university of nottingham personal statement

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July 6, 2018, by Ross Wilson

How to apply to Liberal Arts – Personal Statements

Every student applying to Liberal Arts will come from different backgrounds and they will have their own experiences and individual qualifications. That’s why we don’t look for specific A-Levels, International Baccalaureate profiles or their equivalents in any application. What we are interested in is why you want to explore issues across a range of subjects and study for a Liberal Arts degree. We all have different interests but what brings us together as Liberal Arts scholars is that we don’t want to be confined to one approach.

Your personal statement

When writing your statement to apply for the Liberal Arts degree we want to learn more about you. We want to find out about what you are motivated by, what you are interested in and what you want to study here at the University of Nottingham.

Writing personal statements for Liberal Arts can seem complicated because of the range of options but this is an opportunity to tell us more about you. We want to hear about your work and your pastimes and why these are important to you and why this has led you to Liberal Arts.

Trent Building, University Park

Liberal Arts at the University of Nottingham is about choice, exploration and it is about innovation. If you want to study across a range of subjects that says something exciting and interesting about you and we want to know what that is. We are all interdisciplinary in our interests. For example, we can enjoy music, art, literature, languages or mathematics; but we want to find out why you want to study subjects together and connect up areas of thought.

You might be interested in architecture, gaming, politics, culture or society. You could want to work on issues to do with the environment, equality or education. You may want to take a role in the future that will change how we live, work and engage with one another. But we do this by thinking differently and using the range of approaches from the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Don’t worry about covering every single approach or trying to address all the subjects we have to offer in your statement. We only want to find out about your route to studying Liberal Arts and what you want to do. We read all the personal statements because we are interested in your work as a Liberal Arts scholar. So, use this chance to:

1 – Describe your current subjects of study and why you want to explore these further

2- Explain how you want to combine different subjects and approaches

3 – Report on the books, films, television programmes, music or art that have inspired you or made you think differently about what you want to work on at university

4 – Inform us of the areas you would like to study here at Nottingham and why

5 – Tell us about any trips, plans, volunteering or jobs you have undertaken or plan to complete and why this has influenced you

6 – Communicate your interests, your motivations and what makes you want to study Liberal Arts

Hallward Library, University Park Campus

Liberal Arts is for people who want to study, explore and innovate and we will work with you to develop a degree programme that reflects your interests and which opens up opportunities for a range of careers. Do not worry about having to decide your route through Liberal Arts right now as this is something you can explore when you begin your studies.

Your personal statement reflects who you are as a Liberal Arts student and why this degree is important for you.

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You've got just 4000 characters to describe why you want to study English. It's not much! And it may seem even harder if you want to combine English with another subject on a joint honours course.

Dr Chris Collins shares his thoughts on what to include in a personal statement. From how to show your passion, demonstrate your experience and connect English to other subjects Chris's short video will help get you started.

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How to write a stand-out personal statement

No one can tell us about your ambitions, skills and experience better than you. You have 4,000 characters to tell us your story – here’s how to make your words count.

What is a personal statement?

A personal statement is exactly that – a statement about you. Your personal statement is submitted with your UCAS application and should explain why you're a great candidate for the course and what would make you a brilliant addition to the university.

Now is the time to be confident. You have approximately two sides of A4 to share what's unique about you and to showcase the skills and experiences that are relevant to your application. We're looking for well-written personal statements full of passion, individuality, and honesty.

Find out more about what a UCAS personal statement is, why it's important to your university application and how to write one that stands out.

How to start your personal statement

What to include.

• Why are you interested in the course?
• What do you want to do when you graduate?
• Are you passionate? Prove it.

Make sure you get to know the course you’re interested in. Here are some questions to consider:

• What is the course or university looking for in a student?
• Have you got relevant personal qualities? If so, what are they and how can you show that you have them?
• Do you have the relevant skills, knowledge and experience to excel in the course?
• Have you done any relevant voluntary work or training?
• Have you got relevant work experience?

Once you’ve done your research and written your notes, you should know what makes you a strong candidate. Now you can start your personal statement.

Make sure that:

• your personal statement is well-structured, convincing and easy to understand. Whatever course you do at university, you'll be required to write essays. By showing that you can communicate well in writing, you’ll make a good impression.
• you order your statement based on the requirements of the course you’re interested in. For example, if it’s beneficial to demonstrate organisational skills or an interest in fashion, put your examples of these at the top of the page.

Six tips for writing your personal statement

• Give yourself time to write it properly
• Write in a formal style
• Don’t copy. Avoid clichés. Keep your statement unique. Be honest, thorough and persuasive
• Believe in yourself – write in a natural and positive way and showcase all your skills and experience
• Check that your spelling and grammar is correct – ask someone you trust to read it too
• Remember, universities can only make a decision based on the information you give them.

The best personal statements are those that give our Admissions team an idea of who you are, why you want to study your course of interest, and what you’d ideally like to go on to do after university. Give us an outline of what motivates you to study and why.

Laura, NTU Admissions team

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What makes a great personal statement? transcript

University of Birmingham admissions tutors inform you of what makes a great personal statement on a UCAS application.

Title:  What makes a great personal statement? Duration: 6.09 mins

So the opening paragraph to your personal statement is really important. So you want to draw the reader in. Recently, we had a student write, “well, without chemical engineers we wouldn’t have everyday products such as shampoos and detergents, and I want to be the person that creates these products of the future”. So this really shows they understand the scope of Chemical E ngineering and how it relates to the real world, and that’s really nice to see in a personal statement, because it shows you’ve done your research as well.

What we don’t want to see is lots of people saying I first wanted to be a dentist when I was 5 years old, because lots and lots of people say that, we don’t think it’s particularly genuine. What’s much more valuable to us is telling us what kind of things you think appeal to you about the career, what makes you think that you’d be a good fit for it. And do you have a kind of an awareness as to the good points and the bad points of the career so that you’re fully prepared to go into it.

What makes a good personal statement is when a student really goes into detail about why they want to study that particular subject. What I’m really looking for as an admissions tutor is something unique to that individual, and something that shows that that student has taken a bit more time than just thinking about the things that they’ve studied within their class. It might be that they’ve thought about what they want to do with a law degree in the future, whether that’s to become a solicitor, a barrister, or do something completely different with their law degree. What I’m looking for is for them to talk about their extra-curricular activities, the wider reading that they’ve done, and how that’s going to make them effectively a better law student in the long run.

One of the things that I might look for if I’m reading a personal statement maybe, for instance, is there something that the student has read recently that demonstrates an interest and a passion for the subject? Students can also evidence their interest in a topic by talking about a particular academic lecture that they may have been to see, or if they’ve been on-line to see a TedX talk, for instance - and they should really reflect on how this has sparked their interest in a topic. 

Applicants often ask the sort of work experience they should include in a personal statement. For me, this doesn’t have to be a prestigious internship, in many respects it can be a summer job or it could be a Saturday job. For instance, if you’ve applied to a Sociology or a Social Policy Degree, you might reflect on how that Saturday job has offered a series of insights into the flexible labour market, zero hours contracts, that have sparked your interest in these disciplines. I suppose the point is that no experience is wasted if you relate that experience to the course you’re applying to.

We really want students to show us what skills they’ve got beyond academic achievement. We are interested in finding out about your part-time jobs, but not necessarily the specifics of what you were up to every day. We’re looking for what transferable skills you’ve managed to get from your job, be it leadership, team-working, etc, and how this can enhance your CV.

We have a lot of applicants that say “I like maths, I like chemistry, so I want to do Chemical Engineering”. But Chemical Engineering is more than just maths and chemistry. So it includes business, it includes physics, it includes biology. So we really want you to bring that all into your personal statement. A really easy way of doing this is talking about your experiences. Maybe you’ve read an article or you’ve read a book or you’ve seen a TV programme and it’s really inspired you to study Chemical Engineering. Bring this into your personal statement and really show your interest for the subject.

In Biosciences, it’s a numeric degree, so we like to know that students can do basic numerical functions, look at statistics. We also like students to emphasise if they’ve had any lab experience - this can be obtained at school. What have they enjoyed about practical sessions? What have they gained out of it?

For a student applying for a joint honours degree I would recommend that they include both of the subjects they are applying for in their personal statement. This is because it’s likely that admissions tutors for both of those subjects will have a look at the application and at the personal statement. So, for example, if the student was applying for History and English I’d be looking for them to find a way that those subjects actually link together and complement each other. And go into a bit of detail about why they want to do that particular combination of subjects.

So the things that we look for in a personal statement are basically the things that you can’t get across on your UCAS form or anywhere else. So the things that we think are really important are you telling us about some work experience that you’ve done. Ideally, we want our candidates to have 3 days work experience in an NHS or an NHS and private mixed practice. And also tell us a bit about the things that you reflected on from that, and the things  you learnt from it. Was it the kind of job that you expected it to be? Were any things different? Rather than just listing the procedures that you saw. And also voluntary work - so, we ask all of our candidates to undertake a voluntary placement. And that’s to show a few things, really. To show that you’re willing to give back to the community, and that you enjoy working with people from a wide variety of backgrounds. And, again, we’ll give credit to candidates a little bit more if they push themselves a bit outside their comfort zone with that voluntary work. So maybe if they work with people they wouldn’t normally come into contact with during their day-to-day life, possible a care home or helping in a homeless shelter, something like that, rather than maybe just tutoring children within their own school or working in youth clubs they might have attended themselves when they were younger.

We’re looking for applicants to convey a passion for the subject. This says something in particular: you’ve had an interest in, on your A’ Levels or BTEC, that you want to learn more about across three years. How will your degree help to contribute to the sort of career that you might want to go into? Or is it that you have a set of skills that you wish to develop through your degree? Or more broadly, what’s the sort of person that you want to be when you leave University?

You’ll be studying with academics who live and breathe their subjects. They do not only teach them, they also research them for a number of years. And so we’re looking for students to demonstrate the same desire and interest that our academics have.

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Nottingham Trent University Personal Statements

These UCAS personal statements have been kindly provided by students applying to Nottingham Trent University. You can click on one of the links below to view the entire statement and find out if the applicant was offered a place.

You can also view our entire collection of personal statements or view personal statements for application at other universities .

Biomedical Science/Neuroscience Personal Statement Example The limitless potential of the life sciences and the opportunity for world-changing breakthroughs are both exciting and compelling to me. Upon hearing about a disease for the first time, I am eager to find out more about the precise ways in which it affects the body, which has led me to spend much time researching the details of various diseases...

French and Italian Personal Statement Example 1 I see speaking a foreign language as a key to a door opening up a new world of possibilities and opportunities. As a child my mother insisted I learned another language, she told me to grab any possible open window for a life beyond my own imagination...

Early Childhood Studies Personal Statement Example 5 Ever since I could remember I have always wanted to play a big part in children’s education. As I was growing up I could see children of my age in Africa struggling to go to school because of their circumstances...

English Literature with Italian Personal Statement Example As a child, I was always intrigued by the idea that other worlds could be held between the covers of a book, providing insight into cultures, times and societies that would otherwise be foreign to us. Continued study of English Literature through to 'A' level has broadened my understanding and enjoyment of literature, greatly improving my ability to read analytically and critically...

Economics and Finance Personal Statement Example 15 Through life's experiences, I have come to realise that the economy affects almost everything in the world. Newspapers dedicate more headlines to financial issues in comparison to other topics. This has led to the realisation that without a good stable economy the world could fall to its knees, for example, the Wall Street collapse of 1929 and the more current financial crisis which started in 2007...

Physics Personal Statement Example 13 Attending university has been a lifelong dream of mine; ever since my childhood, I have been told that I should, and I have always agreed with the sentiment. If I were asked to pin down an exact reason, however, I would be forced to confess that I do not know - I just enjoy learning new things and exercising my mind...

Financial Mathematics Personal Statement Example 2 Studying mathematics is a pure pleasure for me and I take pride in my achievements in the subject. What makes maths so interesting is its foundations in the real world; for instance, the Fibonacci numbers that arise all through nature, the notes played by a guitar string producing standing waves at different frequencies of sound and algebra which is used to create special effects in animated films and TV shows...

Physics Personal Statement Example 14 Physics is fascinating. It’s exciting, it’s thrilling, it’s relevant, it’s really interesting, and that’s just the start. I’ve always asked lots of questions and tried to figure out how and why everything works as it does...

Law Personal Statement Example 83 Currently I study English language, history and law. Out of the three I find law the most fascinating because it is the foundation of anything that occurs in society. Learning about how decisions are made in law, the constant arguments to reach a fair judgement and the on-going evolution of the law to adapt to society makes me enthusiastic to learn more...

Spanish and Chinese Personal Statement Example My passion for Modern Foreign Languages is what drives me to pursue a degree in Chinese and Spanish; my fascination and curiosity to explore the cultures of not only China and East Asia, but also of the Hispanic world, motivate me to learn and discover the languages of these regions...

Fashion Communication Personal Statement Example Fashion is an eternally evolving outlet for expression. I have a profound interest in how clothing can portray a message about one's self. I am particularly fascinated by the progression in the accessibility of garments since the fashion boom of the 1960s; I'm greatly inspired by the various British subcultural styles that have since been reshaped over the generations...

Chemistry Personal Statement Example 18 Chemistry explores the properties of all matter and energy in our universe, which eventually leads to breakthroughs that benefit mankind, ranging from how to prevent food from decomposing to understanding what chemicals can help or harm you...

Politics Personal Statement Example 31 I have always been interested in Politics from a young age and was enticed by media coverage of such events like 9/11, the rise of Al-Qaeda, the Iraq war and the recession and its impact on us as a nation; however, when I started AS Government & Politics I knew Politics was the course for me...

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