Spyglass Personal Statement University Review Programme:

  • Exhaustive

    Our former admissions officers will comb through and analyse your statement in far more depth than universities typically will in order to highlight areas of strength which should be enhanced, areas of potential weakness which can be counteracted, and areas of opportunity which can be capitalised on through detailed feedback with specific instructions and recommendations.

  • Expert

    We deliberately limit the number of personal statements which we can review each cycle due to the intensive time requirements from our small team - all of whom have worked as former admissions officers at Oxford or Cambridge. This ensures that the clients on the University Review programme are able to benefit from advice and input which matches and exceeds feedback from competitors, and strengthens the statement in ways that your dream universities will be seeking.

  • Professional

    Spyglass’s former admissions officers will provide comprehensive, detailed, and specific advice on ways to improve a statement in terms of structure, language, content, and approach. We do not offer an essay writing service. You can be assured of high-quality, professional meetings with extensive and detailed feedback, but we will not under any circumstances write for you. Instead, we show each and every one of our students how to create a truly excellent statement in their own words.

The Spyglass personal statement university review programme provides:

  • The opportunity to develop a high-quality original statement.

  • A statement optimised for a specific course and particular universities, drawing on insider contacts and experience.

  • Direct 1:1 contact hours plus offline review time.

  • Confidence and excellence in statement quality.

What you’ll get

 

  • Work with experienced professionals, with over 70 years of experience combined.

  • Regular 1:1 meetings with former admissions officers and personal statement reviewers.

  • Support and expert guidance on developing a personal statement from scratch, or on enhancing and improving an existing draft.

  • Admissions resources and guidance unavailable elsewhere.

How can we help?

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Do you use any university students in your mentoring?

No. Unlike most other admissions coaching companies, which rely on unqualified undergraduate students to provide admissions strategy and coaching, we prioritise quality and reliability over speed or scale. All of our staff (including administrators) have at least a master’s degree from either Oxford or Cambridge and work experience in admissions at a G5 university or at least 20 years of experience in admissions for their course specialism. No exceptions.

What makes a good personal statement?

No two good statements are alike. Cliche’s and bad advice are very common, both online and within schools. There are a huge range of factors which determine whether a statement is well received, and this is impacted by the choice of degree and of universities. We’ll help you identify the key factors which your chosen universities will be looking for, and will provide detailed, strategic advice for how to best reflect those in your experiences and your statement, including suggesting new experiences if needed.

What is your success rate?

Overall, our students get into their first-choice university (usually Oxford or Cambridge) 62% of the time, and their second-choice university 95% of the time. The average success rate globally for Oxford is 18.6% (1)

Can I add extra elements to my package later?

Yes. In our experience, adding additional elements to your package can mean that they begin later than we would recommend, or cause difficulties in adoption for students, so we advise against it. However, in the years that we have all been working in admissions, we have become well aware that circumstances and even plans can change, and extra support can be added to your package as needed, after the initial engagement.

If I don’t know what to write, will you help?

Yes, absolutely - we can help you brainstorm, and our former admissions officers will be able to recommend tried and tested ways to develop ideas into a statement. They will also be able to re-frame your experiences in ways that you perhaps haven’t considered before. However, we will not write anything for you. This goes against academic and professional conduct standards which we all hold dearly.

When is the best time to start working on a personal statement?

We generally advise that, for hopeful applicants to Oxford or Cambridge, preparation begins in January or February of their application year. For Non-Oxbridge applicants, this pushes back to May. However, we have had many successful clients who only made the decision to apply later in the year of application, and so later starts are also possible. Please be aware that, with late starts - students will be set increased and accelerated schemes of work in order to compensate. In the interests of quality, we will not offer personal statement support to students with an application deadline less than one month away, but more limited - bespoke consultancy can be arranged in these cases. Please contact us for more information.