SMOOTHIESTUDIES

15.03.18 // I got my first offer for Medicine!! I can’t explain how relieved and happy I am - it’s like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders and now I can finally just focus on getting the grades!

Hello! I’m about to start uni in a few weeks so I thought now would be a good time to share my top tips for writing a good personal statement. There is no ‘special formula’ for writing a good one but these are some tips I picked up from family, friends, online articles, teachers and universities themselves:

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT?

you need to say why you want to study that course - how your interest developed, how you’ve pursued it (e.g. extracurricular activities), how you’ve drawn inspiration - basically demonstrate a lot of enthusiasm but be specific

give evidence that you’re right for the course - demonstrate with examples that you have researched it, understand what it entails and have the correct skills

say what you’ve done outside of the classroom - further reading and opinions (but try to be original - don’t talk about books that are really well-known in your subject)

explain why your experiences are relevant to the course and to a future career - reflect on experiences, don’t describe them!

give examples of transferable skills - teamwork, time management, problem solving, etc. and then expand on the most relevant skills - success in projects, how you grew from particular experiences, biggest challenges you’ve faced, etc.

also show you’re a critical thinker and mention long term plans

AN EXAMPLE:

as an example, here’s what I wrote about in my personal statement:

a public lecture I’d been to at a local university and how this inspired me (you could watch a TED talk online and discuss it)

how I was interested by the lab equipment and research I’d seen at a university when I went on a taster day

hobbies I have and how I was interested in my subject outside of school (books, magazines, podcasts I like and why)

a line about my EPQ and how this follows on from a podcast I listened to

how I’m finding my A level subjects (e.g. I enjoy science practicals)

how my AS levels helped me (e.g. AS history really helped me with essay writing)

what I learned from tutoring some GCSE students and volunteering at a charity shop

how I found shadowing a PhD student at a local university - how this inspired me and motivated me in my chosen subject

TRY TO INCLUDE:

paragraphs and GOOD GRAMMAR!!!!!

balance of academic and extra-curricular 

evidence you’ve done research

show genuine engagement 

lateral thinking - link to a more obscure theme that you find interesting 

honesty and a desire to study 

what you want from course 

positivity

CURIOSITY! 

make it interesting, thoughtful and personal - say what inspires you

DON’T INCLUDE:

academic achievements - unis know what qualifications you have and which grades you’re predicted so don’t waste your characters! 

quotes - this is YOUR personal statement, not Winston Churchill’s!! 

lists - you need detail and explanations 

clichés - you have not wanted to be a doctor for as long as you can remember! 

sweeping statements 

‘passion’ and other commonly-used words 

stilted vocabulary - use language that you actually use (but not slang)

exaggeration 

humour - it’s a dangerous move to use humour 

negativity 

irrelevant facts - it’s not a school essay!

OVERALL:

show not tell - “I’ve been able to develop my communication skills by tutoring three GCSE science students” is better than saying “I’m a good communicator” 

DRAFT!!!! you will not be able to write a good personal statement in one go - it took me months of regular drafting and re-writing to get mine even close to being finished! 

get help! ask friends, family, teachers, etc. to read it and give feedback

don’t be too precious about it - you will have to cut bits out, shorten sentences, lengthen sentences, delete words, re-arrange the structure, etc. so try to stay open minded!

one uni I visited on an open day suggested using the ABC formula: A is for Activity (say what you did), B is for Benefit (say the skills you gained from the activity) and then C is for Course (relate it to the course and say how it prepares you) - I didn’t use this myself but I have friends who found it useful!

be specific! don’t say “I love French” - say “I love how learning new languages helps me to understand the world around me….”

08.02.18 || vii/? year 3

29.3.17 // Wednesday

5/100 Days of Productivity

I want to stand on the roof and scream, I want to flood my FB and Twitter feeds with this…

The NHS is crumbling. This is a winter like no other - a toxic storm of staff shortages, hospital closures, community care crisis, and an awful strain on influenza are pushing the system from barely organised chaos into utter catastrophe.

This morning, we had twice the number of patients in our ED as we had beds to put them in; six hour waits to see a doctor; patients bedded in endoscopy, theatre recovery, ANYWHERE space for a bed could be found; doctors and nurses moving wards left, right and centre to staff Accident and Emergency, admissions units, even normal wards as we’ve had massive staff sickness; consultant physicians, surgeons, paediatricians in ED from 6:30 am trying desperately to fix people; an emergency department referring almost half of their attenders to an in-patient speciality because they just didn’t have the time or manpower to manage them against the tidal of patients and ambulances.

This isn’t just my hospital, or my city. This is the entire goddamn country, every NHS hospital. This is the bleakest winter in NHS history, and I fear it may well be the last.

This was entirely predictable - May and Hunt and all their cronies have deliberately engineered this crisis, because universal, publicly funded, free at the point of access healthcare is anathema to their ideologies. This is class-based cleansing, a genocide of the poor and desperate and vulnerable. This is no longer back-door privatisation; we’re almost at the front door now.

So, if you voted Conservative and support them… You are responsible - I hope pitiful benefit you foresaw in this is worth the responsibility of supporting the downfall of the NHS and the death of thousands. And I hope you have bloody good health insurance, because you never know when you’ll be the one who gets sick. Enjoy filling out forms and realising your treatment is about to rationed due to “pre-existing conditions.” Better make sure you have enough friends to crowdfund your expensive operation/treatment/ICU stay. Otherwise, you might regret it. Assuming you have the insight to recognise being hoist by your own petard.

And to everyone else… Don’t stop fighting. Don’t stop protesting. And don’t ever vote Tory.