UCAS申请攻略——你不该碰的“经典误区”(2)

　　So you’ve added all the correct contact information, you’ve thought long and hard about what course to apply for and at which university. Now you need to work hard to make sure that your personal statement, your chance to sell yourself to the university in prose, acts to support not detract from your application.

　　In my many years of UCAS experience I have seen several classic mistakes that act to reduce the chance of the applicant being accepted by their favourite universities. In this column i want to help you avoid making similar mistakes, so read carefully and don’t forget my advice, I have seen too many students crying about rejection and don’t want this to happen to you too!

　　When you apply for a course like Economics, with more applicants than there are places, it is competitive to be accepted by your favourite university. One of the core purposes of the personal statement is for you to demonstrate why you want to study this course for the next three to four years of your life. A typical response to this would be to say, of course I want to read Economics articles, journals and books for the next three years - look at all the books that I’ve read already. Then the student proceeds to create a list of all the famous primers within the subject area that they claim to have read. This is the classic mistake.

　　My choice of word, claim, is precisely the point. Anyone in the world can search for a list of books about Physics, Law or Architecture, and they can say - I have personally read all of these. But is it true? it is a claim without evidence. If you wanted to prove to a university that you had indeed read all the important books on Economics creating a list is not going to do this.

　　What you should do instead is talk with humble enthusiasm about what you agree with from each author, the more specific the better, and if there are any areas you found you cannot completely support their arguments. If your references are precise and your analysis intriguing it firstly proves that you have read the book, and even more importantly, it demonstrates that you are a critical thinker capable of evaluating the work of others. This is exactly what the university wants to see.

　　The best way to explain all this is not to use a boring intellectual pursuit like Economics and instead think of something fun that millions of people like. Imagine there was a course at Beijing university about basketball. And if you did really well on this course you might become a coach of an NBA team. Imagine how many young people would love to do that course, there would be a lot more applicants than places, so if you want a place you’d need to prove that you deserve it! Would you write a list of all the coaching books that you’d read?

　　Of course not! You’d talk with passion about different teams, their strengths, their weaknesses. You’d talk about the coaches, their styles, their media interviews, their personalities, their tactics, their success in the trading of players. You’d talk about which coaching manuals you liked and which you hated, which drills work best and why, You’d talk about basketball commentators, on TV, radio and in newspapers. You’d enthuse about who is interesting, who is funny, who is accurate and who is wrong most of the time. You’d also, in analysing all of the major platers, coaches, teams, journalists, you’d also talk about your own ideas - if I was an NBA coach I’d do this, that and the other.

　　Your personal statement should be exactly like this. Writing about basketball, soccer, films, shopping or technology sometimes seems easier than talking about Economics or Maths. But if that is the case, that you can’t write passionately about which Economists you like, which arguments are strong, which topics need further research, then you are in danger of trying to study a course that doesn’t really interest you. And if it doesn’t really interest you that much will be abundantly clear in your personal statement.

　　So my advise is don’t write a list, instead prove you care by enthusing about the books that matter to you in that subject area. I’ve seen lots of Chinese students misunderstand this point, that is why you need good UCAS advice to make sure you get the course place that you deserve!

　　Thanks