Personal statements

again probably!

Sorry but i was just wondering what you guys put in your personal statements when applying for any single/joint honour courses in English? Which books you referenced/what you wrote about them etc? Just so i have an outline of where to start! Thankyou!

Oh and did you get interviews/offers from where you applied?

Reply 1

milbee

I mentioned a children's book I liked when I was 6, the novel I had just finished reading (Atonement) and a book I was reading as part of the wider reading for my course (Memoirs of an Infantry Officer). I gave a brief mention of what the children's book was about, commented that McEwan's insight into childhood was impressive and didn't say anything about Sassoon's book.

I got offers (without interview) from 5 out of the 6 places to which I applied (Sussex, Birmingham, Leeds, Exeter (Cornwall), Brighton but not Bristol).

Reply 2

Jelkin

17

I wrote about Jane Austen, 1984, Othello and Machiavelli (and why the latter was helpful in studying the former, with links to my A level history course).

I got 4 offers out of 5.

Reply 3

Elusive Moose

1

I wrote about a couple of plays (Woman In Black/ The Glass Menagerie) in connection with why I liked the drama side of English/ linked in with extra curricular activities I've done, 1984 and Middlesex, and elaborated on Middlesex and what I found so interesting about it, Enid Blyton in my introduction and then Brecht, Suskind and Marquez to link in with a section about how doing foreign languages at A Level enhanced my ideas about literature/ expanded my reading. It sounds crap now, but it got me five offers at the time (Exeter, Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham and Leicester, rejected by York) so it can't have been too bad!

Reply 4

Jelkin

17

I just re-read my PS and it's really cringey. I'm not even sure why - it's quite good - but it just is! Like reading an old diary.

Reply 5

Je$$ica

OP

My teacher keeps telling me to do volunteer work and stuff but thats hardly relevant is it??

Reply 6

username84864

Jelkin

I just re-read my PS and it's really cringey. I'm not even sure why - it's quite good - but it just is! Like reading an old diary.

I know - it's really odd reading it. I stopped thinking about it when I confirmed it on UCAS.
I didn't talk about any specific books for the first three paragraphs, I talked about what interested me about studying literature, the balance of emotional response and analysis and literary criticism in my reading, my interest in creative writing and how understanding how I read helps me understand how to write.
After that I mentioned F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse 5', Richard Yate's 'Revolutionary Road', and my general interest in modern American fiction. Then how studying Classical Civilisation has helped - so the link between studying Greek tragedy (specifically mentioning Euripides' 'The Medea' and 'The Bacchae') and later tragedy, specifically King Lear and Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons'. I went on from Lear to mention my experiences of Shakespeare, specifically discussing 'The Tempest', 'Cymbeline' and 'Hamlet', and how I've found Frank Kermode's work interesting (mentioned 'The Age of Shakespeare').
Then there was a quick mention of poetry (studying Blake at A-level, and my interest in John Donne and T.S. Eliot) and I finished talking about the influence on music and film in my approach to literature, mentioning Tom Waits, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and Warren Zevon, and Billy Wilder, Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock -- I'm glad I put this as this made up the whole of my Warwick interview. I didn't talk about one novel, poem or play. I seem to remember talking for twenty minutes on masculine and immigrant identity in Scorsese's films. I remember being a bit worried about this but it must have been alright as I received an offer!
You really don't have to worry too much about extra-curricular stuff. I mentioned two things - creativity in a successful Young Enterprise team in the creativity bit at the top, and doing work experience in a record company in the music bit.
I got into Durham, Warwick, Sheffield and Goldsmiths and was rejected from Edinburgh and York.

Reply 7

Franc Vouloir

11

How is the length of personal statements limited? Word count? If so, does anybody know how many words are allowed?

Thanks,
Louis.

Reply 8

Circa1892

9

Mine was English and History, so I dropped in stuff like Birdsong (and obviously the War module), I think I mentioned A Day In The Life... by Solzyenitskin (I spelt it right in my personal statemement), and Julius Caesar.

And later on I briefly mentioned two books I've read recently, Picture of Dorian Gray (said something about the intense characterisation) and Shadow of the Wind (written in a foreign language original - useful for York).

I didn't put much emphasis on reading though, I just put WHY I enjoyed the two subjects and why I wanted to do them, and little things that seperate me from other candidates, because at the end of the day, the vast majority of people applying for English at a good Uni will have read a great variety of classic texts, so unless you can really make something of how its developed your interests etc then leave it out.

Reply 9

Franc Vouloir

11

Circa1892

...written in a foreign language original - useful for York...

Care to elaborate?

Reply 10

Circa1892

9

LGoddard

Care to elaborate?

It's not MASSIVELY useful really. It's just that the York course has an emphasis on foreign literature (especially in later years), both in its original form and in translation, and this emphasis was mentioned a lot on the open day. It probably made no difference whatsoever, but in my case I thought mentioning at least a couple of texts from another language was important as I didn't have the language qualifications they were hoping for.

Reply 11

epitome

11

How is the length of personal statements limited? Word count? If so, does anybody know how many words are allowed?

When I did it (two years ago) it was limited by line-number, I think. (43 lines or something arbitrary). You should be able to find out what it is now from your school. But there is most definitely a limit, yes.

Reply 12

Elusive Moose

1

ignore the line limit, unless it's changed in the last year (I applied for 2006 entry) then the character limit tends to be what you have to go by- it can be less than 43 lines but way over in characters.

Reply 13

Apricot Fairy

16

milbee

I mentioned a children's book I liked when I was 6, the novel I had just finished reading (Atonement) and a book I was reading as part of the wider reading for my course (Memoirs of an Infantry Officer). I gave a brief mention of what the children's book was about, commented that McEwan's insight into childhood was impressive and didn't say anything about Sassoon's book.

I got offers (without interview) from 5 out of the 6 places to which I applied (Sussex, Birmingham, Leeds, Exeter (Cornwall), Brighton but not Bristol).

Apparently there's an admissions tutor at Bristol who truly detests "When I was 6 I read ______." stories and automatically rejects anyone who puts them in their PS.

I did the same thing the first time I applied to uni (didn't apply to Bristol) but not the second time, and probably wouldn't be here if I had!

Maybe it's the admissions equivalent of a really cheesy chat-up line.

Reply 14

Apricot Fairy

16

babybumbleybee

My teacher keeps telling me to do volunteer work and stuff but thats hardly relevant is it??

No, don't bother, they're talking crap. Admissions tutors like people who enjoy intellectual masturbation, not helping out in soup kitchens. Harsh, but then academics are more interested in whether you're clever than how nice you are.

Reply 15

Jelkin

17

Circa1892

It's not MASSIVELY useful really. It's just that the York course has an emphasis on foreign literature (especially in later years), both in its original form and in translation, and this emphasis was mentioned a lot on the open day. It probably made no difference whatsoever, but in my case I thought mentioning at least a couple of texts from another language was important as I didn't have the language qualifications they were hoping for.

yeah, at York it's mandatory to do a foreign literature module at some point, IIRC. I think it has to be in the original language too. Strangely enough, I seem to recall this putting me off York, but now I'm at Durham I do a French module and will be doing Old Norse next year!

Reply 16

Cambyses

I talked briefly about why I find English to be a fascinating, worthwhile subject (its links to other subjects and its influence on life in general) then went quickly on to talk about my favourite A level text, Dr. Faustus. I explained why I enjoyed the play's portrayal of power and ambition and why I thought it was highly relevant to read today.
Then I talked about having read and studied in my spare time the minor literary 'movement' of the Cavalier poets, saying how I liked their command of language and giving my favourite quote from a poem by Thomas Carew.
I mentioned that I adore languages and which languages I have taught myself the basics in, going on to say which books I had read in their original translation and the translations I had specifically looked at, comparing different translator's interpretations of the original.
And the last couple of paragraphs I used to describe extra-curricular randomness (volunteering, Duke of Edinburgh, playing in orchestras) and work experience (working with Literary Review magazine).

I got offers from Leeds (for English & Japanese), Warwick, Bristol, University of East Anglia, Sussex (for English Lit) and was rejected from Cambridge after interview.

I can understand what others have said, it's kind of embarassing looking back on it now! It's not even that long ago and it's not that it was bad or anything but it's just weird. I also found it difficult in interviews (I had two) because by that time I wanted to talk about books I'd read more recently and not the ones in my statement, but had to constantly go over the stuff I'd written in my PS.
Got to say, I'm glad all the UCAS application has drawn to a close! Way too stressful.
babybumbleybee, I'd advise just talking about lots of books but only if you've actually thought about them lots, not just read them and chucked them to the side. And DON'T just talk about what you've been made to read for A level! Show you've done wider reading, and not just for the course, but for personal pleasure too, to show a serious interest.
And don't bother too much about extra-curriculars, they really aren't even quarter as important as our head of year shouted at us that they were for a year!

Reply 17

Wildebeest

13

Yes, I don't think extra-curricular activities are an overwhelmingly important part of the admissions process. It's probably best to use the space to talk primarily about wider reading, then allude briefly in a line or so to some of these interests (I'm going to write something about playing the guitar and creative writing).

Reply 18

liss31d

9

But what if your extra curriculars relate to the subject you do in a sense, for example being part of a student theatre company.

Reply 19

epitome

11

If it has an impact on the way you approach your potential subject (that is, English), then it matters. If it has no bearing on your subject then it is of far less importance.

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