History and Politics Personal Statement Example 2

At an early age, the real-life experiences of my family in Nazi Germany and in Apartheid South Africa engendered in me a passion and fascination for history and politics.

There was ongoing lively debate in our home on these political systems and how they directly led to my growing up in Australia.

At school and university, history and politics were some of my favourite subjects and my interest was further stirred by recent travels to the UK, Germany and Eastern European countries where I visited many sites of historic note.

I enjoyed the experience of physically being at the locations noted in some of the books I have read, such as Richard Evans's “The Coming of the Third Reich” and “The Third Reich in Power”, and also Antony Beevor's bestsellers on Berlin, Stalingrad and Spain. This background, in conjunction with my long-term ambition to become a journalist, strengthened my desire to study history and politics at degree level.

In 2005, I attended Uppsala University as an exchange student and found lectures about current affairs and global events given by prominent people such as Hans Blix and others particularly stimulating, as I did field trips to Latvia, Czech Republic and Poland.

My experiences of living in Sweden, having to cope in a foreign country and making new friends, have provided me with important life skills relevant to broadening my outlook, enhancing communication skills and the challenge of living independently.

At Murdoch University in Australia, I voluntarily undertook mathematics and macroeconomics as extra-curricular subjects, achieving distinctions in both.

The motivation for this was that firstly, they would provide additional insight and secondly, improve my prospects of gaining entrance to a wider selection of universities, my having decided to embark upon a second undergraduate course incorporating history and politics.

My recent work experiences taught me many organisational and IT skills, coping with stringent deadlines and how to relate to people in a busy work environment. As Communications Assistant, I was involved in regular presentations to professional audiences and was given responsibility to create a promotional website for the company.

This involved gathering and presenting information on their projects, company history and personnel profiles. I was praised by the managing director for my creative writing and it is personally gratifying to see the website still in use today. These skills will stand me in good stead at university.

Outside of my academic pursuits, I enjoy travelling and meeting people. I am a keen mountaineer, tennis player and enjoy reading and listening to music. Climbing mountains and touring with friends, I sometimes had to take charge of difficult situations, resulting in honing my leadership skills and an appreciation of my friends' and my own strengths.

Best of all was however, discovering the humour in these events. I frequently captained our club pennants tennis team and have learnt to recognize achievement in others and the importance of celebrating collective success.

In June, 2007, I completed a degree in Marketing and the Media which I enjoyed and I look forward to using the communication and research skills I developed. My long-term career ambition is to be a journalist whom people will respect for independent thought and for providing a compelling insight and reasoned view in the development of events and society around us.

I feel the study of history and politics will provide me with an invaluable grounding for my chosen career. It will suit my natural curiosity of people and the events that affect them, and fuel my enjoyment of writing.

I would like to complete my academic studies at a UK university, a country for which I have a fondness due to my European ancestry. This will provide me with a strong foundation for my career and enable me to bring back to Australia a highly regarded education, cultural values, and no doubt, friendships that will last a lifetime.

I am enthusiastic to actively contribute to all aspects of University life. Living and studying history and politics in the UK for three years would be a wonderful opportunity to realise my goals and I would work very hard to be successful.