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標題: Personal Statement [打印本頁]
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-2-25 11:36 標題: Personal Statement
本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 12-3-14 01:57 編輯
My son has diverse interest in university programs, he loves both Finance and Medical streams. In JUPAS may not an issue, but in non-JUPAS, he needs to submit a Personal Statement(s) to address his preference. Although still have 10 months for application, we would like to draft those statements around summer break and reduce the side-track in term time.
I have the following questions to seek for advice from experienced parents and or academics with admission experience.
1. What's the admission officer's view of applicants have diverse interests if they are equal capable in both streams?
2. Can he put both streams in a single statement? Like HKU - MBBS + BBA, or CUHK - Medicine + QFin....... It's a logical or risky attempt from an admission officer or professor's view?
3. His two streams option also reflect his safety-net mindset, say MBBS needs PG 40+ for interview, QFin 36+. Any comment or suggestion on this?
4. If its too risky, he should focus on one stream per university, what's your suggestion based on our current info?
English (A, L&LS) HL
Chinese (A, L&LS) SL
Maths HL
Economics HL
Chemistry HL
Physics SL
He takes 4 HL right now, will downgrade one to SL after July to maximise the PG and maintain the flexibility in program selection.
Thanks in advance.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-2-25 12:21
Not necessary non-JUPAS, UCAS and other systems also welcome. I just want to know the mindset of the person who sit at the other side of the table.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-2-28 10:25 標題: 回覆：Personal Statement (Repost, deleted by EK's IT problem.)
Friends, any inputs?
作者: slamai 時間: 12-2-28 13:49
本帖最後由 slamai 於 12-2-28 13:51 編輯
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Assuming both HKU and CUHK have the same thresholds for MBBS and QFIN of 40 and 36 respectively, I have worked out an exaggerated and over-simplified hypothetical case of a candidate scoring between 39 and 41 in his IB exam below as an illustration:
IB
| CUHK
| HKU
| CUHK
|
MBBS
| QFIN
| MBBS
| QFIN
|
41
| OK
| -
| OK
| OK
|
40
| ?
| OK
| OK
| OK
|
39
| X
| OK
| ?
| OK
|
? means a marginal case while a candidate adopting a ‘combined’ statement is assumed to fail in competing with another one submitting a ‘single-stream’ statement when other things are equal between them. Nevertheless, each candidate has his/her own preference of university choices and programme choices such that there are no hard and fast rules in formulating a unified strategy in university applications.
I also supplements some comments in the original post below:
ANChan59 發表於 12-2-25 11:36
My son has diverse interest in university programs, he loves both Finance and Medical streams. In JUPAS may not an issue, but in non-JUPAS, he needs to submit a Personal Statement(s) to address his preference. Although still have 10 months for application, we would like to draft those statements around summer break and reduce the side-track in term time.
I have the following questions to seek for advice from experienced parents and or academics with admission experience.
1. What's the admission officer's view of applicants have diverse interests if they are equal capable in both streams?
The admission officer of a particular programme/faculty will put more weight on a ‘single-stream’ statement targeting his programme/faculty rather than a ‘combined’ statement with diverse interests in other programmes/faculties.
2. Can he put both streams in a single statement? Like HKU - MBBS + BBA, or CUHK - Medicine + QFin....... It's a logical or risky attempt from an admission officer or professor's view?
The admission officer will look at the statement when there are cases of tie scores …
3. His two streams option also reflect his safety-net mindset, say MBBS needs PG 40+ for interview, QFin 36+. Any comment or suggestion on this?
While the safety-net consideration is well-understood, you may like to clarify with your son on his first choice based on his own interests.
4. If its too risky, he should focus on one stream per university, what's your suggestion based on our current info?
English (A, L&LS) HL
Chinese (A, L&LS) SL
Maths HL
Economics HL
Chemistry HL
Physics SL
He takes 4 HL right now, will downgrade one to SL after July to maximise the PG and maintain the flexibility in program selection.
Taking English A HL is very challenging for a local Chinese student not studying in an international school unless English/Law will be among his programme choices. Moreover, if the bilingual diploma is not important, downgrading one language to B may be considered with a view of maximizing the IB score.
Thanks in advance.
作者: slamai 時間: 12-2-28 13:54
It seems to be the norm to apply one programme but multiple U's in UCAS as you can only submit one personal statement.
ANChan59 發表於 12-2-25 12:21 
Not necessary non-JUPAS, UCAS and other systems also welcome. I just want to know the mindset of the ...
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-2-28 14:06
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Thanks so much for your replies. My initial thoughts:
1. He will fine tune his electives and levels to maximise the PG and AG respectively;
2. He may opt for MBBS - HKU, QFin - CUHK, BBA - HKUST.......
BTW, how useful is the personal statement? Refer to your reply, will be useful when tie scores only or more than that.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-2-28 14:09
回復 slamai 的帖子
So single stream mindset is the norm, not the best interest to students.
He focuses on Economics and or Political Science in UCAS. Should be OK.
作者: slamai 時間: 12-2-28 15:37
My last post only reflected part of the whole picture as normally a non-JUPAS candidate will receive conditional offer before getting his/her actual IB score. Probably it applies more to this year's NSS candidates instead. The importance of personal statement varies between universities/ faculties/programmes.
ANChan59 發表於 12-2-28 14:06
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Thanks so much for your replies. My initial thoughts:
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-3-13 20:36
本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 12-6-21 19:56 編輯
My son consulted his University Counselor last week and confirmed he can submit different personal statement version to different faculty. His senior got both conditional offers from MBBS and BBA-Law (HKU).
(After further clarification, both MBBS & BBA-Law must be as first choice in HKU, so eventually the senior accept the conditional offers of Medicine from CUHK, BBA-Law from HKU.)
作者: ch1970 時間: 12-3-14 22:22
本帖最後由 ch1970 於 12-3-14 22:47 編輯
1. Personal statements are PERSONAL. If they want the grades/activity record of the candidates, they can simply look for an excel file to check. Don't simply think mentioning the various achievements made could impress the viewers - who themselves are high-achievers in many aspects. Say more personal experience - not just listing them out but illustrate how the experience changes u, and wt u've learnt.
2. Following/Before personal statements is interview. For this reason it should attract viewers to let u come to the interview/remember yr interview. Make them wonder how yr past experience made u feel the programme suits u. And wt u think the programme could benefit u - in terms of the field of knowledge, interests, dream, and career.
3. Do some research on the University first - find out wt they're proud of - regardless of the PR rhetorics and pretentious press release - just think of them as if they're real. For example, is it a comprehensive research-based university? Are u really interested in research? how do u know? or u simply look for a tech-based vocational training institute? Don't just think of gaining from the U but how u're going to benefit the field of academics.
4. Don't paraphrase. Normally the personal statement is one in the many. Clumsy rephrasing wastes their time. IN OTHER WORDS, "in other words" means sth repeating/meaningless would follow. No single sentence should be the same -- don't write like wt I'm now doing. Be effective. Make a topic sentence and concluding sentence for each paragraph. Ask for chances for exploring more about the programme, rather than simply doing a "skippable" ending paragraph begging that "It would be most grateful if an interview is granted". Limit the statement in one A4 page (or online form in 500 words), unless otherwise stated.
5. Don't show your foolishness by telling wt/how much yr know in the field. They are experts more than u are. Just tell them how yr experience (ECA/action-learning/volunteering work) affect yr life, aspirations and achievements. DON'T JUST TELL THEM "I PARTICIPATE IN THIS RACE AND I ACHIEVE THAT PRIZE." Do some reflections. Be humble, not hollow.
6. Be specific. Why Oxford but not Warwick? Just because it's more famous huh? Why CU not HKU? No 2 programmes are identical.
7. Proofread 100 times. No grammatical errors. No wrong format (block style is fine). No flowery difficult complicated weird rare sentence structure and words. No "I" starting in every sentences.
These're just wt I told some others who applied for oxbridge warwick PPE/IPE/PE/E, HKU Science & CU Science and they all succeeded. I don't know much about the business programme but I guess their mindset would be roughly similar esp for the Business experts.
作者: 94BABY 時間: 12-3-15 14:57
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Hi, ch1970,
Thank you. It's a very good sharing, especially for those who have no experience.
My kid applied UK universities through UCAS last October and it was really a difficult task for him to draft the personal statement. The only guidance at the beginning were just from the websites of different universities (LSE, Durham...).
Fortunately, he got 2 interviews (one from oxbridge) and the warm up questions were related to the personal statement.
But for local universities (JUPAS), it seems that the personal statement weight much less, they consider academic results mainly.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-3-18 11:00 標題: 回覆：94BABY 的帖子
Congratulation
作者: slamai 時間: 12-3-19 12:18
Different universities in Hong Kong don't share the same system (for non-JUPAS) and my original comment on a single personal statement came from the answer of CU's Admission Officer at last year's information day admission talk in response to one of the questions raised.
ANChan59 發表於 12-3-13 20:36
My son consulted his University Counselor last week and confirmed he can submit different personal s ...
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-3-20 10:58
回復 slamai 的帖子
Thanks for your reminder, I will tell my son to look into detail of CUHK.....
作者: 94BABY 時間: 12-3-20 20:40
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After the interviews, still have to get good public exam results to meet the conditional offers. Until then, ...
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-3-20 23:04
94BABY 發表於 12-3-20 20:40 
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After the interviews, still have to get good public exam results to meet the c ...
作者: ch1970 時間: 12-6-21 19:02
早姆 日讀過有關今年牛津收人的報道, 當中說學生對學術研究/知識缺乏興趣是死因之一, 足證當日我們的建議真的有點道理...
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-6-21 19:57
ch1970 發表於 12-6-21 19:02
早姆 日讀過有關今年牛津收人的報道, 當中說學生對學術研究/知識缺乏興趣是死因之一, 足證當日我們的建議真 ...
作者: Shootastar 時間: 12-6-21 21:23
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Your son's senior could not obtain conditional offer from MBBS and BBA+Law because both programme specify that they would not consider your consideration unless you put your choice as 1st choice.
My D applied for MBBS (HKU) as her first choice and Biomedical Science (HKU) as her second choice. Her second choice was rejected soon after her submission of the application because both programme require the applicant to put the choice as the first choice.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-6-21 21:28
Shootastar 發表於 12-6-21 21:23
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Your son's senior could not obtain conditional offer from MBBS and BBA+Law bec ...
作者: Shootastar 時間: 12-6-21 21:37
ch1970 發表於 12-3-14 22:22
1. Personal statements are PERSONAL. If they want the grades/activity record of the candidates, they ...
Your advice is better than some professional counsellors who charge charge clients for USD10,000 to USD 20,000 to prepare the applications.
作者: Shootastar 時間: 12-6-21 21:49
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ANChan 59
According to the prospectus of HKU, it does not require an Non-Jupas Applicant to put LLB as his first choice before he is considered. So I think it is possible that you put MBBS as first choice and LLB as 2nd or 3rd choice.
Although I am not an admission officer, my personal feeling is that personal statement is very important in an application in case of Non-Jupas application. If you can impress your admission officer of the first choice, it is difficult to impress the admission officer of your second choice in the same personal statement.
In your son's case, I suggest that your son could apply for MBBS in CU or HKU and then apply BBA+Law as his first choice to other university which he does not apply for MBBS. In that case, he could write brillant personal statement to support the program he applies for.
作者: ch1970 時間: 12-6-21 21:50
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http://hk.news.yahoo.com/384%E6%B8%AF%E7%94%9F%E5%A0%B1%E7%89%9B%E6%B4%A5-%E5%A4%9A%E5%B0%96%E5%AD%90%E5%A4%B1%E6%89%8B-224833175.html
敗陣牛津者，其實大都手持奪目成績，Sophie坦言：「我們每年拒絕大部分報讀的叻學生，你只是大池中的一條小魚！」她指，尖子的頭號死穴，是面試或筆試前準備不足：「要對所報讀學科有承擔，有沒做研究報告、瀏覽相關網站、聽演講，或參觀博物館？」
作者: Shootastar 時間: 12-6-21 21:53
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94BABY
Would you mind sharing what program did your son apply in UCAS and what was the outcome?
If he was successful, would you think his personal statement helped him?
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-6-21 21:56
回復 Shootastar 的帖子
I got your points.
Before I flied to LA, chatted to a friend, her daughter just confirmed to go to UC Berkeley. She reminded me not necessary to take BBA-Law, try to consider LLB + MBA。I may follow her suggestions.
作者: Shootastar 時間: 12-6-21 22:07
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ANChan 59
My son just completed his PCLL course. He told me that most of BBA + Law students have already secured training contracts from very famous law firms in Hong Kong two years before. However many of the LLB graduates could only join the 2nd tier or local firms. If you want to join a reputable MBA program to boost up your qualification, you need working experience. It seems that it is better to study BBA + Law if you are fortunate to be admitted.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-6-21 22:11
Shootastar 發表於 12-6-21 22:07
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ANChan 59
Thanks again, it's a headache.
I guess his PG can secure an interview for both MBBS (40+) and BBA-Law (39+), for admission is 42/45 from HKU. Still a long way to go.
ANChan59
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-6-21 22:23
回復 Shootastar 的帖子
I forward your comments and suggestions to my son and my wife, they appreciate that.
作者: slamai 時間: 12-6-24 01:30
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According to the admission talk of the Dean at the last information day, the answer is NO.
ANChan59 發表於 12-6-21 21:28
Do you know LLB (HKU) will consider 2nd choice or 3rd chocie in non-JUPAs?
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-6-24 14:44
slamai 發表於 12-6-24 01:30
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According to the admission talk of the Dean at the last information day, the a ...
I will ask my son to double check with HKU.
ANChan59
作者: 94BABY 時間: 12-6-24 21:58
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Hi Shootastar,
My kid applied for law (UCAS) in all the 5 choices. He got 4 conditional offers and I think the personal statement is crucial for the application.
作者: Shootastar 時間: 12-6-24 22:04
Congratulation on your son's succession to secure 4 conditional offers from UK law colleges. I agree that personal statement is crucial in the UCAS application because the personal statement serves an important document to tell the admission officers why you want to apply for the program and what have you done to support of your interest and the way forward.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-8-5 13:22
After two years in Pre-IB & IB, he roughly has his PG and in a reasonable grades. From this week onward, he starts to write a few PS as follow:
1. Economics for UCAS and Oxbridge;
2. Medicine for local university;
3. Law for local university;
4. BBA for local university.
After this, he may need to combine 2 and or 3, and or 4 together. We don't know it works or not. Our target is make most PS ready for his school's university councilor's comments by the end of August to save time and won't clash with other tasks when term start.
He spent 10 days and finished the outline of his Extended Essay, aims to finish the first draft by the end of August. He is closed to complete his summer targets, except the revision of the overall test in Sept.......
作者: slamai 時間: 12-8-5 22:53
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Be prepared that there'll be multiple revisions and finetuning to the PS, EE, etc. in fixing the time-table.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-8-5 23:30
slamai 發表於 12-8-5 22:53
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Be prepared that there'll be multiple revisions and finetuning to the PS, EE, ...
作者: Rattie 時間: 12-8-7 13:21
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My girl had recently written her first personal statement during her application process of a summer program.
With the guidance from the internet she managed to throw up a 200-word masterpiece.
It contains all the don’ts
listed in your post and, I’m sure, pretty enough “I” starting in quite many sentences.
Luckily enough I guess the expected standard for junior secondary students is not high so she’s still got a pass.
I would expect to see the need for her to write such personal statements in the future, both in her education and career path.
Her first personal statement now makes part of her portfolio, together with your invaluable comments.
I hope to see progress next time.
Thanks to ANChan59 who contributes a lot of valuable information to EK parents which in my opinion results in more parents willingness to share.
The time-consuming work carried out by parents such as khmama, redkoni will not be neglected either.
These kinds of positive momentum should be encouraged.
We are only beneficiaries here.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-8-7 23:33
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Shootastar
Do you have any idea that BBA-Law must be applied as first choice in non-JUPAS application or the same as LLB?
ANChan59
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-8-7 23:37
回復 Rattie 的帖子
We need more positive energy in the society and internet.
More and more parents share their experience and observations in EK, like ChiChiBaBa, Vincher, ohnono .....etc. If we go to blogs, we can find more informative materials there.
作者: mezk 時間: 12-8-20 17:00
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Hi, AnChan59
I read many of your post. They are very useful! You said you found a very good English teacher on essay writing for your son. Would you like to pm me the detail information? My son would like to improve his English writing skill. Thank you very much in advance!
作者: Shootastar 時間: 12-8-20 17:26
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I do not find that BBA (Law) should be named as the first choice before you are considered. If you apply for MBBS, you need to put it as your first choice otherwise HKU would not consider your application.
It is perfectly alright for your son to focus application for medicine with CU, the law program at HKU and the business problem at HKUST.
作者: mezk 時間: 12-8-22 21:35
回復 mezk 的帖子
Dear ANChan59,
Thank you so much for your kind detail information!
作者: joys2334 時間: 12-8-26 00:45
ch1970 發表於 12-3-14 22:22
1. Personal statements are PERSONAL. If they want the grades/activity record of the candidates, they ...
Thank you for the great inputs about the personal statement.
But one question is that when I have the preview of the UCAS application form, I can see that it just allows you to fill in 10 items of EDUCATION/QUALIFICATION; 5 items of work experiences (paid).
so all the non-paid work experiences, various ECA, awards and achievements, voluntary services, leadership positions inside and outside of schools , etc. will be put under the 500 words of personal statement.
In this case, you have to be very selective in putting the things in your personal statement.
On the other hand, you cannot really showcase your activities in the application form.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks.
作者: ch1970 時間: 12-8-31 01:34
本帖最後由 ch1970 於 12-8-31 01:36 編輯
joys2334 發表於 12-8-26 00:45
Hi Ch1970
Thank you for the great inputs about the personal statement.
what i mean is that Personal statement is not for literally stating what you've done but to "make sense of" what you have done.
e.g.
I am interested in English. I have attained 5** in DSE English. I have received leadership training. I was the chairlady of the school's dancing club.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-10-13 21:41
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Ch1970
My son just submitted the UCAS on-application with a reasonable good Personal Statement. We followed most of your suggestions and mixed with some requirements from different universities, particularly Cambridge......
His exposures, trainings and personal vision made the PS unique with personal inspiration. We are not sure for Cambridge, but definitely good enough for most universities, I will keep my finger cross.
My son also shared with me his buddy's PS for Oxford PPE, very personal and impressive PS. They have totally different approaches, it's fun to read these two strong PS.
I am out, when compare with them.....
ANChan59
作者: ch1970 時間: 12-10-22 20:38
本帖最後由 ch1970 於 12-10-22 20:40 編輯
ANChan59 發表於 12-10-13 21:41
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Ch1970
最近事忙少上網。我那個到現在還未報名，漏氣至極。
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-10-22 21:12
ch1970 發表於 12-10-22 20:38
最近事忙少上網。我那個到現在還未報名，漏氣至極。
作者: Shootastar 時間: 12-10-24 12:28
本帖最後由 Shootastar 於 12-10-24 12:29 編輯
In the UCAS site, you can find their advice on writing a Personal Statement. for UK colleges.
[url=http://www.ucas.com/students/app ... ement/whattoinclude]http://www.ucas.com/students/app ... ement/whattoinclude[/url]
The advice is also suitable for writing a personal statement for HK colleges.
I think your Personal Statement would be pretty good if you can answer or provide information to each and every query raised in the advice
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-10-24 15:46
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My son followed the guidelines and also the Cambridge requirement.
作者: ANChan59 時間: 12-10-24 15:55
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Check our pm.
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