PhD Personal Statement

Hi,

I am currently applying for studentships/funded PhDs for when I finish my undergraduate next year. I haven't written a personal statement since applying for my undergrad in 2020 and I'm worried that I'm writing too much of a life story? I don't know where it's come from, likely unprocessed stuff but it's very emotive, about growing up passionate about animals and then my mental health struggles whilst at university. It does show my motivations and determination though?

Any advice is appreciated, this is due in by 11:59pm GMT tonight (left it way too late!) but also isn't my number one option for a PhD so not that worried, will probably be more of a learning curve.

Sorry for the long text!

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

I would've thought a personal statement/statement of purpose for a PhD would be much more focused on the research (project), your preparation for it (including research experiences in undergrad/masters) and technical stuff relating to the project...?

Even for undergrad personal statements they're not really biographical normally nor are they intended to be I don't think, they're meant to be a focused discussion of your academic interests in the subject the would-be undergraduate is applying to and what they've done to explore that.

Reply 2

theanonymous14

Original post by artful_lounger

I would've thought a personal statement/statement of purpose for a PhD would be much more focused on the research (project), your preparation for it (including research experiences in undergrad/masters) and technical stuff relating to the project...?
Even for undergrad personal statements they're not really biographical normally nor are they intended to be I don't think, they're meant to be a focused discussion of your academic interests in the subject the would-be undergraduate is applying to and what they've done to explore that.

Thank you, I am rewriting it with less focus on emotive stuff. I feel like there is space for it but only brief.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by theanonymous14

Thank you, I am rewriting it with less focus on emotive stuff. I feel like there is space for it but only brief.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/applying-to-oxford/how-to-guides/personal-statement - Oxford put together some advice for applicants to their programmes on a statement of purpose/personal statement for graduate study purposes which might be a helpful guide? :smile:

I think maybe tie bits of the emotive stuff to the concrete achievements to highlight how you not only made those achievements but also in a challenging circumstance, or to illustrate your motivations for choosing a particular research focus or something. That way it's not then all about that but you do have some of that to personalise it :biggrin: