Personal statements are difficult, they're stressful.
We know that! We remember writing our own personal
statements when we were applying for university a few years ago.
It is difficult to write a whole essay about yourself and why you're such a great candidate.
But we're hoping this video helps you to get some prompts,
some ideas about how to go about producing this.
The most important thing for you to remember: show that you care about our subject.
For a lot of you that will come from your A level studies or your GCSE studies perhaps.
You'll have taken a subject at school that has something to do with theology
or religion, or philosophy, or ethics or values. Tell us about that in your personal statement.
What happened in your classroom that made you think
this is a subject I want to think about for the next three years?
Was there a favourite question that you thought about? Was there a
favourite problem that you got stuck on? Or a text that you really enjoyed reading?
Or a philosopher or you found really fascinating? Tell us about that.
That's really good evidence that you actually want to be here in our university studying this topic.
If you haven't done the A level how can you show us
that you really want to do theology and religious studies for three years?
Well, maybe you've done other relevant A-level subjects? So history
is my personal favourite. Sociology. Talking about the study of religion
and how beliefs develop in society and are expressed. Maybe art or music, both of which
are massively intertwined with religious experience and religious expression.
Perhaps English language or English literature, because primarily
a lot of religions revolve around texts.
So you will be reading and studying and analysing texts
through most of your three years at university. Or maybe you did a lot of science. Maybe you
chose to. Maybe your parents wanted you to. That is also an interesting background.
What can you bring from your science A levels or other A levels
to bear on a religious conversation? Maybe you've studied biology
and that's got you interested in theories of evolution and Darwinism.
If you haven't done an A level that's related to theology and religious studies,
try and think what other evidence you can provide that shows us you've thought about
this degree and you've got a reason to be interested in it.
For some of you that might be participation in a religious community.
You might have grown up as part of a religious tradition or joined a religious tradition.
You might be very interested in atheism or agnosticism - that's shown you that
this is a topic you want to study more in an academic kind of way.
If so, tell us about that in your personal statement.
You don't need to tell us anything about your personal spiritual beliefs and commitments.
That's not what we're measuring or not what we're looking for. But it's one reason why many of our
students become interested in taking a theology and religious studies degrees.
So it could be a relevant thing for you to discuss.
Others of you might have an ethical question you're more interested in.
Maybe you've spent some time volunteering for an organisation that works around climate change
or social justice, or you've gone on a protest march or something like this.
For some people that is going to be the moment that gets them interested
in studying ethics at degree level, if that's you, tell us about that.
So other things you could show us in the personal statement to show us that you're
interested in the course or committed to the degree would be things like -
have you thought about a career? So for many of you, this is a step that is way too far ahead.
But for some of you might already know, well, I would like to be a religious studies teacher.
Or I would like to work in a faith community,
or I'd like to be a police officer working in different communities.
So that might be for some of you, something that you could say,
something about that would show us that you are interested and
committed and you've got an idea of how this degree will work for you.
Other ways you can show us you're interested would be, might be things outside of school.
So maybe you've read some books which you found really interesting.
Or if you haven't, maybe you're going to.
Maybe you're going to read the Bible all the way through before you come to university.
Or maybe you're going to read the Qur'an all the way through or read an interesting chunk of it.
If you're of a philosophical nature, perhaps you're going to read some of the great
philosophers and have a bit of a battle with their thoughts and tell us what you're interested in,
what questions you want to ask of those philosophers
and of your lecturers when you get to university.
You might like to listen to some podcasts. Find some that work for you.
There are podcasts with all sorts of different styles and
moods and different kind of atmosphere or different levels of detail.
Find one that works for you, listen to a few episodes.
If you like it, put it down on your personal statement.
It's more evidence that you're really interested in studying this subject.
If you're thinking that you'd like help or guidance, reach out to the admissions tutor
of one of the universities that you're thinking of applying to. That's our job.
Don't be nervous about sending an email to an admissions tutor.
The worst that can happen really is that they don't answer the e-mail.
It's not going to affect your application negatively.
And there's a good chance that you'll get some really helpful
guidance from, from that source to try and help you as you put your application together and as
you prepare to go on to university.