Since the first time my classes were divided by subject, history has been the class I looked forward to attending the most. My first history textbook was titled "Alabama History," and it was far from enough to satisfy my curiosity about the world. That curiosity only grew larger when I moved from the United States to the Kingdom of Bahrain, and,...
History Personal Statement Example 16
History links us to the consequences of life in worlds gone by. Childhood visits to the inspiring Hadrian's Wall and Stonehenge fuelled my curiosity in the subject as I wanted to explore and absorb these worlds. I still have that enthusiasm and now recognise how past times have had a profound impact not just on my childhood interest and enjoyment but also the world today. My voluntary post in a Salisbury museum has enabled me to discover how the past is brought to the public and I have enjoyed meeting people with a background in history. This and the motivation I gained from GCSE and AS History have confirmed to me that I want to take my studies to degree level.
AS History led me to Amsterdam's Anne Frank Museum and Dutch Resistance Museum, showing me the broader impact of World War Two not in the taught syllabus. To complement my studies I also took part in a school trip to Berlin. Here I was able to hear a first hand account of the true terror of crossing the border from Eastern to Western Europe, revealing to me that history isn't just found in text or by unearthing artefacts but also through the lives of others. I am eager to study Soviet Russia at A2 after reading Service's biography of Stalin. This book opened my eyes to the dramatic changes the Soviet Union went through in political and social terms with policies of collectivisation and the Purges.
I feel my A level subjects have allowed me to do what I most enjoy - researching and analysing sources from the past while developing my own ideas. English has allowed me to experience writers such as Owen, Sassoon and Sherrif who further broadened my thinking showing me differing and very personal views of life within WWI. Studying Politics has shown me the breadth of implications of history, particularly in studies into Northern Ireland.
Since joining 6th form after moving to Salisbury I have been determined to become an integral part of the school community. I have achieved this, becoming a Prefect and Form Captain in Year 12 where I integrated with other years as well as my own, and developed leadership and organisational skills. I am now a Senior Mentor for Year 12, which is very rewarding as I offer emotional and academic support to students. Previous positions of responsibility include being a librarian. In terms of sport I was on the school tennis team which improved my fitness and taught me teamwork and communication.
I am currently working towards Grade 8 flute. Music lessons have encouraged me to persevere to achieve excellence. I became leader of the flute section of Skipton Music Centre's Wind Band, and, after moving, joined the Senior Wind Band of Salisbury Area Young Musicians. These groups have improved my ability to listen to others and gain confidence through performing to unfamiliar audiences in a variety of locations.
I have varied paid and voluntary work experience which has developed my responsibilities and taught me how to interact with customers and work as a team with other employees. The balance of work and study has developed my time management skills, something I feel is crucial to a history degree.
I am looking forward to studying history at university because this will allow me to think critically and broadly. I believe university will allow me to meet many people from a wide variety of backgrounds, and that the experience will provide me with excellent transferable skills for the career path I choose to follow.
Profile info
This personal statement was written by carmelmarie for application in 2007.
carmelmarie's Comments
I think my personal statement was probably not as good as it could have been, however, I hope it will be a good basis for people to follow. I think mine lacked a certain unique spark, altough it perfectly well fulfilled what i needed it to do. However, I was also predicted 3 A's and therefore missing out on Bristol must mean there was something slightly lacking in my application,s o perhaps this was it - or perhaps i'm being overly harsh on myself as I did get offers from Cardiff (AAB), Royal Holloway (AAB), Southampton (ABB), Birmingham (AAB) and Exeter (AAA)
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Comments
Congratulations
Thu, 05/07/2007 - 12:11
Well done, good personal statement.
You start too many sentences
Thu, 23/08/2007 - 19:42
You start too many sentences with 'I', it makes the statement dull and a chore to read. Experimenting with sentence formation would have given it that 'spark' you were looking for, it is good otherwise.
Wow! You clearly demonstrate
Wed, 12/09/2007 - 18:57
Wow! You clearly demonstrate the benefits of studying both History and Politics- something i am finding hard to sumarise. However, i can't help but feel that what started off dynamically, slowly lost momentum- particuarly the part about varied paid work, i mean, if it isn't directly relateable work experience, is it worth wasting space with? Maybe a demonstration of how you explore other historical fields, apart from the war years, would have shown a deeper insight to the subject as a whole- it is a bit WWI heavy. however, in realtion to other personal staements, it is in no means bad!!!!!!
god, aren't you amazing.
Wed, 19/09/2007 - 18:13
god, aren't you amazing.
sounds like you made it up.
Tue, 09/10/2007 - 11:07
sounds like you made it up. thanks for the ideas
eh
Fri, 23/11/2007 - 15:37
eh
this was really quite long and overdramatised...try not being MEMEME all the time
to the person above
Sun, 02/12/2007 - 23:26
the whole point of a personal statement is that it's personal! Hence the personal in the name!
What else is she supposed to be talking about but herself, the whole point is to sell yourself. Don't slag people off for merely doing what they should be doing in a personal statement.
response
Fri, 22/02/2008 - 18:05
I really dont think theres any need to slag off my personal statement - the only reason I put it up here was to help other people; I'd got all my offers well before. And it can't be that bad if I'm at Uni studying History now, and got 5 out of 6 offers from Exeter, Royal Holloway, Cardiff, Southampton and Birmingham - all uni's with excellent history departments.
If you're too much of a sarcastic smartarse to give constructive criticism then I don't know why you're wasting your life on this forum quite frankly. Surely you should be acing your own statement as you couldn't possibly gain anything from coming on this website.
To those that did appreciate the statement/made constructive criticism - thank you :)
thankyou. although i still am
Tue, 12/08/2008 - 11:12
thankyou. although i still am stuck about how to write my statement you have given me some sort of guideline as to what should be written. and you write it with such clarity.
i wasnt sure how i was going to make my weekend job sound glamorous or helpful, but you have given me some hope that i may be able put a shine on a shop job.
as a comment to some of the others writing on here.
whats the point of a personal statement if you dont try to be the best u can be on the paper.
otherwise people may not take a second look at you when infact you deserve to be admired.
this was by far my favourite
Thu, 09/10/2008 - 17:34
this was by far my favourite personal statement!! thanks for all the help :D
Nice :)
Mon, 05/01/2009 - 16:13
I really like this personal statement and it's definately going to help me with mine - I have all of 9 days to get mine written, choose what courses I actually want to do and then apply!!
I really shouldn't have left it this late but I couldn't face this lol
Really well written, no grammatical errors, MINT =D
thanks, this has given me a
Mon, 12/01/2009 - 12:26
thanks, this has given me a much better understanding of what is expected from a personal statement
I think you sold yourself
Mon, 17/08/2009 - 22:45
I think you sold yourself well in the limited space provided. However it seemed a bit disjointed and the reader doesnt want to have to read it over and over. I think the statement should have had more extra curricular efforts towards the subject (lectures, extensive reading etc) it seemed to stay within the course too much. But it was pretty solid, and obviousely did the job with regard to the unis.
I thought this was brilliant!
Mon, 27/06/2011 - 11:44
I thought this was brilliant! You really sold yourself, which is exactly what a PERSONAL statement is for. You seem to have loads of experience and would be perfect for the course. Thanks a lot for the help.
Thank you this has helped me
Mon, 05/09/2011 - 22:38
Thank you this has helped me alot. iut makes you see how you can use something so simple to make others see you enjoyment for something.
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