oi oi what's happening?
have i ever started a video by saying 'oi oi what's happening?'
here we are, ok
hi, welcome back to my channel i guess
before i start this video, someone on my last video suggested that i do a Q&A
so that you lot can, like, get to know me
which i think is a cute idea, so if
you do want me to do a Q&A
then send me questions on
i guess twitter, instagram or, like, leave it in the comments if you don't have either of those
yeah, ok, let's get into this video
today. today, today, we are gonna be talking about personal statements
and the SAQ
i'll be showing you my personal statement
and i'll also be talking a little bit about the SAQ which is a Cambridge specific thing
but i'll talk about that later on in the video
for, like, more context and more kind of general tips on personal statements
i'm gonna link ibz mo's video down below
if you haven't already watched that you should definitely watch it because it does have tips that you do need to know for writing a statement
and it's a really good video so i'll link that below
i'm also gonna link a link to my personal statement down below and kind of the way that i'm breaking it up for this video
so if you want to, like, open that alongside this video that might be helpful
because i'm just gonna be, like, going. through. that.
ok, think we got the point
for some context
i applied this year, well last year, 2016
i applied to three universities
i applied to cambridge, edinburgh, and york
i got an offer from all three of those unis
y'know, i don't know if that was down to this personal statement or not
i'm gonna give you some tips
obviously, just a warning
i don't know if this, like, actually is a great personal statement, everyone's personal statements are different
so this is a very kind of, i guess, arts specific - maybe humanities specific - statement
it might not necessarily be the same for, like, a STEM subject or law or something
but, i guess, i think the overall structure can help anyone who's writing a personal statement
i am gonna leave my personal statement down below because i have no more use for it
but don't plagiarise anything because unis do check personal statements
and if you've plagiarised it they will know
so don't do that. ok let's get into this
if you wanna go through on the pdf, i've got the whole personal statement, like, written out
obviously i've, like, blacked out some places that were like personal information
like, please don't stalk me
so i'm not putting that in there
but you can read through that if you want
before i get into this, like the structure and everything
i do wanna say that the school i went to was very good with personal statements and uni applications in general
i went to a very good college so they were very used to sending people to university, to russell group unis, and to oxbridge
my music teacher was actually the oxbridge, kind of, coordinator
so he helped me a lot
and my dad helped me a lot with my personal statement
it did mean that there were parts of my statement that i wasn't completely happy with
because it didn't sound exactly like me
like, i wrote the statement yeah, i wrote the statement
but because your personal statement will get changed so many times, you will write so many drafts
just make sure it does kinda sound like you
because the one thing i did regret about my statement was that it did sound kind of pretentious
but not really like me
so that's all i'm saying
like obviously you will need help, you will need people to look through your statement
whether that's teachers, or a parent, or someone you know who's at uni
that's always good, but try and make sure that it stays authentic
that's it, now structure
so mine was structured as
an intro, then i had a paragraph about school and a levels
then i had a paragraph about the books that i'd read
then i had a paragraph about practical stuff i'd done, like clubs and stuff
then sort of like what i was doing beyond school and that
let's start with the introduction
your introduction doesn't need to be long, remember with your personal statement you have, like, a character limit
can't remember how many characters is the limit but you can't write a whole essay
basically your personal statement is your kind of, like, your 30 second sales pitch
you're basically trying to sell yourself
to your university of choice
you wanna be as concise as you can be in a personal statement
because you're basically trying to prove to the people reading your statement why you are the best candidate that they can pick and give an offer to
so with your introduction
you wanna start of by literally saying why should you do this degree
for mine, my reasoning for wanting to do a degree in music was
that i want to be a composer, i want to compose film music and musical theatre
and a music degree is gonna help me gain more knowledge about music
which is the next point, like, you need to write what you will gain from it
so in mine i wrote
i will "develop a deeper insight" into what makes music work
and like the "intellectual pleasure" of learning about music and all that stuff
you wanna write about what you're gonna gain, how it's gonna help you
how like, you don't wanna do a degree for the sake of a degree, like you're spending money on this
you need to gain something from it
and for me that was musical insight, and lalalalala
and you also wanna write where will your degree take you
what's the purpose? why are you gonna do it?
for me that was the fact that, i think i wrote that it would help me "access a range of compositional styles"
like i would learn about the history of music and
that would help me in composing in different styles of music
basically you just wanna write why you want to do the degree, what you'll gain from the degree, and how it will help you
as you go forward... in life
because you don't wanna just have a degree and be like "there we go"
the next/first paragraph i wrote about was a levels and what i was doing in school
so i started off with a bit about my "story"
like, how i went from my school to my college which was really far away
lalala
the thing with a music degree and with a lot of arts degrees
it doesn't really matter what you do
like you can do a music degree without having a level music/gcse music
you just need, like
you could have like grade eight violin and you could still apply for music
so with arts subjects generally you're just trying to justify what you're doing
so i did music, german, and english a level
and you wanna find ways to link them to your subject
whereas with something like engineering you need to have maths, you need to have physics
and stuff like that
with arts subjects it's a bit looser
so i basically wrote about my main subject, which was music
like what i found particularly interesting in it
i talked about how i liked the idea of pushing boundaries within music
i won't go too much into it in this video
but the theme, sort of, within my personal statement was, like, pushing boundaries
and that was sort of one of the things i think that helped me at the interview stage
which i will talk about, probably in a different video
but i'd basically talk about, what you find interesting in it
and then talk about your other a levels and what particularly interested you about that
so i talked about english and german, which i was also doing
and the skills i got from that which helped me become a better student
and, like, an admirable student
and, like, a student that you might wanna take... for a degree
that kinda stuff
i talked about how those complemented music
how, y'know, i've got essay writing skills
i did german
a lot of composers were german
like, i was really struggling for a link there, you get me
i was reaching but it helped
you wanna talk about your subjects, what really interests you about those subjects
because if you're showing an interest
and, like, a specific interest
so with me i was showing an interest specifically in 19th century music
then you're showing that you really do care about your subject
and if you do the same for other a level subjects
show how they link, show what you're interested in
then you're showing how you are a strong candidate
because you have, like, all of these skills that you've got from all of your a levels
and, like, this is what makes me desirable
this is why you wanna take me to do your degree
innit, so like... stuff like that
then the next paragraph which i did which i think was the biggest paragraph
in my whole statement
was the paragraph i did about reading
i read two books, they were very thin books
that i think i was recommended to read by my teacher or something
one was about, like, a short introduction to music
and one was about film music because i'm interested in film music and i wanna go into film music
and i basically just talked about what i gained from those books
if you write about books, please read them
i know someone who wrote about loads of books that she read in her personal statement
and never read them
and she got a cambridge interview and she got asked about the books
she hadn't read them
that... oh my god don't do that
please don't do that
i, like, didn't really get asked about my books
but you never know if you're gonna get asked or not
so please don't bluff it, like actually read the books
please, please read them
talking about what you've read
basically shows that you are keen to broaden your knowledge
you want to extend your knowledge of your subject further, beyond what you've been taught in school
what you've read as well is probably gonna be different to what other people have read
i remember waiting for the interview and
another girl who was doing music was reading, like, a completely different book to me
and i was like
i panicked because i thought i was gonna, like, fail
and they were gonna expect me to have read that book, or this book
but people get recommended to read different books
people read different books and their interests are different
so read the books that are specific to your subject
but which also interest you
because
you wanna talk about what you've learned from the books and you don't really wanna bullshit
you like actually want to have learned something from the books
so i don't know where my books are now
but when i was reading them i was highlighting things, i was making little notes and stuff, i was basically studying them
you wanna talk about how your thoughts have sort of been stimulated by this book
and how, like your knowledge hasn't stopped, you haven't just stopped reading there
you went on to read this article, you went on to read this or think about this
from reading the book
you can use phrases like "i recently read this and this lead me to read this"
which i think i said in mine
"i was intrigued by this"
so i talked about the book i was reading about film music
i started talking about how reading the book had changed the way i thought about things
so i started talking about
the lion king and how it was written by a white dude called Hans Zimmer
and basically was a watered down version of African music
there's like an African choir used and
sometimes there's African drumming, but essentially it's a westernised version of African music because they're catering to a western audience
and that came up in my interview
because i'd basically left a question hanging about cultural appropriation within music
and if you can, like, do that - if you can leave questions hanging that you're genuinely interested in
and if you can weave stuff in that you're genuinely interested in, alongside your subject
your interview (if you get an interview) will be ten times more interesting
if you read these books and you have thoughts and they spark interest within you
write them down in your personal statement
it will set you apart because i doubt that anyone at my college, that i applied to, was talking about cultural appropriation within music
and it sort of just sets you apart a bit
and also links with my kind of, the theme i had of pushing boundaries and stuff
so you want to talk about your genuine interest in the books
and talk about how it has changed your thinking
if you can make an interesting point, if you can leave a question there, it can lead to a discussion
next paragraph i did, it was quite short, it was about practical stuff i'd done, so like clubs
now the thing is, when it comes to places like oxbridge, they really don't give a crap if you did DofE and that's it
like you don't wanna just write 'i did DofE'
end of
especially if it's not relevant to the course you're applying for
but if you can say what you gained from that
if you can say
i learned to work in a team
i learned how to be independent
i learned how to structure my time, and stuff like that
then it goes towards you as a person and you as a student
all that kind of stuff
for mine i talked about very music specific clubs that i had done
to be fair i talked about clubs that i had been in when i was in secondary school
i wasn't still in them when i applied
but it wasn't a lie, i had been in the orchestra and big band and stuff
so you wanna, like, outline what you've been in
what you've done
and you wanna talk about what you've gained from that
how it's helped you develop as a student and as a person, and as a person applying for this degree
if you have an interest, or if you have a hobby or something that you're doing
that is relevant to your course
that is kind of out of the ordinary
put that in
when i was in sixth form, in year 12, i started a choir
it was sort of like a pop choir because we only had a classical choir and i hated it
so i started like a pop choir
i don't know, i'd arrange music
and we'd do like hamilton or michael jackson
or stuff like that
so i put that in my personal statement because that is something that would set me apart from the crowd
because it shows that you are not only taking responsibility and setting stuff up yourself
it also, in my case, showed that i was
being very musically active outside of what i was doing in school, i was arranging music, i was conducting, and doing everything else
that was obviously very relevant to music
but obviously, like, if you have something that sets you apart
definitely put it in
and talk about what you gained from it, and link it back to your degree
i talked about how i had been able to develop my arranging skills
and learned how to write music to fit different vocal ranges
so although what i was doing was very music based
i still had to prove that i'd gained something from it
and link it back to something solid that i would learn about
or that would help me at degree level because
y'know you can't just say you've done something and then not say what you gained from it
personal statements are all about talking about how you gained stuff
and how it's helped you become a better student
or a desirable student
so outline what you did
describe what you gained from it
if you have something that you've done that is quite impressive
and, like, not necessarily the norm
then add that in if it's relevant
and, like, make sure it's relevant to your degree
and make sure you talk about how it's relevant to your degree
then the last paragraph
basically talking about your interests beyond school and clubs and stuff
that are still relevant to your degree
and make you look desirable
so, for me, again mine were quite music based
so i talked about how i had re-scored a piece of film score
to, like, a disney short
how that had helped my skills
so like, how that had helped me work better with music technology
and fitting, like, a movie on a screen with music
stuff like that
i talked about other little interests i had and other things i did so
i was teaching piano on a saturday
i had my youtube channel
i had made videos for my mum's school
i talked about basically how they
helped broaden my interests
so you don't wanna spend too long talking about interests that aren't very specific to the degree that you wanna do
but
if they are kind of 'impressive', if they show a level of independence
and stuff like that
then you do want to talk about it, you do want to mention it
so, although me making videos for my mum's school isn't the most relevant to a music degree
it still shows a level of like, i guess work ethic
and stuff, so
you wanna talk about that
and then basically, i didn't have a separate conclusion paragraph
i just had a line at the end
i basically just restated the main purpose
of my application, of me wanting to do my degree
it's not very impressive i just said:
"however, much of my free time involves music and i consider the academic study of music to be vital to my future"
basically i was just restating that music is very important for me to do
the end
that last bit is just like a round up
it's not that deep
in the conclusion in an essay you're not writing new stuff
you're just sort of rounding it off
and when you have limited characters like one sentence at the end is absolutely fine to write
so yeah, that's the personal statement bit
if you have any more questions about personal statement stuff
feel free to leave them in the comments or, like, message me on something
i know the way i've done it is very specific and, like, shown you exactly how i set out my personal statement
because i know a lot of personal statement videos can be quite general
and i just wanted to show you exactly what i wrote
to give you ideas
obviously like i said, don't plagiarise anything because the unis will know
so i hope that's helped
now i'm just gonna quickly talk about the SAQ
this is cambridge specific
i have also put my SAQ in the PDF that i've left linked down below
the SAQ is basically optional
it's another part of the cambridge application process
a lot of people choose not to do it
but i was advised to do it because
personal statements go out to all the unis you apply to
whereas the SAQ is cambridge specific so you can talk about why you specifically want to study your subject at cambridge
so i guess it can make you look a bit more desirable as a candidate
you're just using the SAQ to differentiate yourself further from the people that have also applied
to cambridge
you want to kind of make it themed to your course
you don't wanna be talking about your interests, your hobbies
the fact that your dog died and then it inspired you to become an engineering student
please don't do that, just don't do that in anything
you do wanna make it
course themed
so i talked about certain elements that interested me in the course at cambridge
music history, orchestration, harmony and counterpoint
and stuff like that
and also gave them a link to
the re-score that i talked about in my personal statement
of the movie score, re-score, paperman video
yeah there's not really much to say about the SAQ
i do recommend doing it
if you are gonna do it, you just wanna talk about
why you specifically want to go to cambridge, what specifically interests you about cambridge and about the course
you wanna use it basically to differentiate yourself from the other people who have also applied to cambridge
you are essentially in competition, like it sounds harsh but
you are all fighting for an offer at this university
cambridge is not an easy place to get into
so you want to sell yourself
and if you have things that can help you sell yourself even further, i recommend doing them
so, the SAQ is quite short
you don't have to put loads and loads and loads of brain power into it
i recommend doing it
yeah, i hope this has helped
like i said, any questions
leave them in the comments
Q&A possibly
again, if you wanna send me questions for a Q&A
leave a comment again, or tweet me, or send me an instagram dm
you can look at the PDF linked in the description at your leisure
it's got resources and stuff attatched to it
that's basically it
i will be uploading more regularly from now on
i've got videos both uni related and not uni related
that i will be filming
if you have any requests for videos then, again, leave them in the comments or tweet me or something
and yeah
yeah, yeah, yeah
i hope this video's been helpful, and i'll see you later
