DofE

Has anyone managed to include DofE experiences in the personal statement?

I was debating with my PE teacher whether if DofE is worth doing if you just want to use it for your UCAS application.

I believe that most people dont even include it, or people who do have probably done all three. I also argued that doing charity work and not having DofE as an incentive is more impressive to a tutor.

What do you guys think?
is DofE (silver) still worth doing? Has the value of it decreased since so many people do it now?

Reply 1

Hkvsjvf26

1

I did silver last year (Im currently in year 13 now)

I included DofE in my PS but only because on the expedition, a team mate sprained her ankle so I was able to link that with working through a pressured situation etc as I'm applying to Medicine and it relates. (it only took up 2 sentences or so in my EC paragraph)

But it's up to you if you want to do it or not, it wont give you a significant advantage over someone that doesn't have it, although A LOT of people do have it now. + what you said about having volunteering/charity work instead of DofE being more impressive is true.

I had both and I enjoyed DofE, so it's up to you :smile:

Reply 2

Andy98

20

Original post by YounesB

Has anyone managed to include DofE experiences in the personal statement?

I was debating with my PE teacher whether if DofE is worth doing if you just want to use it for your UCAS application.

I believe that most people dont even include it, or people who do have probably done all three. I also argued that doing charity work and not having DofE as an incentive is more impressive to a tutor.

What do you guys think?
is DofE (silver) still worth doing? Has the value of it decreased since so many people do it now?

I'm skipping silver, universities will be looking for it, UCAS I'm not sure about

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Reply 3

furryface12

21

I made reference to it in my personal statement when I was talking about volunteering (although I made it clear that I had done other volunteering as well!). I didn't really think about it at the time but when I had an interview the first thing the man said to me was 'D of E Gold, that's impressive'!

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Reply 4

YounesB

OP

13

Yh sorry I'm talking about universities. You think universities (say if I want to apply to medicine) will look for it ?

Reply 5

YounesB

OP

13

Oh interesting. I have no time to do gold. I'm limited to silver. Is that worth doing you think ?

Reply 6

Addie16

I'm doing Gold DofE.
I'm quite small so people are quite impressed when they find out I managed to do the silver expedition. I also don't do much sport so it was really good at getting me to do exercise.
It's one of those things where so many people have done bronze and silver that universities don't see it as an advantage but if you haven't done it, you should probably have a reason.
A good alternative is NCS (research it). It have me something to do over summer but the first week was awful (well it was for me).

Reply 7

Andy98

20

Original post by YounesB

Yh sorry I'm talking about universities. You think universities (say if I want to apply to medicine) will look for it ?

Yeah it shows commitment, hard work and teamwork

Original post by Addie16

I'm doing Gold DofE.
I'm quite small so people are quite impressed when they find out I managed to do the silver expedition. I also don't do much sport so it was really good at getting me to do exercise.
It's one of those things where so many people have done bronze and silver that universities don't see it as an advantage but if you haven't done it, you should probably have a reason.
A good alternative is NCS (research it). It have me something to do over summer but the first week was awful (well it was for me).

Yeah, I'm skipping from bronze to gold

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(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8

Exceptional

21

I did Silver. Not even worth mentioning.

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Reply 9

umarrd

7

It's like including the skills you think you have in your

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi Younes,
In my opinion I would say you should do it. Now this is because, in the end it doesn't matter if you participate in every single thing there is and I participate in a few, what will make a better personal statement is informing the reader what you learnt from it. In the end, it's important for them to know what you learnt as a person and what made you better. I mean I just done bronze so far, but even something as little as that taught me so much stuff. Of course so many people have now done it, but can they in a clever way, why that makes them stand out more? No. Like nowadays it's not what you do, it's why you did it. The "why" determines if you are a better candidate or not.

This is just my opinion. You are subject to yours.

Reply 10

YounesB

OP

13

Everything you wrote was true but what Im saying is that Uni's now know people are doing these awards to suck up to the unis. They know it will benefit them.

But, its true. If you add why you did it and what you gained from it, it's worthwhile.

Im doing DofE silver now so...

Reply 11

turn-to-page394

16

I did DofE bronze and found it really enjoyable. Will probably (most likely) do Gold in Sixth Form because it was fun. :smile:

Tbh, if you're doing it just for your PS, then it's not going to be as enjoyable as if you did it for the sheer sake of it. (Personally found expeditions really fun. :smile:

And no... I'm not sporty...)

Do it if you'll find it interesting and actually worth-while that you'll get something out of it other than a PS mention. Life doesn't revolve around Personal Statements.... :biggrin:

Reply 12

Bruno26

8

In my opinion, I think it's pointless to add DofE nowadays in your personal statement. Lots of people have done Bronze and Silver and most people do Gold just to impress universities, so it's not actually going to give you an advantage. Yeah, you do gain valuable skills from it, but so did the rest of people who did it. SAVE the characters and use it to tell the admissions tutors more reasons on why you want to do the course or to talk about Work Experience (If you've done some), those are more important. :smile:

Reply 13

Bruno26

8

Original post by turn-to-page394

I did DofE bronze and found it really enjoyable. Will probably (most likely) do Gold in Sixth Form because it was fun. :smile:

Tbh, if you're doing it just for your PS, then it's not going to be as enjoyable as if you did it for the sheer sake of it. (Personally found expeditions really fun. :smile:

And no... I'm not sporty...)

Do it if you'll find it interesting and actually worth-while that you'll get something out of it other than a PS mention. Life doesn't revolve around Personal Statements.... :biggrin:

Hahahahaha! To be honest, me and the 9 people in my class only did our Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE so we'll have something to put in our Personal Statement. But during the expeditions, we didn't even think about Personal Statements, we just enjoyed it. :biggrin:

Until after walking for hours and it started raining that we all started to be like "Argh...cba...this better be worth it and get me into uni" :s-smilie:

Reply 14

turn-to-page394

16

Original post by Bruno26

Hahahahaha! To be honest, me and the 9 people in my class only did our Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE so we'll have something to put in our Personal Statement. But during the expeditions, we didn't even think about Personal Statements, we just enjoyed it. :biggrin:

Until after walking for hours and it started raining that we all started to be like "Argh...cba...this better be worth it and get me into uni" :s-smilie:

At least you enjoyed it (apart from the rain - everyone hates rain tho). It just annoys me when people do something because it will 'look good' and then complain about it non-stop when they were the ones to sign up, you know? Like not bothering to help at all or not turning up to the sessions etc... Rant over. :biggrin:

Reply 15

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Universities could not give a flying **** about DofE.

You might be able to discuss some of your experiences in your PS if they're relevant to your subject but having done some independent research or further study into something related to your subject is a better use of your time.

If you want to do DofE for the experiences and the opportunities (or because you need the structure of it to motivate you to do extra curricular activity) then go for it.

But don't do it in an attempt to impress universities.

Reply 16

binrotheheretic

1

Original post by PQ

Universities could not give a flying **** about DofE.

You might be able to discuss some of your experiences in your PS if they're relevant to your subject but having done some independent research or further study into something related to your subject is a better use of your time.

If you want to do DofE for the experiences and the opportunities (or because you need the structure of it to motivate you to do extra curricular activity) then go for it.

But don't do it in an attempt to impress universities.

Erm, actually yes they do.

Reply 17

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by binrotheheretic

Erm, actually yes they do.

Would you like to back that up with any evidence?

Personally I'm speaking from experience of over a decade working in university admissions but if you have something to prove that's atypical then I'm happy to see new evidence :biggrin:

Reply 18

binrotheheretic

1

20 years as a teacher writing UCAS references and approving personal statements. 20 Years
co-ordinating Gold DofE. My wife is a GP and University tutor who sits on the Sheffield University
Medical School admissions panel.

Reply 19

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by binrotheheretic

20 years as a teacher writing UCAS references and approving personal statements. 20 Years
co-ordinating Gold DofE. My wife is a GP and University tutor who sits on the Sheffield University
Medical School admissions panel.

And does your wife often reject people for lacking a DofE?

DofE

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