History Personal Statement Example 49

My desire to study history was provoked by my enjoyment of examining how humans think and how an individual's decisions can impact the world around us - past and present. I enjoy looking at human experience; seeing just what drives a human and under what circumstances, and how the past relates to the present.

This is one of the reasons I was inspired by my trip to Rome. It stimulated me to think about how it must be to live in a city of the past as a person of the future, immersed in so much culture. It really prompted my interest on the different cultures of world and what it was like to live in them as in individual.

Currently, I have a fascination with the Tudor period which I am studying for A level. I love seeing how it has developed our modern culture and government, and shaped our religion. This was only further invigorated by Alison Weir's 'Elizabeth the Queen' and 'The Children of England' which I did as further reading as I enjoyed how she personified the sibling monarchs; Edward in particular as he is an indecisive character for historians, although I do not agree with her particular interpretation of him being easily impressionable.

I vastly enjoyed learning about Mary and how she condemned Edward's path toward further reform but, perplexedly, did not stop Elizabeth, a Protestant, from taking the throne. A level history has taught me that history is shaped by and dependent on the interpretations of historians and I am eager to get to know more interpretations of the world, to see just how much the past can influence the future, especially when the consequences are unforeseen. At the time of GCSE I particularly marvelled medieval medicine as I enjoyed seeing the slow and increasingly accidental evolution of medicine.

I also have a liking of the 20th Century, particularly the First World War and the suffrage movement. As a period of great ethical strife and change, it helped me to discover that one of my favourite things about history is looking at the ethics of the past, putting myself in the mind-set of the time and analysing how they - versus how we - would have felt about certain issues. In fact, this is the reason behind my liking of the poem: 'Epitaph of a Tyrant' by W.H. Auden.

I completed the English language A level in a single year of which I received a B in overall, but I'm retaking the A2 exam in hopes of an A. Moreover, I am studying A level English literature which has dramatically helped me to improve my communication skills and my ability to interpret characters and events in different lights, both of which are relevant to a history degree. I am also writing the extended project and have chosen the classical topic of witchcraft.

I am analysing what has influenced modern day attitudes towards witchcraft, how England has gone from the fear-mongering superstitions to the perpetuation of stereotypes for children to enjoy. I hope to learn lots of skills that will help me when I arrive at university; I have already picked up good time-management skills and I am constantly developing my ability to plan and write effectively. I am reading books like 'Witchcraft in Europe, 1100 - 1700: a documented history' by Alan Kors to help me research efficiently, and am also looking carefully to fiction such as 'The Crucible' and documentaries like 'Witch Hunt' by Dr Lipscomb to help ascertain the way in which witches were identified and persecuted.

One of the main reasons I want to study at university is to see the breadth and depth of world history and to have the freedom to learn for myself, reasonably unrestricted. I'm invested in studying it because it is filled with cultures and ideals that can seem alien or strange to me, despite them being the basis of evolution for our society today. But overall, history is what I plan to study and whether I decide to make a career out of it or go on a different path, I know that I will leave university enriched with worldly knowledge and wonderful memories.