Personal Statement
The Aim
Your personal statement should show geography admissions tutors that you are really interested in geography and have an intense passion to learn more. You will therefore be a great person for them to have at their university, so the offers come rolling in.
Writing it
A personal statement should mainly cover the subject but should also tell tutors a little about yourself. Whilst geography will be a big part of your university experience, there is free time for doing other things and tutors will want to admit students that will get involved in the university in many ways. Therefore as well as the geography element of a personal statement talking about other things you have done, from volenteering to school positions, is really good practice. A really smart thing to do is to try and relate these activities to the geography element of the personal statement. For example if a student discusses urban areas as a particucular geographical interests linking this in the an interrailing summer plan they have done or will do is a really good way to show that they are thinking about the subject in their everyday lives
The main part of a personal statement will be devoted to the course, in this case geography. Due to the bredth of geography as a degree there is a huge scope for what can be discussed. Almost any current affairs issue has a geographical element (all events happen somewhere), so talking about current news events and relating them to geography work studied at school or college is a great plan.
For really top class personal statements, students need to show a deep engagement with the geography topic that fascinates them. Mentioning articles, books and talks that you have enjoyed, and then discussing the contasting ideas and views of the authors on a particular subject is an excellent way to show firstly that you are engaged and reading beyond the school curriculum on geographical matters, and secondly that you are capable of key higher education skills such as independant study and focused reading and thoughtful analysis.
Another smart trick is to relate all the current subjects that you are studying at school to geography. For example many modern foreign languages such as french and spanish cover issues such as inequality, environmentalism and national identity which are major areas of study within geography. Similarly maybe there's an area of a science that particularly interests you which is, very likely, intensely geographical.
The main part of a personal statement will be devoted to the course, in this case geography. Due to the bredth of geography as a degree there is a huge scope for what can be discussed. Almost any current affairs issue has a geographical element (all events happen somewhere), so talking about current news events and relating them to geography work studied at school or college is a great plan.
For really top class personal statements, students need to show a deep engagement with the geography topic that fascinates them. Mentioning articles, books and talks that you have enjoyed, and then discussing the contasting ideas and views of the authors on a particular subject is an excellent way to show firstly that you are engaged and reading beyond the school curriculum on geographical matters, and secondly that you are capable of key higher education skills such as independant study and focused reading and thoughtful analysis.
Another smart trick is to relate all the current subjects that you are studying at school to geography. For example many modern foreign languages such as french and spanish cover issues such as inequality, environmentalism and national identity which are major areas of study within geography. Similarly maybe there's an area of a science that particularly interests you which is, very likely, intensely geographical.