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Getting help with your Personal Statement

Written by James Walsh
Friday, 03 August 2007
In recent years there has been a rapid growth in the number of students applying for higher education in the UK. This can be attributed to a change in the occupational structure of employment with higher wages attached to level 4 qualifications, in turn, leading to an increased demand for higher education In the UK, UCAS is the central agency which manages the applications to higher educational courses and, with almost every application, one is required to attach a personal statement. A badly composed personal statement can transform an acceptance into rejection in spite of good scores and references. So some very important things need to be taken care of while writing a good personal statement. The best person to write a good personal statement is you. Only you understand the reasons, motivation and drive behind your choice of course and university and what you intend to learn and gain from that course. However, it does not mean that you have to be on your own to accomplish this major task which can play a key role in deciding your career and future. So far as the purpose of a personal statement is concerned, apart from gathering one’s academic details and general background, it also evaluates one’s writing skills and familiarity with the language. Therefore, once you have written a draft, it needs to be read again and again. You should go through it many times to remove technical mistakes and grammatical errors, clarify the confusing points and take care of any discrepancies. In other words, polish it. Once you have prepared a solid foundation, you may need to seek the help of others. Show your personal statement to your friends, family members and, if possible, your previous academic- in- charge. Their opinions and ideas could prove to be invaluable. Make rectifications as per need. The above-mentioned points are usually valid for good or exceptionally bright students. But for a student who is an average one or has had no previous experience in creative writing, churning out a well-knitted personal statement can prove to be a daunting task. One needs good writing skills to present oneself in a new light and stand out in the crowd. The need to be unique, interesting, specific, grammatically correct and modest and, yet, capitalise on special achievements and distinctions cannot be overemphasised. All these factors substantiate the need for guidance, more so required in the wake of current practices in drafting personal statements. In the UK, since it is no longer possible to make UCAS application on a paper form unless you wish to apply in the medium of Welsh, a personal statement can be copied and pasted into an application form using a word processing package. There are stringent guidelines which need to be adhered to, though. Limiting yourself to 4000 characters including spaces and a line limit of 47 are a few examples which again highlight the significance of being very concise and very professional. The services of professional writers may, therefore, become indispensable. There are many companies who provide these services to improve your success rate, many of which are available online. Some of these web-based communities have forums and boards where you can leave your personal statement and ask for others’ opinions. However, on such sites, there is always a chance of your ideas being ripped off and usually the people giving the advice are amateurs. If one is seeking professional writers, personal-statement.co.uk is one of the leading companies. It offers tremendous help and is equipped with many options to suit one’s personal needs. It offers: <ul><li>A collection of already selected personal statements as examples from a cross-section of former applicants, OR</li><li>A collection of statements matched to your needs based on an online questionnaire to match the academic profile and choice of university, OR</li><li>An editorial service to help you create the personal statement best suited to your needs.</li></ul> With such a bouquet of options available online, one need not lose one’s sleep over the matter of writing a perfect personal statement. These should definitely help you in getting accepted into the course and the university you have always wanted to be a part of. James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are a UK or Overseas student applying for a place in a UK University, to stand out from the thousands of others, it is essential to have striking <a href="http://www.personal-statement.co.uk">Personal Statement</a>, for more information and professional guidance, see http://www.personal-statement.co.uk

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