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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News, views and experiences of Liberal Arts  staff and students at Nottingham. Our Liberal Arts courses allow students to  explore  their interests within a framework of problem-solving, enquiry and global  exploration.

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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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Economics and finance personal statement example 4.

At college the courses that I study are Maths, Economics and ICT (having discontinued Chemistry after AS). My favourite subject that I am currently studying is economics. Economic issues have become increasingly prominent in political and current affairs, and for me to understand such issues was the principal reason for me choosing to study economics. Each and every one of us is affected by changes in the economy. Advances in technology, changing inflation rates, unemployment, and balance of payments troubles are matters both of international magnitude and personal concern. My enthusiasm for economics has led me to want to pursue a degree that involves the theme's accountancy and finance. I hope this degree will aid me in a conceivable career in Accountancy

Accountants are probably best known for checking the validity of company accounts - auditing - but this is just one aspect of what they do. Accountants devise and operate financial systems, and advise on business start-ups, company take-overs and company rescue schemes. They also handle individuals' and corporations' tax affairs and make recommendations to Government on policy. Accountants play a key role in the formulation and implementation of business decisions both strategic and political, through the uniquely analytical approach to the assessment of the financial implications of business plans

This course I believe will improve and equip me with essential skills that I require. It will enhance the problem solving and analysis skills that I have acquired from my A level in Economics and also from my study of Mathematics. Through managing my work and from project based modules I anticipate that my planning and organisational skills will be improved. I believe this course will equip me with practical and theoretical skills which will come of real use to me in as I pursue my career in accountancy

I have been involved in voluntary work with my local tennis club. This involves going to the club every Friday and assisting the coach with his training of the kids. This has considerable responsibility, as I must ensure that the children are firstly in a secure environment. I must also make sure that the kids are becoming more skilled and taking pleasure from the sessions. Children work best in situations where they feel liberated and when they are enjoying themselves, but at the same time it is important to maintain a level of discipline. This voluntary work has taught me a great deal about myself and also enhanced many skills. I found my voluntary work to be very fulfilling and it is especially rewarding when a child achieves something you taught them to do

My leisure time is dominated by sports. I am very sports oriented and revel in playing in an assortment of sports, which include football, tennis, badminton, table tennis and swimming. I am a member of North Harrow Tennis Club and represent them in a league competition, which comprises of playing matches against other tennis clubs. I have been very successful in swimming having captured the distinguished Gold Award, which is a reputed award. Swimming is a challenging sport that improves your fitness and is very enjoyable. I relish participating in tournaments, which give me a chance to test my sporting abilities. I have won many trophies in table tennis and tennis and I always like to uncover ways in which I can improve my abilities. My sport has contributed to my studying since it improves skills like teamwork and determination

This year I have taken it upon myself to take the responsibility of being Cafod representative. Cafod is a charity that fights third world poverty. It is a deserving cause that I try to support as much as possible. My duties involve collecting monthly collections and ensure the accounts for our class are in order. This position requires someone who is responsible, punctual in collection.

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This isnt very good, you have.

Fri, 10/10/2008 - 15:24

this isnt very good, you have like 20 paragraphs all one sentence each

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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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