Politics and Sociology Personal Statement Example 3

International relations and political science always attracted my attention and I clearly remember how impressed I was after the very first lesson on political science. Our teacher briefly explained us how political science had become an independent science and how it developed from a number of other disciplines: philosophy, history, economics, law.

History was one of my favourite subjects at school because I had a keen interest on how the mankind has been developing throughout the ages. Another exciting thing about it is awareness that the true reasons may be kept undercover for decades, e.g. the secret protocols of the Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact. In my opinion, finding out the actual reasons of political developments is very important as it shapes the current political scene. History in contrast to political science is a study of the human past. I am interested more in revealing the relationships underlying political events. That is why I preferred political science to history. As a consequence I began studying International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University on the same year I graduated from gymnasium.

My plan was to combine studies and work, so I chose a distance learning programme in order to be able to work full-time. I managed to complete new tasks quite well. Thus I gained a lot more personal independence and developed individual learning skills. Although I enjoyed acquiring academic knowledge of political science, I made a decision to leave the university after a year. I realized that studying individually provides insufficient knowledge as learning in an academic environment, participating in seminars, sharing views with other students, conducting group researches, - is essential in order to get a deeper comprehension of a subject and develop critical thinking skills in order to evaluate relevant issues and possibly re-evaluate one‘s own views. This is what I expect from full-time studies.

When I left Vilnius University an idea of studying abroad started to revolve in my mind. Eventually I chose the United Kingdom because its universities have old traditions and offer multicultural and solid academic environment. Since I was not fluent in English, I went to Great Britain in order to further improve my language skills. As far as languages are concerned, Lithuanian is my mother-tongue and I also speak German and Russian. During the months I spent in the United Kingdom, I was working in different parts of England as a carer. I feel that familiarisation with British Health Care and Social Services, which are completely different from the ones we have in my country, was useful experience since it is one of the major fields of Social Policy directed by Government. In addition to improved English, I gained knowledge of British culture.

Personal development should be the aim of every person as long as life endures. Therefore, I have attended various seminars about enhancing lifestyle and enjoyed other activities, ranging from sports to arts. I believe that I have required skills to pursue an Honours degree and I am excited about bringing new challenges into my life.