vikingTON Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Just don't expect others to pay for it, no matter what the student and/or graduate's status, either. Primary and secondary education are completely essential for someone to function in wider society. The government makes full time education, training or development compulsory up to the age of 16 in Scotland and soon up to 18 in England for exactly that reason. Tertiary education is not absolutely necessary for that, is not functionally made available to all on the same basis (Universities and Colleges are, uh, selective) and only benefit specifically those who go to them. Under your proposal it is the default position that successful people who did not benefit from tertiary education subsidise those who do benefit from such an education irrespective of whether or not those graduates are capable of paying for that service for themselves once they are earning. By all means, create facilities to make University access independent of the ability to contribute up-front capital, through a student loans system or similar, but when people are earning and able, they should pay back into the University system, not only because they have benefited more than the average taxpayer on the same amount who didn't go, but also because that money can then be reinvested in scholarships and bursaries to lessen the burden of up-front living costs that are what actually deter the economically disadvantaged from University. Yawn: you were better when you were pretending to be a nationalist, this material's dated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ad Lib Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 A friend of mine wrote his entire personal statement based around how much he wanted to be a teacher, the skills he had that were relevant, all that sort of stuff. He applied for 3 primary teaching courses and was rejected from them all, yet got unconditional offers for the other two he applied for which were both psychology. My personal statement focused entirely on why I wanted to study law. My first three acceptances were for Chemistry and Maths, History and Politics, and Maths and Politics. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ad Lib Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Yawn: you were better when you were pretending to be a nationalist, this material's dated. When have I ever pretended to be a nationalist? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 A friend of mine wrote his entire personal statement based around how much he wanted to be a teacher, the skills he had that were relevant, all that sort of stuff. He applied for 3 primary teaching courses and was rejected from them all, yet got unconditional offers for the other two he applied for which were both psychology. Nothing says 'confidence in your ability' as a teacher like sticking two psychology courses on your application as a fall-back. I'd hate to see my old personal statement. I recently found my first CV I wrote when I graduated and it was just two pages of cringe. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the jambo-rocker Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Write whatever you want, they don't matter. This. I wrote two paragraphs on my phone while staying at a hostel in Hamburg and I still got in 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supras Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I've left this a tad late, but does anyone have any recommendations for personal statements? I co wrote mine with a teacher in 35 minutes on deadline day in January. Had a typo in first line. Got in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 If you'd listened to my teachers, you'd have thought you'd be raking bins for the rest of your life if you f***ed up your personal statement. "I'm better than anyone else because I was a prefect and was in Scouts for 5 years which taught me responsibility and means I'm amazing with people. Pick me." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dane-don Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 My dad done mine. -2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AberDon Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) I've left this a tad late, but does anyone have any recommendations for personal statements? I wrote two sentences about engineering at the end of my statement, and got an unconditional offer for engineering. They don't matter unless you are doing Medicine. Or teaching. Edited November 9, 2012 by AberDon 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AberDon Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I'm almost two months into my course and I already regret not going to Edinburgh or Glasgow. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raith Against The Machine Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I wrote about wanting to go to Russia because of all the culture and shit. I have absolutely no idea why. I don't know why I thought it would help, as it certainly wasn't relevant, and to the best of my knowledge, it's never been true either. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ad Lib Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Yawn: you were better when you were pretending to be a nationalist, this material's dated. When have I ever pretended to be a nationalist? Well? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) I wrote about wanting to go to Russia because of all the culture and shit. I have absolutely no idea why. I don't know why I thought it would help, as it certainly wasn't relevant, and to the best of my knowledge, it's never been true either. A joint degree in the arts and sewage management? Edited November 9, 2012 by Granny Danger 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR96 Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 My teachers put a lot of emphasis on the importance of a Personal Statement and so do the Universities when they come to my school to speak to us. Obviously if you're sitting there with 5 A's in your 1st sitting then you've got an unconditional regardless of how good your Personal Statement is. Although if your grades are borderline (like myself) then a good Statement can really give you an advantage, I would like to think. My UCAS referee said my Statement was 'perfect', so here's hoping I get in. Then again, she's absolutely useless so I'm not confident. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coooombe Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 (edited) I'm fucking raging at the tutor I had for International Business. The woman has gone and given everyone in the class a 2B for presentation and a 2C for discussion. EVERYONE. Some of my pals in other tutorials are walking away with 1Bs and I've looked over the stuff they have covered and it's very similar to what we done in our tutorial. The tutor obviously just couldn't be arsed to properly assess what we've done so gave everyone a pretty average mark to save the trouble. Not happy in the slightest. Edited November 10, 2012 by Coooombe 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mushroom Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 (edited) Having openly accessible tertiary education is obviously to the benefit of society and the economy and allows people to fulfil their potential without having to shit themselves about the financial implications. Maybe the bar for funding should be set higher (ie. someone with BCC doing fashion management at Caley can get tae), but the idea of not funding it at all... I can't see how that wouldn't screw things up a bit. Anyway, I've just realised that being 4th year - if I'm going to do anything else next year I need to get applying soon! Was thinking about doing a composition masters, since I've enjoyed composing and I'm pretty good at it - but then I remembered that would involve entering the self absorbed culture of the contemporary classical composer, something which truly would be vacuous and frustrating. That' before you consider the non-existent job prospects - there might be one full time composer in Scotland. ONE. I think I'd be far happier teaching. Edited November 12, 2012 by Mushroom 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoBNob Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Personal statements don't matter? Well that is tremendous news 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 RE: Personal statements, I don't think they really matter at all. We were told that it was the be all and end all, but every single person I went to college with (I'm a direct entry student) got their first choice, and having read through some of the efforts put forward I was pretty surprised. My question. How long would you take to plan and complete a report? I have two due in three weeks (3500 words and 5000 words) and I have barely scratched the surface with either. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 See I've always heard the opposite - that a good personal statement is very important which would make sense seen as so many people are getting similarly high grades that they need something to distinguish them 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 (edited) See I've always heard the opposite - that a good personal statement is very important which would make sense seen as so many people are getting similarly high grades that they need something to distinguish them There probably is a grain of truth in there somewhere, but as mentioned, if you're sitting on 5 A's, you'll get in. The personal statement will only be considered if it comes down to a judgement call between getting in or not. For example If you're marginally above or below the course requirements, along with a dozen other people, with half a dozen places left. Certainly in my experience, outside of the big courses like Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Life Sciences and a collection of the design courses, given how many places go to clearing, I'd be surprised if personal statements are regularly looked at. Edited November 15, 2012 by thisGRAEME 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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