Do you remember: At the beginning of this year, UCAS announced the news of its intention to make major adjustments to the PS essay, which attracted widespread attention and heated discussions for a while, and many parents of students were worried about the impact on the application.
And this month, there is finally a new development in this matter!The latest information published on the UCAS official website is that "PS paperwork reform is expected to be implemented in the 2025-2026 application season". In other words, students who submit an English application next year still need to prepare according to the current PS essay requirements.
In an interview with The Uni Guide, UCAS Interim CEO Sander Kristel, gave his thoughts on the issue of PS paperwork adjustments. He stressed that while the Admissions Services had suggested that the PS essay should begin as early as 2024, after careful consideration, UCAS has decided not to formally implement the change until schools, teachers and other supporters are fully prepared.
Kristel made it clear:UCAS' plan is to formally adjust the PS paperwork for the 2025-2026 filing season. UCAS will continue to maintain close communication and cooperation with all interested parties, and the adjustments to the PS Instrument will only be formally implemented once all relevant parties have ensured that they are fully prepared.
What is the direction of reform?
In this interview, Kristel also revealed the latest adjustment direction of the PS instrument. In the original proposal, UCAS intended to replace the original long-form PS instrument with six broad categories of questions. However, after feedback from students, schools, ** regulators and other relevant parties, UCAS has confirmed that the following three types of issues are temporarily retained, namely:
Motivation for applying for the course: Why do you want to apply for this major, and why do you want to study this subject at the university level?
Preparation for applying for courses: How have your learning experiences, academic abilities and skills helped you succeed in your future professional studies at the university level?
Other application-related preparation experience: What else did you do to prepare to help you better apply to college, and why did these experiences help your application?
According to the above information released by UCAS, students who apply for a UK undergraduate next year still need to prepare a 4,000-character (or 47-line) PS essay. Students in the lower grades should be prepared to face the new essay requirements. Why Paperwork Reform?
The main reason for this is that there are some problems and deficiencies in the UCAS instrument. On the one hand, many applicants are confused and stressed about how to write a good essay, and do not know how to organize the content, highlight the strengths, and avoid minefields. On the other hand, many education experts believe that the current essay mechanism is more beneficial to middle-class applicants, as they may have easier access to high-quality advice and guidance, which is unfair to other students.
To address these issues, UCAS released a report in January of this year called The Future of Undergraduate Admissions, proposing a major reform plan. Starting in 2024, i.e. students applying for 2025 entry, the original personal statement will be abolished in favor of a series of questions related to applying for higher education courses.
The aim of this reform is to make university admissions more fair, transparent and supportive, and to avoid inequalities among applicants. By answering specific questions, applicants can express their ideas and information more clearly, while also reducing the guesswork and stress. At the same time, universities can more effectively access the information they really need to know about applicants in order to make more informed and unbiased admissions decisions. How to deal with the reform of the instrument?
If you plan to apply to UK universities in 2024 or later, you need to keep up to date with the latest information on UCAS essay reform and be prepared to adapt. Here are some suggestions:
1.Understand in advance the content and format of the new essay requirements, as well as the individual requirements and preferences of different universities and majors.
2.Collect and organize your own relevant information and materials, such as transcripts, certificates, awards, recommendation letters, work experience, scientific research projects, volunteer activities, etc.
3.Reflect and summarize your motivations, interests, strengths, and goals for your application, and explain relevance and adaptability to the course you are applying for.
4.Set a reasonable schedule and plan the steps of writing, revising, and proofreading the essay to avoid delays or rushes.
5.Seek professional and reliable help and guidance, such as teachers, tutors, consultants, etc., to get their opinions and suggestions to improve the quality of your essay.
6.Read some good examples of essays and learn their writing skills and strategies, but don't plagiarize or imitate someone else's content.
All in all, no matter how the situation changes, planning and preparation are always the keys to success. Pay attention to academic performance and experience accumulation, improve English proficiency, actively participate in activities, comprehensively develop your own disciplines, language and humanities, and improve your soft power, so as to stand out in the competition of studying abroad and get an offer from your ideal university.