Psychology Personal Statement Example 54

In early 2011 I worked as a fundraiser, required to approach and convince pedestrians to become a member of a German aid organisation.

While working in this position I saw thousands of people and talked to hundreds. I could not help asking myself questions. Some of them were related to me, e.g. why I tried to stop some of them and ignored others.

Most however concerned people's reactions and behaviour: Why did so few stop, while some started to run away and most just ignored me? Why could I catch them rather with great eloquence and some statistics than just with overwhelming facts?

Since I had lots of bigger and smaller experiences like this for years, and given that I have always been fascinated by human behaviour, this experience encouraged me to find out more about different fields of psychology. My deepest interest lies in developmental, social and general psychology which deals not only with my questions but also with general thoughts.

They cover the development of personality, the affect of peer-group pressure or why and how we think. I am really fascinated by psychology and it is the only science to deal with these topics.

My genuine interest in psychology combined with my academic, work and social experience is why I wish to study this subject at university.

I studied advanced maths for my Abitur and a further course in university maths. This will help me with the required mathematics as well as statistics at degree level in psychology.

Studies of history, politics and economics at advanced level developed my research skills and showed me how to extract information from independent scientific texts, books and personal reflective reports.

For three years I was class representative and a voted member of the representative council for students, helping to organise council seminars.

This was a responsible task because the students that I represented relied on me to be their spokesperson.

Three years of playing the trumpet in my school brass band has increased my ability to work together with others for the same goal as well as my general teamwork and interpersonal skills. I also enjoy playing the guitar and believe that my passion for making music complements my more scientific interests.

My experience as a fundraiser, although often challenging and stressful, helped to improve my perseverance and ability to work under pressure.

For the remainder of my gap year I am currently employed as a part-time childminding assistant in England.

Managing a group of up to six very young children includes skills of patience, conflict resolution and arbitration demanding both, empathy and understanding.

The childminding setting is graded as Outstanding by Ofsted and I am constantly expected to fulfil high standards.

I also work as an au pair which needs knowledge of child development and includes psychological aspects such as how to convince or explain why something must or must not be done without ending up in an argument. This demands maturity and confidence.

Given that German is my mother tongue I am able to read classic psychological publications in their original language (e.g. books by Sigmund Freud).

I also learned English for eleven years in school and will have lived in the United Kingdom for one year upon entering university.

I believe that my experience of two cultures and languages is a positive attribute which helps with creative, flexible and non-prejudiced thinking.

I find English people welcoming, warm hearted and fair minded and am very motivated in my ambition to live and study here for the next few years and maybe longer.

I don't definitely know where this subject will take me, but I certainly want to complete a masters degree in psychology and can imagine myself working as a child psychologist or presenting workshops in different fields as a trainer. I really hope you will give me the opportunity to follow this path.