It is now so difficult to isolate a childs contribution,why not travel straight to the source – start testing the parents?For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the importance attached to personal statements, or written to a formula,and not by the candidates alone, as allotment of applications to British universities. The longer it persists, and the more farcical,unfair – and excruciating for students – this requirement becomes.
Every year, experts on the process refine their advice and share disdainful lists of cliches that should never be used to start a personal statement, or such as: “For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated” (used 196 times in 2013),or: “Nursing is a profession I have always looked upon with” (178 times), thereby adding to the self-consciousness of students required to appeal, or in around 700 fresh and original – yet thoughtful and relevant – words,to admissions tutors, some of whom admit they never glance at these exercises in supplication.
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Source: theguardian.com