘catch’ one, students need two things: a very tempting bait and patience, for the long impending wait. While patience is inherent to all admission processes, the bait here involves a unique task: to write personal statement that suggests students’ suitability to the course and the institution.

Of course, students know the common basics here. There’s the individual packaging of the academic and non-academic credentials. There’s the narration and persistent weaving of intricate details to proffer substance over several claims. There’s the putting up of the most unique experiences and implicating what it made students realise or understand. And, if the pressure is building and writing is not progressing, students always have the convenient and reliable ally in a personal statement help.

With these essentials and support at hand, what else are students supposed to know? Provided below are some areas students may choose to research and ponder about to enlighten themselves of the admission process or of how to write personal statement in accord of student’s ability:

• The application process of your application medium (i.e., UCAS);
• The admission process per educational institution;
• How the institution expects students to write personal statement;
• The general formula of a personal statement;
• The best method to start writing;
• How to delve with brainstorming and to stay productive with it;
• What statement portions to take extreme precautions;
• How to tie all details in one sentence, paragraph, to statement;
• What to do next after completing the writing process; and
• When to check for results like invitation for interviews or offers.

Indeed, there are a number of factors involved with the ‘bait’ apart from the bait itself. Hence, it’s important to possess an inside-out notion of what to expect and the action involved in school-admissions.

Write Personal Statement In Lieu of ‘You’

Having your credentials completed in a one sheet of paper with an approximate number of words and characters is a challenging start for your higher education. The picture shows you not quite getting enough of it – grammar, typographical blots, and organisation – all of these make personal statement writing impossible.

However, it’s not really true; it’s never impossible, just difficult. And that’s understandable. To write personal statement according to the dictates of format and style is overwhelming for a freshman. Yet, students need not lose hope; there a variety of ways to effectively finish your own personal statement.

Below are some good tips for start-up troubles:

1. Writing should start from you. Before writing the statement in accord to statement conventions, try drafting your own statement. To initially write personal statement in ‘your way,’ scribble your academic and non-academic credentials in your own style. Write it in your own pace, in your own tone, and vocabulary. Having your own drafted statement gives you a perfect material to materialise the best personal statement.

2. Proceed by infusing the personal statement rules on your own work. After drafting, check on the rules of personal statements. Make sure that your clearly understand them. Next in the equation is acquiring inkling on how to apply these rules in your draft. Some of the rules can be readily applied, while some may entail extra help.

3. Have your second draft (output of procedure b) pass through a series of filtered checking. Give it to your colleague, instructor, or any other trusted person (who already tried to write personal statement) for review and corrections.

The distinct element of this guideline from other pointers is the first step. It encourages students to make their personal statement more personal by starting with their own output before doing anything else.