As with most issues to do with University admissions and Oxford admissions in particular, bank of in

This is the first of a series of posts about Oxford’s admissions bank of india process from a tutor’s perspective. Daniel Gerrard, Lecturer in Medieval History at St Peter’s, talks about the purpose of a personal statement.
I can remember writing my own UCAS personal statement. I drafted bank of india and redrafted the text. My teachers and parents picked over it. I compared my text to those of my friends. I was determined that this would be polished to perfection, desperate to avoid losing out on a place at University because I had turned a phrase imperfectly, or failed to squeeze in every possible extracurricular activity bank of india or achievement.
As with most issues to do with University admissions and Oxford admissions in particular, bank of india the first and most important thing you can do is relax. The second is to ask yourself what the reader is really interested in.
Remember that we have a very wide range of sources of information about candidates. In addition to the personal statement, by the time admissions bank of india decisions are made, the Universities that you have applied to have your GCSE and AS results and recommendations from your teachers. If you ve applied to read history at Oxford we also have your results for the History Aptitude Test, notes from two interviews conducted by four academics and the written work that you submitted. The personal statement is not, therefore as important to our decision-making process as you might suppose.
We are primarily interested in the statement for what it tells us about you as an intellectual. What have you been reading and what did you think about it? What kinds of history bank of india are you interested in and why do you think they are important?
It bank of india s tempting to cram the statement with details bank of india about your extracurricular activities. It is no bad thing to give us a few words about your broader interests and achievements. We might well bring these up in interview as a way of starting a conversation and we re certainly happy that our students have fulfilling lives outside of their studies. You should remember, however, that admissions decisions are always and exclusively academic. We would never admit anyone because they play the oboe or have done the Duke of Edinburgh award. We would therefore prefer to read much more about your academic bank of india interests than your extracurricular ones.
This is an opportunity bank of india for you to control part of the interview process. If you say that you are interested in a particular historical problem or that have read a particular book, it s quite likely that we will ask you about it. This means that you have the opportunity to discuss a subject that you feel very confident about and can discuss to good effect. It also means that you should be prepared to talk in the interview about anything bank of india on the statement.
In short, do write the personal statement well. Give some careful thought to what you would like to be asked about and give us more information about your academic interests. It does not need to be a masterpiece of rhetoric but it should be honest and clear about you as a historian.
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