Anthony Organ reports on the websites offering personalised UCAS statements to students. From the Mancunion: 

Pupils are spending hundreds of pounds for top university graduates to write their UCAS personal statements.

Websites are charging up to £300 for the services of their professional writers.

One website, which says it “exclusively employs graduates from the UK’s top universities,” offers services ranging from professional editing to fully written statements.

Cathy Gilbert, Director of Customer Strategy at UCAS, said: “UCAS has looked closely at the issue of personal statement services” before stressing “even a bespoke personal statement service carries the risk of being caught by our similarity detection software.”

She continued: “There is a fine line between using an editing service, which is now offered by a number of websites, and using a service which writes the entire personal statement.”

When asked whether this meant that it is acceptable for students to pay for professional editing services a UCAS spokesperson said: “We advise applicants to have their statements checked, that might be by a teacher or parent, and if you did want to have somebody check it over in a professional way then that would be okay too…

Full story here.