1. Amy Poole Halyna interview transcript
What is a personal statement?
A personal statement is something that Universities like to see and it’s like a mini CV in a sense
about you. It’s just advising them something about your personality , something about your
strengths and skills, what you are studying at the moment. Really to sum it up it’s about what you
hope to get out of the course you want to go for and show your enthusiasm for that course aswell as
you are applying too.
What are the dos and don’ts when writing a personal statement
There are quite a few dos and don’ts obliviously if your writing something like this you want it to
flow .You want it to make sense ,you want the grammar to be absolutely spot on and the spelling. So
no text speech because students seem to think that’s okay and no things like I’ve instead you have
to be more precise like I have that’s the sort of stuff.This is like a mini essay in a sense and you have
got to be truthful because you may be interviewed on the basis of what you have said in your
personal statement.So if your then saying I have read something or other and you haven’t then you
are in trouble as you can speak about it. Please no plagiarism aswell as students are picked upon
this as universities do check on this.
What advice would you give to students when writing personal statements?
It’s really a lot about you your skills, what your trying to portray in the course and what you want to
achieve when going to university. Five things she generally say to students:
1.Why do you want to do this course: Try not to start off trying to be cliché saying I did this when I
was little as it can have a negative impact how the university sees you ,as this expression is often
overused in personal statements.
2.Include skills from Btec and A levels :
3.More about your hobbies and interests, work experiences- So the Uni can learn more about you as
a person rather than just being an academic student.
4.Why you want to go to university?- This is important as this can establish to the university how
serious university means to you and the course itself.
5.What you hope to achieve from university?- What you will benefit and university will from having
you.
How long should a personal statement be?
It’s up to4,000 characters and 47 lines would be acceptable as a personal statement. It’s best to
write more than you should in order to clearly narrow down the size of the article so that you get
the effective pieces of the statement for the final personal statement. However, if you write below
2,000 and 3,000 characters it won’t look professional as it would not have shown that you cared
enough to put time and effect in as it would be short and vague.
What advice would you give a student preparing for exams and stuck on how to revise effectively?
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2. Amy Poole Halyna interview transcript
There is plenty of help from within college through teachers and academic coaches around college
with various workshops you can go to. There is help also fromparents who provide supportive help.
There is various websites that help like get revising.co.uk that you can go into. Students shouldn’t
panic they should start revising 4 weeks before and the college will offer support to come up with
methods you haven’t thought of when it comes to revision.
What advice would you give to parents to help the students throughout the exam process?
Parents need to know when the exams are i.e dates and times so they are best informed. Parents
can help in little ways to help the studentsi.e making sure the students sleep on time, eat regularly
and be fully prepared the night before by checking they have the important equipment such id cards
and special equipment. The main message is to make sure the parents are kept in the loop and if
there are students that are really anxious then the parents should contact the college ASAP.What
the college can then offer is the student to go in a special room to help them when doing the exam
or talk through with tutors to make sure the experience isless nerve racking.
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