WritingPersonalStatements.PDF

Writing Personal Statements When applying to postgraduate study you will often need to • Related projects that you may have worked on, including fill in a personal statement. These statements are to support group projects, labs and individual projects your application or to sell yourself and are normally around a • Evidence of managing your project - research skills, the page of text. They are typically read by an Admissions Tutor application of experimental methodology etc for postgraduate taught course applications or the Project Why this Master’s/PhD? Supervisor for postgraduate research programmes (e.g. PhD or MRes) who will then decide on your suitability for this line of • Show your motivations - what particularly appeals to you study or research. about the course or research topic? • Link your plans for future study with your career GETTING STARTED aspirations A personal statement should demonstrate that the • Demonstrate that you are making an informed decision by postgraduate course is right for you and that you have referring to research that you have done into the course, the skills, knowledge and attitude to achieve the course studies or research area. It is essential to show that you requirements. For example the instructions for the Imperial are genuinely motivated to follow this route and have College postgraduate online application state, ‘Tell us why thoroughly thought it through, in order to show that you you are interested in the subject for which you have applied. will not drop out when the going gets tough Des