Write Your Way Into University

Elaine Millward 

This article includes valuable information on writing a personal statement for university admission-- with impact. Please read our personal statement writing guide for more information and access our sample personal statements. The Get Into Uni personal statement writing guide contains systematic instructions on the techniques to help increase the odds of your application, however this article contains a short guide to writing your way into university. For most potential students there are some clear reasons why they wish to embark on university. The single best reason is that the subject area fascinates the reader. This article will offer insight into how you should approach your personal statement.

One of the typical complaints of Admission Officers is that student personal statements all seem the same; unfortunately, students normally read a number of sample statements on the internet and automatically write a typical personal statement from the range of available sample personal statements found on websites. It is important to put yourself in the shoes of the admissions officer: why would your application be unique, how are you different from the other candidates? Primarily you need to decide how you will divide your personal statement into digestible chucks. The most obvious way is to divide into paragraphs of 100 words. If you aim for between 500 and 600 words at most, it will help your admission officer when they have to read thousands of personal statements to find the perfect student.

So let's take a look at the way your personal statement should be structured? If you spent, time analysing our sample personal statements you will see that each paragraph revolves around one particular incident or the subject area of study. Although the personal statement should logically flow from start to finish, none the less, unlike a book with a distinctive story running through it and building up to a climax, a personal statement is episodic in style and content so that each paragraph stands out.

In planning your paragraphs, you must give the admissions officer a glow so they will wish to continue the next section. To illustrate the structure, let's take a look at the typical personal statement organisation. The first paragraph will need to be an exciting and dynamic narrative to capture the readers attention, the subsequent paragraphs should outline why you wish to study for your particular field followed by a compelling powerful final paragraph with strong action verbs to give your reader the final push to admit you.

You may find it helpful to prepare a brief synopsis or outline of the way you see your personal statement developing. It doesn't have to be very long or detailed and, like most personal statements outlines, you do not have to stick to it if, as you go along, you find a better route for your journey. Keep it simple and let it serve merely as a quick reminder of where you're going. It might run like this: First memory - seeing my new baby brother in my mother's arms. Nursing experience - volunteer in residential nursing home. Visiting the baby clinic - desires to become a midwife sufficed. Goals for the future - career ambitions.

It is important to cover whatever period you intend to include in your personal statement because time spent planning your sequence and the method you feel happiest with will undoubtedly make the actual writing that much easier for you.

The biggest problem you will find is finding the topics of discussion in your personal statement and selecting those topics you want to use and which topics you wish to leave out. Remember that with any form of writing you are practicing the art form. Get Into Uni Oxford Educated editors edit the personal statements for our customers. A while ago, I was asked to take a critical look at a personal statement which spanned the students life from age two to eighteen and it made gripping reading but was far too long and the student had not been selective enough in the abundance of material she choose from. The word count ran to 1,500 words - far too long for a personal statement. The task of reducing your personal statement can be enthusiastically undertaken but the problem is that you need to look at your original brainstormed ideas to organise your material for the selection process. The only criterion you need to apply at this stage is this incident of sufficient interest to the admission officer.

I hope that you agree a powerful beginning is of paramount importance or we will quickly lose the Admission Officers interest. Then, once having captured his or hers attention, we have to make sure your personal statement ending is dynamic and in the right place. Each paragraph should be pleasing to the reader and you need to write a natural conclusion. Chekhov once said that the essence of good style is simplicity. The best advice is therefore, to keep it simple.

Get Into Uni offers students personal statement editing and tips on how you can get an edge over the competition when applying for university. The website includes sample personal statements, a free writing guide, and
End Note:
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