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Any Questions on how to do a good Economics Personal Statement?

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Reply 60

Ragzy

Hey Paul, I've sent you a PM regarding my PS. Thanks.

Reply 61

Paulwhy

Fine.
And if anyone else wants to they can do the same.
And if they want me to confirm who I am then they can email me. I am the last one in the list of 1st years students:http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/phds/first_year/
(Though if you read this in a few months time I will be a 2nd year student, so the above link will need updating).

edit: I have updated my policy on reading PSs:
I am no longer a PS Helper but if you have (or think you have) got a PS that has incorporated the above features then you can pm me. But:
i) please include a copy of your mindmap (any graphics format will do)
i.e. if you don't know what the structure is then your PS is bound to be poor.
and it is a waste of an "expert" economist's time (my time) reading it.
ii) Don't expect me to able to read lots of drafts. I want to move away from working on individual PSs so much to working on more generic issues like Course selection (Which AS, Which A2, Which degree) and my Economics League Table. So I will read one initial version and one revised version. So if I point a number of issues don't just pm back with a new version that is only slightly less terrible than the 1st one!
iii) Don't pm me with questions about how to do a PS. Ask them publicly or not at all. (individual pm is so inefficient!)
iv)Include a link to this post so I know you understand the basis I do this on.

Reply 62

Paulwhy

How should I go about writing a good PS?
Do a mindmap.
This helps you get your ideas clear without focusing initially on the detail of how to express something as a sentence.
You can get down all your ideas of what you might put in your PS. Then move them around and see how they can be structured in a good way.
Only then should you start using a word processor

What do I need to do a mindmap?
Download some freeware software. (see wikipedia for a list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mind_Mapping_software)
Most of them are pretty simple to use.
You should up and running in no time.
(And it is a useful long term skill for when at uni e.g. for essay planning).

Reply 63

sv90

Some more questions for you :biggrin:

I guess I may as well put them here so others can hopefully benefit from your answers, as well as me.

In what way should I be ending the PS? A short paragraph saying stuff like 'and this is why I believe I should study economics' (not in those words obviously but you get the gist)

Does the 'economic idea' have to be 'significant' (probably something with macroeconomic effects) or can it be something smaller, or trivial, but something you nevertheless find interesting?

Can, or should I mention relevant experiences/activities that show my passion/ability for economics in the first paragraph, or should these sort of things be separate? (e.g. Target 2.0)

Can you say 'I' too much? (I've said it four times in three lines in part of my opening paragraph)

Similarly, can you repeat words too much ('important', 'significant', 'interesting' etc)

Thanks :smile:

Reply 64

Paulwhy

sv90

In what way should I be ending the PS? A short paragraph saying stuff like 'and this is why I believe I should study economics' (not in those words obviously but you get the gist)

As I think I already said in the FAQ you want to bring together the arguments in the earlier paragraphs and hence conclude how you are a great person to have as an economics student.

sv90

Does the 'economic idea' have to be 'significant' (probably something with macroeconomic effects) or can it be something smaller, or trivial, but something you nevertheless find interesting?

Anything that explains something you could not explain before would be great!
So if it is micro rather than macro that is fine.

sv90

Can, or should I mention relevant experiences/activities that show my passion/ability for economics in the first paragraph, or should these sort of things be separate? (e.g. Target 2.0)

1st paragraph
I would start with what from your life experiences motivated you to want to study economics. e.g. did you family go travelling and did you wonder how come different countries end up with different solutions to the same problems?
or did you see a famine on TV and wonder why some people had no food and others too much?
Or did you wonder why traffic jams happen?
so this would be when you were young.

3rd paragraph
More recent stuff..
Technical skills.
Inter personal skills
language skills.

sv90

Can you say 'I' too much? (I've said it four times in three lines in part of my opening paragraph)

sv90

Similarly, can you repeat words too much ('important', 'significant', 'interesting' etc)

Yes. But:
i) there is a thesaurus in Word
ii) Getting an individual word right is the last thing you do (Hence glad you asked that question last!)
i.e.
Before you start writing the PS whilst still in the Mindmap stage:
First work out what you want each of the paragraphs to say.
Second work out how each Paragraph should be broken down into sentences.

In Word:
Thirdly work out exactly how to phrase each sentence.

Reply 65

sv90

Strange one now!

Should Economics be capitalised throughout? :biggrin:

(yes I am just procrastinating to avoid having to do the tough/important stuff :frown:

)

Reply 66

Paulwhy

sv90

Strange one now!

Should Economics be capitalised throughout? :biggrin:

(yes I am just procrastinating to avoid having to do the tough/important stuff :frown:

)

I think:
i)lower case when it is a common noun e.g. "I like economics because....."
ii) Capital when it is part of a proper noun e.g. " I want a place on the Bsc. Economics course because...."

Reply 67

Paulwhy

What is the role of work experience?
No one is going to be much impressed by your work experience in itself. It is not going to be directly relevant to your ability to do economics: I can imagine no work experience that you can have done that can show economic ability.

However, I can think of two indirect uses of work experience:
1)If you have finance experience and say that you want to do finance in the future, as economic qualifications are valued in that industry, this will mean you have a certain level of commitment to studying economics when it gets tough.
2)Show personal skills.

So if you can't work out how your work experience shows you in a good light don't mention it

Reply 68

Paulwhy

I have a new concept on how applicants might get economics into their PS. Instead of trying to explain in depth the fundamentals of one economics concept you could try and compare 2 different approaches/ methodlogies. I will try and expand more soon.

Reply 69

Deipnosophist123

Paulwhy

Like my behavioural vs. traditional theory comparison? :smile:

I went and looked around Warwick btw, saw your name up on the noticeboard in the Economics department hehe.

Incidentally, tell the department to invest in a nicer sign, an A4 sheet of paper with Times New Roman "Economics Department" on it really doesn't evoke the sense of the top-quality faculty which it is :smile:

Reply 70

Paulwhy

Deipnosophist123

Like my behavioural vs. traditional theory comparison? :smile:

I don't recall what you did. But most TSR posters have odd ideas about what Behavioural Economics is.

Deipnosophist123

I went and looked around Warwick btw, saw your name up on the noticeboard in the Economics department hehe.

yes.

Deipnosophist123

Incidentally, tell the department to invest in a nicer sign, an A4 sheet of paper with Times New Roman "Economics Department" on it really doesn't evoke the sense of the top-quality faculty which it is :smile:

Well the department is on 2 floors and there are multiple stair cases. So would need a lot of signs.

Reply 71

redsox20

Hi

Just wondering, how many economic books that you have read should be included in your personal statement?

Thanks

Reply 72

RobbieH

You shouldn't include any. They're to help your economics insight.

Reply 73

Lyncho

If a user called SusDev recommends you read a book called Tipping the Velvet, red dot them to hell, I say.

Reply 74

im in a coma

You don't need to put any in there. On the contrary, you can spend the next few weeks reading a whole wealth of economics books and use your personal statement to list them in entirety, although I'm certain that would work against you.

I applied to university with a personal statement that didn't mention a single book. To me, if I were an admissions tutor, I would consider mentioning the books you have read to be rather pretentious and grasping at straws unless it lead to an interesting comment or observation that makes you stand out from the crowd. Writing mine again, I would do as I did the first time around and write merely about my interests, achievements and activities.

Reply 75

redsox20

Hmm, thanks for the advice guys, quite interesting.

It seems to be in contrast with other things I have read on this forum, some people say you should list a couple of books in your PS, and things you have gained from.

Any other opinions on this?

Thanks again

Reply 76

PhyZ

Read Paulwhy's "Any questions on how to do a good ps" thread

Paulwhy

What is the role of each of those sections?
Section 1): Give background. Show that this is not just a random short term decision. That doing an econ degree is natural extension of your life so far. That it is a continuation.

Section 2): Show that you are an Economist rather than a layman. Take an idea from a book by a great Economist. Then:
i)Explain the idea (1 or 2 sentences)
ii)Give your reaction: feelings (1 or 2 sentences) and thoughts (1 or 2 sentences).
In order to do this you will need to read some books in order to find the concept that resonates with you most.

Section 3) Show that you have the personal skills needed to do a degree. Don’t just give activities and skills. Instead give specific examples. So just saying “I needed to be a leader to complete the Gold Duke of Edinburgh award” is not great. Want an example of how doing the award required you to be a leader.

And are you sure that they want these 3 things?
I don’t claim to have a direct inside secret source. Breaking a PS down into 3 sections is a suggestion on how to give a PS shape: a lot of PSs I read have terrible structure. This is not good:it appears that you can’t/won’t write in a well-structured manner. And as economics undergraduates spend 3 years writing lots of essay it is very relevant.

As the PSs I have read are generally poorly planned, felt it essential to some advice on structure. As I only have 1 suggestion that is all I give. However, I do think it is a good plan.

But if you have an alternative plan on how to lay on your statement then go with it. It is certainly possible I have been excessively prescriptive. However the wiki similarly talks about 3 questions.

Are you sure that they want the thing about the economic idea? I haven't seen it much in personal statements but it does seem like something they would like.
I would not go as far as sure (are economists ever sure about anything?). But when there are 15 applicants per place you certainly want a strong application that sells you as an economist. Without any guidance from me nearly every PS I have read has listed the author and title of a book. All I am encouraging applicants to do is to show they have read the inside and not just the outside of the book. Hopefully by this will come across as an economist and not just someone who visited a bookshop once

Reply 77

Paulwhy