University Application

Hi,
I'm looking at applying to the University of Oxford amongst others to study Physics and/or Astrophysics. Teachers and family members keep telling me to look for work experience, however since the subject I want to study is highly academic, I have doubts that this is necessary? Would it give my personal statement a boost if I did find some work experience? I have already participated in multiple physics and astrophysics masterclasses and I have completed an astronomy: cosmology MOOC.
I would much appreciate your thoughts on whether I should do work experience or not.
Thank you!

Reply 1

Ariichu

Work experience is always good, and it doesnt hurt to have if you are able to properly link how it will help you at uni. However, there are a lot of things that are a lot more important that you can do, and if u dont have work experience it will absolutely not affect u negatively at all, as long as youve shown other ways you are interested in the subject (e.g. wider reading)

Reply 2

eeeli

work experience is not necessary for Oxford - you could talk about it in PS if it related to your subject but they wouldn't expect you to have relevant work experience so I wouldn't stress too much about trying to find that when you've already done other stuff. Oxford probably wouldn't care about non-subject relevant work experience. However your life does not begin and end at Oxford applications and work experience might come in useful for other universities/beefing up your CV to find work later/your personal development, so I wouldn't dismiss it completely.

Reply 3

Johnny Valentine

Oxford care that you are passionate about your subject because the terms are shorter and they rely on you doing much self study

They also say “you are applying to study this subject so the fact that you like to race otters at the weekend is irrelevant when it comes to showing your passion for the subject”

In short, they are looking for super curricular activities in your personal statement that show you have been motivated to study the subject beyond syllabus required and school scheduled lessons

To this extent, work experience is only relevant to your personal statement if it illustrates your passion for the subject or how it has provided a learning experience for the subject. For example, if your work experience were in your school assisting with physics lessons and explaining physics to younger students helped your understanding then that would be relevant.

You should check but I’m not sure that astrophysics is a degree that Oxford offer for undergraduates (they do offer a DPhil in it). Also, note that you can only apply for 1 course at Oxford via UCAS so you will need to decide which one to apply for.

Whatever you do, remember that everyone applying likely has the right predicted grades so your personal statement, and how it tells the story of why this subject is for you, is a really important part of getting to interview (that and getting a great score in the PAT => https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/admissions-tests/pat)

There are reasons to get work experience outside of your application tho but, in terms of your application, getting work experience relevant to some field of physics (in a local observatory for example) will likely help your application.

Good luck whatever you decide to do

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 4

Sam Eggelton

Thank all of you for your replies, they're very informative and helpful.
I'll have a look into maybe getting some work experience in the physics field like you have suggested.
Again, thank you for the replies, it's much appreciated!