Personal Statement:Sociology and social policy

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

I wish to study Sociology and Social Policy at university to further my skills on topics that I am heavily passionate about. I hope to gain more knowledge in areas such as inequality in all aspects of life and want to merge my love of Politics and Sociology together. I'm particularly interested in discussions and debates about a diverse range of topics from social theorists to the governments policies on education because I'm an opinionated but broad minded person. However, I also enjoy independent study, so on a personal level I can reflect on issues and evaluate them.

Being an avid reader of the news in particular has helped me keep up to date with cases such as Trayvon Martin or the pension reforms which have moulded society and divided it. We can see social changes affecting legislation particularly with same sex marriages being legalised. For me Sociology and Social policy is a way of recognising social changes and how it isn't always the ideal but we can clearly see progress being made.

I Hope to feed my hunger of knowledge at university by continuing to excel and remain passionate about all subjects I am currently doing but I feel that Sociology and a Social Policy degree will entrench my love for Politics and Sociology by blending them together.

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

I did Sociology as a GCSE and my favourite unit was 'power and politics' so decided to take Politics as an A level, my favourite units involved pressure groups and the imbalance of females and minorities in the world of Politics, which links with Social Policy well. I also do History as an A Level, where I enjoyed the unit of 'Mass media and social change from 1945.' I Particularly enjoyed learning about the permissive era and Thatcherism and the media, as I began to realise that sociology had affected how we behaved and how norms and values are contrived. English is another subject I take and really enjoy studying, reading the work of poets such as Carol Ann Duffy and books such as 'Catcher in the Rye' made me realise again social change was occurring, through acts of deviance and through social equality and the empowerment of women.

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

My experience of teaching in the history department at the local school has infused skills such as scrutinising, analysing and communicating my thoughts properly and to accept others interpretations. I actually taught classes and marked work for some year 7 classes. The skills I learnt from teaching younger students are essential for a Sociology and Social Policy degree which will help me get into a profession such as a civil servant or even to work with a charity based on human rights. I learnt more about global issues by joining amnesty international, which helps widens my knowledge and strengthen my love for the political aspect of Social policy and shown me how essential teamwork is because, we all need to do our part to help make society a better place.

I was a member of the school debating team, where I enjoyed talking about current issues with a diverse range of people and learnt more about how essential it is to be a broad minded person. I also contribute to a blog about films known as 'throne films' this has strengthened my communication skills and boosted my creativity. I have also undertaken a few charity activities because I have been more aware of social issues this year and trying to make a change, for example I had done race for life this year where I raised money for cancer research.

Universities applied to:

• Wolverhampton (social policy and sociology)
• University of Bournemouth (social policy and sociology)
• Aston university (social policy and sociology)
• University of Southampton (social policy and sociology)
• University of Birmingham (social policy and sociology)

Grades achieved:

• English (AS) - B
• history (AS) - B
• government and politics(AS) - A
• Business studies (AS) - B

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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