I know right! Maybe it’s our human biology (wow this got science-y real quick) to have low expectations atm to avoid disappointment when results come out HAHA! But anyways, I’ve put Strathclyde as my insurance
. About placements, neither do I tbh. I don’t exactly have any prior work experience inany engineering field but I didn’t see this as a disadvantage. Because of that, I focused on my extracurricular on the ones that I think are relevant to biomedical engineering (by joining robotics tournaments, project design, brief medical workshops etc). Don’t worry you’ll still have plenty of time to fill in your ECAs hehe. Even if its not enough, you could also strengthen your PS by showing the reader that you’re well informed on any recent developments in biomedical engineering or just engineering/healthcare in general (more on this below).
Ok so regarding PS tips; brace yourself with me rambling about this below (bear with me lol).
As you know, engineers deal with machinery and solve problems with Physics so I guess you have to show your strong interest in being one. Maybe you could point out which A-Level topics kept you thoroughly engaged in class (oh and most importantly why
). For me, I loved learning the application topics under Physics (It was in the A2 syllabus if it hasn’t changed). There was one topic called Remote Sensing, which basically covers ultrasound, X-Rays, to the principles of physics behind how MRIs work which got me extremely invested (It also got really weird when the syllabus wanted us to learn on computer pixels and binary). But of course, it comes down to your interests, if you love electricity or electromagnetism, there’s no harm in putting it in as long as it’s relevant.
Plus, the course does have hints of healthcare, so I talked about how I wanted to remove the barrier between engineering and medicine. I also slipped in one to two sentences about the future of the field (since its relatively new and rapidly growing). I based my Personal Statement on this short and very handy paragraph from UCL’s MedPhys website:
“Your application will be especially interesting to us if you can demonstrate your interest in the medical applications of engineering.You should be motivated by a desire to apply your training to the pursuit of improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Relevant work experience, project work and your knowledge of issues and current affairs surrounding this field will assist your application.”Most biomedical engineering courses offer cardiac engineering as one of the modules (so you’d be learning on how to design artificial hearts/pacemakers to replace severely damaged ones in saving lives, sounds exciting). There are others as well from bionic implants to mechanics. This is kind of why I like this course, its multidisciplinary as some would say it.
But all this is optional though! It’s completely up to youto decide on what you want to put in your personal statement (it’s a personal statement after all, its unique to you). Oh one more tip don’t forget to show some personality in your PS like maybe inserting what your interests/hobbies/personal aims are (a small sentence would generally suffice). Trust me, it makes your PS a lot more personal and the admissions tutor will learn a bit about who you areas a person. If you don’t know how to relate your extracurricular to biomedical engineering, just remember you could always talk about transferable skills. Say, you were elected as maybe a student prefect/group leader/ student prefect and it helped polish your leadership skills. These skills are good for engineers as they will be the engines (excuse the pun) that will drive (gosh) teams to find long-term solutions. Of course there are other skills you could include like maybe you’ve learned to be organized during sixth-form and so it prepares you for the workload in uni etc. Or you like reading books and it expands your imagination (engineers need to be creative). If you’re stuck you could always ask hehe. Ok I'll end it here, I think I've gone way overboard HAHAH
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I watch a lot of videos on YouTube but most of them aren’t really for A-Level revision lol but I do enjoy videos from CrashCourse during my mocks as they helped me understand some last-minute topics before death (exams). Also do a lot of past papers because I think thisis the most effective way of revising for me. All in all, I guess meeting the grades are equally as important so again wishing you the very very very very very very best of luck for your exams!!