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The most important tip that would would give is for you to get across your passion for
the subject
You should start your personal statement by telling us right from the outset about your
personal interest in the subject
Don't leave it to the last minute to tell us
My advice for writing your personal statement is to remember that it is just that. It is
personal
There is no such things as a perfect personal statement
We want to see who you are and what drives your academic interests
For example, if you are interested in a particular author, movement, or historical moment you
might want to show evidence that you've done further independent reading or research on
the topic, and that you are really interested in studying that course at university
But don't just list the books or moments that you are interested in
We're interested in hearing about your response to these topics and how that response has
impacted your thinking and perhaps drives your future career plans
My tip would be to look at your application as a whole form the perspective of an admissions
tutor
Hopefully you have done your research so you know what the universities you are applying
to are looking for in perspective students
Is there anything in your application that is slightly unusual, unexpected, that might
cause an admissions tutor to think abit
If there is then the personal statement is the place to address that those aspects of
your application
So what we really really like to see is evidence that you go out there and seize the opportunities
other than the norm
So go climb a mountain, go and do a sponsored bike ride, become a mentor at school, go and
join a club or society, learn a new skill, anything like that will look really good on
your personal statement
I think when writing your personal statement it's really important to think carefully about
the structure and content of your personal statement
Clearly on any degree programme there is a lot of written work that needs to be done,
so as admissions tutors we want to see from your statement that you have a good style
and approach to writing
One particular thing to think about is your attention to detail in your writing style.
The structure of your statement is always an area of focus
We want to see that it fits together well with a consistent argument and approach running
through it making a coherent whole
and another key point would be to proof read your work carefully in order to avoid grammatical
and spelling errors
These can slip in really easily, so if you read your statement again and again, check
it very thoroughly that will hopefully eliminate all errors which would other wise create a poor impression