Is NCS and D of E worth it?

NCS is a hit and miss thing.
You might get good people in your group and have lots of fun
or you could get a terrible group like me and regret it...

I don't know if it's really worth it to be honest, should I do it? 17 in the summer so I think it;s the last time to do NCS

Honestly, I think NCS is a waste of time. Especially if you do it in summer, I was going to do it but its 4 weeks, 2 are like in your town where you have to go out to your local college or wherever to do a project/go out on trips and I feel like you should enjoy the time you have off school after exams and not be tied to do ncs every day even if you want to do other things. And as the person above said, it purely depends on if you have a good group, when you do it, what activities you do, and whether you would rather do other things. This is just what I have heard from other people.
D of e I think is worth it, especially if you already are doing a skill, a sport and are volunteering somewhere (like I was) as I didn't have to put any effort in. Just continue doing the things I was already doing and then go on the expedition.
Honestly, just do what you like but this is my opinion



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NCS is a waste of time. NCS is a 6 week jolly with little good to come out of it.

D of E takes time to complete, a year in the case of Gold and the expedition at Gold is hard and challenging, and so shows to an employer that you can commit to something, and can handle pressure under worst case scenario, and you can work well in a team.

its summer after exams why not do ncs, its not like its a chore, the purpose of it is to have fun and meet new people!

Okay i'm not thinking about them for employers and ucas, because a lot of people are doing/have done these two both so I wouldn't really stand out i'm just wondering if they're worth it.

Lots of people have Bronze and Silver DofE, few have Gold. Gold does make you stand out. DofE is worth it. NCS isn't.

Lots of people have Bronze and Silver DofE, few have Gold. Gold does make you stand out. DofE is worth it. NCS isn't.

I was really reluctant to do NCS and when it came to the day before it started, I just couldn't be bothered to spend 3 weeks and another 4 weekends doing jack all. But the 'UCAS' points thing reeled me in and it turned out I did it and guess what...

I couldn't have been more right. The first week was getting to know people and doing fun activities. I have got to admit, this was actually pretty good. I had quite a lot of people I knew so when it got awkward, I just hung around with my friends. But as week 2 and 3 came, it became a bloody chore (hint to the person who said it's not ^^). It seemed like the NCS people advertising it built it up to get better as the weeks wore on but it didn't. The four weekends afterwards consisted of my group walking around the town like bellends doing stupid things that I didn't even want to do. And I tried to enjoy it but it was really dumb. I felt like while this was going on I could be going out with friends, chillin at home, sleeping in and stuff. It just went on for way too long.

And the worst part about all of this is that NCS does not give you UCAS points like they said it would. So you are much better off doing D of E and you would learn a lot more too. Some good points about NCS were that I met new people who I still talk to, we went to Wales and my group helped out elderly people which were all good experiences.

Its because not too many people even have the time to do gold

Is it that hard?:/

Not hard, just long

I knew from day one they both don't give UCAS points. What does give UCAS Points which is fun is the Arts Awards at Gold ( which i'm planning to do xD ) people I know seemed to enjoy NCS though

I enjoyed NCS, but i did it in year 11 so i had time to spare. In year 12 i spent my summer at UCL's biochemical research lab, much better use of time. Do something more worthwhile.
I also did D of E, didn't really help me with uni applications or anything and wasn't all that fun to be honest.