Biology and Chemistry ‘Supercurriculars’

There are chemistry olympiads (not sure about biology, but I think most major academic disciplines have an international olympiad so...) as far as I'm aware - not sure about the process involved in getting to those (presumably there are some national and maybe regional "qualifying" ones before the international one).

Physics and maths stuff is still relevant for chemists though so you can always pursue some of those potentially. There's also stuff like the UK Young Scientist of the year, Big Bang Festival and similar science fair-y stuff, which is suitable for a range of disciplines including chemistry/biology.

There are chemistry olympiads (not sure about biology, but I think most major academic disciplines have an international olympiad so...) as far as I'm aware - not sure about the process involved in getting to those (presumably there are some national and maybe regional "qualifying" ones before the international one).

Physics and maths stuff is still relevant for chemists though so you can always pursue some of those potentially. There's also stuff like the UK Young Scientist of the year, Big Bang Festival and similar science fair-y stuff, which is suitable for a range of disciplines including chemistry/biology.

I think the RSB runs an international olympiad

Hi all,

The olympiad is a good example of something that you could do, however there are lots of events that might be a good way for you to meet more people and build your personal statement. A good place to start is rsc.li/events and find out what is going on in your area.

Alternatively becoming a STEMNET ambassador is a really great way of volunteering.

All the best,

Gareth

I’m not sure what a supercurricular is, but these are what I mentioned when I applied for chemistry:

-Not sure if this is feasible in your school, but my friends in the year above started up a science club for junior years (I helped out and did health and safety for experiments, and brainstormed for ideas)- this is more extracurricular, but it was a lot of fun, showed organisation/leadership/creativity etc, whilst showing that I was comfortable in applying my science knowledge and explaining it in an accessible way?

-I also tutored in learning support, mainly science but also maths and English

-I was chosen to go on this trip abroad (for languages), but I mentioned some environmental issues and solutions that China was considering at that point

-I emphasised the enviro stuff with chem knowledge, then talked about some eco stuff I did with the school including some Scottish parliament stuff

-can’t remember if this was on my personal statement, but I also volunteered for a biology PhD student at the local uni (just picking through marsh samples and separating critters found)

-I vaguely mentioned some less related stuff too such as part time work I’d done


I’m afraid I can’t quite recall more than that (this was about 5 years ago) but even as someone who didn’t get involved with olympiads etc I still had a fair amount to talk about 😊