| This is a real personal statement written by a student for their university application. It might help you decide what to include in your own. There are lots more examples in our collection of sample personal statements. |
Without being aware of the term "anthropology" until recently, I've long had an interest in the ways that people live, particularly in how different people's ways of living and viewing the world can be. Having a father in the Army, I was used to moving to new places often as a child, which exposed me to a variety of different cultures and social environments from a young age. These experiences taught me to appreciate and respect the rich diversity of human life; they cultivated my desire to learn about other expressions of culture, initially through travel, and now through my ambition to study Anthropology. I believe that Anthropology plays a key role in educating people to accept, respect and learn from cultures both similar and very different to their own, making it undeniably important within our increasingly globalized, multicultural world. I can't think of a more relevant and exciting subject to study.
Anthropology's attraction for me is its holistic, infinitely broad approach to studying humans and how they operate. I found Hendry's book, "Sharing Our Worlds" an inspiring first insight into the subject; one moment I was reading about the "obi" , or sash, traditionally worn by pregnant Japanese women to protect the growing baby, whilst a few pages on I would be reading about the initiation rituals of the Maasai tribe in Tanzania. I found my preconceived ideas about dirt and defilement challenged and totally reformed by Mary Douglas' "Purity and Danger". It made me consider both hygienic and symbolic interpretations of purification rituals and religious dietary restrictions that had never even occurred to me before. I realised that my own interpretation of what dirt actually is wasn't as universal, nor as simple to define, as I'd always assumed. I enjoy the way that Anthropology not only changes our perceptions of foreign cultures, but gives us totally new ways of looking at our own.
"The Human Past" introduced me to the interplay between Archaeology, Biological and Social Anthropology. The abundance of bones of relatively easily caught mammals in Middle Stone Age African settlement sites were justified as evidence for the less-developed hunting abilities of the people of the era. This was in comparison to the abundance of bones of more dangerous mammals found in Late Stone Age settlement sites, leading to the conclusion that the inhabitants developed into more effective hunters over time. I realised that archaeological finds could be used to inform and enrich the ethnographic research carried out by Anthropologists. Knowledge of the Africans' long hunting past could, for example, explain why hunting has endured to remain the lifestyle of choice for many modern day tribes, such as the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert.
As well as travel, I have a love for horses and have fun both riding and volunteering at the stables. I enjoy team sports, and was a member of both school football and netball teams, and a member of the Sports Council, as well as being part of my college's netball team. Currently, I'm enjoying the challenge of teaching myself to speak French independently, and have a strong interest in learning new languages at university to complement my study of Anthropology.
Before attending university, I will be taking a gap year. I'll be working on cattle ranches in outback Australia for six months, and working in the UK beforehand to fund the trip. I feel that my gap year will be a valuable personal experience first and foremost, helping me to grow in independence and confidence, which will make my transition into university life as smooth as possible. The experience will also give me insight into a new, unfamiliar culture, further broadening my outlook on the world in preparation for studying Anthropology at university level.
Universities Applied to:
- Durham University (Anthropology) - Unconditional Offer > Accepted
- Durham University (Anthropology & Archaeology) - Unconditional Offer
- University of Edinburgh (Archaeology & Social Anthropology) - Unconditional Offer
- University of St Andrews (Social Anthropology) - Rejection
- University of Sussex (Anthropology) - Unconditional Offer
Grades Achieved:
- Psychology (A2) - A
- English Literature (A2) - A
- Business (A2) - B
- Photography (AS) - A
