Personal Statement:Psychology 15 - The Student Room

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

Personal experiences contribute to why I have an interest in psychology which leads on to me wanting to do a degree in this chosen subject. The most important experience to me which is relevant to psychology is living with someone for sixteen years who suffers with schizophrenia which involved me in the Young Carers. Schizophrenia has been a massive part of my life, resulting in me wanting to learn more about relationships and people as a whole. It affects a person's brain and how we behave in different ways. A particular interest in psychology would be the clinical, health and psychodynamic sides due to being friends with people who have manic depression, ADHD, autism and brain damage. Learning about therapy may help me to understand how these people cope with their disabilities. Piaget and Vygotsky's theories are of interest also, as they show how children respond differently to others in order to learn.

My goal of going to university is to become a psychologist to find out about people's emotions and explore their problems to treat them. I would like to bring my art into this later on to maybe become an art therapist to help people express their emotions through art.

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

During years 7, 8 and 9 I have been involved in open evenings at school where prospective students were shown round. My artwork has been a part of exhibitions that were shown to the public. I helped to set up the last exhibition where I was shown how to present artwork properly.

My particular interest in art was a starting point to psychology where I spent many hours a day concentrating on my individual drawing skills.

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

Reading autobiographies about people who have experienced sexual and mental abuse shows me how difficult peoples lives can be. I get a sense of what people go through and what they must do to cope. It is interesting to know how much they can achieve when you hear about their present lives. Real life stories in magazines are of interest as well, as you can compare your life to those peoples to see how similar we actually are. I watch documentaries about extraordinary people to see how they cope with mental or physical disabilities.

In the past I have volunteered in art classes with children which gave me knowledge of how each individual develops at different stages and how they express their emotions. This resulted in volunteering at a day care centre with learning disabled people which gave me more patience and feel of the way people express themselves through art.

Work experience at an art centre assisting in art classes with babies, children and learning disabled was very helpful as I saw how much these people can do and showed the various levels of artwork. A second work experience was at Hertfordshire University in the ceramic and fashion departments which consisted of general cleaning tasks, helping with the open day and exhibitions.

Music is also very important to me as I am always listening to it and have played the saxophone for five years. In my free time I enjoy reading magazines, watching TV, going on the internet and socialising. Helping other people gives me the chance to gain an understanding about them by communicating with various people. I am able to do this through my part time job where I am dealing with customers and constantly talking to them. It gives me independence and a chance to show my responsibility and reliability in a team and as an individual.

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.

Need help with your personal statement? You can ask a question or get feedback from The Student Room community (and our trained personal statement experts) on the personal statement advice forum.