| 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. |
Aged 6, I first attended The Polish National Science Fair. I was amazed by the projects on display, and wished that, one day, I would be able to submit a stand of my own. All the time I used to ask "how" and "why" and, unlike others, this is a habit which I have still not grown out of. My fascination with systems and science has only developed; I have since embarked on many of my own projects. In recent years I have been awarded the Arkwright Scholarship, participated in a science fair and I now wish to continue my passion for engineering by furthering my education at degree level.
Currently, I am developing an Autonomous Metal Detector - a vehicle capable of rastering large areas independently while looking for metallic objects. Having spent a large amount of my time and dedication on this endeavour, I feel that not only have I massively expanded my technical skills; I have realised how important mathematics is as an aspect of engineering. Over the course of the project, I became much more enthusiastic towards the subject and researched a lot of advanced topics required for my system, such as Direction Cosine Matrices and spherical geometry. Due to the scale and expense, I found it necessary to work part time as a freelance programmer as well as on building relationships with various companies, in order to obtain sponsorships and grants. This helped me to expand the project, and has led to engineering work experience opportunities. These stretches of work have confirmed my ambition to become an engineer and provided me with the educational experience of working on projects to strict specifications. With the aforementioned project, I went on to win the Young Engineer of the Year and National Science Competition at a regional level and am confident I will now be successful in the National Finals. Following that, I have also been invited to present my project at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association competition – an opportunity I am greatly looking forward to as each competition gives me a chance to practise my pitching and presentation skills.
Another major project I have worked on recently is a Muon spark chamber. This was very different to my previous ventures, involving various aspects of engineering, and, as such, I experienced working with a team of persons with a wide range of skillsets. I felt that this project was important to me as it was not only a great technical challenge; it also refined my research methodologies. On top of my own projects, I spent many hours assisting other students at school, providing advice and guidance. In school, I often help the DT department at my school and I feel the time spent working with less experienced students has allowed me to develop my communication skills, and, in particular, how to convey complex ideas in a simple manner.
In order to further my academic knowledge, I have engaged in a variety of reading on related subjects, including texts like "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill, a book I keep on coming back to as my main reference for electronics, as well as a range of blogs and articles. When possible, I attend conferences and university lectures, ranging from weekly Physics open lectures at UCL to events like the "Think Computer Science" hosted by Microsoft Research. I feel that a lot of these lectures, even if too advanced for me to fully comprehend, have extended my overall understanding of how physics can be applied. Overall, I would love to study engineering and work at the forefront of research and development. I am fascinated by the progress made on a day to day basis in the engineering world. Consequently, I feel it is a very satisfying and fulfilling field. I sincerely hope that this personal statement clearly conveys my desire and great potential to pursue this subject.
Universities Applied to:
- Southampton University (Electronic Engineering) - Offer (AAA)
- University College London (Electronic Engineering) - Offer (AAB)
- University of Surrey (Electronic Engineering) - Offer (AAB)
- Imperial College London (Electronic Engineering) - Offer (A*AA) Insurance
- Balliol College, Oxford (Engineering Science) - Offer (A*AA) Firm
Grades Achieved:
- Maths (A2) - A*
- Further Maths (A2) - A
- Physics (A2) - A
- DT Systems & Control (AS) - A
