Building up on things to put in a personal statement
If you plan on going to university, part of your application will be your personal statement. This is almost like a mini essay about you and why you want to study the subject you’re applying for. Of course, before you write this, you have to know what you want to study. You will most likely start writing your statement at the end of Y12 if you are planning to go to university, depending on what course you’re applying to and if it requires an earlier application. It’s important that you have things in your personal statement that show you’ve been proactive in taking action and doing things to pursue your interest in the subject you want to study - these are known as extra-curricular activities
Traditionally, the best way to do this would be to go and attend lectures and events around your subject. Having a couple of weeks of work experience in a field related to your subject would also be a very useful thing to talk about it. However, this year, due to obvious reasons, a lot of this won't be possible. But there are alternative things you can do to show the universities you’re applying to that you do take active interest in your subjects.
One example of this is attending online lectures. Obviously, this won't be the same as physically going to one but there are way more choices of lectures and you might find it easier to take the content of it in as you’ll be able to replay, rewind and choose the speed and topic of the lecture you want to listen to. You can also do online courses on things related to your course e.g. if you want to study law you can do a brief online course on the UN declaration of Human Rights. Most of these courses are free and don’t require too much of your time to complete - on average they’ll need 1-2hrs of work for 4-6 weeks. There are great courses available on websites like Coursera, and this shows a proactiveness to explore your field further. Some other ideas for things to watch or listen to online are podcasts - they are available on platforms like Spotify and are incredibly interesting!
It is likely that there are also plenty of books/articles to read on a topic relating to your subject and reading these could help you understand further what you are going to study. Taking part in any competitions related to your course is another way to show you go the extra mile for your course and that you’re actually good at it too e.g. science olympiads and economics essay competitions.
The most important part of your personal statement, however, is not what you did, but what you learnt from what you did. Universities are not looking for a list of books you have read, instead, they want someone who engages fully with the material and is able to form opinions based on what they have done, so keep this in mind while preparing. University is not for everyone, and if you find yourself hating the subject while reading around it or watching lectures about it, you need to ask yourself whether this is really the subject you want to study and if university is for you. It is a massive investment of time and money, so have a careful think!
