As we mention in our articles, podcasts, and our study abroad checklist (download your FREE copy now – look for the pop up when you enter the site), there are a number of things you need to do before you even begin studying abroad. Whilst the process is becoming easier and a number of universities and government bodies are providing more support for you in the way of online advice, there are still a few key things that you need to do to make sure your application is noticed and that you are accepted on to the course of your choice.
One of the areas that top universities will judge your application on is your personal statement. Your personal statement is the section in the application where you essentially sell yourself to the university and let them know why they should offer you one of their limited places on their programmes. Whilst the number of places on courses has generally increased across the world, there are some courses where applications outnumber the places available.
To ensure your application to study on a programme is noticed and secures you one of the limited places available, consider these five questions when writing your personal statement.
1. Why are you applying for this course…and why this university?
It comes as no surprise that this is the first thing you should be thinking about when you write your personal statement. However, some applicants jump straight into a list of their previous studies and forget to say why they are applying for a particular course and why they chose to apply to that particular university in the first place.
Your application statement is your opportunity to tell the admissions officer or course leader just how much you value their course and university – tell them what is good about the programme and what drew you to it. There’s a psychological reason why this is important.
As Dale Carnegie stated in his book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” – “A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language” – something he surely borrowed from Shakespeare who indicated that “the most beautiful sound a person can hear in a lifetime is his or her name.” So, drawing on this wisdom, when you reflect back positively to the person who represents an organisation or who runs a programme it is clearly going to affect your professional success.
So, start your statement with a few sentences that answer this question and the reader will warm to you and is more likely to offer you a place.
Remember to also tell them makes you special, unique and sets you apart from other applicants. For example, you may be the first one in your household to have gone to university, so this will be a great opportunity not only for you but your family too, or you may have already been doing some work in this area and this course will help you draw on the knowledge you have gained in practice, and enhance the learning experience for all by sharing it with your peers in class.
2. Why this course?
Talk about the strengths of the course and how it addresses a gap in your knowledge or skills. To do this effectively, you’re going to have to do your research, so read about the course and what is expected of students.
You may even want to comment on elements of the programme and modules that you find particularly attractive – for example, there may be opportunities for work placement, or the university has particularly good links with employers, or have a twilight seminar series that will enable you to network with other students, professors and the public.
You may also want to comment on the opportunity to train and study under eminent professors and teaching staff – read their research papers and comment on how this aligns with your own ideas for research and career aspirations.
3. Why now?
Tell them about your previous studies and how they provide you with a foundation to the course that you’re wishing to study with them. Your previous studies may not be in the same subject or discipline area, but all courses result in what are referred to as “transferable skills” – these are the skills and abilities, which can be applied to a wide range of different courses, careers and industries.
In some cases you may have already completed a course at the same level, so explain why you’re taking this additional course and what you feel it will provide you that your previous course did not.
4. How prepared are you?
In addition to showing them you’ve done your research on the course and the university, say how you have prepared yourself for overseas study.
As you will have heard from our podcasts and other articles, the method of assessment in India often requires you to memorise facts and provide short answers to questions in an examination environment, whereas in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, assessments at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels will require you to write essays, reports and other discussion papers. You might therefore want to say a little about what you understand to be the difference in assessment processes and how you have, or will have, prepared yourself for these.
5. What will success mean do you?
When we read personal statements we really like to get an understanding of how much this course will help you achieve your goals and how it will support others around you. Again there is a psychological reason behind this question – the answer will show that you have a vision for success and what this will look like. It also tells us what you will hope to go on to do after completing the course.
This question is therefore essentially about your motivation to begin studying, what will keep you motivated during your studies and how you will ensure you complete your studies. If there are clear and strong drivers that motivate you to study then we know you will put all your effort into your studies and we are more likely to offer you a place as opposed to somebody else who appears less committed and motivated.
So, these are our 5 key areas that you need to include in your university application when applying to study abroad. You could use the sentences as guiding headers to help you structure your statement; remembering to remove them when you have finished writing your statement.
Even if the university you are applying to asks for a covering letter, rather than the completion of a structured application template, you can use these headings in your letter to help you organise and structure your thoughts.
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