The first round of UCAS application deadlines is coming up in less than a week, so if you’re considering applying for medicine, dentistry, veterinary sciences, Oxford or Cambridge then this blog post is for you. Hopefully you’ve already considered where you want to go to university and what programme you want to take and whether you fit into this category or not. If you haven’t yet decided and are still considering whether one of these is the right choice for you, it’s time to make that decision now! Talk to your parents, your teachers and/or a good friend. Look at the course outlines. If you know anyone on a similar course or at Oxbridge, ask them about it. And think about what you really want to do. If it makes you feel all panicky and like you want to crawl into a cave away from it all, then just maybe it’s not the right choice for you. If it makes you feel excited and motivated, then make sure you have your application under way.
A big, important part of the UCAS application process is the personal statement. You can probably get the rest of the application together fairly quickly, although references can take a bit longer as you’re waiting on someone else, so make sure you get those together ASAP! If you have someone who you think would give you a good reference but doesn’t respond to emails or phone calls for weeks or months, consider getting someone else.
In spite of the fear that UCAS personal statements inspire in people, it is possible to get a great one put together in just a couple of days. Look at the course outlines and think about what they’re looking for in prospective students. Make a list of previous experiences you have (educational, work and extracurricular) and what skills you developed from each of these. Consider your motivation for doing the programme. Then break these into paragraphs and start writing. Start with motivation, your previous educational experience, previous work experience and then extracurricular activities. You want to write about what how each of these experiences has helped you develop into the capable, ready-for-university person that you are now. In doing this you’re demonstrating to the admissions teams that you have thought about what is going to be asked of you in the programme and how you are able to meet those requirements. Lastly, be sure to check out last month’s blog post on UCAS personal statement opening lines to avoid. If you’ve added one of these in already, delete it and find a new line.
If you get started now, you should be able to have your UCAS personal statement ready in few days, giving you enough time to get your parents or a teacher to check it over for you. So if you’re considering a programme where the UCAS deadline is next week, you can get an application done in time, but you should get started now!