Some Advice to Improve Your Personal Statement for a Degree in English

Over the years, I have helped many students advance to excellent universities. This advice is for students who want to study English at excellent British universities (including Oxford and Cambridge) and are currently contemplating their personal statements.

1. Don't read the statements of previously successful applicants.

Your statement must be personal to you in both content and style. There is no check-list of phrases, texts or interests for which admissions tutors are looking. On the contrary, they are seeking applicants with a dedication to the subject that manifests itself in a set of individual enthusiasms.

There's a wealth of exemplar material online for prospective English applicants but reading it can be counter-productive. You can easily find yourself feeling frustrated – usually mistakenly – that your own efforts don't measure up to those of others. Moreover, university tutors want to recruit independent thinkers who will extend the discourse in interesting directions rather than those whose thinking is bounded by precedent.

2. Don't rush into writing your statement – leave this until a relatively late stage in the process.

During the sixth-form, the precision of a student's intellect develops exponentially. To demonstrate this, look back on the essays that you were writing six months ago: I am confident that you will be able to identify flaws which you couldn't recognise at the time of writing. Adhere to the internal deadline set by your school but only begin writing the statement about a month before it is due for submission. Doing so gives you time to develop intellectually.

3. How to begin the statement.

Begin with a brief explanation of why you want to study English.

Applicants often find this difficult to express – and with good reason. Studying English at university might well be a long-standing ambition, something that you have wanted to do instinctively for so long that you haven't paused to reflect on why this is your goal.

Ask yourself 'why do I want to study English at university?' and dictate your answer into a dictation app, taking as long as you need to explain your specific reasons.

Try to avoid saying things that will be true for all applicants: “I love reading', 'I have always enjoyed English lessons', etc. Such statements will also be true for many sixth-formers who aren't applying for English degrees. What makes studying English so appealing that only a university education will satisfy your curiosity? There are no correct answers here but try to be precise and honest.

4. Avoid focusing on the texts that you have studied at A Level.

Admissions tutors expect you to show an interest in English that extends beyond the syllabus. It can be useful to refer to an A Level text as a starting-point (e.g. 'studying The Tempest has allowed me to evaluate the usefulness of the genre of tragicomedy as a way of understanding Shakespeare's later plays'), but most of your statement should concern your wider reading. Every applicant will have an excellent understanding of the A Level texts: how are you showing that your interest in English extends beyond this?

5. Don't tell admissions tutors what they already know.

In writing this statement, your one aim is to show that you have read widely and thought carefully about what you have read so avoid drifting into narrating texts' plots or paraphrasing well-known critical arguments. Doing so uses up the character-count without revealing anything of your intellect. Engage critically with your chosen texts.

6. Keep a log of your best ideas throughout Years 12 and 13.

If a teacher – or anyone else – is particularly impressed by one of your arguments, keep a record of it and try to develop it in your spare time. Use it as the basis for further reading. Such a log will prove invaluable when it comes to writing the final draft of your PS.

7. Avoid exploring well-trodden paths.

Try to refrain from expressing ideas which can be easily found in A Level revision resources. For example, many years ago it was refreshing to read that Gothic novels can be interpreted as coded expressions of repressed psychological impulses. However, in 2024, this is a critical commonplace, almost the standard lens through which Gothic texts are studied. Likewise, you will gain little credit for stating that much of the modernist writing of the 1920s can be seen as a response to upheavals occasioned by The Great War.

There are, of course, plenty of interesting remarks to make about the literature of both these movements. The best applicants, however, will have looked beyond these valid but relatively uncontentious assertions to develop a more precise understanding of the diverse array of texts and trends which constitute them. Be prepared to go off-piste and explore what fascinates you most about a subject.

8. Maintain a critical detachment from the literature that you discuss.

If you are discussing literature's power to move its readers or audiences, make sure you support your claims with meticulous analysis of its linguistic details. Some statements mistakenly substitute a broad acknowledgement of a text's emotional power for analysis of that text. Feel free to write about texts that have moved you emotionally, but focus on explaining why they have done so with reference to lexical, grammatical and structural minutiae. Avoid referring to your 'favourite' texts without explaining the qualities that make them so interesting to you.

9. Don't start typing your statement without a plan of its content.

Problems can occur when applicants produce drafts which are far too long and have to cut them to meet the character-count, a difficulty which usually takes hours to remedy. Devising a simple plan mitigates the risk of this happening.

Such a plan might read as follows:

1. Why you want to study English.

2. An evaluation of the usefulness of 'tragicomedy' as a way of understanding the narrative structure of Shakespeare's final plays.

3. Reflections on the degree to which mid-twentieth century British social realist novels challenge the social order that they depict.

4. Thoughts on the presentation of family relationships in North and South and Mary Barton.

5. How you addressed textual ambiguities in the production of Pinter's The Birthday Party that you directed at school.

   
   

To risk stating the obvious, these are just examples: you don't need to have considered any of these ideas or authors to write an excellent statement. However, having a rough plan of this sort makes your task much easier, primarily because it gives you a clear idea of the degree of detail in which you need to cover each idea. I recommend avoiding including more than six bullet-points: some excellent statements may cover fewer.

10. Save time and energy by not including reference to any of the following:

* Clichéd abstractions like 'teamwork' and 'leadership' that are irrelevant to an English degree.

* A list of the periodicals that you read or podcasts that you listen to

* Tokenistic acknowledgement of extra-curricular activities

* Quotations from famous figures

* Lofty generalisations about life or literature

* Humour

You can find a more general piece on personal statements here:

https://swlondontutor.wixsite.com/englishtutoring/post/writing-a-personal-statement

I wish you all the very best with your application.

If I can be of any help, please contact me at swlondontutor@yahoo.com.