Sample Ophthalmic Personal Statement
My ambition to study for a degree in Ophthalmic or Optometry has its origins in my mother’s eye problems. She suffers from an obstruction in the eye which is causing her to lose her sight.
I have also spent many years working in positions of care, mainly as a schoolteacher, and I feel strongly that my central human responsibility is to use whatever abilities I have to help more vulnerable people. I have therefore decided as mature student to retrain and spend the rest of my career attending to the problems of people’s vision and enabling them to live a normal life. In preparation for a further degree in Orthoptics I am currently studying on an access course at Mancat College, St John’s Campus, Manchester, to gain a Diploma in Medical Health Science, with modules in Biology, Chemistry and Maths with Physics.
My mother’s condition has made me deeply interested in the problems of damaged vision, and I am keen to explore ocular biology and optics in detail and to learn about ophthalmic lenses and dispensing, and the clinical skills needed by the optician. I am interested in the problems of binocular vision and should like to discover more about visual neuroscience as well as the pathology of the eye. As a mature student with extensive experience of the working world I believe I have a thoroughly professional attitude in dealing with other people as well as the scientific background on which a study of optics can be built, and I also feel that to be able to respond to patients’ disabling problems with their sight would bring me the deepest possible sense of personal fulfilment.
I have spent the last ten years in education, working first for supply teacher agencies as an education recruitment consultant, which involved interviewing and assessing candidates for supply teaching. Some of this work was administrative, but it gave me experience of hierarchies and office procedure. After this I spent three years as a teacher of science at Hartshead Sports College, where I fulfilled all the duties of the full-time teacher, preparing and delivering lessons, assessing, guiding, and keeping records. I then became a supply teacher myself, working for Celsian Teacher Recruitment Agency, covering absent teachers in a variety of secondary schools and teaching science and maths but also some French. In 2010 the agency gave me the Teacher of the Term award for my reliability and flexibility. In the last year I have devoted my time to the care of my ailing parents, ministering to their daily needs such as personal care and working with other health care professionals to maintain their comfort and quality of life. I also perform some voluntary work, training as a team member in the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, doing volunteer ward duties at Tameside Hospital and working with stroke victims at the local Stroke Club.
I have read several books on my subject, such as Dan Rutherford’s Strokes, which deals particularly with the effect of the condition on sight, and Revell’s Strabismus; a History of Orthoptic Techniques. I also keep abreast of new developments in my field through following stories in the media. I visited the Orthoptics and the Radiography Departments at the University of Liverpool earlier this year and discussed my plans with the staff there, which I found very informative.
In my spare time I like to keep fit, going to a gym, swimming and riding my mountain bike. My approach to everything I do is responsible and professional and I take pride in my accuracy and concern for detail. I communicate well, enjoy working with others but have the confidence to be happy to take responsibility for my own decisions. My commitment to my subject is clear, and I believe I have the qualities to become a successful undergraduate.
We hope this sample Ophthalmic personal statement has proved a useful resource.