Law degree personal statement example (1u)

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

I wish to study law because I like collecting evidence and making decisions. I enjoy working through material, sorting it out, and putting it into order and coming to conclusions. I also think law offers a lot of variety with such diverse range of options available in the third year of studying the subject at university. I have a great interest in the legal system and have spent time with a criminal lawyer, a business lawyer and a law firm in Germany. This experience has helped me decide that I would like to study law at degree level. I was impressed most by the way that clear-cut cases could be produced from mounds of evidence, especially at the business lawyer's office, where clear witness statements were less common than with the criminal lawyer. Regarding the options, I am presently most interested in the business orientated side of the legal system, in particularly the company law, labour law and dissertation modules available during the last year of study.

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

I believe that to study law one has to be detached so that one can be objective and therefore be able to create structured arguments. I enjoy A-level history and my studies of some of the 20th centuries dictators have improved my ability to structure arguments with evidence, especially regarding making a detached judgement of people like Stalin and Hitler. This has tied in both my Geography and German, the former requiring me to analyse contentious issues and hostility between conflicting parties, and the latter which has demanded a great amount accuracy and preciseness. I feel that by studying all three subjects I would be able to make clear-headed cases backed up with precise evidence and accurate details.

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

At school I was involved in several public speaking competitions and enjoyed partaking in this activity very much, especially when given challenging and controversial topics to speak about. The spoken aspect of law also interests me, and this I think has stemmed from the times I did this at school. It is important in my view to be able to speak both eloquently and clearly to be part of the legal profession and I think my experience of public speaking has helped me with this.

I think that I would fit into university life well as I am punctual and able to cope with many diverse situations, which university is bound to throw at me. I have worked in various environments; in a restaurant waiting-on, on a farm sorting and packing potatoes, and for the last 4 years at a bicycle chop. This has resulted in me learning how to deal with people on a daily basis. I believe that this has made me a more confident person, as well as more able to cope with difficult situations regarding customers. I see myself as now being able to relate to people of most ages, both sexes and many varying social backgrounds due to my work as a salesman. This is something I feel as being very important in today's society as many age, sex and class barriers are disappearing.

I have a great interest in reading, my favourite genre of book being military historical, the best I have read so far being Guy Sajer's true story 'The Forgotten Soldier'; the author's use of elaborate descriptions of his feelings made the book a graphically realistic description of the Eastern Front during WW2. Another book which I enjoyed reading a great deal of the same genre, although fiction, is Willi Heinrich's 'Cross of Iron' which again uses highly descriptive passages to build up the atmosphere.

I enjoy travelling in Europe a great deal and recently went on a trip with college to see the passion play in Oberammergau and then visited Austria, the Czech Republic and Berlin. Highlights for me during this trip were the castle at Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, the architecture in Salzburg and seeing the Olympic Stadium in Berlin which became a centre of racial controversy in 1936. The Czech Republic interests me especially due to its close historical links with Germany, which have for a long time been forgotten.

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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