[FO12DY]

(Original post by FO12DY)
My best advice?

Don't take any from TSR.


..What a paradox.. perhaps I should say, except this post. (But then, I would say that...).


What I mean to say is, nothing anyone says here is going to be something awesomely unique and making you stand out - at best it might be a recommendation for some scheme which will "look good", no doubt about it, but won't be unique and brilliant because it's a set scheme that takes x number of students every year.

If I had an awesome idea for something unique and original, why would I tell the internet? It just became unoriginal.


Further, if you're being specifically advised to do something to get in, it's never going to be as good as the things you just did. Genuinism (should so be a word) is so much better than "I volunteer at a charity shop". If you love charity, cool story bro, but don't do it just to get in to a university.

The down-side of the thumb rating system is the (sometimes) lack of explanation.

So two negs for saying this, but no one has quoted me or otherwise disagreed in text.

I'd be interested to know with which part those people disagree, and I can then respond to that too, that's kind of the whole point of the forum model...

[nickbob00]

There are often economics lectures open to the public for free or for a nominal fee. You might want to go for a few, though it might be difficult if you don't live near London or a university.

[RHenderson]

Do some level of voluntary work, it always looks good. Be able to relate that to your degree. In all honesty, I don't think it matters what kinda of work experience you do as long as you can relate it to your chosen subjects. What you get out of it is much more important and is more impressive to a uni rather than having the best placement. (Or that's what I've been told anyway)

[pheonix254]

write your CV in comic sans, with multi-coloured writing and a frilly page border.

Guaranteed to get it noticed.

[Alpha510]

(Original post by pheonix254)
write your CV in comic sans, with multi-coloured writing and a frilly page border.

Guaranteed to get it noticed.

LOL. That's perfect. I was thinking about inserting a pink border.

[Fallen]

(Original post by pheonix254)
write your CV in comic sans, with multi-coloured writing and a frilly page border.

Guaranteed to get it noticed.

No coloured/textured/scented paper? Rejected.

[Fallen]

(Original post by FO12DY)
The down-side of the thumb rating system is the (sometimes) lack of explanation.

So two negs for saying this, but no one has quoted me or otherwise disagreed in text.

I'd be interested to know with which part those people disagree, and I can then respond to that too, that's kind of the whole point of the forum model...

I didn't neg you, but I do disagree with what you said.

There are a lot of people who are already at university who wouldn't mind sharing their advice, for starters.
Even when I was apply to university myself, competition wasn't so tight that helping out some people online would impact my own application. Even if that was a possibility, the reason I consider some of the ECs I did impressive was not because they are hard to imagine, but because they are hard and time-consuming to actually do.

[FO12DY]

(Original post by Fallen)
There are a lot of people who are already at university who wouldn't mind sharing their advice, for starters.

Others still see it, though.

And regardless, my main point was that trying to 'stand out' (i.e. doing something falsely) is not good. Better universities won't appreciate it, and if it were me, I'd actually view it as a negative.

I particularly mean all this volunteering.

Even after my post, someone said "do some volunteer work - that always looks good".

It doesn't, because you're just doing it to "look good" and get in to university. It might have been good a few years ago, but now it's just clichéd and done mostly for the wrong reasons.


I'm not anti-charity, as I said before if you love charity and volunteering and that's genuinely in your nature - then awesome, that will look good. But you don't care about that anyway, because that's just what you do.