Anthropology degree personal statement example (1b) UCL offer

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

My desire to study Anthropology arose when in August 2010 I was placed with 23 participants from Turkey, Greece, Romania, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania in a youth exchange camp in a Polish village. I gained a whole new perspective on human nature and relationships, thrilled to see cultural boundaries breaking as we formed groups of four and handled unusual challenges together: living for three days outdoors 50 kilometers away from our cabins with no food, money or mobile phones, I realised how quickly the animal roots of the humans surface in a hostile environment. Compelled to cover long distances on foot and forbidden to hitchhike, yet with nobody actually checking if the rule was being observed, all of us eventually cheated. At that point I wondered: “Would our rule-based society collapse just as easily provided regulations ceased to be to the majority’s benefit?”

Intrigued by the discrepancy between man’s social behaviour and the genetically programmed one, I sought scientific explanations in various books, most notably in Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene, which presents genes as primordial replicators and man as a genes host. I first found this approach one-sided, yet the similarity Dawkins identifies between genes and memes does provide a viable hypothesis for the emergence of culture and self-consciousness. To me, human complexity is a result of the interaction between our biological structure, our spirituality and our socio-cultural background and I believe that my convergent and divergent thinking abilities acquired through my academic preparation and non-academic activities add to my suitability for the Anthropology course I have chosen.

Considering my genuine interest in human nature as it reveals itself from our individual streams of consciousness as they merge into this big mystery we call culture, I believe that my eagerness for creative thinking and for human interaction will shape my activity during the Anthropology course. Studying at your university will further stimulate me and help me to do my own research in this field in a truly intercultural environment.

How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?

Studying A-level Mathematics has developed my analytical skills and revealed the beauty of operating with abstract notions, but I have also enjoyed creative writing and foreign languages, which enable me to transcend my comfort zone. For a while now I have been both an editor and writer at my high school magazine which last year got 1st prize at the county School Magazines Olympiad. Over the years I have won the 3rd prize at the national stages of the Romanian, English and German Olympiads and around the age of 14 I felt the need to link my linguistic and communication skills to my inclination for artistic expression.

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

While performing in a play in German at a local drama festival I sensed an indescribable unity among our group and the audience, thus getting to perceive art as a powerful binding mechanism rather than a mere means of self-expression. Excited about connecting to people unconventionally, in the following month I worked in an art camp with children aged 5-12 as a painting assistant and helped them to express their ideas. I recall most of them being sceptical at first to my involvement in their paintings, yet as time went by they started to trust my experience and I, their imaginations.

Convinced that it is in the small communities’ power to fight against issues such as global warming or multinational companies’ labor abuses, I have been active as a volunteer for over a year now at a social and environmental NGO called “For the Better” where I run hand-made workshops once a week. There I show the participants how to turn used materials such as newspapers or plastic bottles into jewellery or decorative objects. Together with my colleagues I sell the objects along with traditional accessories and items of clothing at local fairs in order to promote both recycling and the cause of local craftspeople.

Universities applied to:

• Aberdeen (BA Anthropology)
• Durham (BA Anthropology)
• University College London (BSc Anthropology)
• Sussex (BA Anthropology)
• St. Andrews (Social Anthropology)

How personal statements have changed?

The current personal statement format, with three 'scaffolding' questions, was introduced by Ucas in September 2025. This personal statement was submitted before then, using the old essay-style format. It has been carefully edited into the three-question format, with all of the original wording kept.

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