Scrapping Personal Statements? Proposed UCAS Reforms.
On 12 January 2023, UCAS released a report outlining suggestions to reform the current structure of its application system. In this report, UCAS proposes to replace the free-text personal statement with a series of six questions.
Kim Eccleston, Head of Strategy and Reform at UCAS, emphasises the centrality of fair admissions, transparency, and prioritising the best interests of applicants. Summarising their efforts over the past three years to develop new improvements and to provide a more flexible system, she explains their proposal to move away from the personal statement:
‘Through these upcoming reforms, we aim to introduce greater personalisation for students making post-secondary choices, give more structure to free text sections of the UCAS application (specifically, the academic reference and personal statement), enhance visibility of the range of grade profiles and deliver new initiatives to support further widening access and participation.’
What are the suggested changes?
As summarised by Tom Fryer, Steve Westlake and Professor Steven Jones in a blog post for the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI):
‘The UCAS report makes an initial proposal of six questions across the following topics:
Motivation for Course – Why do you want to study these courses?
Preparedness for Course – How has your learning so far helped you to be ready to succeed on these courses?
Preparation through other experiences – What else have you done to help you prepare, and why are these experiences useful?
Extenuating circumstances – Is there anything that the universities and colleges need to know about, to help them put your achievements and experiences so far into context?
Preparedness for study – What have you done to prepare yourself for student life?
Preferred Learning Styles – Which learning and assessment styles best suit you – how do your courses choices match that?’
What does this mean for students?
In many ways, this proposed reform paves the way towards a fairer admissions system, as the open-ended form of the personal statement has often led to uncertainty, especially when completed without any support. This has created a stark inequality, as since privately educated students receive more support and resources to help them navigate their personal statements, they hold a clear and unjust advantage over their state educated peers. Replacing the personal statement with more supportive and structured questions is one step forward in addressing the inequality that some applicants face.
The fourth question gives students an opportunity to flag up any extenuating circumstances that may have hindered quality of their grades, or their work at school. Having a separate and directed section aimed at contextualising individual students’ experiences is another good way that UCAS aims to support widening access and participation.
The vague mention of ‘learning styles’ in question six has prompted some confusion. The HEFI blog states that UCAS’ intended this question to focus on preferences for independent study, contact hours, frequent short assessments, or end-of-year assessment approaches. However, I am not convinced that students’ learning preferences should be a deciding factor in the admissions process at all. A certain student with caring responsibilities, for example, may have chosen further study particular institution due to its geographical location - not how their course is assessed.
Finally, it is key to remember that these are only proposed changes. Nothing is definite, or set in stone. As much as this gives us - as teachers and students - a vague idea of UCAS’ plans for the future, we’re still in the waiting stages of what could be a lengthy process of admissions reform. Note that the current Year 12s don’t have to worry about these reforms - they are intended for the current Year 11s (incoming Year 12s for 2023-4).
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