Civil Engineering Personal Statement Example 23

Our climate is changing, our species are disappearing and our air is becoming unbreathable.

Environmental issues have been important ever since I remember and I have always wanted to learn more about how humanity could tackle these issues. It was this desire, coupled with my passion for scientific subjects that made me want to read Engineering at university.

In the past few years, I have tried to explore the topic of environmental change, and its connection to energy, in greater depth.

In this spirit, I read 'Dormons tranquilles jusqu'en 2100', by J.M. Jancovici, 'L'energie a decouvert' by the researchers of the CNRS and 'Renewable energies: power for a sustainable future' by G. Boyle.

These readings made me realise how much Energy affects us environmentally, socially, and economically, and gave me a stronger technical grasp of how different energy sources work.

I understood how much progress has been done towards achieving a sustainable, affordable and efficient energy source, as well as some of the challenges lying ahead to reach that objective (e.g. make batteries and new energy sources more efficient).

Tackling intellectual challenges such as these is one of the exciting aspects of Engineering. However, since Engineering involves practice as well as theory, I decided to work on a more hands-on project with two of my friends: we set out to build a shower whose water could be used indefinitely.

After 7 months of hard work, thanks to a rigorous approach and a lot of teamwork, we managed to overcome all challenges (e.g. choosing the right filters and dimensions, calculating pump flow) and make it function (our journey is summed up on eco-l-eau.weebly.com)!

Our work was selected to participate at ChallengeICAM, a competition rewarding the best Baccaulaureate projects of my region, and finished second after our presentation to a jury of university students.

The thrill I felt during the months we worked on this project comforted me in my choice to study Engineering.

I am also confident that my passion for other sciences, and in particular mathematics, can help me succeed in this field. Last year, I competed in the "Olympiades de mathematiques" (a national mathematics contest) and came 13th out of 1190 French students.

I am also very fond of coding, have taken several online "Codacademy" courses (namely in Java and Python) which I used to solve problems on "Project Euler", and to create several websites. Aside from sciences, I also enjoy discovering new cultures.

That is why I have chosen to join the "European" section of my school and to learn English, Spanish and German alongside French. It is also why I decided to do a three-month exchange in Australia, where I was able to go to school in English, live the same life as my Australian peers, and discover incredible places.

It was during this exchange that my desire to study in the United Kingdom grew, as I know I will meet people from all around the world there and study in a very diverse environment.

My favourite hobbies include sports as well as participation in my school's student life. I play Tennis and Volley at a competitive level and have learnt a great deal from these two sports: the importance of mental strength in tennis, and of teamwork and leadership in Volley, where I am my team's captain.

Being my class' student representative and helping a few of the students with greater difficulties in mathematics have allowed me to become a more mature person, formulate my thoughts clearly, and give something back to my school's community.

Hence, I feel I am ready to embark on the journey of reading Engineering at a British university.

I am confident that my passion for the subject, desire to be intellectually challenged, and academic and personal skills will allow me to make the most out of what I hope will be a fantastic experience.