insideKENT Magazine Issue 96 - March 2020 | Page 154

EDUCATION
PREPARING FOR UNIVERSITY APPLICATIONS CONT.
reference and predicted grade(s), before sending the
completed application to UCAS for processing.
The application form itself is pretty self explanatory;
‘Personal Details’ will confirm names, address, date
of birth, any need, such as learning or health, as well
as an applicant’s eligibility to study in the UK;
whilst the ‘Education’ section confirms previous
qualifications gained and those currently in progress.
Without question, the two most important sections
of the form are ‘Choices’ and the dreaded 'Personal
Statement’.
Course Choices
In order to make an informed choice, it is imperative
to actually visit the institution that the student is
wishing to apply to. It is amazing the amount of
times that a student will select a choice with no
understanding of where the campus actually is
(* look out for those courses that purport to be at a
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specific university but are actually taught at a remote
campus, often nowhere near the city the applicant
thinks they are applying for), what facilities the
provider has, or the even the course delivery structure.
Just remember you wouldn’t spend £27,000 on a
pair of shoes you have never tried on and can’t
return, so don’t choose a course/university that you
haven't visited to ensure it’s your best fit!
The Personal Statement
When it comes to the Personal Statement it is
amazing how many confident, gifted, young people
suddenly become the most underwhelming and
modest of individuals. This is the one opportunity
to stand out from the application crowd and
demonstrate not only academic fit for the course(s)
chosen, but also personal fit to the ethic and style of
the chosen institution(s). The single most important
thing to remember is that the rest of the application
will explain what qualifications/subjects are currently
being studied and what course(s) have been applied
to - but it will not explain ‘why’.
Use the statement to explain the backstory behind
educational choices thus far and to demonstrate
informed thinking and reasoning behind the chosen
course(s) of study. Always ask the question ‘ so what?’
or ‘why’ when writing about experiences, projects
that have been worked on and extra-curricular
activities undertaken; and link the examples back to
the courses applied to. Don’t forget to include
something that is ‘personal’ so that the admissions
team - who may read thousands of applications at
a time - can glean a little something from those
4000 characters in 47 lines (UCAS doesn’t have a
word count!) about individual character too.
Always read back a personal statement, then
read it again, then read it out loud! To catch those
SPaG slips and to ensure that what is actually written
makes sense.