Filler

Going to Cambridge. Applying to Oxford. Also, growing a beard, but I've decided to shave that off now. I'll explain later. In the meantime, here's my personal statement for said Oxford application.

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Recently, I was reading Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh. It wasn’t the toughest of reads, but the chapter on the advent of computers and their influence on the role of mathematics stopped me in my tracks. It put forward the opinion that computers distracted from the beauty of mathematics somewhat, giving people the option to solve problems using a “brute force” approach where they otherwise would have had to put together an elaborate chain of logic. As somebody who had been accepted to read Computer Science at Cambridge, I felt a slight unease in agreeing with this way of thinking.

That’s not to say I am easily influenced by the points of view of others. In contrast, I usually have a great deal of conviction in my own opinion and relish arguing it. However, over the last two years, I feel like I have been deprived of a proper opportunity to do this, despite co-chairing the school philosophy society for the duration of its one year stint, as a result of the A-level subjects I chose. I do not want to continue being denied a decent outlet for my thoughts at university. For this reason, I feel that philosophy would be an excellent subject for me to study, and combined with maths, it would be ideal.

As well as my role in the school philosophy society, my reading includes Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies and Richard Feynman’s The Meaning of It All. With regard to maths, I last year achieved a gold award in the UK Senior Mathematical Challenge, going on to take part in the first round of the British Mathematical Olympiad and narrowly missing out on a place in the second round. I was also invited to join MENSA after achieving a top percentile score.

On a non-academic front, I spent most of my time at school playing rugby at an inter-school level, representing the school 3rd XV. I was also a petty officer in the school Navy Cadet Force, which provided me with the opportunity to gain a Royal Yachting Association Level 1 qualification in dinghy sailing. Two years ago, I was Marketing Director in a successful Young Enterprise company, and attained a credit in the aforementioned organisation’s exam. Outside of school, I am a self-taught guitarist.

Last year, when I had to decide which subject I wanted to study at university, I worried that Maths and Philosophy would prove too abstract a course for me to be able to retain any real focus in, whereas Computer Science, in helping me to develop numerous skills, would give me, with my abstract way of thinking and a mind that is occasionally distracted by what most people would regard as trivialities, something to aim towards. I now realise that my concerns, although logical, were not justified. I should not be looking to tame my free-thinking ways but to embrace them, to make sure I live up to my potential: I made a mistake in applying to do Computer Science. With that in mind, I just want to give myself the chance to do a course that I know I will enjoy, that I know I will thrive in and I know will be of the most benefit to me.