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Enhancing my chemistry PS

Hello,

I was just wondering if anyone could give me some ideas as to what I can do over the summer to enhance my chemistry personal statement.

I have looked into getting some work experience, although have found this very difficult to find any relevant experience. I emailed the Senior Admissions Tutor for chemistry at Warwick and he said they don't expect any applicants to have relevant work experience and not to worry about it, so I've turned my attention elsewhere.

I'm just started reading Keeler and Wothers' 'Why Chemical Reactions Happen' and may read Primo Levi's 'The Periodic Table' over the summer. Does anyone have any suggestions as to other good books I could read?

I am also going to be visiting CERN over the summer, so was wondering if this would be worth mentioning in my PS even though its research is very much in physics ?

Other than that, I hope to attend a UCL Gateway Conference at the end of the month that includes a chemistry lecture & seminar.

I was thinking of maybe organising some sort of chemistry club for lower years, although I haven't got any ideas as to what exactly to do in this.

Does anyone have any other ideas?


Many thanks.
Original post by itsConnor_
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I would mention CERN if you can generalize your experience to science e.g skills you gained, an insight into research - bear in mind that universities are looking for students who can problem solve/have an analytical mind/interested in chemistry or science in general, so anyway of demonstrating that is bound to be a plus.

A couple of other ideas:
- For books, do you have any particular interests? The oxford chemistry primers are good, short and easily digestible texts on particular topics designed for undergraduates. You mentioned WCRH which is very very good.
- MIT OpenCourseWare - they have a nice introduction to chemistry course fully fledged with lectures and handouts.
- Look into your local universities and see if they hold public lectures/days which you could attend (looks like you may have done that already)
- NRICH is a site which has a lot of problems to solve which you could reflect on (some of which chemical based)
- Cambridge chemistry challenge/chemistry olympiad papers both have plenty of problems that you could solve also.

I wouldn't worry about work experience at all, I didn't do it and neither did anyone I know currently doing a chemistry degree, it's not as common as you may think (and I'm not convinced it would give you any advantage anyway)

All in all however, don't worry about your personal statement too much. You seem to already have plenty to talk about, much more important to look over your chemistry if you are going for competitive universities that like to interview (e.g imperial/oxbridge)
Original post by itsConnor_
Hello,
I was just wondering if anyone could give me some ideas as to what I can do over the summer to enhance my chemistry personal statement.
I have looked into getting some work experience, although have found this very difficult to find any relevant experience. I emailed the Senior Admissions Tutor for chemistry at Warwick and he said they don't expect any applicants to have relevant work experience and not to worry about it, so I've turned my attention elsewhere.
I'm just started reading Keeler and Wothers' 'Why Chemical Reactions Happen' and may read Primo Levi's 'The Periodic Table' over the summer. Does anyone have any suggestions as to other good books I could read?
I am also going to be visiting CERN over the summer, so was wondering if this would be worth mentioning in my PS even though its research is very much in physics ?
Other than that, I hope to attend a UCL Gateway Conference at the end of the month that includes a chemistry lecture & seminar.
I was thinking of maybe organising some sort of chemistry club for lower years, although I haven't got any ideas as to what exactly to do in this.
Does anyone have any other ideas?
Many thanks.


The admissions tutor is absolutely correct that you're not going to be expected to have work experience (this will be the case for pretty much any science degree) but have you tried emailing any local university chemistry departments? They don't advertise work experience placements but in my experience they're often happy to give enthusiastic students work experience.

Outside reading is always a good idea, just try to make sure you're reading for pleasure rather than reading for the sake of your personal statement. They're not so much interested in what you've read rather than what you've got out of the reading - they're not looking for a list of books that are on your shelves, they'd much rather see some insightful comments on one or two particularly inspirational books.

Honestly, unless you particularly want to do this, I wouldn't bother setting up a Chemistry club for lower years. That looks like just the kind of thing somebody would do just for the sake of boosting their UCAS application and I think you'd be better off talking about things you're actually interested in.

Mention CERN if you feel that the experience makes you a better candidate, but make sure you're actually explaining why rather than simply describing your trip. I wouldn't devote too many characters to that though.

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