Psychology Personal Statement Example 101

A key experience in my life which provoked my interest in the brains functioning was when my Nan had two unexpected strokes. I observed my nans behaviour and at first was confused because she struggled with speech and short term memory loss, yet her long term memory remained intact.

This ushered me to take Psychology as an A-level and throughout the course I have learnt about brain structure, functioning and plasticity which is just one area of the specification which I can apply to real life.

I am particularly intrigued about the minds of criminals and what drives people to commit murder, this is why, although I have a strong passion for psychology, criminology also fascinates me. My fascination is focussed around the link between mental health and committing crime, more specifically whether or not offenders have a different brain structure to civilians and if this can be passed through generations.

I believe that my combination of studying Psychology, Politics and Theatre studies at Sixth Form has given me new confidence in all aspects of life. Specifically, theatre has allowed me to engage with people more confidently, which is a key trait I believe is needed when studying any psychology degree and immersing oneself into university life.

Although attainment and passion for your chosen subject at degree level is crucial, a student must also possess independence, resilience and a strong confidence in order to fully embrace the student experience, which I believe I have gained through my ongoing involvement with performing arts from a very young age, including participating in multiple theatre companies and producing entertainment for a paying audience.

Furthermore, having being employed part-time from the age of 15, varying from waitressing, childcare and assisting at my sixth form as a lunchtime supervisor, I have advanced my interpersonal communicative skills, together with my extracurricular activities, I have retained a strong motivation to uphold success in my academics.

My Politics course has improved my knowledge on how the UK and other neighbouring countries are governed; throughout the course, I have discovered some of my strengths, such as my ability to debate political ideologies. As well as this, I learnt to be more open-minded when listening to other political perspectives, doing so has underpinned my understanding of society’s mental health and wellbeing as you cannot separate politics from human interactions within psychology.

Having researched the different topics within the psychology and criminology courses, I am particularly interested in the area surrounding the criminal justice system due to my basic knowledge of this from Politics.

As well as this, I am captivated by child psychology, especially those vulnerable in society today. Specifically, at A level I enjoyed the Attachment unit where we discussed the key developmental stages a child goes through, as well as understanding the importance of these milestones, therefore I would love to further my knowledge at degree level.

During my work experience placement, I was lucky enough to attend the local Early Help and Support community centre. Throughout my time at the centre, I participated in a variety of activities, such as shadowing a support practitioner around statuary visits to families with mental health disorders, overlooking a confidential referral meeting where sensitive cases of the children in the system are discussed and on my final day, I shadowed an Occupational Therapist and learnt a lot about what is involved in helping people who are struggling mentally and physically.

My work experience made me recognise that every person in society needs the same care and support regardless of their background, which I believe is at the heart of any psychology degree. Learning about mental health issues, in particular will hold a lot of sensitivity and I believe I possess all the necessary qualities to deal with these hypersensitive scenarios effectively.