Overused Topics and Resources to Avoid in Your Personal Statement

Classics

A common theme amongst Classics applicants in recent years is to focus on revisionist feminist literature. Essentially, these are works in which modern writers rehabilitate classical women and produce modernist retellings of their lives and stories. Whilst a focus on women in classical literature is indeed interesting, perhaps find a new avenue through which to explore this if you wish to be more original. 

Computer Science

A big theme amongst computer science applicants is that of intelligence. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are incredibly popular amongst applicants as core themes for the personal statement. Whilst our advisors are not warning you against discussing this topic per se, since it is an incredibly important and relevant topic, but that if you are going to discuss it you must engage with it at depth. Applicants are increasingly mentioning AI without proving that they have researched it beyond surface–level reading and the news. 

In a similar vein, applicants frequently mention Turing and, more specifically, the Turing Test. Again, we absolutely recommend that you learn about this very important and interesting topic, but perhaps find something more unique to discuss specifically in the statement itself. 

Economics

Recent Economics applicants have disproportionately focused on Behavioural Economics in general. This looks at how the decisions of individuals may deviate from the choices suggested by classical theories of economics based on various social, cultural, psychological, and other factors. In particular, our advisors recommend avoiding the book Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein in the statement; despite being one of the main books to bring nudge theory, an important concept in behavioural science, to prominence and being well worth reading, it has become overmentioned in recent years. 

Engineering

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a real buzz-phrase in this area is sustainable engineering. Although it is both necessary and timely to learn more about sustainability within the engineering field, ensure that you either use it for your own general interest or, if you must discuss it in your personal statement, that you thoroughly research a specific area or concept and have plenty to say about it! Our advisors are seeing an uptick in applicants simply mentioning sustainable engineering as a vague idea to ‘score points’ with the admissions tutors. 

English Literature

Applicants to English Literature tend to centre around the same cornerstone authors and texts. Whilst it is fine to mention some of the classics (think Shakespeare, Orwell, Dickens, etc.), you should really mix these up so that you’re standing out to the tutors. In particular, our advisors have found Sylvia Plath and T.S. Eliot to have come up frequently in recent application cycles. 

French

The biggest name that comes up again and again in French personal statements, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Albert Camus. Whilst we would never suggest avoiding Camus in your research (in fact, we very much recommend having at least an overview of his work to discuss in interviews), mentioning him is unlikely to get you very many points. 

Another topic to be careful about is La Francophonie (i.e. French-speaking communities across the world). Our advisors have noted applicants mentioning their interest in the Francophone world but neglecting to actually mention any sources from outside of France. Therefore, we recommend only bringing it up if you’ve really done some research outside of France itself. 

Geography

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall is by far and away the most common work we see cited both by Geography applicants and other area studies applicants as well. The book, published in 2015, was a New York Times bestseller and number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list. It is a very interesting and accessible book, making it easy to read and great for the entry-level geographer. For these reasons, it has become overused and hackneyed in personal statements. If you read the book, and/or its sequel The Power of Geography, we recommend perhaps honing in on one of the themes or regions you were most interested in and delving further into that instead. 

Land Economy

The Bottom Billion by Paul Coller, a 2007 book about the development, or lack thereof, of the poorest countries in the world, is overmentioned. If you are interested in this book, perhaps consider finding one of the main ‘traps’ outlined and investigating it through other sources, or reading some more recent works which either build upon or criticise the work. 

Law

Letters to a Law Student by Nicholas J. McBride is one of the cornerstone texts for aspiring law students, and therefore overused in personal statements. We absolutely recommend reading it, but perhaps use it as inspiration or companion to your application, rather than citing it directly in the statement. 

Linguistics

Our advisors have observed the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis coming up a lot in statement draft. This colloquial term refers to the idea that language influences the speaker’s thought and perceptions of the wider world. However, this theory is not really debated much in modern linguistics: although there is some evidence for weak linguistic relativity (i.e. some influence between one’s language and perceptions), contemporary scholars generally do not support the idea that one’s language limits or restricts their worldview. We recommend you do not discuss this topic as if it is a raging debate within academic, since it isn’t really.  

A specific work that is overmentioned in linguistics statements is The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker. Whilst we recommend reading it, our advisors suggest finding other specific works to discuss that are more original. 

Mathematics

Lots of key concepts come up frequently in mathematics, but one of the main ones we notice is Fermat’s Last Theorem. In particular, we have found that applicants cite Simon Singh’s book on the topic (entitled Fermat’s Last Theorem). Whilst this is an excellent book to read, laying out both the theorem itself and the story of finding a proof for the theorem puzzled mathematicians for years, it is one of the most popular mathematics books out there and therefore is mentioned in many personal statements.  

Philosophy

Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy by Simon Blackburn is intended to introduce students, or general readers, to Philosophy. As such, it is very broadly read and very broadly mentioned by applicants in their statements and interviews. Our advisors recognise Think as a very valuable book to read if you are applying for philosophy, but that it is perhaps best used as a jumping-off point for further research rather than to mention it in its own right.