Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics (PPL) Personal Statement Guide

If you had to compile a list of enjoyable activities, writing a personal statement is unlikely to feature on it. There are several reasons why this might be: it’s an arduous process, it takes a lot of thought, time and consideration, and there’s a distinct pressure to ‘get it right’. The problem with the last point is that there are no clear stipulations as to what must be included in the statement, so it’s hard to know if you’re ‘getting it right’. The most you can go on is advice from UCAS and universities about what to put in, but that doesn’t really tell you how to go about writing it.

For that reason, this guide is here to help you do just that. It offers advice not only on what to put in and leave out of a PPL personal statement, but also how to incorporate your content into a coherent framework and make your statement effective and stimulating to read. Included in this guide are the following points to help you on your way: 

• Why are Personal Statements Important?
• What Should I Include in a PPL Personal Statement? 
• What Should I Avoid in a PPL Personal Statement? 
• Advice on How to Start a PPL Personal Statement
• Advice on How to Finish a PPL Personal Statement
• FAQs 

Why are Personal Statements Important? 

The degree course of Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics is one for which schools can only prepare you to a certain extent. While it’s possible, but not guaranteed, that you’ll have taken psychology and philosophy as subjects at school, you’ll not have studied linguistics to more than a superficial extent, perhaps as part of learning a language or doing an English Language qualification.

This is why the personal statement is so important: it allows you to talk about not only what you’ve done so far but also what you would like to do and why. It acts as an endorsement of your skills and interests, as well as of your motivation to pursue a new subject at university. It should persuade the reader of your competencies and passion, while also leaving them in no doubt of your diligence and dedication to your chosen course.

What Should I Include in a PPL Personal Statement? 

Considering the close relationship between psychology, philosophy and linguistics, it’s essential that your statement expresses your understanding and appreciation not only of their congruity but also of their differences. It’s understandable, of course, if you gravitate more towards one of the disciplines than the others, but it’s important you show an interest in, and an aptitude for, all three to some extent.

Three Related Fields

PPL is a largely modular course that allows you to determine your own path within certain confines. While you may want to focus on unrelated elements of each of the disciplines, you should nevertheless show that you know how each branch of knowledge can be used to inform the others.

This is where your reading comes in. Try as far as you can to direct your reading towards discrete works of each field, but also to some works that cover overlapping areas, like the philosophy of language and psycholinguistics. Make notes along the way and formulate some thoughts about what you’ve read. Be prepared to discuss in an interview what you mention about your reading in the statement.

Cross-Disciplinary Skills

It may surprise you to learn that skills you have developed at school will be directly applicable to the study of PPL. How we use language, what it really means to express an idea in words, what ‘words’ and ‘language’ are, and what happens cognitively when we are preparing to talk – these are all areas of interest covered by PPL, and with which studying a language or analysing a poem at school can help.

You should mention in your statement how you came to be interested in these diverse but closely related fields, and talk about how your thoughts around some of these and other questions have coalesced over time. For this you could rely on your experiences at school or by making your own observations outside the classroom.

Intellectual Curiosity

Having decided to study a degree as unique as PPL, you are undoubtedly already intellectually curious. This is an attribute highly valued by universities offering the course since so much of the content will be new to all students.

Your statement should therefore provide evidence of how you have been intellectually curious in the past, perhaps by doing your own piece of research around a new topic, and how you will continue to be so in the future, for example by referring to certain modules you’d like to take when you start. Just make sure the universities you’re applying to all offer the same or similar options.

What Should I Avoid in a PPL Personal Statement? 

A personal statement shouldn’t set out to shock or be hilarious. It should avoid quotations and clichés, informal language and pretentious expressions. In short, it should maintain a sufficient level of sophistication that it does justice to the topics under discussion, while also being transparent and simple to understand.

Remember the idea is not to waffle; you want to communicate as effectively as possible, and this will be a good indication of your clarity of thought to universities ahead of time. Avoid any mention of what you can’t relate easily back to PPL, so extracurricular activities need to have at least some relevance to the degree course.

Advice on How to Start a PPL Personal Statement  

Lists can be helpful for all sorts of reasons, but chief among which is the avoidance of omissions. You don’t want to end up pressing ‘submit’ and then realising you left out a vital detail. Make a list of what you want to include at all costs and one that contains material you’ll include if you have words to spare.

When it comes to writing the opening, be upfront about why you’ve chosen PPL and the origins of your interest in the three subjects. Interest and motivation should always come first as that’s really the point of the statement. You can then go into further detail about experiences, skills, and what you’d like to gain from the degree.

Advice on How to Finish a PPL Personal Statement  

You may not have thought beyond the first term, so it’s not essential to have any definitive plans for the future, but it’s a good idea to talk about what you’re looking forward to learning during the degree and, if applicable, what you’d like to do with it afterwards. This shows you’re committed to undertaking it and seeing it through to the end.

Additionally, the statement’s conclusion should reinforce to the reader why you’d be a good choice as a future student on this course, and that you’re going to benefit from doing it.

FAQs