personal statement help!!

Hi, I am looking to apply to psychology courses from September but I have no idea what to write in my PS. I haven't been able to do any volunteering or work experience due to Covid and my aim at the beginning of Year 12 was to do these things during the summer holidays. I am worried I won't have anything decent to write about.

Any tips or recommendations would be helpful. Thank you

Reply 1

Peter.G

Have you read any books or articles, listened to any podcasts or done something to widen your knowledge in psychology? That would be what you write about.

Reply 2

Random_101

Original post by Peter.G

Have you read any books or articles, listened to any podcasts or done something to widen your knowledge in psychology? That would be what you write about.

ive read psychology books and my teachers have told us to do online courses relating to our uni course, so i am looking into doing that. I'm just scared it won't be enough

Reply 3

bubblecat

to be honest your PS wont be that important. focus on the skills you’ve acquired that would benefit you during a psych course (ie research skills, essay writing skills, analysis etc...) and how you acquired them. writing about specific areas of psychology that interest you and why is always good to. maybe a little bit about what you hope to achieve after a psych degree. you dont need any work experience or volunteering for a psychology PS. do you study psychology a level?

Reply 4

Peter.G

Original post by Random_101

ive read psychology books and my teachers have told us to do online courses relating to our uni course, so i am looking into doing that. I'm just scared it won't be enough

I think if you discuss two books in detail (give your opinions on ideas and themes throughout the books), maybe link a theme or idea that is mutual to both books, and then talk about the online course you should be fine. Although maybe you might want to read an article or similar related to your course and discuss that aswell.

For perspective, i’ve just completed the first draft of my personal statement, and I included two books, a summer school, a lecture i attended and an article I wrote. Obviously it wouldnt be posible for you to do a summer school but maybe you could listen to some online lectures and mention those.

There are lots of resources out there that you could make use of, and you have till January to submit your application (unless ur applying to oxbridge). Good luck!

Reply 5

Random_101

Original post by bubblecat

thank youu, i'll keep that in mind. Yeah, i do psychology, biology and sociology

Reply 6

bubblecat

Original post by Random_101

thank youu, i'll keep that in mind. Yeah, i do psychology, biology and sociology

great! is there any specific area or piece of research you’ve studied that interested you? sometimes its good to go quite specific for a little bit of your PS to show you know what you’re talking about.

in my psych PS i wrote about the skills i acquired, why i’m interested in psych, what i hope to do in the future (health or clinical psych) and why, i talked specifically about Rosenhan’s experiment that i learnt at a level, and i talked about going to a psychology convention in London to show a wider interest.

hope this is helpful!

Reply 7

flaurie

Volunteer Team

Here’s a list of Y12 opportunities for stuff to put on personal statements - there’s a section for psychology on there :smile:

hopefully one of them will be useful! https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6531484

Reply 8

Random_101

Original post by bubblecat

this is so great, thanks. I'm interested in clinical psych too and i think treatments for mental disorders or biopsych are definitely topics im more into so i'll look into including that in my PS