essay competitions for my personal statement :)

5

I'm entering essay competitions to try and boost my personal statement, and also because I like my subjects and I want to get better at writing. I do English lit, History and Art, and I'd like to do english AND history or history of art at uni. I've entered the Edward Thomas Fellowship Essay Competition (it was a bit of a last minute affair) and I'm planning on entering the Historical Association one and the Gould prize for essays in English literature. To be honest, I haven't managed to narrow down my interests yet and start my wider reading properly for my ps, so I'm hoping that the research I will do for these competitions will help me. Is this the right thing to try and do?? Could anyone give me any advice on how many I should try and do, or what to focus on? I'm trying to hit both English and History to keep my options open because I haven't decided what I want to do properly yet. You can probably tell reading this that I have no clue lol, any advice at all welcome.
*ps. I don't care at all about winning because I'm not delusional

Reply 1

McGinger

20

I'm entering essay competitions to try and boost my personal statement,

For the majority of top Unis, 'competitions' are meaningless and will be just ignored. They do not say anything special about you or your academic suitability for a subject/course. Unis really want to see evidence of your intellectual and academic interests, and your reflection on extra-reading or other resources that have taken you beyond just the A level syllabus.

Do some free MOOCS over the Christmas break - take notes, think about the issues and ideas raised :
Jane Austen: Myth & Reality - Online Course - FutureLearn
Robert Frost: The American Voice - Online Course - FutureLearn
Discover the Hidden History of York - Online Course - FutureLearn
The history of female protest and suffrage in the UK: Introduction | OpenLearn - Open University
Introduction to Modern Sculpture - Online Course - FutureLearn
Dutch painting of the Golden Age: 4 Disguised symbolism and ‘seeming realism’ | OpenLearn - Open University
etc etc

Reply 2

University of Bradford

Official Rep

18

Original post

by ejemonie

I'm entering essay competitions to try and boost my personal statement, and also because I like my subjects and I want to get better at writing. I do English lit, History and Art, and I'd like to do english AND history or history of art at uni. I've entered the Edward Thomas Fellowship Essay Competition (it was a bit of a last minute affair) and I'm planning on entering the Historical Association one and the Gould prize for essays in English literature. To be honest, I haven't managed to narrow down my interests yet and start my wider reading properly for my ps, so I'm hoping that the research I will do for these competitions will help me. Is this the right thing to try and do?? Could anyone give me any advice on how many I should try and do, or what to focus on? I'm trying to hit both English and History to keep my options open because I haven't decided what I want to do properly yet. You can probably tell reading this that I have no clue lol, any advice at all welcome.
*ps. I don't care at all about winning because I'm not delusional

Hi @ejemonie. From the sounds if it, it seems like an appropriate approach. I believe entering essay competitions is such an amazing way to strengthen and advance your skills and personal statement, building your confidence in writing and look at various areas if both history and English prior to you entirely narrowing down your passion and interests. I would say you definitely do not need to enter a giant amount. Concentrating on one or two competitions and using these to guide your reading is much more valuable than rushing through many. Being a winner is not the main objective here. The actual process gives you many skills. Therefore, you are on the right track.

Kiran

Reply 3

McGinger

20

Original post

by University of Bradford

Hi @ejemonie. From the sounds if it, it seems like an appropriate approach. I believe entering essay competitions is such an amazing way to strengthen and advance your skills and personal statement, building your confidence in writing and look at various areas if both history and English prior to you entirely narrowing down your passion and interests. I would say you definitely do not need to enter a giant amount. Concentrating on one or two competitions and using these to guide your reading is much more valuable than rushing through many. Being a winner is not the main objective here. The actual process gives you many skills. Therefore, you are on the right track.
Kiran

I believe entering essay competitions is such an amazing way to strengthen and advance your skills and personal statement

Based on what evidence exactly?

Reply 4

ejemonie

OP

5

Original post

by McGinger

I'm entering essay competitions to try and boost my personal statement,
For the majority of top Unis, 'competitions' are meaningless and will be just ignored. They do not say anything special about you or your academic suitability for a subject/course. Unis really want to see evidence of your intellectual and academic interests, and your reflection on extra-reading or other resources that have taken you beyond just the A level syllabus.
Do some free MOOCS over the Christmas break - take notes, think about the issues and ideas raised :
Jane Austen: Myth & Reality - Online Course - FutureLearn
Robert Frost: The American Voice - Online Course - FutureLearn
Discover the Hidden History of York - Online Course - FutureLearn
The history of female protest and suffrage in the UK: Introduction | OpenLearn - Open University
Introduction to Modern Sculpture - Online Course - FutureLearn
Dutch painting of the Golden Age: 4 Disguised symbolism and ‘seeming realism’ | OpenLearn - Open University
etc etc

Hi McGinger, those moocs look really interesting so thank you for bringing them to my attention!! As I'm not doing an EPQ, my plan has been to use essay competitions as a way of exploring my subjects beyond the curriculum. For example, I am interested in war poetry (especially ww1) and the way the arts can be used as a "doctor to the soul" - which led me to find the Edward Thomas competition. The Historical Association one lets you choose your own topic (to do with local history) which is fantastic as my area used to be a red light district, which caused conflict with the immigrant Muslim population between the 60s and the 90s (when the prostitutes were driven out). I'm really interested in modern 20th century history. These are just a few examples, I haven't worked out how they are going to help me in my personal statement yet :smile:

Reply 5

marcus.0

11

Sure, participating in competitions sound nice, but they are less useful than you may think.
UK admissions care more about seeking students with the willingness to learn, rather than a student that has already displayed their full potential. Here's what LSE says regarding supercurricular opportunities: "Our Selectors look for students who can best reflect on the experiences and academic ideas they have encountered through the opportunities available to them, not those who have had the best opportunities".

In regards to 'reflecting' on competitions in your PS -- if you haven't won or gotten an award, what could you possibly reflect on? What would you learn and take from this experience? The fact that you wrote an essay on something and it didn't get selected? I mentioned a case competition that I won in my own PS, but that worked because I linked it to a book that I read with lots of high-level concepts, and I applied those concepts in the comp. By winning, it showed that I was able to take learnings and apply them intuitively in other areas.
I'd recommend sitting down and narrowing what you want to pursue in the future first.

(edited 2 months ago)

essay competitions for my personal statement :)

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated