Sample Earth Science Personal Statement
My intellectual and academic interests have always eventually led me back to the same central question: mankind’s interaction with the natural world. Whether in the form of drilling for oil, devising uses for brownfield sites to regenerate a local economy or developing a motorway network, ultimately almost all aspects of human activity entail a delicate balancing act between taking resources from the environment and conserving it for the future.
Today’s environmental challenges need to be met not just by climate-change scientists, but also people working in a very wide range of sectors, from town planners and property developers to business leaders. My intention in studying at university is to gain the expertise and skills to be at the forefront of helping to rectify the currently broken equilibrium between man and nature.
All of my A Levels have been extremely enjoyable and satisfying, and all of them have helped me to better understand the environment and man’s relationship with it. Geography has been a hugely important overall guiding force in helping me to appreciate the interplay between physical geography and human geography. Geology and Economics have in turn built respectively on the physical and human strands of what I have learnt through Geography. I find Economics particularly worthwhile because I believe that businesses will have to play a leading role in switching to environmentally sustainable principles to arrest the present environmental decline, and as a result I see business expertise and managerial skills as critically important tools for those who are passionate about the environment to be equipped with.
My quest to understand sustainability has also led me to take in a range of books and documentaries about the environment, such as Silent Spring, Making Sustainability Work, An Inconvenient Truth and Poison Fire, which examines oil spillages in the Niger Delta. What I have found particularly worthwhile is examining specific case examples of environmental issues such as sustainability initiatives in Abu Dhabi, which I have followed through reading Johnathon Porritt’s blog and articles by Emma Rawlings.
The week I spent working as a Team Assistant on Marks and Spencer’s Plan A Sustainability Team was an incredible learning experience. It was a privilege to work within an organization that is making serious efforts to harness innovation and creativity to make itself more sustainable. Working with such a diverse range of specialists also made me realise how the effort to make more environmentally sustainable companies is just as much based around activities such as marketing campaigns and logistics as it is environmental science.
Volunteering for conservation work at my local woodlands has been an equally rewarding use of my time. Being able to work as part of a team on such an important task has proved to be very motivating, and the skills in data collection and analysis I have learnt through completing the conservation work have given me a sense of how rewarding it would be to follow a career in which my analytical and managerial talents are put to use for protecting the environment.
Another way in which I enjoy the environment is through playing a range of sports outdoors. I have captained the hockey, rugby and golf teams of my school, and also play these last two sports for local clubs. I also love music, theatre and film, and in addition to regularly attending concerts, plays and films I am also completing Grade Seven Oboe and Grade Eight Singing; in the past I have also organized a range of cultural events at my school.
I am open-minded about exactly where my career path leads me in terms of the role I occupy or the organization I work within. What is absolutely essential for me, however, is that I am able to contribute to encouraging and implementing environmentally sustainable initiatives, something which I sincerely hope my university studies will prepare me to do.
We hope this sample Earth Science personal statement has been helpful, and given you some ideas to inspire your own writing.