Biochemistry personal statement example

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

Every autumn I spend several weekends at my uncle's smallholding, helping him press apples for cider. For years I saw it as hard work with a pleasant ending, but two seasons ago he asked me why one batch had stayed cloudy while another had cleared. Looking it up led me to pectin, the polysaccharide that helps hold plant cell walls together, and to pectinase, the enzyme preparation some producers add to break it down. A problem we had always put down to luck turned out to be a question about molecules, and that shift from describing what happens to explaining it through structure and reaction is what draws me to biochemistry. Reading Nick Lane's The Vital Question took this further. His argument that life depends on proton gradients across membranes, and that the energy supplied by mitochondria made complex cells possible, changed how I thought about respiration, which I had first learned as a sequence of stages to memorise. I did not follow every detail, but I returned to my notes on chemiosmosis and ATP synthase and understood them far better. I want to study metabolism, enzyme kinetics and protein structure in depth, and to spend time in the laboratory testing ideas rather than only reading about them.

How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare?

I am studying Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics at A-level, and the overlap between them is where I have learned most. In Chemistry, work on intermolecular forces and buffers made sense of why enzymes are so sensitive to their surroundings, and organic mechanisms gave me a way to picture what happens at an active site. The Biology required practical on enzyme rates showed me how easily a result can be affected by uncontrolled temperature, while Statistics in Maths taught me to ask whether a difference between repeats is meaningful. My Extended Project brought these together. I investigated how temperature affects the volume of juice released from mashed apple treated with a commercial pectinase. Using a water bath, I tested four temperatures from 20 to 50 degrees, filtering each sample for ten minutes and repeating each condition three times. Yield rose up to 40 degrees and fell at 50, which fitted what I had read about denaturation, but my ranges overlapped more than I expected. I traced some variation to inconsistent mashing, so I standardised the blending time and weighed each sample, which tightened the results. Writing it up taught me to be honest about the limits of a small experiment, and I enjoyed explaining my method in the final presentation and answering questions from staff.

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

For eighteen months I have worked weekend shifts in the café at our local leisure centre. I now open on Sundays, which means checking fridge temperatures, setting up before the first swimming lessons finish and serving queues of hungry children and parents. It has made me organised, calm under pressure and good at talking to people I have never met. The cider pressing with my uncle has also become a proper responsibility. I sterilise the demijohns, take hydrometer readings of specific gravity before and after fermentation, and keep a notebook so we can compare batches from year to year. Last autumn I suggested we record the apple varieties used in each one, and he now asks me to plan the blends. At home I have kept a sourdough starter going for over a year. I began noting how long it took to double at different kitchen temperatures in winter and summer, partly out of curiosity about the yeasts and lactic acid bacteria living together in a jar of flour and water. Not everything I do connects to science: I play bass guitar in a band with friends from school, and we have performed at two charity evenings, which has taught me to rehearse properly and to cope with nerves. I hope to bring this mix of practical habits and curiosity to my degree.