it's time to look at.....

Perhaps I should have mentioned this before... that behind every successful candidate for a university place there is an application to get through. It's 2025 and I should get a move on.

I knew it was coming and I didn't give it as much thought as I should have. I registered with UCAS through their portal and was immediately confronted with a series of options. 1st choice, 2nd choice and even third choice. Too many choices for me. And then there were the subjects to consider, apart from that it was plain sailing. Look at it this way - I wasn't looking to study miles away from my comfortable home, and I knew what subject interested me and I knew what my local university had on offer, and there's a free bus to the campus.

So for me. It was a three click experience before more information was demanded of me. The unavoidable personal information ; the drop down menu's which did not apply to me, and the one's that left you struggling with what they actually meant. I was momentarilly stumped when I was asked for university codes and course codes. I saved and came back to it later with a fresher mind before moving on.

After that section the personal statement loomed. A large void of blank space confronted me. What could I possibly write here ? (For those of you considering what that means for you, it may please you to hear this aspect of the application is being re-considered from 2026. It's being removed. I can't wait.) Anyway, what do I write. There's no point hiding it. So I went straight to the point. I'm old, I have children and grandchildren. I've had more careeers than a failed MP. I'm on the sunny uplands of life looking out towards a glowing sunset...if only...if only you could give me a place at your University...pleeease !

After some begging I highlighted what separated me from the average University undergraduate.What would I bring to a course like this?

And that's when I believe I identified my core tenets. Honed through my years of work and experience.

Without historic academic evidence to fall back on I framed my personal statement, covering the following.

Commitment, Experiences, Skill, Passion and Belief.

The commitment I've shown in my professional career.

Experiences that I've drawn from and have shaped me from my personal life.

The skill(s) that I have developed during that time.

My passion for the subject I hope to study.

The belief in myself and my abilities as a consequence of completing my studies.

When I fleshed out these arguments I then summarised this below. If it helps you to construct a detailed and focused presentation then I have done my work.

What can I offer to this course ?

·       the benefit of more years of experience than many of my fellow students

·       A proven ability to adapt and respond to contradictory information.

·       Novel experiences driven by my background and understanding.

·       Compounded knowledge of situations and people.

·       How to manage and cultivate human relationships on many levels.

What would I seek to gain from this course?  

·       The mechanics and practice of writing and critical thinking.

·       The chance to understand and explore what great writing can look like and why.

·       Being able to handle and analyse information from a variety of sources and express that through concise and detailed essays.

·       Debate and reason with clarity and insight.

·        Enhanced self-belief.

Things to watch out for. I handwrote my personal statement. I freestyled it and polished it over six drafts. When I dropped it into my on line application I realised there was not only a word count but a line count too. This meant I had to cut down my content to the point where some of my punchier inputs were reduced to tag lines rather than emphatic statements.

I still smiled however as I believed I had the ultimate get out of jail free card. The university access course I completed five years ago was run by my target university. Funded by my target university, not only to promote community engagement, but to convert those students to hard cash paying university undergraduates. Would they really reject me from a university place when I had achieved the required grades. The answer - No.

The other thing I didn't navigate was references. It is true in some sense that my work for my last two years was based at home as a contract worker. I didn't have a boss. Even if I did, I had only met them virtually on a number of occasions. Hardly a relationship that would produce a flourishing reference. I sent a covering email with my application direct to the university explaining this situation. It was apparent I wasn't the first, neither would I be the last. Enough said. Good luck.

I'm going to take a look at IT next week. We need to get that out of the way. Stay with me. Any questions - go to the contact page.