Writing an excellent Personal Statement is a key chance to showcase yourself and also stick out through the masses. What Oxbridge appears for is a bit of different from other colleges, so below are some suggestions to assist you create a standout Oxbridge Personal Statement.
- Start Drafting Early
The additional degree of planning that an Oxbridge program demands, mixed with the mid October deadline, would mean that you need to attempt to begin setting up your Personal Statement towards the tail end of Year twelve.
It typically takes a couple of drafts before you’ve a completely polished Personal Statement staring back again at you, so preferably the very first draft of yours must be carried out by the tail end of the summer time vacation before Year thirteen. This implies that you need to attempt to have finished any extra work or maybe reading experience that you would like to write about in the Statement of yours by then also.
Tip: When you have not determined what course you wish to learn yet, begin preparing a much more general Oxbridge personal statements, and maybe even 2 distinct ones for 2 various subjects. Writing about your experiences and enthusiasm will most likely help the decision-making process of yours!
- Concentrate on your academic achievements and interests
Admissions decisions at Cambridge and Oxford are exclusively based on academic potential and ability, therefore you must focus on showcasing your passion and understanding for the chosen subject of yours. We have created an instructions manual about navigating Oxbridge’s approach towards extracurriculars which explains much more about this.
You are able to show your capacity and interest in the subject matter of yours with examples of books you have read through, an EPQ you have written, a prize you have received, lectures you have attended, documentaries you have watched, podcasts you have listened to, and really something you are able to think of!
Tip:
Instead of: “I am considering molecular biology”
Try: “My curiosity in molecular biology led me to examine X”
- Set yourself in place for an interview
Most prosperous Oxbridge candidates are interviewed together with the admissions process, as well as interviewers frequently draw on things stated in the Personal Statement.
To help place you in charge of the job interview almost as they can, you are able to leave’ hooks’ because of the interviewer which point them towards subjects you will have the ability to chat about confidently. For instance, in case you write:”I was intrigued by the parallels between Ovid’s Contemporary love poetry” and amores, you need to look to be asked what in particular you found fascinating.
This’s one reason why it is truly vital that you be truthful in the Personal Statement of yours. You must certainly not claim to have read through a book that you simply have not (even in case you intend to read it after distributing your UCAS form, since who knows what is going to happen!) You also should not pretend to have a desire for an anything only because you feel it’ll seem impressive. Interviewers will probably question you about it which is going to be fairly clear in case you are not truly interested.
- Show that you’re thoughtful and curious intellectually
Oxbridge admissions tutors are searching for perceptive and thoughtful pupils that are wondering about the chosen subject of theirs. The amount of information you’ve taken in on your topic isn’t as crucial as how deeply you’ve considered each one. For instance, there is simply no time listing 13 publications that you have read through without any ideas or commentary about any of them.
To exhibit a thoughtful approach to the studies of yours, you are able to do things like:
Make a good example of some thing you found especially fascinating in whatever you learned, and also explain exactly why you found it fascinating.
Write about the system which led you to discover a brand new idea or material.
For example: “Learning a at school led me to read through X. I was especially curious by the chapter on B, because …. This led me to additional research B by observing Y.”
Draw links between subjects, publications, content articles, films or even lectures to show you’re not only capable of eating info, but processing and analysing it.
For example: Did 2 different theorists interpret an idea differently? Can there be a theme which runs through a set of publications you have read? Did you differ with an opinion provided at a lecture?
- Try being original…
In 2019, Oxford Faculty received over 23,000 undergraduate programs for roughly 3,300 locations. The great bulk of these candidates have great grades, which may help make it hard to stick out through the masses. This’s exactly where the ability of yours to be original and perceptive comes in. Consider the way the topic that you’re requesting pertains to the various other scientific studies of yours, the world around you, as well as the personal encounters of yours.
For instance, almost every Classics pupil out there’ll understand the plot of Medea, but exactly how a lot of them will have the ability to show it has since been taken by the screenwriters of Eastenders? Did campaigning for probably the most recent election remind you of a portion of propaganda from the very first World War?
Keep in mind that the individuals who’ll examine interview, and your application you, have launched a career from the chosen subject of theirs, and it actually is the passion of theirs. They’ll truly be interested to have a chat with you in case you are able to provide an original or interesting thought to your Personal interview and Statement.
- …but do not overdo it
Do not attempt to be original for the benefit of it. And do not go crazy together with the thesaurus – completely focus on being specific instead of struggling to become a lexical aficionado (annoying, right?)
- Proof read, then proof read again
Something which could adversely impact the viewpoint of Admissions Tutors is a typo. Even in case it is something really minor, several tutors are extremely stringent on accuracy, and also it may be the big difference between receiving an offer or perhaps not.
Proof-read your Personal Statement a few times yourself, and then ask teachers, friends, or your parents to look over it over, searching especially for grammatical errors or typos. A great deal of the time, it is easier for a person with new eyes to notice a typo than with the individual writing.
- Do not name drop Oxbridge
Remember you want your Personal Statement being applicable to all 5 of the colleges you’re using to. This implies that you should not note Oxford, Cambridge, or maybe some other faculty by name.