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1st UCAS Seminar – 1st November 2003
Report By Muhammed Merali
On Saturday 1st November 2003, the first ever UCAS seminar to be organised by COEJ was held at Hujjat Imambara, Stanmore. The programme commenced with Namaaz -e- Maghribain led by Maulana, followed by iftar. The chicken and chips were extremely tasty and we were all served well by the volunteers. In total, about 36 students attended the seminar including a minibus from Peterborough. While enjoying the iftar, we also had a good opportunity to meet and talk with students who had travelled from other parts of the UK to attend the seminar.
Following iftar, we all made our way to the first floor of the annex building where the seminar was to be held. On our desks, we all found a booklet, which contained hints and tips on how to write a personal statement, examples of personal statements written by students in the past, a notebook as well as a complementary diary from the Student Support Network branch of the World Federation.
Once all the participants had settled down, Br Murtaza Datoo started off the proceedings by introducing the speakers who were to address us: Arif Hasham and Ali Panju. Arif is currently a teacher and head of Sixth at Harlington Community School, London and is vastly experienced in dealing with UCAS forms while Ali is presently in his 2nd year studying engineering at Cambridge University.
 Firstly, it was Arif who addressed us on the personal statement section of the UCAS form. This is the opportunity you get on your UCAS form to communicate directly with the admissions tutor at the universities you are applying to. Hence, it is an extremely important section of the UCAS form and needs to be filled in with great care and attention. Arif firstly gave us a brief introduction on the personal statement emphasising both its importance, and the high level of respect it deserves. He then went through several of his previous students’ personal statements, highlighting the positive and negative points in them and how these statements could be improved. He then gave us ideas on how to structure our own personal statement and more importantly, the information that absolutely has to be included in it. He emphasised the fact that the personal statement should clearly convey your reasons for choosing the course you are applying for and should also show the admissions tutor that you really are committed to studying your chosen course.
 Following Arif’s talk on how to write the best possible personal statement, it was Ali Panju who addressed us on the next step after sending off the UCAS form: the interview. He emphasised the fact that you should be well prepared for your interview and be ready to speak openly and passionately about your chosen course. He also stressed the importance of dressing smartly when attending interviews as well as being as relaxed and calm during the interview. Interviewers were not trying to catch you out, he said, but rather they were trying to get the best out of you. He ended his talk by reassuring us not to worry too much about interviews for if we were well prepared, then we would not have any problems with them.
After the two talks, we were then given the opportunity to ask the speakers any questions that we had on the issue of writing our personal statement or on preparing for interviews. At the same time, we were served delicious vanilla ice cream to cool ourselves down after the extremely informative talks by the two speakers.
All in all, I felt that this was a very useful seminar especially for those who were applying to university this year and were in the process of filling out the UCAS form and writing the personal statement. I greatly benefited from the seminar as I’m sure did the other participants. It gave us valuable information on the way to write a personal statement, which will make the admissions tutor at your chosen university accept your application. I would like to thank the COEJ education committee for organising this seminar and hope that this was the first of many such seminars to be organised for the benefit of the youths applying to university.
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