Oxford from the Inside #29: Writing a Personal Statement: Biochemistry

In this episode Abbie talks to Mary about writing a competitive personal statement for Biochemistry . Intrigued to see what supercurriculars you can do? Wondering how you should structure it? Are you just curious about biochemistry in general? Then this is the episode for you!

[@mayonnaise7547]

this was very insightful. It was 30 mins but it information that you talked about was concise and clear. Definitely made me more confident writing my personal statement and what I need to do for it .

[@tillyelizabeth]

Thank you very much, this was really helpful! I'm going to apply for Biochemistry at Oxford this year and am currently panicking about getting my personal statement finished so this helped me feel a bit more confident.

[@oxfordfromtheinside3680]

Glad to hear that Tilly! Wishing you all the best with your application :)

[@teymilly6815]

How did it go? I’d love to hear about your experience, as I’ll hopefully be applying for 2022 entry this year if I get the predicted grades I need.

[@tillyelizabeth]

@@teymilly6815 Hi! Unfortunately, I didn't get accepted but in hindsight, I think that was the best thing for me as I'm not sure I would've suited the environment well. I didn't have a particularly brilliant interview experience either (probably in part due to needing to do it online, which will hopefully be an issue you won't have to face) because I felt that my first interviewers really made no effort to make me feel 'at ease', which made me even more anxious & I don't perform particularly well under pressure. That's not to say that would be the same for everyone and I'm sure there are others that have very positive experiences but for me, that was the way the cookie crumbled. On the other hand, I rather enjoyed writing my personal statement as it gave me the opportunity to really delve into a topic I found fascinating (I wrote mainly about the protein folding problem). If you do plan on applying (and I would say go for it, it's very valuable, insightful experience if nothing else) I would highly recommend between now and then really trying to get as many work experience placements and such opportunities as you possibly can because not only will that give you lots to talk about in a personal statement (going into lockdown last year made it difficult for me to have things to talk about bc I was unable to go and find practical experience) specific to you but it might also help you figure out what you find really interesting to research into further in your free time. Hope this helps & good luck if you do decide to go for it! (if not I'm sure you'll smash it wherever you end up)

[@juliamoechanmyae8725]

Thank you so much this helps me a lot

[@oxfordfromtheinside3680]

Glad it helped! Good luck with your application :)

[@anishshah3051]

This video was os useful! Do you think it would be hard to apply for biochemistry and another course? Will it make your personal statement weaker if you don't just talk about biochem? (I want to apply for natural sciences as well)

[@mrmvpvip]

I love the pathology part of biochemistry. But is there a big difference between biomedical science and biochemistry?

[@oxfordfromtheinside3680]

We have an episode about writing a biomedical sciences personal statement which might answer some of your questions!!

[@stemm4girls566]

Is there anyway I can get a copy of her personal statement??