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Personal statement for a part time access course?

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  • 19-08-2014 1:27pm
    #1
    Jackeenbeag
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭


    I'm looking at going to college as an undergraduate in September 2015, however I've been told that I'll need to do a part-time access course first starting this September.

    Part of this application is the personal statement, which I'm dreading.

    How detailed should this be for an access course?

    I've gone through a lot medically with my partner being quite ill in recent years, should I include this as a show of character and a tough situation I've gone through?

    Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

    Jack.


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    #2
    Hildred
    Registered Users Posts: 128 ✭✭Hildred


    Jackeenbeag wrote: »
    I'm looking at going to college as an undergraduate in September 2015, however I've been told that I'll need to do a part-time access course first starting this September.

    Part of this application is the personal statement, which I'm dreading.

    How detailed should this be for an access course?

    I've gone through a lot medically with my partner being quite ill in recent years, should I include this as a show of character and a tough situation I've gone through?

    Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

    Jack.

    I'm in a similar situation Jack and have submitted my application for an Access course here in Sligo. The application wasn't difficult.

    The Application Statement "What would you hope to gain from this programme? (Enclose an extra page if required.)" I submitted was only two paragraphs and one sentence long. My response to the question "In your opinion, what obstacles prevented you proceeding to University degree-level studies up to now?" was about five paragraphs (page-ish) long and basically stated why I hadn't managed to get to Uni level education before. i.e., financial considerations, personal circumstances, etc.

    In any case, it seems that my application has met with at least some success because I've been granted an interview next week. If you believe your partner's illness is relevant to your not taking up third level education previously then by all means include it in your statement. Personally, I think your current and past financial circumstances are equally important to your application.

    Best of luck with your application, and in your under-grad career! 😊


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    #3
    Jackeenbeag
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭Jackeenbeag


    Hildred wrote: »
    I'm in a similar situation Jack and have submitted my application for an Access course here in Sligo. The application wasn't difficult.

    The Application Statement "What would you hope to gain from this programme? (Enclose an extra page if required.)" I submitted was only two paragraphs and one sentence long. My response to the question "In your opinion, what obstacles prevented you proceeding to University degree-level studies up to now?" was about five paragraphs (page-ish) long and basically stated why I hadn't managed to get to Uni level education before. i.e., financial considerations, personal circumstances, etc.

    In any case, it seems that my application has met with at least some success because I've been granted an interview next week. If you believe your partner's illness is relevant to your not taking up third level education previously then by all means include it in your statement. Personally, I think your current and past financial circumstances are equally important to your application.

    Best of luck with your application, and in your under-grad career! 😊

    Thanks for your reply. All the best with your application and career too : )

    In my personal statement application section, it doesn't say what to include or any questions at all, just a blank field with "personal statement" written in it.

    I rang the office and asked how detailed they wanted it, and all I was told was to "sell myself to them".


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    #4
    hdowney
    Registered Users Posts: 12,921 ✭✭✭✭hdowney


    What College/Uni Jack?

    My personal statement said why I was interested in the particular subjects I want to study (English Lit and History), how the Access course will help me with them (they have Eng Lit and History as choices on the course :D). Why I am choosing them now (cos I did childcare out of college and now know that isn't for me). Just a little that. If you want to put in a bit about your partners illness (in terms of strength of character, reason for not going to college before now etc) then of course do. Just I wouldn't put pages of stuff in, cos they'll get bored after a while. They want you to explain why, but as concisely as possible.

    Good Luck


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    #5
    flashback humour
    Registered Users Posts: 37 ✭flashback humour


    There's loads of personal statement samples online, particularly on UK websites as a personal statement is part of the standard application process for most courses. I'd suggest reading through a few just to get an idea of what you can include or what direction you want to go in but definitely don't be tempted to plagarise!


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