Personal Statement - Nineteenth Century Studies

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

I am interested in postgraduate study at the University of Sheffield for three reasons: the interdisciplinary nature of the programme, especially the option to take modules on German literature and the Russian novel; the universities facilities, particularly the new Jessop West building; and a desire to study in Sheffield.

The Nineteenth Century Studies programme represents a natural step forward from my undergraduate degree in English both academically and intellectually. I aspire to be a university lecturer and the programme, while a necessary step on the path towards doctorate work, satisfies my current and future research interests, which I have begun to develop using my extended essay; it is on Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground (1864).

Other interests developed outside my degree, though in relation to postgraduate study at Sheffield include the colonial travel writings of Ryszard Kapuściński and Mary Kingsley in Africa, and Joseph Conrad, whose short story An Outpost of Progress (1896) alongside the aforementioned writers heavily influenced my entry ('A long walk to the internet') to this years Guardian International Development Journalism competition. I wrote about the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs's ADEN project, which aimed to increase internet access in eleven sub-Saharan countries. I was long-listed for the award and published on the Guardian's website.

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

My extended essay investigates the construction of the underground man's identity in relation to a number of literary devices in the novella - notes, prostitute, underground and wet-snow. Presently, I am tracing the “underground consciousness” through Dostoevsky's earlier works, and a number of other writer's works before 1864 too, including Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev, whilst also considering continental influences as well. I have also considered Dostoevsky's short story Mr Prokharchin (1846), Vladimir Odoevsky's short story The Living Corpse (1844) and Alexander Pushkin's short story The Undertaker (1831), which are partially important, albeit generally overlooked. Consequently, because of my research on Dostoevsky and a general interest in Russian writers, I am particularly well-read in the non-fiction works of Mikhail Bakhtin and Tzvetan Todorov (I am aware of the Bakhtin Centre, and it is another reason for applying), and the contemporary literature essay submitted with this application develops their theories of the carnivalesque and fantastic into a comparative essay about Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (2003) and Colm Tóibín's The Master (2004), proposing particular paradoxical strategies used by both writers in order to deal with a delimiting real.

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

As aforementioned I aspire to be a university lecturer, and have attempted to further this aspiration alongside my undergraduate degree as best as I could. For example, I worked part-time for Aimhigher as a student mentor in my second year, using my subject knowledge in English to prepare GCSE students for their English language and literature exams. This involved researching fiction and non-fiction texts on the curriculum, creating revision material for students of different abilities, which was then checked by a senior lecturer in my department, and attempting to instil appropriate exam technique.

I believe this experience developed my communication and team-work skills as I worked alongside other mentors on the scheme, and coordinated with staff in the school. I often had to deal with large groups of students on my own too, which was difficult in terms of involving everyone in the session, especially when students did not know one another. But the way I learnt to prepare for sessions and explain ideas was the most valuable experience gained, pedagogically. Consequently, because of my aptitude, enthusiasm and reliability I was invited to participate in Aimhigher's new associates scheme, which launched in November. I will be working part-time at Macclesfield sixth form college from the New Year onwards, and I have also been invited to participate in one of the college's new staff training schemes too.

I have also been accepted onto the Liverpool Student Associates Scheme for secondary English. Manchester Metropolitan University does not offer English placements so I contacted other regional providers and was given a placement less than a day after an interview, which not only proves my suitability for a career in education but also my dedication too. I would actively look to build upon this experience while studying at Sheffield.

Universities applied to:

• University of Sheffield (MA in Nineteenth-Century Studies)

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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