For the ultimate guide to economics personal statements, click the blue button here (paid resource):
What are supercurricular activities?
Supercurricular activities are activities completed outside of the school curriculum that directly relate to your university course. For example reading a book about economics or watching lecture.
For possible specific suggestions of supercurricular activities for economics, see the links here and here.
How to use your supercurriculars in your personal statement
There is no one right way. For those who are unsure where to start, here is one way you could integrate supercurricular activities into your personal statement:
There are four key steps:
- 1. Name of activity. What is the name of the book you read, the lecture you watched, or podcast episode you listened to?
- 2. Brief description of (part of activity). Give some detail e.g. about what the book or lecture says or if you entered a competition, what you did or found out about.
- 3. Personal takeaways from activity. The hardest part but also an opportunity to show some original thought. What did you personally learn from the activity? See below for some ideas on this.
- 4. Link to next activity. Where activities cover similar topics or are linked in some way, I recommend linking between them. Of course if you want to start a new paragraph as the activities are unrelated, that is fine too. In that case you should still make sure there is some sense of “flow” between paragraphs.
Repeat 1 through 4 again and again.
Consider this a starting framework. You can build on this framework by extending it if you wish.
Personal takeaways from activities
How to think about your supercurricular activities
- Takeaways – independence of thought.
- How these activities make you suitable for the course – pursuing an interest further or a particular skill (mathematical strength or interest in or understanding of research methods or ability in economics for example).
- Way to show your motivation/interest in the subject indirectly and directly.
- Other ideas are possible – limited by your creativity.
How might we show these things practically? Here are some possible prompts?
- What skill did an activity teach you (that might be relevant for a degree?)
- How can an idea in a particular field be applied elsewhere?
- Is there something particular about an idea that you find interesting, surprising or unexpected? Why?
- Do you agree or disagree with a particular idea? Why?
- How does the idea compare with other ideas you have come across elsewhere?
Final thoughts
You could create your own examples for the personal statement based on this framework. You should not copy the two examples above.
The best personal statements apply and extend this framework, using difficult economic ideas (including often those ideas associated with undergraduate economics).
For more personal statement tips (including supercurricular activity recommendations and Oxbridge Economics application advice), see the link here.
Another good source for what makes a good personal statement is the LSE presentation on “Advising Advisers” here.
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