How to Apply for a Masters Degree: Simplified

Around this time last year I decided to write my personal statement for my Masters application. I knew exactly what course I wanted to apply to but had absolutely NO idea on how to go about it or what to write in it, so hopefully this guide will be able to give you a little help because I definitely needed some last year!

Let’s begin with why I decided to apply for a masters. I never ever thought that I would be extending my educational career longer than undergrad, however, in my final year I had been giving it more and more thought because I genuinely enjoyed my experience at university and everyone around me seemed interested in one, so why shouldn’t I have been? However, I was also keen to kickstart my career and finally start the living the life I had dreamed of since starting university: THE LIFE OF TOTAL INDEPENDENCE! The issue with this is that I seem to not handle rejection all too well, so after being callously rejected by the Civil Service Fast Stream in less than an hour, I finally decided that a Masters was the right route for me.

And so, my journey began. I knew I wanted to be in London so I started looking for all the possible masters that would interest me within that space. I also knew that I wanted a university that had a great reputation and that would be able to get me a job after I finish (I am still dreaming of independence). After having narrowed it down to about three or four courses that I liked I began to panic because I had no idea how to begin applying for them, let alone actually get in. Luckily, I had a wonderful friend, an awesome lecturer and the internet to help me out. The internet helped me understand what the university wanted to see, my friend helped me understand how to structure it and my lecturer helped me write it out coherently and convincingly. We were the dream team (even though the lecturer and friend didn’t know they were a part of this formidable team)! So, without further ado, I will share with you what I found:

Here are some key questions you should answer in your personal statement:

1. What motivated you to choose this degree?

2. Why should you be chosen? Why do you deserve to be picked?

3. What preparation have you done for the degree? E.g. did you take part in any societies, any relevant readings, external interests, volunteering, internships, jobs, modules, etc. What skills did you acquire from these activities?

4. Do you speak any languages?

5. What evidence do you have of certain skillsets? E.g. grades, organisation, communication, time management, etc.

6. What are your goals? What would you like to achieve from this degree and what will it help you achieve in the future?

7. What do you want to learn/take from the course that you are selecting?

8. How does the course relate to your past and future?

9. Why do you want to study at the institution (university) that you have chosen?

These are essentially the questions that I used to structure my personal statement for the London School of Economics and it worked! I am in!

I hope these are helpful and that they allow you to get that step closer to achieving your goals. I will be happy even if it means you simply considering a masters as an option, rather than totally discarding it because it is too hard.

If you would like to hear more about my experience so far as a masters student in the LSE, please let me know and I would be happy to write more about this as I have so little time to read for pleasure now.