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Personal statement for joint course?

I am considering applying for Mathematics with Physics courses in October (i.e, not the full joint Hons, more maths-biased) - how should I go about writing my PS, in terms of the amount of space to give each subject? I'm thinking about starting with my love for maths, and then later on in the PS mentioning Physics - I'm thinking it'd look a bit odd though, because for some unis I will only be applying for straight Maths, and they might think 'huh? whats all this about physics?!' Any opinions/ideas?

Reply 1

goku999

You could also include the areas of maths u enjoy, and what part of physics tied in to ur maths.

If u are applying for straight maths, they wont mind if u include physics. It jus tells them that u selected a good combination of A-Levels which supports each other.

Reply 2

Possession

I don't think it matters that much.

My friend applied for some unis with joint courses and others with singles with a personal statement for a joint course of Business Studies and French. It didn't seem to affect her offers.

Reply 3

kellywood_5

It should be quite easy since maths and physics go well together. If you're applying for straight maths at some places, I would talk about maths first and then link it with phjysics. The universities where you're applying for straight maths might figure out that you're combining it with physics at some others, and even if they don't, they might think you're just talking about your other subjects and how they relate.

Reply 4

dappleddawndrawndauphin

I'd also like to ask a question about this; I'm in a similar position, wanting to study English and History together - the arts based equivalent to studying Maths and Physics together I suppose! I'm applying for a joint course at places like York and Durham, but straight English at Cambridge. I just wrote the first (exxxxxxxxxxxtremely lengthy :eek:

) draft of my PS and found there was no way of wording it so as to make it look to 5 universities as though I was passionate about two subjects and to Cambridge as though I was applying for single honours everywhere... :redface:

I *am* passionate about both subjects btw - but I hate Oxford's course and many other things about the place, whereas Cambridge has a very flexible English course that incorporates a lot of history- and French :smile:

- anyway, plus Richard Partington said if I wanted to I could probably take some history too.

Anyway...

Does anyone think Cambridge will be put off by the fact they know I'm applying for both subjects everywhere else? Will they see this as a lack of dedication to English? :confused:

Personally I think the subjects are so interrelated anyway that you can't study one without studying the other in some way anyway

Reply 5

krish87

Does anyone think Cambridge will be put off by the fact they know I'm applying for both subjects everywhere else?

yeah i am in the same situation but with different subjects maths and computer science... i dont want cs in oxford but in other unis!!!!!!!

pl help someone

Reply 6

Maireleghra

This year I applied for possibly the most random combination of subjects: Education (with Art, Religion and straight Primary), Theology, Philosophy and History of Art and managed to write about all of them in my PS! I found the key was to write about the overlapping qualities: so for Theology and Philosophy I talked about my interests in morality and the debates about the existance of God. I just tried to come across as enthusiastic and tied the whole shebang together by linking each in with my desire to become a teacher. It must of worked- I got all of my offers including History of Art in Edinburgh (despite the fact that I only said that I enjoyed going to art galleries and named a few prestigious ones I'd visited).

Reply 7

Hayley Kim

I applied for a mixture of Geography and/with English/Creative writing as well as straight Geog. I wrote a separate paragraph on each and at the end of the reasons why i wanted to do the subject i talked about how they can help bring out features of the other course. This way there was the individual reasons for the subjects and how they complimented each other.