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Personal Statement after AS results

I'm thinking of applying for English Literature at university(not decided on this part). I absolutely love English Lit, I enjoy the coursework as well. The only problem is, I don't read an awful lot outside of my studies, and as a result, am at a loss about what to write about in my personal statement. Is it possible to write a competitive personal statement having not read an awful lot of books? Should I rather research a particularly literary method/theory and read heavily around that and focus on that in my personal statement?
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Juno
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Original post by michaelrobinson
I'm thinking of applying for English Literature at university(not decided on this part). I absolutely love English Lit, I enjoy the coursework as well. The only problem is, I don't read an awful lot outside of my studies, and as a result, am at a loss about what to write about in my personal statement. Is it possible to write a competitive personal statement having not read an awful lot of books? Should I rather research a particularly literary method/theory and read heavily around that and focus on that in my personal statement?


You need to focus on why you love English Literature. If you research a theory or do special reading then it's not really a personal statement showing why you love the subject. If I asked you what you were having for dinner tonight you wouldn't do special research to find an answer that seems impressive - you'd just give a personal answer. That's what you need to do here. The question you are answering is "why do I love English Lit and want to study it further?" and they want to know about michaelrobinson's reasons. If you do try to write something that isn't your actual reason it will come across as fake; I've read many personal statements in my time and it is easy to tell.

So, which bits do you like? You can do further study into some topics you have enjoyed if you want to, but the focus should be that you want to. You can talk about what coursework you have enjoyed, or books you have read (even during your studies) that you have enjoyed analysing.

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