Engineering degree personal statement example (1k)

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

Engineering; to me it denotes the artistic combination of Mathematics and Physics to orchestrate something beyond the realms of what people know is possible.

Throughout time, the large utilisation of Engineering by humankind has vastly changed the understanding of what people believe is achievable, from the small to the large, from the admirable to the unpopular, from what is possible to what is conceived to be impossible. As a result, I strongly believe engineers continue to drive our ambition, expectation and provide inspiration on our route to a perfect world with everything aesthetically pleasing and mechanically efficient.

Personally, my interest and first insight began in a classroom; being assigned a challenge to design, build and manufacture a crane, with strict specifications. Over the course of this assignment, I tackled issues relating to stability, strength and manoeuvrability. After the project, the crane was tested and it easily surpassed the given specifications, so much so, I was chosen to represent my school in a school team of four at a Rotary Technology Challenge where our team finished second overall. After this close encounter, I was selected to stay on and try my hand at the BAA Technology Challenge, which involved a vast array of disciplines, including Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering. This broadened my personal insight into Engineering with our task challenging us to the maximum as we were expected to exploit many aspects of modern Engineering from the restrictive health and safety and material management to the inventive designs and plans to build a working model of a passenger air bridge capable of serving some of the largest aircrafts in the world today.

These challenges inspired me to take 3D Design as a GCSE. During the course, studying into and around this subject, I invested much time after school to learn how to use certain CAD software, from the two dimensional CorelDRAW to the three dimensional ProDesktop, and translate these prints into a real product through CAM, such as a laser cutter. At this point, I was really intrigued by Engineering and the problem solving skills required that it influenced my decision on choosing both Mathematics and Further Mathematics as A-Levels. My interest in the mechanics side of Physics also grew and made me open up to other life challenges such as the participation in a variety of competitive sports. As a junior, I played tennis frequently at a local lawn tennis club and represented a football club in weekly football games. This helped me understand the importance of efficiency and team work and also helped boost my self-confidence.

My most insightful experience was a two day taster course in Engineering at UCL. The taster course enabled me to see the best glimpse of the challenges that modern day engineers face and the lengths they go to, to find solutions and implement them. An example is the fascinating development of nanotechnology to make it affordable and how it has become part of our everyday lives from computers to Oyster Cards. This not only confirmed my interest in Engineering, but convinced me that this field of Science, Mathematics and Art is something I would love to spend the rest of my life focusing on. This is my passion; this will be my life; this is Engineering.

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

An exceptional achievement I acquired was a gold certificate in the Junior Mathematics challenge and silver in the Senior Mathematics challenge and as a result, it allowed me to be selected by the Royal Institution of Mathematics to participate in Mathematics and Engineering related master classes at various universities such as Imperial College London and Cambridge University and be lectured by notable mathematicians like Simon Singh. This enabled me to not only explore the world of Mathematics around my syllabus, but understand many challenging and interesting concepts such as the use of matrices in games and their decoding applications in the Second World War.

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

My interest in the mechanics side of Physics also grew and made me open up to other life challenges such as the participation in a variety of competitive sports. As a junior, I played tennis frequently at a local lawn tennis club and represented a football club in weekly football games. This helped me understand the importance of efficiency and team work and also helped boost my self-confidence.

Universities applied to:

• University of Cambridge (Engineering)
• Imperial College (Mechanical Engineering)
• University of Bristol (Aeronautical Engineering)
• University of Southampton (Mechanical Engineering/Aerospace)
• Warwick University (Engineering)

Grades achieved:

• Maths (A2) - A*
• Further Maths (A2) - A*
• Physics (A2) - A
• Chemistry (A2) - A
• Extended Project EPQ - E

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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