Example Psychology Personal Statement
Caring for my disabled father awoke me to the dramatic effects that neural abnormalities can have on people’s daily lives. The experience sparked my curiosity about the origins of such neural conditions and about how more generally social and physiological circumstances can alter people’s personalities and the possibilities for their interactions with other people. To satisfy my curiosity, I have read far and wide on the subject and taken up every academic subject I could that would improve my understanding of Psychology. My learning has convinced me that I wish to become a developmental or clinical psychologist and I wish to further my study of Psychology with a Masters to gain the necessary knowledge to fulfill my ambition.
I am studying for a BSc in Psychology and Neuroscience, which has given me a better notion of the breadth of the subject and has helped me to decide which areas I wish to focus on in my career. For my final year I have chosen clinical, counselling and advanced developmental psychology. From the last, I have learned about the various phases of childhood as categorised by Freud and how the absence of any phase can result in psychological effects later in adult life.
Knowing, unlike Descartes, that the mind and the body are not separate, I am also studying Neuroscience so that I may understand how the brain and mind interact to create the diversity of human behaviours. Earlier, to prepare myself for scientific study, I studied A-Levels in Biology and Chemistry as well as Psychology. My scientific curiosity was not satiated by study at school and I sought out and completed courses in Medicine at UCL, Herbal Medicine at Imperial College and Medical Engineering at Queen Mary. One particularly memorable experience was when I was gifted the opportunity to witness and study a live surgical operation, which gave me a taste of the thrill of scientific and medical work, strengthening my resolve to become psychologist.
Outside of the classroom, I have volunteered at the Royal Free Hospital for a year, caring for patients of all ages who suffer from brain disorders. Talking and listening to them, I have learned more about what it is like to live with such conditions on a daily basis, which has convinced me that I not only want to understand such conditions from a scientific perspective but I want to help alleviate the suffering they cause and care for the sufferers when I become a psychologist.
From my desire to help people with medical conditions, I have volunteered for a year at a British Heart Foundation charity shop, where I have promoted awareness of the cause and helped customers with queries. From which, I have learned how to communicate better with people to discover and satisfy their needs, skills which will be of great use, should I pursue counseling after my degree.
In my spare time, I avidly read popular psychology and self-help books, such as John Gray’s Men are from Mars and Barbara De Angelis’s What Women Want Men to Know, which although I know they may be sniffed at by academic psychologists, I think show how clear and simple psychological advice can help ordinary people to change their personal lives for the better. Music is my other love. I am a committed violinist and thanks to my regular practice I was honoured when a piece of mine was chosen to be performed at Wigmore Hall. I hope during my study that I shall have the opportunity to join the university’s orchestra. Not all my outside interests I take so seriously, however. For fun, I love to play tennis and croquet and paint and I hope as a graduate student to join the tennis club and take painting classes.
From studying Psychology at Masters level, I hope not only to gain the requisite knowledge to become a trained psychologist, but a greater understanding of mental conditions and what it is like to experience them so that in my career I may be better able to treat and care for people who suffer from them.
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