Hi there! How have you been? It is literally a day before the final exam! To be honest, I am pretty nervous about the exam, especially the pharmacology exam. Pharmacology is actually an interesting and practical module, however it involves many protein receptors and complicated mechanisms, which sometimes confuse me a lot. Anyway, I will try my best, wish me luck in the final exam!

Okay, lets continue the topic in my previous blog, about the application to Surrey. As I mentioned, personal statement plays a major role in determining if you will be offered a place of study at your desired university. Sometimes, if you do well in your personal statement, it could bring you a scholarship from the university, hence, it may be even more important that your academic performance. Try to work on your personal statement as early as possible as you might spend lots of time writing the statement. In my point of view, an outstanding personal statement demonstrates your passion/enthusiasm, potential and ambition to study your chosen course/university. I would recommend you to allocate more time and effort on writing a personal statement. Try to consult your seniors who have been studying in the UK, or your education agent if you are in doubt, in order to produce a strong personal statement that could convince the admission officer to offer you a place, or a scholarship in the university.

I fulfilled the academic requirement (receiving Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) with A2 in five subjects, excluding Chinese and Malay) and therefore received the Surrey Prestige Scholarship, a 2000 pounds entry scholarship in the form of tuition fee waiver in year 1. However, I believe that my personal statement has played a major role in helping me secure a place in the University of Surrey, and award me a scholarship, which has greatly reduced the financial burden of my parents.

In my personal statement, I wrote about the loss of my grandfather due to Parkinson’s disease, which has inspired me to delve deeper into the biomedical field. Moreover, I mentioned some of my awards to show my potential and capability in learning biomedical science, for example, the Champion of national science camp and the fourth-place in the OLYMPIA mathematics competition. I also mentioned my performance in co-curriculum activities and other experience, which has helped to shape my personality, and become a well-rounded person. For example, my experience in organizing a science camp for primary school students, teaching students as a tutor for eight months, playing the violin etc. I also express my interest in studying at the University of Surrey, because of their exceptional teaching qualities, dynamic and vibrant campus, and high-ranked student experience.

Normally, the personal statement character limit is 4000 characters or 47 lines of text (including spaces and blank lines). This equates to roughly 500 words. Hence, you may need to modify and shorten your statement a bit after writing. Hence, UCAS recommend that you write out your personal statement in a word processor before copying and pasting it into the online application form. One more thing, your personal statement will be checked for plagiarism in the Turnitin website, so please don’t copy any sentence/paragraph from the internet or the statement of your seniors, you have to write your ‘own’ statement instead.

Alright, this blog is all about writing a personal statement. Next week, I will tell you some processes that you will have to gone through before you depart to the UK, for example, the visa application process, and signing up for pick-up service at the airport.

Have a nice weekend! See you next time!