It’s university entrance season, and so begin the trials of the personal statement, which now takes the form of three questions: “Why do you want to study this course or subject?; How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?; What else have you done to prepare outside education, and why are these experiences useful?” – 4,000 characters for the Ucas form, in which every 17- and 18-year-old has to express their uniqueness, while at the same time answering the same generic questions. I can’t help my own kids with this because they’re Stemmy (as in science and maths-oriented). their scope of interests is expressed in formulae, and if I ever have the audacity to ask them to translate it back into words, they shake their heads and go, “You’re never going to understand electron configuration”, in the exact tone of voice you’d use to tell a dog sitting in a suitcase that it isn’t allowed to come on holiday.
But I have had a number of kids doing work experience with me, wanting to study such things as politics, sociology, English and international relations. I should theoretically know my way around the language of persuasion on this territory, but to the Great Admissions Tutor of the collective imagination, nothing is ever good enough.
