Personal Statement

ANChan59

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.

ANChan59

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Check our pm.

ANChan59

回復 Shootastar 的帖子

My son followed the guidelines and also the Cambridge requirement.

Shootastar

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

ANChan59

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。

希望他一切報名順利。

ch1970

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。

ANChan59

回復 ch1970 的帖子

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

ch1970

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.

joys2334

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 ...

Hi Ch1970

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.

mezk

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Dear ANChan59,

Thank you so much for your kind detail information!

Shootastar

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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.

mezk

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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!

ANChan59

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.

ANChan59

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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

Rattie

回復 ch1970 的帖子

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.

ANChan59

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,  ...

Noted with thanks, that's our plan too.

slamai

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Be prepared that there'll be multiple revisions and finetuning to the PS, EE, etc. in fixing the time-table.

ANChan59

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.......

Shootastar

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.

94BABY

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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.