oxford personal statement (classics) - talk about A level subjects?
I'm applying to classics II at oxford. in my personal statement I haven't made any mention of my A level subjects (history, spanish, biology). I am hoping that them seeing history and spanish (being both predicted A*) will be enough for them to infer that history has given transferrable skills (as history is related to classics) , and that spanish has given me language skills? i am also thinking that they can see for themselves my ability in history once I submit two of my history essays, and they can see my language ability for themselves through how I do on the CLAT.
my personal statement is made up of lots of thoughts and ideas about supercurricular reading right now and I'm at the word limit. is it worth cutting some of this out and talking about my A level subjects? thank you
)
my personal statement is made up of lots of thoughts and ideas about supercurricular reading right now and I'm at the word limit. is it worth cutting some of this out and talking about my A level subjects? thank you
)(edited 7 months ago)
Original post by aiqndj
I'm applying to classics II at oxford. in my personal statement I haven't made any mention of my A level subjects (history, spanish, biology). I am hoping that them seeing history and spanish (being both predicted A*) will be enough for them to infer that history has given transferrable skills (as history is related to classics) , and that spanish has given me language skills? i am also thinking that they can see for themselves my ability in history once I submit two of my history essays, and they can see my language ability for themselves through how I do on the CLAT.
my personal statement is made up of lots of thoughts and ideas about supercurricular reading right now and I'm at the word limit. is it worth cutting some of this out and talking about my A level subjects? thank you)
my personal statement is made up of lots of thoughts and ideas about supercurricular reading right now and I'm at the word limit. is it worth cutting some of this out and talking about my A level subjects? thank you
)they definitely are useful for classics and are good to add if you have the characters, HOWEVER, i would say it's not worth taking out stuff on supercurricular reading to put in stuff on alevels. the university already knows what your subjects are and probs can assume the skills you would gain from those, but what they dont know is the work youve done outside of what's required to show your passion for classics.
i have been in a bit of a similar situation, did think about mentioning my alevels but have decided that my supercurricular stuff is much more valuable despite taking up basically the whole personal statement. i'd def ask a tutor or teacher for advice though, i am not an expert in personal statements, just trying to write mine rn
I did a slightly different thing when writing my personal statement. I think i wrote about how in studying subjects, such as english and spanish, I was able to explore further my interest for history. I used talk of those subjects to link how they inspired me to research spanish history (for example). But, if your extra reading is not that related to the history you are studying currently, then you don't necessarily have to mention your subjects either. It could just be that you use little mentions of your subjects to show how they have inspired supercurricular reading (if that's the case).
@elilast another applicant for you to help 
It might be a good idea to talk about how those other subjects have informed your interest in classics and the extra reading you've done. There's no harm in writing a second personal statement along those lines and just seeing how it looks.
There's no set way to write it, of course, but I never think it's a good idea to assume that people will just infer something - spell it out for them. Yes, history shows your interest in the past, Spanish shows your interest in languages, but what admissions tutors like to see is why you're interested in it. You've arrived at an interest in classics without doing classics A-Level, so why have these subjects led to you classics, and how have they guided your reading on the subject?
They might also question why you've taken Biology rather than, say, another language, or English Lit. Biology obviously has transferrable skills for its investigative aspects, and maybe you're particularly interested in scientific history or the medical practices of ancient civilisations, or whatever, and have read around that side of classics. Again, spell it out for them. Prove to them why your combination of subjects makes you an excellent candidate for classics.
There's no set way to write it, of course, but I never think it's a good idea to assume that people will just infer something - spell it out for them. Yes, history shows your interest in the past, Spanish shows your interest in languages, but what admissions tutors like to see is why you're interested in it. You've arrived at an interest in classics without doing classics A-Level, so why have these subjects led to you classics, and how have they guided your reading on the subject?
They might also question why you've taken Biology rather than, say, another language, or English Lit. Biology obviously has transferrable skills for its investigative aspects, and maybe you're particularly interested in scientific history or the medical practices of ancient civilisations, or whatever, and have read around that side of classics. Again, spell it out for them. Prove to them why your combination of subjects makes you an excellent candidate for classics.
(edited 7 months ago)
Thanks @The_Lonely_Goatherd! It's definitely application season...
I think there's not a hard and fast rule with this. I personally would say that if you've talked in your personal statement about why you're interested in Classics, and aspects of classics that particularly interest you then you don't necessarily *need* to talk about your A-Levels - most students don't have the chance to choose a classical subject at A-Level so it's not a bad sign if you haven't.
You could put a short sentence about the transferable skills from Spanish/Biology/History if you wanted - this might fit in well with talking about your interest in learning a Classical language, or in Ancient History, if you've talked about either of those. It's good to show not just what you're interested in, but why you would be a good candidate for the course. But I don't think you need to explain them all to be honest. I did Maths for one of my A-Levels and never mentioned it on my PS! Quite a lot of Classics students actually do scientific subjects so I wouldn't say Biology is necessarily a red flag.
Basically, I think you *could*, but I wouldn't make it a large part of your PS. If you've already talked about why you want to study Classics and why you'd be good for the course in other terms, it's most likely OK.
(disclaimer: unprofessional classics student just giving my own thoughts!)
I think there's not a hard and fast rule with this. I personally would say that if you've talked in your personal statement about why you're interested in Classics, and aspects of classics that particularly interest you then you don't necessarily *need* to talk about your A-Levels - most students don't have the chance to choose a classical subject at A-Level so it's not a bad sign if you haven't.
You could put a short sentence about the transferable skills from Spanish/Biology/History if you wanted - this might fit in well with talking about your interest in learning a Classical language, or in Ancient History, if you've talked about either of those. It's good to show not just what you're interested in, but why you would be a good candidate for the course. But I don't think you need to explain them all to be honest. I did Maths for one of my A-Levels and never mentioned it on my PS! Quite a lot of Classics students actually do scientific subjects so I wouldn't say Biology is necessarily a red flag.
Basically, I think you *could*, but I wouldn't make it a large part of your PS. If you've already talked about why you want to study Classics and why you'd be good for the course in other terms, it's most likely OK.
(disclaimer: unprofessional classics student just giving my own thoughts!)
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