Hard Science Personal Statement

Introduction

The introduction should sum up why you want to study your subject. This doesn’t need to be longer than two or three sentences. So perhaps keep that meaningful Neil deGrasse Tyson quotation for a post on social media.

Along with random quotations, avoid the classic clichés “For as long as I can remember” and “Since I was a child”. Neither adds much to your statement, both use up space, and neither makes you stand out. 

Keep it short, keep it simple. Write your introduction after you’ve completed a first draft of everything else. This will stop you writing a lengthy paragraph as you’ll be able to see how tight on space you are.

Main Body

This is where you really show your strengths as a candidate. Finalist for a design project? Wrote a prize-winning essay about cell division? Do you have a relevant work experience? Include it all here. Start with your most recent or your most relevant item and try to keep it focused on yourself.

For example, if you have a relevant work experience, state your role and not the company’s. If you were part of a team, don’t say “the team did … and I did ….” just say “I did ….”.

If in doubt follow a format of:

1)      What?

2)      Where?

3)      How did your actions help/affect the company/team (positive)?

4)      Whether this linked to another relevant work experience or project.

For Oxbridge (but relevant to all), number 3 is the most important. They want to see if you are a problem solver, and can think for yourself.

When applying for hard science subjects, you want to avoid just listing relevant books. Instead, say what book you have read, what areas you found interesting, and how it affected you (did a chemistry chapter make you perform an experiment?). There isn’t really a prescribed reading list, so rather than asking what to read, pick what you find interesting. This may be one chapter of a book rather than the whole thing, or even online project blogs from engineering websites.

Just make sure you say why you found it interesting, and what it led to.

Given that you may be asked about what you’ve written in an interview, do not claim to have knowledge that you do not have. Make sure you’ve read a book you claim to have read – you may have the author interviewing you. If you also include that you are passionate about airplanes, make sure you know how a wing generates lift.

Click here to read what  Oxbridge Applications’  former Head of Programmes, Rebecca Williams, had to say about common mistakes in Personal Statements in her interview with The Telegraph.