Some of you have had many difficult situations and circumstances to overcome. This is where you can show us your resilience. In this section, you might choose to tell us how you have:
- overcome financial hardship to continue senior study with help from Centrelink benefits
- overcome homelessness, been displaced from your family or spent time in care during secondary school
- overcome significant personal illness/disability during senior studies
- experienced changes to your family structure during secondary study
- experienced the death or serious illness of a close family member during secondary school
- overcome disrupted/disadvantaged schooling.
Example 1
Throughout Years 10 and 11, I battled the lingering effects of chronic fatigue syndrome which has decreased my ability to attend school and focus my attention in the classroom. It has also affected my mental health due to the stress of the potential impact on my future. To combat this condition, I have worked with my teachers to develop individual timelines and schooling hours, engaging help from external counsellors and health professionals. I have had to admit that I will not achieve a 99.95 but with help and guidance I have been able to maintain the best, passing grades I can and I've learned that life is about hard work and managing expectations.
Example 2
At the start of my Year 11, my family was in conflict which ended in my parents divorcing. I sat my first round of exams shuffling between two new households, with different access to the space, quiet and wi-fi I needed to prepare for my exams. Around me, my parents continued to fight over me and my siblings, pushing and pulling us in various directions. The conflict affected my concentration ability as well as my mental health. I became aware of the value of quiet spaces at school or public libraries and the benefits of teachers willing to devote some time to re-cover material with me. I struggled but I focussed on my future and have maintained grades which should allow me to enter my chosen course.
What should I put in personal statement 3 – Impact through family?
Our backgrounds shape us and then we shape our world. Tell us how the experiences you’ve come through are shaping the world you’re making. For example, you might have:
- significant family or caring responsibilities including responsibility for financial, emotional or physical support of family members
- a refugee or asylum seeker background
- moved interstate or internationally during senior schooling
- experienced significant loss in a natural disaster such as fire, flood or drought
- experienced discrimination or bullying or witnessed that of a close friend/family.
Example 1
Like 糖心原创, I stand for impact, empathy and change. As a member of a marginalised refugee community, I plan to make an impact on behalf of people like me. Will I change the world? Maybe not. Will I change my world and the world of others like me? Definitely. By attending university, I become a role model for girls from my community. By becoming a teacher, I will be able to give a positive educational experience to others and be a representative of my culture in the Australia of the future. Having battled bullying and cultural isolation at school has motivated me to represent my family and my culture on the stage of my community. That impact starts with studying at a university that shares my vision.
Example 2
As I started Year 12 this year, I learned my sister had Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I've spent my year so far doing my best to support her through her treatment and struggles. While her illness is not my own and her prognosis is good, the impact on our family and home life has helped me to understand the importance of your environment on your ability to achieve, and how support and kindness can make an immense difference to an individual. This has set my goal to study social work and offer support and guidance to those who are struggling, like my sister and those in worse situations. My impact will be small in number but huge in scale to those I work with.