What’s going on with uni applications?
It was announced in July 2024 that the 4,000-character essay included in personal statements for University applications is to be scrapped, and replaced with questions to help ‘scaffold it’ (according to UCAS). According to the BBC, there will be three questions asking students why they want to study the course, how their qualifications and studies have helped them to prepare for the course, and what else they have done to prepare outside education. As someone who wrote and submitted their personal statement in 2021, I believe this could produce mixed results.
Right now students will be receiving offers from the universities they applied to. I remember that feeling-the-rush when you got an offer from a university that you’d worked so hard to try to get into. I remember how it felt getting my firm choice and my insurance choice. I was fortunate enough to be provisionally accepted to every university I applied to – and given the support I had with my personal statement, and my predicted grades (which I didn’t achieve in the end, but that’s a different story) – I wasn’t massively surprised.
I had two friends apply to Cambridge, and three to Oxford. Only one of them got in, specifically to study Engineering at Oxford. I can imagine it must have felt crushing for my friends who applied to study History and English at Cambridge respectively, as well as for my friend who didn’t get in to study Mathematics at Oxford. I nearly didn’t get in anywhere, but my unconditional offer to Lancaster University saved me. I felt defeated and crushed, although determined to try again, as I’m sure many students who struggle on A-Level Results Day do.
A good college
I was privileged enough to attend a good college. This was as a result of progressing from a good secondary school, which had links to the college, one of the best in the North West for results. This also meant that I was well-supported, and like every student in my year group, I had an Achievement Tutor. Mine was likely no more than ten years older than me, with red hair and fabulous boots! I really appreciate all that she did for me when I was there including helping me redraft my personal statement.
As the first in my immediate family to attend university, I never had parental help with my personal statement. My older brother couldn’t help me, either. Although they’re intelligent, university wasn’t financially accessible for my parents, and my brother wasn’t interested in attending college. They’ve all done well despite this. My brother and father are construction workers who’ve both owned their own businesses and my mother as a successful Occupational Therapist and amazing stay-at-home parent. I have always aspired to higher education. That’s where the college came in with support.
A supportive environment
My achievement tutor guided me, helping me to talk about why I was passionate about what I was going to study (English Literature and Creative Writing) , and what made me capable of doing so. I was studying English Literature so I talked about the books I’d read, mentioning the global and feminist literature I’d come across and why I enjoyed it. I also mentioned having completed Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) summer school, a brilliant online opportunity I’d just done. It meant that I had a reduced offer for the English course there. It entailed a week or two of online sessions, and a writing task at the end of it, which we received feedback on afterwards.
So I had the right experiences, and I clearly had (and still have) the passion. They could see that. There was heart and passion there, because although my college was guiding me, I was the one putting my heart and soul into the application. The great thing about personal statements is, despite external guidance, each one is unique and plays to the strengths of the student writing it. For example, if there’s a particular area they have a special awareness of in their field of study, they can showcase it. It is individual to each student. This enables the universities to see a passionate prospective student, but also a human being. I am treated in a holistic way and as a human being, not just a student, while studying at Lancaster University at present. There is a level of personal connection there that makes me feel valued and known as myself, and not just another generic student.
Levelling the playing field?
But what level of personal connection do generalised questions offer?
Granted, students are still able to give their own individual answers to each question. But their scope is limited a lot by just having to answer set questions. Surely, generic questions are only going to produce generic answers? Is this what educators want out of students? Not to look at them holistically and as individuals but as just another customer who will receive a degree in exchange for fifty grand of debt at the end of a three-year-course?
That said, there are also some strong arguments to be made for this new approach. It could the playing field more level for students who, like myself, are the first in their family to attend university, and who – unlike me – may have not had a good level of support at their college; whether for socioeconomic reasons, or just a general lack of organisation and guidance on the part of the college. Some colleges offer more pastoral support than others, after all. Mine had been hugely supportive: due in part maybe to being a Catholic college, with being pastoral a part of its ethos. But not all colleges have the same approach. For students who were at colleges that were less supportive, this is a good idea. It allows the applicant to talk more easily about how they are preparing for life at university, and what is driving them to apply.
Improved accessibility
So arguably, this new incentive may improve accessibility for those from low-income socioeconomic backgrounds and also levels the field for disabled students. As a disabled student myself, I often need clear and specific written and verbal instructions on what to do, and how to do it, and many other students will feel the same way. According to Mentally Healthy Schools, it is estimated that approximately 15-20% of young people in the UK are, as I am, neurodivergent. This is not an insignificant number of students.
Theoretically then, this new approach may therefore help young people, as it gives them the specific guidance and support that especially the neurodivergents need to be able to sell themselves effectively to universities. With specific questions being asked, they will be able to tailor their answers more effectively. Those who struggle on starting tasks – such as students with ADHD – may find it less overwhelming answering questions instead of writing out a personal statement in full – a daunting task even for a neurotypical student, let alone a neurodivergent one!
Neurodivergent people should have a chance to access higher education, after all.. And this may help us.
Wait and see
Ultimately, we’ll have to wait it out and see how well the new system works. If this strategy helps to benefit students from low-income backgrounds and means that children at private schools have less of an advantage over them, then it makes for a more economically fair and equitable society. Disability advocacy is also massively important, and if this can help other neurodivergent young people – and also young people who have English as a second or third language – then this is a positive thing, especially in today’s modern, multicultural society.
It will need some creative thinking, however, to guard against a potential lack of originality, personal connection and independent thought when it comes to university applications. Independent thinking is important – not only at college and university – but in the real world. You cannot, as an adult, be easily swayed by one authority, or else you’re easy to manipulate and lie to. This can lead people down all kinds of different rabbit holes, not always for good Misinformation appears to be rife these days, especially with the spread of AI tools to create false words and images. This, alongside the turbulence of political systems throughout the world (including the UK itself, and the US) could be dangerous.
Let’s hope this new incentive goes swimmingly, and does not sink, and take young people down with it.
