Personal Statement written, but...

Hello !

I "managed" to write my PS this summer : how I found out I liked English and Spanish, how it influenced my choices at school, some travels,why I want to study abroad, and finally what I'm expecting of the course I'm applying for.
However, when I read it again (when I say again, I mean with a step back), it seems superficial. I don't talk about what I can do or any experience or activity outside school, because the very few I have don't seem relevant to the course. I fear it's not useful enough to have an opinion about an applicant, yet I hope everything I wrote shows how much the learning of these languages means to me.

Do you think I should leave it that way, or that I should try to talk about my abilities ? (I don't have lots of them)

Thank you !

A good way to go about it is to put examples that show how interested you are - it doesn't have to be anything huge, maybe just a book you read or a film or documentary you watched, why you found it interesting and what you learned from it. That shows that you take an interest in your subject outside of school work and that you're able to analyse and form your own opinions

Actually I start my PS with the mention of a book in my mother tongue and at some point, I talk about it again to show I worked hard to manage to read it in its original version. But it's not about English and/or Spanish, it's a novel from the fantastic genre, and the reason why it sparked my interest in languages is because I loved it so much I wanted to read it in its original version. Does it count, or not ?

Hello !

I "managed" to write my PS this summer : how I found out I liked English and Spanish, how it influenced my choices at school, some travels,why I want to study abroad, and finally what I'm expecting of the course I'm applying for.
However, when I read it again (when I say again, I mean with a step back), it seems superficial. I don't talk about what I can do or any experience or activity outside school, because the very few I have don't seem relevant to the course. I fear it's not useful enough to have an opinion about an applicant, yet I hope everything I wrote shows how much the learning of these languages means to me.

Do you think I should leave it that way, or that I should try to talk about my abilities ? (I don't have lots of them)

Thank you !

yeah, definitely! that's exactly the kind of thing they're looking for

You don't need to talk about things that aren't relevant to the course, but you can have a small paragraph on hobbies if you want (just 2-4 sentences). Have you looked at the PS builder tool (linked in my signature below)? Even tho you've written your PS, it can be helpful to look through to evaluate what you've written so far

Oh thank you, I'm so relieved !



I did take a look at it, it's thanks to that tool (and other articles/advice) that I had an idea of what to say in my PS. But I must admit it helped me as much as it scared me, because I realized I didn't have a lot to say ! ^^ So you say I can mention a sport I practise (for example), without having to link it to the course ?

Yes you can do, but keep that stuff brief as I said. It's quality not quantity about things to mention, and there is always time to do something between now and when you have to submit it (even if you are going for the Oxbridge deadline, you have time to watch a couple of talks or read a couple of articles for example)