Example International Relations Personal Statement
As the world becomes ever smaller, owing to globalisation, companies and nations are more in need than ever of mediators to help them work together. As someone who bridges three different cultures, Kazakh, Russian and English, I consider myself uniquely placed to bring cultures together. Consequently, I wish to become a diplomat for a major multi-national company, charged with managing relations between the firm and the wider world. There is no better subject to study than International Relations to help me fulfil my ambition.
My early education in my native Kazakhstan prepares me well for studying International Relations. I received a very broad education, studying everything from Mathematics to Politics and gaining very good grades in every subject. My extensive knowledge of so many subjects should stand me in good stead when I come to converse with people from many different backgrounds in the course of the degree and my chosen career. I adapted quickly to the school system when I arrived in the UK only a few years ago and I am already predicted good grades for my A-Levels despite my unfamiliarity with the British education system. My versatility and ability to adapt quickly to a new culture should be of great use when I come to study and understand other national cultures as part of the degree.
Outside of the classroom, I gained a valuable taste of my chosen career when I acted as a translator for Kaz Trans Gas, Kazakhstan’s largest gas distributor. Mediating between different cultures and languages gave me valuable insight into how International Relations are actually practised and how different nations’ foreign policies can affect international business, which should give me a head start when I come to study Foreign Policy during the degree. Earlier, I experienced the day-to-day reality of international business, when I worked as a Business Plan Adviser for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Kazakhstan. I worked closely with the bank’s British representatives and helped the bank to understand the country’s culture and the way business is done in the country. This experience taught me how to think about cultural differences and communicate them to others, which should be very useful for the degree when I come to study Diplomacy, a subject I particularly look forward to, given my career ambition.
I have read widely in preparation for the course, reading everything from classics of political theory, such as Machiavelli’s The Prince, to recent books on the history of the Cold War, a subject of particular interest to me, as my birthplace was part of the Soviet Union.
In my spare time, I work as a wrestling trainer in Kazakhstan. I have trained the nation’s junior team, from which I learned how to direct people of all different ages. I am an avid wrestler myself, and thanks to my hard work, I was able to gain second place in a major free-style wrestling competition in Kazakhstan. The commitment and discipline that wrestling calls for are qualities that I have taken advantage of in everything that I do and they should enable me to succeed in my degree and chosen career as well.
I hope I shall have the opportunity to join and captain the wrestling team at university. As wrestling is not such a common sport in the UK, perhaps I shall have to found the team myself. I should very much like to teach fellow students about the sport. I would also like to do some more charity work at university. I very much enjoyed volunteering for Canterbury’s Pilgrims Hospice, where I raised money for the charity through various Christmas-themed events.
I hope I shall befriend people from many different backgrounds at university so that I may be a bridge between many different cultures, not only three. I am committed to my chosen career and I wish to enjoy university life to the fullest and take advantage of every opportunity inside and outside the classroom so that I may achieve my dream and please my parents who never had the opportunities that I have.
We hope that this example International Relations personal statement will provide you with some inspiration for writing your own personal statement.