is epq useful at all?

Most universities don't care that much about it.

thanks! our school is really pushing it- I've heard it can show interest in a subject, do you know if this is true?

as above- I'm asking as someone who's going to do 4 a levels, but about ¼ of my cohort is doing 4+epq, so I don't want the contextual data making my application look worse in comparison. My school also finishes epq in April/may Yr 12.

thank you for all the replies! what I'm gathering is that it doesn't make a huge difference- do you know if I could show my skills doing something else?

Volunteering could be a good opportunity to show off your skills and use new ones, or just doing something for the community. For example, if you're good at time management, volunteering would help. Or for example if you're doing a science at uni, attend events to show your interest. As a sociology student, my epq was sociology related. I did lots of volunteering for children's organisations, lgbt support groups, mental health companies and I attended courses linked to my degree. You can look on futurelearn and do free online courses that you can do at your own pace (if you want a certificate you'd have to pay) but they do all sorts. From skills building to forensic investigation which is what I did. Universities not only like good grades but your willingness to learn, explore, take on new responsibilities and have a variety of experience. Just do things that you enjoy and you can learn a lot from that. If you can prove you're eager to learn and take part in new things, they will take that as a very good attribute for a student

Most unis will chiefly be interested in super-curriculars related to your subject of study - MOOCs, taster lectures, wider reading etc.

Volunteering etc. may be a nice bonus but it's potentially a big investment of time for little (application) benefit.

Is coursera respected for online courses?

I found it really useful for learning how to structure and write a research piece, particularly as I'm not doing any subjects involving essay writing. GCSE English lit/lang are so completely different. Mine was relevant to my uni course and so I wrote about in my personal statement and also have talked about it at degree apprenticeship interviews. It also gives a grade drop at several uni's I'm applying to. I didn't want to do 4 A-levels though and i know I enjoyed doing an EPQ on a subject of my choice far more than I would have enjoyed doing another A-level - even if Further maths might have been seen as a preferable choice by some unis. I didn't find it that much work and some of my group wrote their essay in the last two weeks - I wouldn't recommend that! But it's only 5000 words and if it's something you're really interested in that is very little. Of course the research, planning etc is really important, but I did a lot over the summer hols when I had loads of time - basically you can do a lot of planning and research before you officially start. If you manage your time then it's not difficult.

I did HPQ, after which I hated my topic- that's why I'm not sure about EPQ, I don't want to start hating a subject that I'm interested in.

Ok, might not be the best thing for you then, it's not essential in any way.