EPQ issues

To what extent do universities consider EPQs? Can they make a difference between being accepted and not being accepted? How do you write a good EPQ? Do employers consider EPQs?

Normally the EPQ provides skills in many areas which are important for when you go to uni such as report writing, research, organisation and planning, presentation etc. These you would talk about in your PS and could talk about it in your academic section. Also it can help a lot in showing your interest in the subject since you did a research project into it, some unis may drop grades required for students who are predicted below their standard offer but believe they can work toward it and show a great interest in the subject (obviously need to have done other things as well).

Very few unis will drop offer requirements for the presence of the EPQ (they will also give a grade requirement for the EPQ), Southampton and Sheffield being examples. It can make a difference between being accepted or not. One reason being in the first paragraph as unis may lower offers if you show a significant interest which the EPQ helps in doing so. As well if there is a candidate with similar grades to you it can differentiate you from them.



I aspire to a career in technology, perhaps intelligence or something like that. It's still to be decided - but I definitely want to apply to a computer science course at a good uni, like Durham or Edinburgh or Exeter. I suppose I need to make my EPQ related to the course? I'm thinking about writing about one of:

Artificial intelligence: will computers ever be conscious, will they take over, how do we manage them if they do become conscious
Healthcare robotics: the use of robots in healthcare, particularly mental health and brain degenerative disorders
Hacking: about how much power hackers really have and what we can do to stop them

I personally didn't make the EPQ around my course (it was under astrobiology/physics but I'm currently doing civ eng) but it helps much more with applying if its related.

The topics you've listed sound very interesting. Make sure you choose something which you are interested in because you may choose a topic which isn't entirely interesting and will be dull in doing. Make sure your topic is specific enough as the recommended word count is 5000 words and you will be doing a 10 minute presentation and that you can actually answer it, at one point I was confusing myself with what I was going to write about.

My title for astrobiology was "will we ever be able to colonise planets outside of our solar system". It states that its about planetary colonisation and in the case of outside of the solar system, also it is stated as a question which can be answered (can't remember other examples I've seen and how they've been worded, hopefully others can give examples as well).

Thanks for the info! Computational technologies are probably my biggest interest, so no issues with me finding it dull lmao. Do you know who you have to do the presentation in front of?