University personal statements ‘are unfair to state school pupils’

PERSONAL statements on university application forms should be scrapped because they are unfair to state school pupils, a study claimed today.

The Sutton Trust education charity found state pupils more likely to make writing errors and to struggle to draw on suitable work experience.

Private school pupils are likelier to use ‘appropriate’ language in the 600word texts and to describe prestigious job placements or other activities.

One private pupil’s placements included the trading floor of a firm of stockbrokers. Another shadowed India’s ambassador to the UN.

By contrast, a state school pupil wrote ‘in the final GCSE year there was an opportunity for a group of us to manage the school lockers’.

The study also warned of evidence that personal statements are ‘for sale’, as teenagers pay up to £350 for a graduate to write one.

The Trust called for the form to be overhauled by admissions body UCAS. It suggested instead of a free response, applicants are asked a specific question, such as the attributes they may bring to a course.

The Manchester University study analysed 309 statements by pupils with three Bs at A-level applying to the same departments. Seventy per cent of the privately-educated applicants were accepted but just 50 per cent from the state sector.

Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: ‘Universities should make it clear applicants are not penalised for lacking opportunities due to family circumstances.’

Chris Ramsey, head of fee-paying King’s School, Chester, said: ‘Personal statements are a powerful way to show enthusiasm and potential. It would be wrong to penalise the best.’

UCAS chief Mary Curnock Cook said: ‘The statement is one of a number of pieces of evidence staff look at.’