Struggling With Politics Personal Statement

I am hoping to do a degree in history and politics next year, but I am having real problems with my statement. Although I know I definitely want to do politics, the truth is I don't know anything about it. In the examples on this website, the candidates seem to know a lot about complex theories, or have read books that I simply don't have access to due to resource and financial restrictions. As a result I simply don't know what to say, and I'm worried that what I do write will make me sound stupid, if my grasp on the topic isn't sufficient to pull off.

Reply 1

mrandmr.crane

Original post by tinhat

Just start off with what you're interested in :biggrin:

I'm applying for politics and so is someone else I know (he's going for history and politics as well), but our interests totally differ. He's more into British politics and parliament, whereas I'm more into international politics and political philosophy. As a result, our personal statements are totally different. Maybe you should bullet point what it is that you love about politics, and then just focus those areas - do some extra reading around them? You say you definitely want to study politics - ask yourself why that is, and then just build on that!

As far as I can tell, they want you to know what politics is about/what the some of the content will be like (so they know that it's actually what you want to study), but they don't expect you to have amazing in-depth knowledge of everything. They want to see what topics interest you and why, your opinions on them - stuff like that.

Did you do AS politics? (if you didn't it doesn't matter - I didn't either, haha) If you did, what was your favourite part of the course?
Have any of your current AS subjects inspired your interest in politics? If so, how?
Are there any historical events that you really enjoy looking at from a political point of view? Why?
What are you looking forward to studying next year? (Look at some module descriptions of different politics courses - which subjects really stand out to you?)

As for extending your understanding of politics...
Is there maybe a local library you could try? Or maybe your college library? Or maybe even websites - for example, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and so on. Or even Youtube (can you access it?) - you could look up lectures, talks, political debates, etc. I know the BBC has some politics podcasts online.

I hope I made sense, I can go on a bit sometimes... :colondollar:

Good luck!!
Hope I've helped a bit!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

tinhat

Original post by mrandmr.crane

Just start off with what you're interested in :biggrin:

Good luck!!
Hope I've helped a bit!

Thanks! I think I've just got myself in a panic for no reason, I just need to stop worrying about what everyone else is doing. What unis are you and your friend interested in?

Reply 3

mrandmr.crane

I had a similar panic to be honest, especially when I saw things about people taking gap years/travelling all over the world, and other crazy stuff like that. So no problem!

I want to apply to Warwick, Sheffield, Bath, Aberystwyth (which I've probably spelled wrong, haha) and I haven't yet decided on the fifth! My friend's decided on Sheffield, Manchester (and somewhere else I keep forgetting) so far.

What about you? :biggrin:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

Hodan1996

Try answer this question in your PS 'why should X want me at their Uni' it makes it a lot easier to write

Spend a day looking at different political ideologies and write what you think about them (you can use google to find them)

If you do other humanities subjects (e.g sociology) link that in and if not look at issues in the news that you could refer to

But don't worry PS are hard to write I've been struggling to, but once it's out the way you'll be so relieved :smile:

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(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 5

StretfordEnd

Original post by tinhat

I am hoping to do a degree in history and politics next year, but I am having real problems with my statement. Although I know I definitely want to do politics, the truth is I don't know anything about it. In the examples on this website,the candidates seem to know a lot about complex theories, or have read books that I simply don't have access to due to resource and financial restrictions. As a result I simply don't know what to say, and I'm worried that what I do write will make me sound stupid, if my grasp on the topic isn't sufficient to pull off.

Although I've done a lot of background reading because I do just have a genuine interest in politics, there are 3 books I've browsed through that current politics students and lecturers have told me will be very useful to mention in a PS:

On Politics by Alan Ryan - £28
Comparative Government & Politics by Hague and Harrop - £30
The Globalization of World Politics by Bayliss and Smith - £31

In total, I have had to pay a grand total of £0.00 for these because I got them from my local library. I'm currently living in North Wales too, so it's not like I have access to the amazing libraries in big cities - just the local council run ones!

In my own personal statement, I've tried to stay away from 'interpreting what I've read because:

1. If I have misunderstood it, I'ma look such an idiot
2. If it's something that's relevant to a political ideology, I don't want to show my opinions and alienate an admissions tutor who shares my opinions.

So, what I've done instead is mention specific arguments/concepts/ideas have read in those book and said how much they fascinate me, and how I want to develop my learning in those areas etc etc.

Hope this helps!