Personal Statement - Geography 6a

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

I was always filled with questions about our world, how did those mountains form? Why is that river there? A visit to Niagara Falls only served to give more questions. This was the start of my fascination with geography. It didn’t take long for me to realise geological landforms was not all there is to geography, there is also the development of countries, the weather systems that govern our world and much more. I have found I am intrigued by the diversity of topographies throughout the world. The satisfaction of moving through a landscape, whether rural or urban, and knowing how it came to be this way is fascinating, but this understanding is something I want to further and I believe studying geography at university is the best way to do this.

Glacial environments were just one of the many topics I thoroughly enjoyed within my AS course. Knowing how past eras shaped the land around us, how such seemingly simple processes made such a profound impact on the landscape intrigued me. This was not the only topic I found interesting, how and why urbanisation occurs, specifically in less economically developed countries, captured my attention due to its relevance to the modern day world. It has allowed me to gain more of an insight into different countries.

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

I am currently studying geography, maths and sociology at A level. Not only has maths enhanced my problem solving and logic skills, but through the statistics aspect I have learnt many valuable techniques that I believe will be useful in analysing data in any future investigations. Studying sociology at A level greatly supplements my choice to study geography at university by providing me with an understanding of human behaviour which relates with the human aspect of geography. I have found throughout my geography AS course that I am interested in both the human and physical aspects of geography and would like a degree that allows some flexibility between both these aspects of geography.

I have also engaged in various fieldwork trips, the most recent being a three day excursion to the Lake District where I enjoyed expanding my analytical skills by studying various processes, such as erosion and deposition, in an upland river. Urbanisation and Tourism are other topics that I have covered within my fieldwork trips over the past couple of years. Fieldwork is a particular aspect of geography that I enjoy as it has enabled me to put theory into practice.

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

I participated in and achieved first place in an enterprise challenge within my school. This not only gave me experience with working with local business people, but also provided me with invaluable skills such as working as part of a team and completing various projects by specified deadlines. We had to set up and run a music company and within my team I was the operations manager, having to find premises for the company and also suitable transport for the band. This provided me with the opportunity to show my initiative.

As well as my participation in the enterprise challenge, I was also involved with children in lower years as I assisted in year 8 and year 9 maths classes where I helped the less academically able students with their work. This enabled me to further my communication skills.

I have also taken part in an intensive TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) course putting my ability of grasping concepts easily to use and also improving my ability to interact with others. This course also taught me how to put difficult concepts across which will be invaluable during my degree course as it will help me with presentations.

I am looking forward to university and believe I have the skills to fully cope with demands of the course and will be able to balance the academic and social sides to being at university.

Universities applied to:

• Lancaster
• Nottingham
• York
• Bangor
• Leicester

Grades achieved:

• predicted AAA at A2

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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