HOW TO WRITE A GREAT PERSONAL STATEMENT: tips from an Oxford grad!
Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well :) UCAS application deadlines are fast approaching, so I thought today I'd sit down and talk you through my tips on how to write a great personal statement. As I said in the video, if you would like me to edit or give you advice on yours, I am more than happy to do so! Just comment down below or DM us on one of our social media pages.
MY PERSONAL STATEMENT:
I want to study French and Italian because they have much in common, and I enjoy seeing the roots of both languages in Latin, which I also study. However, I am interested too in how they differ, something which I have already begun to contemplate. In general, I enjoy acquiring vocabulary, as well as syntactic structures, which, as a grammar enthusiast, I try to incorporate into my written and spoken French and Italian both accurately and spontaneously. I also enjoy translating, and was interested by David Bellos' handling of this subject in his book, 'Is That a Fish in Your Ear?'.
Outside school, I have sought to develop an independent interest in foreign literature, and like the challenge of reading novels, plays and poetry in their original language. I have especially enjoyed reading twentieth-century French novels, most recently Françoise Sagan's 'Bonjour Tristesse'. I have also begun to explore earlier literature, and am starting Pierre Chorderlos de Laclos' 'Les Liaisons dangereuses', whose epistolary mode is something new to me. I have enjoyed reading these two novels untranslated and am struck by the overarching theme they share, despite their different contexts: plotting against others, using love as the prime weapon. I have also read a selection of French poems, including some by Ronsard and Jacques Prévert. My investigation of Italian literature has, so far, been based in the twentieth century. I have enjoyed examining the theme of family through my reading of the novels and short stories of Natalia Ginzburg, and have also begun reading Primo Levi's harrowing 'Se questo è un uomo'. Another interest of mine is watching foreign films, and I have enjoyed the sensitive examination of thought-provoking themes such as transgenderism in Céline Sciamma's 'Tomboy' and the Holocaust in Roberto Benigni's 'La vita è bella'.
Last summer, I applied what I had learned in French lessons to the outside world when I spent a week working with the Alliance Française. During that time, I had a taste of what it is like to have a job in a French-speaking environment, a welcome challenge which confirmed my desire to spend time working abroad. I catalogued their library and helped with their publicity for the Tour de France, which passed through Cambridge a week later. I also took part in an exchange, and spent two weeks with a family in the Veneto region of Italy. This gave me the opportunity to experience another kind of non-English-speaking environment, and the more domestic setting allowed me to concentrate further on improving my spoken Italian. This term, I will be taking online courses in Culture Studies and Modern Languages run by the University of Bristol and beginners' Dutch run by the University of Groningen, as well as basic classes in Mandarin Chinese at school.
I am a keen traveller, and have already visited France and Italy several times. I enjoy these trips because of the opportunity they give me to expand my cultural knowledge and to communicate with native speakers. A recent trip that I enjoyed was one to Florence, during which I began to learn about Italian Renaissance art, and I was particularly impressed by the Duomo and the frescoes of Fra Angelico. I have also been to Naples, Rome and Sicily, as well as places in France such as Paris and Béziers, and I look forward to exploring the countries more during my year abroad. As well as travelling, I enjoy writing. I have contributed various articles to my school newspaper and have recently become one of its editors. I also won a school journalism competition for an essay on feminism, judged by a local writer-broadcaster. In 2012, I helped copy-edit a book written by a Bosnian family friend, which allowed me to see how English is approached by those with a different mother tongue.
Overall, I have enjoyed getting a taste of what a Modern Languages degree will have to offer, and look forward to pursuing my interest in each of these areas further.
Website mentioned in video: https://www.futurelearn.com/
Follow us on Instagram! / oxvlog
Business enquiries: [email protected]