St Andrews University Personal Statements
These UCAS personal statements have been kindly provided by students applying to University of St Andrews. You can click on one of the links below to view the entire statement and find out if the applicant was offered a place.
You can also view our entire collection of personal statements or view personal statements for application at other universities.
Mathematics Personal Statement Example 1 
I have always been fascinated by my mathematical studies and, having a flair for the subject, there was never any doubt that I would choose mathematics as a degree.
It is a pivotal subject on which so many others depend (such as physics and chemistry)...
English Personal Statement Example 2
I have always been fascinated by the way writers can influence, and even manipulate readers emotions by their expression of thoughts, and by their ability to encourage the expansion of our imaginations and understanding...
Psychology Personal Statement Example 2
Psychology surrounds us. I often observe my class mates and ask myself why they are so different, struggling with attention or eating disorders. While looking for reasons, I also want to find ways to help them and I am confident that psychology will give me the means to do so...
French and Arabic Personal Statement Example
In studying French and Arabic, I am eager to compare two mutually influential languages and cultures, particularly their overlapping history and its cultural representations. I decided to defer my entry to retake my Maths A2 and plan to turn this to my advantage by working and living in France, putting what I've already learnt of the French language and culture into practice...
Maths Personal Statement Example 3
I am extremely enthusiastic about my decision to read Mathematics at university as for as long as I can remember Maths has always been my main academic interest.
From learning to count at primary school, to studying calculus towards my Mathematics A level, I have found this subject intriguing due to its obvious application to the real world...
Economics and PPE Personal Statement Example
My aspiration to study economics at both advanced and degree level has stemmed from my lasting interest in current affairs and world development.
These issues require an application of economics in real-life situations and can be related to many diverse subjects such as politics, philosophy and psychology...
International Relations Personal Statement Example 1
Throughout my travels, studies, and experience in the world, I have been able to attain what I hope to be a worldly and open-minded perspective. In my efforts to further broaden and improve this perspective, and fully pursue all of my academic passions, I hope to have the privilege of attending university in the United Kingdom...
Law and International Relations Personal Statement Example 1
Through my insight into the UN's work I have learned that having declarations about Human Rights does not mean they are obeyed and automatically enforced. Law is not static, but develops all the time. It is part of everyday life, as in Berlin everyone is confronted with the issue of asylum seekers...
Spanish and Economics Personal Statement Example
My aspiration to study Spanish and Economics has not only been influenced by my curricular education but also from experiences I have had throughout life. I am intrigued in the effects caused by the failing Euro zone, and I consider communication among speakers of different languages essential in progressing forward...
Anthropology Personal Statement Example 1
Completing my sixth form education at a multicultural boarding school has allowed me to experience a wide social and cultural diversity that I never would have expected in a school environment, in great contrast to the subtle ethnocentrism of my previous schooling...
Sustainable Development/Economics Personal Statement Example
The first time I recognised the magnitude of my passion for sustainable development was when my family visited the waste-site Smokey Mountain in Manila, Philippines. Smokey Mountain is a two million metric tonnes waste mountain and home for about 30...
Chemistry/Chemistry with Biomedicine Personal Statement Example
I was told I couldn’t have the opening paragraph I had originally written, so to begin I’ll to describe the scientific processes in my own words as this is what will underlie my degree and hopefully my foreseeable future...
Maths Personal Statement Example 4
What I love about maths is that it has no limits. It fascinates me: the formulae, the theorems, the logic. My original interest in the subject was triggered several years ago when I started discussing maths and physics with my dad...
Scottish History Personal Statement Example
“Swap Access to Degree Studies”
Whenever I walk through the village where I live in Polmont, and look just beyond the Westquarter valley where the tree line of the Callendar woods are visible, I close my eyes, and I am transported back to one of the most fateful days in Scotland’s history...
Philosophy Personal Statement Example 2
Although I love my friends dearly, I've come to realise that they don't enjoy having the meaning of their lives, or the essence of the objects around them, subjected to rigorous and logical questioning over a quiet pint in the pub! I'd like to tell you that I've read such and such a book, or met so and so, and it dawned on me that there is more to life than meets the eye...
History Personal Statement Example 11
Listening to my grandparents' accounts of air raid drills, blackouts and the arrival of evacuees in North Wales during the Second World War triggered my interest in history. My curiosity about the past was further inspired by looking at family photographs and heirlooms and exploring their backgrounds...
Politics Personal Statement Example 4
I have always been passionate about the study of history and more recently international relations. I feel that to understand what is happening in the present requires an understanding of what has happened in the past...
Archaeology and Anthropology Personal Statement Example 1
For as long as I can remember, I have been skilled and deeply interested in areas of both the sciences and humanities, particularly in human evolution, history and geography. A course in Anthropology and/or Archaeology is therefore perfect for me in that the subject matter fascinates me, and that the course will utilise many of the skills I have learned and developed throughout my education...
Economics and Politics/Geography Personal Statement Example
My desire to study Economics in combination with the Social Sciences stems primarily from my interest in these fields but also from the fact that these two disciplines compliment each other exceptionally well...
Politics and Economics Personal Statement Example 1
Deficits, wars and scandal: this seems to be the current interpretation of Politics today. The global media appear to enjoy taking a destructive stance to economic and political policy. Have we lost our sense of balance and composure?
It is this debate that I found both embracing as well as frustrating, with editorials and columns devoted to the more sensational negative news stories...
Medicine Personal Statement Example 19
'Sorry nurse, but what's a leg bag?' I realise that this is one of the most important pieces of writing that I will have to produce and I find it exhilarating that it will hopefully aid me in my desire to become a doctor...
French and Italian Personal Statement Example 2
Before I participated in a French Exchange to Montelimar in 2005, I had found French interesting but didn't particularly think that it would be important in my longer term career aims. However, whilst in Montelimar, I found myself fully immersed in French culture and began to realise the breadth and beauty of the language and the importance of being able to express myself effectively in another language...
Politics & International Relations Personal Statement Example 5
I gained my interest in social sciences in my early teenage years, when I started to question the surrounding world trying to find my way and place in it. As I browsed through books, which introduce main points of today's cultural, management and social studies, I became eager to strive for more...
Psychology Personal statement Example 46
Marathon, madness or pleasure?
What motivates a person to run 42 195 meters under a burning sun, on a hot summer’s day with a temperature of around 40 degrees Celsius? Well, it is a justified question if you’re not a fan of long distance running or if you are a student in the field of psychology...
Environmental Policy and Geography Personal Statement Example
The presentation of environmental problems in the media was what initially sparked my interest in environmental studies. In school, I have always enjoyed geography and natural sciences, which led me to take the Geography Concours General, a particularly challenging exercise...
Medicine Personal Statement Example 46
My fascination with the innermost workings of the human body began at the age of twelve when my excellent, if somewhat eccentric, science teacher dissected a pig's heart in front of the class.
From that point onwards my interest in human physiology has only increased, and from the common cold to coronary heart disease I have always queried their possible causes and solutions...
International Relations and Law Personal Statement Example
Through commonly accepted law, international organizations and sovereign nations establish and enforce vital laws and moral codes of conduct such as those relating to human and civil rights.
Yet, despite many ratified agreements relating to principles that are universally accepted throughout the world, human and civil rights remain threatened in industrialized nations as well as third world countries...
Politics and International Studies Personal Statement Example 1
"In our age there is no such thing as keeping out of politics, all issues are political issues." Politics for me is the power to effect change, to make a difference whether that is to the detriment or advantage to society as a whole...
Biology Personal Statement Example 21
I can remember my childhood, playing in the garden and exploring why worms come out when it rained. With the help of my ever growing passion for learning, I have found my way into the world of biology...
International Relations/Politics Personal Statement Example 1
Earth is an ecosystem consisting of uncountable amount of substances, organisms and climatic changes, and of fragile relations between all of them. As a slight increase of global temperature causes great changes around the world, like melting of humongous ice glaciers which lead to flooding areas many miles away, as cutting of few trees may cause significant change in the population of one type of animal which destroys balance between other kinds living in the same forest, thus the human world today consists of the same political ecosystem with both fragile and strong relationships between different nations, countries and people themselves...
Archaeology and Anthropology Personal Statement Example 2
As an immigrant living in Spain, I am constantly reminded of the importance social and cultural factors have on my daily life, the language I speak, and the difference between the relationships I maintain with people from my own country and those I encounter here on a daily basis...
Economics and Management Personal Statement Example 1
The theoretical aspects of economics and business management have for the past years been one of my greatest interests and developing as an entrepreneur has been my goal. I am fascinated by strategies in management and the behaviour of companies in the theory of the firm...
Politics and International Relations Personal Statement Example 8
My great grandfather volunteered in the 1948 War of Independence and became the first Inspector General of the Israeli Navy, ensuring I was brought up in a strongly political family. However I am broad minded, as I attend a conservative school yet am part of a liberal youth movement so I have been exposed to many diverse opinions, encouraging me to be an informed decision-maker...
Politics and International Relations Personal Statement Example 9
My interest for international relations arose already in my childhood as I witnessed my parents working at the Finnish Ministry of Foreign affairs. In the early 90’s, after the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland went through a very deep change, which also influenced my parents’ careers and our family history...
English Literature and Personal Statement Example
At the war cemeteries of El Alamein in Egypt, I spent an hour or two combing through the British Commonwealth cemetery for Royal Dragoons from my Grandpa’s division and found myself struggling, from the sheer number of headstones, to choose between condemning our capacity for violence and admiring the extent of our sacrifice...
Physics Personal Statement Example 12
From investigating the properties of subatomic particles to predicting the behavior of the planets, Physics fascinates me. Partly, it's the logical aspect of the subject which seems to sum up the workings of the entire universe in a series of simple statements...
Philosophy Personal Statement Example 12
In a world where religious, political and ethical antagonism is what makes headlines, one wonders what might justify these seemingly irreconcilable views. After all, there seem to be many more than there could possibly be truths...
Languages and Maths Personal Statement Example
I am a versatile individual with a passion and flair for both Languages and Maths. I am applying to a variety of courses to pursue my combined interest.
My love for languages began when I moved to Switzerland in 2006...
Law and History Personal Statement Example 4
Louis de Bernières writes in ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin' that history is fascinating 'because everything [is] connected to everything else in the most elaborate, devious and elegant ways'.
Perhaps this explains the importance of history in understanding the modern world; it governs the way in which we view society, dictates our actions and, perhaps most importantly, provides guidance to those who establish law...
German Personal Statement Example 7
The study of language has always been appealing and is the focus of much of my time and energy, but the study of the German language is what mesmerises me most. Before understanding German I was first intrigued by its sound, and as I began to learn it, I became fascinated by its complexity...
Medieval History/History Personal Statement Example
My grandmother’s maiden name is Marx. Her uncle, the world-renowned landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, was Karl Marx’s great-nephew. This fact, while seemingly trivial, has worked to strengthen the spark history has ignited within me since I was old enough to read...
Chemistry Personal Statement Example 17
The realisation I wanted to study Chemistry at degree level came with my growing appreciation of its contribution and significance in shaping modern society, coupled with an increasing interest in the subject as my knowledge and understanding have developed...
Environment and Sustainable Development Personal Statement Example
Mankind is rocketing towards an unrecognisable existence. Bird song resonates with explosive drilling; monoculture has usurped diversity; indigenous knowledge is drowning in concrete. These are the ever increasing signs that human responsibility has leapt from the wheel, and left destruction on cruise control...
Economics & Politics Personal Statement Example 2
My perception of economics and politics changed when in 2008 I became involved in the city council’s budgetary committee as a student representative, which gave me an insight how a political decision can have an impact on the whole city’s future on both social and economic scales...
History Personal Statement Example 40
History has always fascinated me because of what it can tell us about humanity; the decisions taken, the actions chosen and the mistakes made can all make us reflect on what it means to be human. I firmly believe history is not simply a case of learning facts and dates but rather a chance to analyse the past, enhancing our understanding of how we interact with each other today...
Psychology Personal Statement Example 64
Psychology is ubiquitous in society. Because of the mercurial nature of humans, there is always something different to study and analyse. I find this exciting.
Part of what draws me to psychology is how the dynamics of it affect daily life and behaviour...
Psychology Personal Statement Example 66
Psychology can be applied at any level or aspect of society. This excites me. An insight into how people's minds work and how they work together is invaluable in just about every field. I was interested in psychology from the moment I saw the iceberg diagram which shows our consciousness and subconscious...
English Literature & History Personal Statement Example 1
Throughout my education, I have constantly been captivated and inspired by my History and English studies. I have recognised how the two disciplines entwine and coexist to create an invaluable tool with which to explore the past and future...
Physics Personal Statement Example 15
I have always been intrigued by the world of physics. From everyday experiences to the most extreme boundaries of today's knowledge, I have always voraciously searched for answers to my questions. As I grew up, the elegance of mathematical demonstrations and of physical theorems fascinated me, and I have often dreamt of making contributions to the unification theory and of improving and simplifying the Navier-Stokes equations...
International Relations Personal Statement Example 17
Since visiting Cairo in 2009 and hearing first-hand of the contempt towards the police force and government I have held an enduring interest in the politics of other nations. This is why I was struck to see my twitter feed overrun with updates on the Arab Spring and later the global Occupy movements...
English Personal Statement Example 31
As a burgeoning writer, hopeful author, and long-time reader, the power of words has held a pull for me since a time when my vocabulary consisted of the contents of “Harry Potter”, and “The Chronicles of Narnia”...
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