In this blog post, Head of Teaching Julia Brown shares her top tips for making a successful application, and what you should avoid when applying to study a master’s at IDS:
Be specific about the course you are applying for
Your personal statement is critical to your application – a good one can be the difference between getting accepted or rejected! It is not just a tick box exercise, we read each and every application.
Therefore, it’s important to make sure that your personal statement is specific to the course you’re applying for, rather than telling us that you want to study at IDS in general. Tell us why THIS course is relevant to you, and how it will help you in your career in international development.
It is fine to apply for more than one course – but make sure you submit a different personal statement for each course you are applying for.
Tell us about yourself
Don’t spend too much time in your personal statement telling us that you want to study at IDS because we’re number one in the world. It doesn’t tell us anything about you! We want to know specifically about why you are the right person for the course and how your work will contribute to a more equitable world.
Include a CV alongside your personal statement
In case it isn’t clear enough from your personal statement that your experience is relevant, it helps to send us a CV so that we can see what work and voluntary experience you have. Don’t forget that experience in international development can take many forms, and your experience doesn’t have to be in a continuous period. It can have taken place sporadically over a number of months or years.
Don’t forget to upload your supporting documents!
Not including your supporting documents can really delay your application. Supporting documents include your degree certificates, your English language qualification where necessary, and if you’re coming from overseas, you’ll need to submit your passport (and previous visa(s) if you have studied in the UK).
Don’t be too brief
This is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd, to tell us about the issues that are important to you, and how this master’s course will help you to question the systems and structures that perpetuate inequalities. Your personal statement should be at least one page. Anything less than 250 words really won’t be enough to give sufficient substance.
Our partner the University of Sussex processes applications for IDS Master’s courses, and they have lots of information to help you use their online application system and write your personal statement.
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