Would You Need a UCAS Personal Statement Checker?
Competition for a place at university or college is at an all-time high and many students will try anything to get an edge to get that place that they want. This is especially true when it comes to writing their personal statement. This short essay is often going to be the deciding factor in your gaining a place. If you can write it well then you have a great chance of making yourself memorable to the admission committee. Even if your state has passed the admission essay originality check it must still be attention-grabbing.
However, UCAS in the UK and many other systems around the globe will use a personal application originality checker to see if your statement really is your own work.
As UCAS states on their website:
“We have a responsibility to our applicants, course providers, and stakeholders to screen applications for false, missing and/or misleading information and personal statements for patterns of similarity and to report our findings.”
So if you are wondering are personal statements checked for plagiarism they are! They conduct an originality check on your personal statement using a piece of software known as “copycats”. This piece of software compares your personal statement not only against what is out there online but also against all previous statements and other libraries of material. According to a report in the Telegraph newspaper, the system found that around 5% of those statements submitted in the first year it was employed copied phrases from elsewhere. Despite students being made aware of the use of this software it still regularly finds that 3-4% of statements contains plagiarism.
What Happens If Your Personal Statement Is Copied?
The check that UCAS and many other systems perform is reported to the university or college that you are applying to. These colleges are looking for your personal application to be original and about you. If it is flagged as being plagiarized you can be sure that they are not going to look at your application favorably.
Therefore submitting anything that is plagiarized is going to almost certainly cause your application to be rejected, after all, there will be many others applying that have not stooped to copying. Meeting their requirements means that you must submit something that is wholly original.
Why Does Your Personal Statement Need to Be Original?
The personal statement is your opportunity to make your application stand out and to sell yourself. The committee will be reading many hundreds of statements and many are frankly going to be very boring and similar to each other. These statements are simply going to merge into one another and the committee is not going to remember anything of those applications.
However, if you are able to come up with something that is truly memorable and different to the norm you have a real chance of being selected purely on the strength of your personal application. This however for many is a real challenge and is why so many will turn to copying in the hope that they will not be caught. Some may even unconsciously repeat something that they have written when reviewing samples if those samples have really caught their eye.
How to Avoid Plagiarism When You Write Your Personal Statement
It is very important to use a personal statement plagiarism checker before you submit your statement. This will help you to not only to identify anything that you have unconsciously copied, but also any clichés that you may have used. While it is easy to find a free online copyright checker to use it would be better if you avoid the issues right from the start.
The following tips will help you with ensuring that your writing is unique:
- A good personal statement often forms around a story that you tell about yourself. Try to select a true and relevant anecdote of your own around which to tell that story. Do not be tempted to retell someone else’s story.
- Write about yourself: what are your own ambitions? What are your reasons for wanting to study this subject? Why are you different to anyone else applying? If you write about yourself honestly then your writing will be as unique as you are.
- Use examples: talk about things that have actually happened to you and how you have reacted and what the results were. Your life is unique and will always be different to anyone else.
- Avoid clichés: “Ever since I was six years old…”, “I have an overwhelming passion for…”. Using overly worn phrases is not only going to send the reader into a deep sleep it will also often be flagged as simply copied even if you have not consciously intended to copy.
- Use a personal statement originality checker to confirm that your document is unique. Even if you “know” that your writing is your own work using a tool to check document originality is still advised.
Use Our Personal Statement Originality Checker
You can check your personal application for plagiarism and generate an originality report free by simply copying and pasting your writing into our tool. It will search for everything out there and let you know if your writing has copied anything that has been done before. So even if you have simply used a cliché or unconsciously used a phrase that has stuck in your mind it will be highlighted to you. It is far better to run this free check than to unwittingly submit something that will simply be dismissed as being a copy.
Ensure that your submission has the best chance with the use of our free and easy to use personal statement originality checker today!
