Psychology Personal Statement
Personal experiences contribute to why I have an interest in psychology which leads on to me wanting to do a degree in this chosen subject. The most important experience to me which is relevant to psychology is living with someone for 16 years who suffers with schizophrenia which involved me in the Young Carers. Schizophrenia has been a massive part of my life resulting in me wanting to learn more about relationships and people as a whole. It affects a persons brain and how we behave in different ways. A particular interest in psychology would be the clinical, health and psychodynamic sides due to being friends with people who have manic depression, ADHD, autism and brain damage. Learning about therapy may help me to understand how these people cope with their disabilities. Piaget and Vygotskys theories are of interest also as they show how children respond differently to others in order to learn.
Reading autobiographies about people who have experienced sexual and mental abuse shows me how difficult peoples lives can be. I get a sense of what people go through and what they must do to cope. It is interesting to know how much they can achieve when you hear about their present lives. Real life stories in magazines are of interest as well as you can compare your life to those peoples to see how similar we actually are. I watch documentaries about extraordinary people to see how they cope with mental or physical disabilities. In the past I have volunteered in art classes with children which gave me knowledge of how each individual develops at different stages and how they express their emotions. This resulted in volunteering at a day care centre with learning disabled people which gave me more patience and feel of the way people express themselves through art.
Work experience at an art centre assisting in art classes with babies, children and learning disabled was very helpful as I saw how much these people can do and showed the various levels of artwork A second work experience was at Hertfordshire university in the ceramic and fashion departments which consisted of general cleaning tasks, helping with the open day and exhibitions.
During years 7, 8 and 9 I have been involved in open evenings at school where prospective students were shown round. I have been a member of a saxophone ensemble for 5 years in solo and chamber concerts. My artwork has been a part of exhibitions which were shown to the public. I helped to set up the last exhibition where I was shown how to present artwork properly.
My particular interest is art was a starting point to psychology where I spent many hours a day concentrating on my individual drawing skills. Music is also very important to me as I`m always listening to it and have played the saxophone for 5 years. In my free time I enjoy reading magazines, watching tv, going on the internet and socialising. Helping other people gives me the chance to gain an understanding about them by communicating with various people. I am able to do this through my part time job where I am dealing with customers and constantly talking to them. It gives me independence and a chance to show my responsibility and reliability in a team and as an individual.
My goal of going to university is to become a psychologist to find out about people`s emotions and explore their problems to treat them. I would like to bring my art in to this later on to maybe become an art therapist to help people express their emotions through art.
Comments
General Comments:
This PS suffers from the applicant trying to fit in too much into their PS, and consequently not being able to fit in a lot of specifics about what they find interesting and why. There is no real academic content, which is important in a PS, so it should take up about 2/3 of the overall content. The second paragraph isn't necessary either - the autobiographies and magazine articles etc aren't going to impress the admissions tutors - they want to see interest in the academic side of psychology, so text books/psychology journals would be far better to show your interest in psychology with.
Comments on the statement:
Personal experiences contribute to why I have an interest in psychology which leads on to me wanting to do a degree in this chosen subject. The most important experience to me which is relevant to psychology is living with someone for sixteen numbers should be written in full (at least up to twenty) years who suffers with schizophrenia which involved me in the Young Carers. Schizophrenia has been a massive too informal part of my life, resulting in me wanting to learn more about relationships and people as a whole. It affects a person's brain and how we mixing up pronouns here, with third person 'person' and first person plural 'we' behave in different ways. A particular interest in psychology would be the clinical, health and psychodynamic sides due to being friends with people who have manic depression, ADHD, autism and brain damage. Learning about therapy may help me to understand how these people cope with their disabilities. therapy is unlikely to covered at undergraduate level, and you shouldn't be doing a psychology degree to understand people that you know! Piaget and Vygotsky's theories are of interest also, as they show how children respond differently to others in order to learn. as mentioned above, the applicant is trying to fit in as much as possible, which makes the PS lose focus. While it's good that s/he has an interest in abnormal psychology and some awareness of cognitive psychology, this should be expanded upon in the rest of the statement - either talking about what has been observed with these people - e.g. how it's different for them/what is in place to help them and why it helps.
Reading autobiographies about people who have experienced sexual and mental abuse shows me how difficult peoples lives can be. I get a sense of too informal what people go through and what they must do to cope. It is interesting to know how much they can achieve when you hear about their present lives. Real life stories in magazines are of interest as well, as you can compare your life to those people's to see how similar we actually are. I watch documentaries about extraordinary people to see how they cope with mental or physical disabilities. as already mentioned, this isn't great experience as it's not academic psychology and shouldn't really be in a PS In the past I have volunteered in art classes with children which gave me knowledge of how each individual develops at different stages and how they express their emotions. this kind of thing should only be mentioned if you can give some examples of how it's different and try and relate it back to theory This resulted in volunteering at a day care centre with learning disabled people, awkward wording which gave me more patience and feel of the way people express themselves through art. this should be expanded to say why it was interesting
Work experience at an art centre assisting in art classes with babies, children and learning disabled was very helpful as I saw how much these people can do and showed the various levels of artwork. A second work experience was at Hertfordshire University in the ceramic and fashion departments, which consisted of general cleaning tasks, helping with the open day and exhibitions. all work experience (volunteered or paid) should be in the same paragraph - it's unclear why this is a separate paragraph. It is also unclear whether this is the same experience as mentioned in the previous paragraph, or new experience. Also, the second sentence doesn't really link to psychology - it doesn't really need to be there if there are better things to be included in the PS
During years 7, 8 and 9 I have been involved in open evenings at school where prospective students were shown round. admissions tutors won't really be interested in something you did 4 years ago... You shouldn't really mention anything before sixth form, except maybe your work experience in Yr 10/11 I have been a member of a saxophone ensemble for five years in solo and chamber concerts. My artwork has been a part of exhibitions that were shown to the public. I helped to set up the last exhibition where I was shown how to present artwork properly. this last bit sounds very stunted and doesn't flow well
My particular interest is art was a starting point to psychology where I spent many hours a day concentrating on my individual drawing skills. while it's not wrong to have interests outside of psychology, you shouldn't say anything is a 'particular interest', as the admissions tutors could question why you're not applying to study that instead Music is also very important to me as I am contractions shouldn't be used in PSs always this word is an overexaggeration! It's best avoided completely listening to it and have played the saxophone for five years. the applicant has already mentioned saxaphone playing, it's not necessary to repeat this In my free time I enjoy reading magazines, watching tv, going on the internet and socialising. not necessary - almost everyone does Helping other people gives me the chance to gain an understanding about them by communicating with various people. this is a rather odd sentence - you can communicate with people without helping them, and that's not what you learn about in a psychology degree anyway I am able to do this through my part time job where I am dealing with customers and constantly talking to them. It gives me independence and a chance to show my responsibility and reliability in a team and as an individual.
My goal of going to university is to become a psychologist to find out about people's emotions and explore their problems to treat them. I would like to bring my art in to this later on to maybe become an art therapist to help people express their emotions through art. this is your last chance to 'wow' the admissions tutors, so you should mention why you want to do the course and why you are a good candidate, rather than this. Also, a clinical psychologist is very different to an art therapist, so you wouldn't go from a CP to an art therapist!
