Personal statements - History

I intend to go to university in 2003 after taking a gap year and I would like to read History. Throughout my school career I have enjoyed History. When I was younger what interested me was how people lived in the past and the historical narrative. More detailed study at GCSE and A-Level has led me to appreciate the interplay between powerful political figures and how various political philosophies have influenced the course of history, for example the influences which brought the Nazi Party to power in Germany. I am also interested in the different perspectives historians take on what has happened, for example the different interpretations made about the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Is the traditional Soviet view that the Revolution was part of an inevitable scientific process leading to the creation of a ‘workers state’ more plausible than the non-determinists view which emphasises the role of identifiable individuals pursuing their own aims through deliberate action? I am currently putting together a Power Point show on Russian history starting with the situation in 1855 after the ignominious defeat in the Crimea, covering the Alexander II reforms and ‘The Reaction’ through to the 1917 revolution, which is thoroughly enjoyable. History helps one to think critically and imaginatively while developing one’s ability to argue dynamically in any number of different fields.

Apart from academic qualifications I have completed the Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards and am working towards my Gold. I enjoy the friendships and the challenge that the award offers. Over the summer holidays I undertook my Residential project at Kilve in the Quantocks. I made new friends from very different backgrounds and it was amazing that even though we all had such different interests and aims in life we all got on so well. I came away at the end of the week with more confidence and the ability to hit the bulls-eye with a bow and arrow from twenty metres! I have also completed an ICT course.

I have always enjoyed team sports such as rugby, football and cricket that I play at school. Out of school I play cricket for the local village 2nd XI, tennis every Saturday and I also enjoy walking and playing squash when the opportunity arises. As well as sport I also take pleasure in playing and listening to music especially music for the piano and clarinet the two instruments that I play.

Being one of the youngest of my year I feel that a year’s placement abroad and more involvement at home will mean that I will enter university with more experience and more to give and to gain. I am hoping to get a commission in the Royal Gurkha Rifles after university and I would like to spend at least part of my gap year in Nepal. For part of my trip to Nepal I would like to teach English probably through a gap year organisation or possibly the Gurkha Welfare Trust. I would like to visit Nepal because I only have a very basic knowledge and have had little contact with the Nepalese before. I would like to understand the Nepalese people, their culture and engross myself in their way of life. If I can be of use to them by teaching their children English then that is the least I could do. The rest of the trip I would spend visiting the cultural sites from the Kathmandu Valley up to Pokhera via Gorkha.