The rhythms of the academic year have dictated the flow of my life for the best part of forty-five years. Apart from a brief hiatus when I experimented with life as a researcher, I have spent all that time in education, either as a student or a teacher. The nervous energy of late August, the week of Carol Services in December, the looming exam fever that arrives each May. These are familiar and predictable landmarks. Yet the period between the last week of August and the second week of October has developed its own distinctly educational theme: UCAS.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service is, of course, open for much of the year. However, the first major deadline for Oxbridge applicants, as well as aspiring doctors, dentists and veterinary scientists, inevitably galvanises schools and sixth-form students, focusing minds on what can sometimes feel like the all-consuming process of applying to university.

Perhaps the most infamous part of that process is the Personal Statement. More recently, this has been structured around three simple questions: Why this course? What have you done to explore it? What else have you done? In reality, however, it is still just 4,000 characters, around 620 words, and one of the most challenging pieces of writing many young people will ever produce.

Most students are not short of things to say. Instead, it is the sequencing, phrasing and balance of their ideas that bring sleepless nights and hours of anxiety. There is no mark scheme, no definitive formula and very little feedback from universities. For conscientious students, that can make it exceptionally difficult to know when to stop editing. It is also worth remembering that writing positively about yourself is not something that comes naturally to most people.

Over the course of a twenty-year teaching career, I have read hundreds of personal statements. A handful have been outstanding, very few have been poor, but the vast majority have simply been good. And good is absolutely fine. If you have communicated your enthusiasm for a subject, demonstrated an understanding of the course and reflected thoughtfully on your experiences and achievements, then you have achieved exactly what the Personal Statement is designed to do.

So, if you are a student working through this process at the moment, you have my sympathies, but do not let the Personal Statement become a monster. And if you are a parent, teacher or anyone else supporting a young person through the process, patience is perhaps the greatest gift you can offer.

UCAS season comes around every year, bringing with it a familiar mix of excitement, uncertainty and aspiration. Somehow, despite all the stress it can generate, it remains one of the most hopeful periods in the academic calendar.

Colin Pearson
Deputy Head Academic