Extra Activies on UCAS application

OP

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Kaamji

Heyyy, the extra activities are basically those things you’ve done outside school e.g volunteering, competitions etc. They can be educationally related or not but they should link to your course and the necessary skills you need for your course. Hope this helps ☺️

I currently volunteer at a charity shop, and I've found ways where I can link the skills I have gained to skills required for Psychology. Would thiis count?

I also plan on doing MOOCS too (basically online courses of a specific interest done outside of school) over the summer, wondering if that'd be okay?

Reply 4

NotBestPleased

10

Extra activities can be extra-curriculars or super-curriculars. Extra-curriculars are things you do outside school generally unrelated to your study. You could volunteer, for example at a charity shop, or a youth organisation (e.g. Scouts). You could also take up a sport or hobby. These essentially tell the unis your applying to that you are an asset to the campus and student life beyond just your studies. Super-curriculars are study-related but outside the content you study at school. For this you could do some MOOCS (try EdX, Coursera etc), go to some lectures, read some books, listen to podcasts, do a project or some work experience.

Reply 5

Admit-One

Clearing and Applications Advisor

That section is usually for official uni schemes and the like, not general extra curriculars.

Reply 6

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

As above. The Extra activities section is to allow universities to identify if you have participated in formal outreach activities.

Extra and super curriculars should NOT be listed in this section. Those go in your PS.

Reply 7

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by Kaamji

Heyyy, the extra activities are basically those things you’ve done outside school e.g volunteering, competitions etc. They can be educationally related or not but they should link to your course and the necessary skills you need for your course. Hope this helps ☺️

This is incorrect.

those are extra/super curriculars for inclusion in the PS. They should not be listed in the extra activity section.

Reply 8

PQ

Original post by LoafOfBread05

I currently volunteer at a charity shop, and I've found ways where I can link the skills I have gained to skills required for Psychology. Would thiis count?

I also plan on doing MOOCS too (basically online courses of a specific interest done outside of school) over the summer, wondering if that'd be okay?

Those things can be mentioned in your PS. Moocs would be far more relevant to psychology than volunteering in a shop. Psychology is an academic degree - work experience isn’t going to be relevant

Reply 9

OP

Original post by PQ

Those things can be mentioned in your PS. Moocs would be far more relevant to psychology than volunteering in a shop. Psychology is an academic degree - work experience isn’t going to be relevant

Ah I see, Thank you for the help!

Reply 10

OP

Original post by PQ

As above. The Extra activities section is to allow universities to identify if you have participated in formal outreach activities.

Extra and super curriculars should NOT be listed in this section. Those go in your PS.

Would it bring me down as a candidate to have very few/no extra activities on my ucas application? Sorry if I'm asking so many questions!

Also are there any other examples of extra activies I could do, aside from MOOCs of course.

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 11

NotBestPleased

10

Original post by PQ

This is incorrect.

those are extra/super curriculars for inclusion in the PS. They should not be listed in the extra activity section.

Has the format for UCAS applications changed recently? I can't recall an extra-activities section on my old UCAS application. That would explain the confusion, so that OP doesn't get outdated info.

Reply 12

OP

Original post by NotBestPleased

Has the format for UCAS applications changed recently? I can't recall an extra-activities section on my old UCAS application. That would explain the confusion, so that OP doesn't get outdated info.

On the UCAS section there's an extra activies section, alongside a personal statament, employment (only paied work), and personal details such as your name, where you're from, qualifications obtained, etc etc

Reply 13

Kayyy30