Should I include books/articles I've read in my personal statement?

I'm really struggling to get my personal statement down to 47 lines. I've talked about why I want to study my chosen subject, my a levels and how I feel they will be useful with the course I want to study, some topics I found interesting at a level, and my other interests and how they have helped me develop skills I'll need for uni, and I am trying to fit in a bit about my epq. I'm already over the limit (still working on what I can cut out) but I haven't put anything about any books and articles I've read. I have read some but to be honest I haven't really found anything interesting enough that I particularly want to talk about it in my personal statement. I am applying to study biochemistry/natural sciences, and ideally I'd like to apply to cambridge or oxford. Is it essential to include books and articles, or will it be ok without?

Reply 1

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by theperksofbeingnerdy

I'm really struggling to get my personal statement down to 47 lines. I've talked about why I want to study my chosen subject, my a levels and how I feel they will be useful with the course I want to study, some topics I found interesting at a level, and my other interests and how they have helped me develop skills I'll need for uni, and I am trying to fit in a bit about my epq. I'm already over the limit (still working on what I can cut out) but I haven't put anything about any books and articles I've read. I have read some but to be honest I haven't really found anything interesting enough that I particularly want to talk about it in my personal statement. I am applying to study biochemistry/natural sciences, and ideally I'd like to apply to cambridge or oxford. Is it essential to include books and articles, or will it be ok without?

Take out your section on your A level topics. They'll be similar to every other applicant.

Discussion of your study outside your A levels is much more useful.

Reply 2

Plagioclase

21

Original post by theperksofbeingnerdy

I'm really struggling to get my personal statement down to 47 lines. I've talked about why I want to study my chosen subject, my a levels and how I feel they will be useful with the course I want to study, some topics I found interesting at a level, and my other interests and how they have helped me develop skills I'll need for uni, and I am trying to fit in a bit about my epq. I'm already over the limit (still working on what I can cut out) but I haven't put anything about any books and articles I've read. I have read some but to be honest I haven't really found anything interesting enough that I particularly want to talk about it in my personal statement. I am applying to study biochemistry/natural sciences, and ideally I'd like to apply to cambridge or oxford. Is it essential to include books and articles, or will it be ok without?

One of the main purposes of the personal statement is to explain why you want to study the subject you're applying for, what in particular interests you and what you've done already to take your interests beyond the curriculum. So on the one hand, admissions tutors would probably be a bit concerned if you have absolutely no evidence of taking your interest in your subject beyond what you're studying at school. On the other hand, you also don't want to mention books for the sake of it because it's not going to be genuine and if you're asked to expand on why Book X inspired you to study subject Y, you've got a problem.

At least you've got your EPQ - if you found that to be a useful experience and it's relevant to your course then definitely expand on that - but my honest advice, even if it's a bit optimistic, is to start reading frantically. If you're genuinely interested in your subject then I'd be very surprised if you didn't find any books about it interesting, so hopefully if you read a few more you might find something worth talking about.

Reply 3

alleycat393

21

You can also cut down on your extra curriculars which are not directly relevant to your course. If you're only talking about transferable skills developed then keep it at about 100 words.

Reply 4

theperksofbeingnerdy

OP

13

Ok so I need to cut down some of my other sections a bit. What about if I write about things that I found interesting in class and did some extra research on? Although I have read quite a few books and stuff, I've also read just a few pages of some books to find answers on specific topics. Does that count, if I talk about that and some books I used to help? For instance when we did DNA in biology I was quite interested in the chemistry of the bases so I did some extra research on that, and when we did MRI and PET scans in psychology I wanted to find out more about what's actuall going on in your body in terms of particles and positrons and stuff. Would those kind of things be ok to write about?

Reply 5

alleycat393

21

Yes that's exactly what you should be writing about. Make sure you relate it all back to why you're interested in the subject and why you want to study it at uni.

Should I include books/articles I've read in my personal statement?

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