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I have no extra curricular activities to put in my personal statement

I'm a pretty intelligent guy, definitely the best in my school when it comes to Maths, Chemistry and Physics (The subjects that I intend to take on to A2), but I'm also really lazy, and have done no extra-curricular activities in my entire school life, and as the time approaches that I'll need to start thinking about writing my Personal Statement, I realise that unless I do something in the next 3 months, I'm ****ed. I'm intending on applying for a Natural Science degree, but where I live there is pretty much nothing Science or Maths related that I could do for work experience/ placements, and what there is, is more linked to Biology, the only one of the sciences which I don't do.
So any ideas as to what I could possibly do that is worthy of mention in a personal statement?
Lie, when it comes to personal statements it's all about making YOU look good. 75% of the stuff written is complete BS or sugar coated.
You don't need to put EC's on your PS, mine was 100% academic and everywhere I applied for made me an offer.
Original post by Ciaron
I'm a pretty intelligent guy, definitely the best in my school when it comes to Maths, Chemistry and Physics (The subjects that I intend to take on to A2), but I'm also really lazy, and have done no extra-curricular activities in my entire school life, and as the time approaches that I'll need to start thinking about writing my Personal Statement, I realise that unless I do something in the next 3 months, I'm ****ed. I'm intending on applying for a Natural Science degree, but where I live there is pretty much nothing Science or Maths related that I could do for work experience/ placements, and what there is, is more linked to Biology, the only one of the sciences which I don't do.
So any ideas as to what I could possibly do that is worthy of mention in a personal statement?



Tutoring? Sports? Trips? Volunteering? There must be something!!

Posted from TSR Mobile
(edited 9 years ago)
Why not volunteer??
Reply 5
EC stuff doesn't particularly have to be related to the degree your doing. As long as you do something that shows you have things like a good work ethic you'll be fine.
Reply 6
That's what I thought when I started planning mine. I didsome research about how to write a 'good' PS and found some examples - the bestones showed their passion for their subject, and only mentioned ECs if theywere relevant.

I applied for Geology/Earth Science degrees at various institutions. I didn’treally mention ECs because they weren’t too relevant.

BUT I did mention things like I’m a Junior CandidateFellow of the Geological Society of London I only became a member as Istarted drafting my PS. It came in handy in interviews later because I had new thingsto talk about that I’d read in recent articles. So what I’m saying is: if youdon’t already, subscribe to some sort of journal related to your subject.
If you’re really wishing you’d done some ECs, have youthought about National Citizen Service (NCS)? I did it the summer before Iapplied so I could put it in my PS. You ought to be able to get onto it even ifyou’re a bit last minute. If you don’t know anything about it it’s a governmentscheme for 16-17 year olds over 4 weeks in the summer: a week adventureholiday, a week in uni accommodation, a week planning a community actionproject, and a week carrying out the community action project.
My PS was mostly academic with just the odd sentence like“Oh and btw I did this…(shows that I'm logical/determined/creative/independent/good leader/generally awesome”

I got offers from 4 of my choices and an interview atOxford University. Which went really badly, haha.
Hope that’s helpful!

you have the whole summer to do something - plus, some universities don't really care about extra-curricular activities.
Original post by Ciaron
I'm a pretty intelligent guy, definitely the best in my school when it comes to Maths, Chemistry and Physics (The subjects that I intend to take on to A2), but I'm also really lazy, and have done no extra-curricular activities in my entire school life, and as the time approaches that I'll need to start thinking about writing my Personal Statement, I realise that unless I do something in the next 3 months, I'm ****ed. I'm intending on applying for a Natural Science degree, but where I live there is pretty much nothing Science or Maths related that I could do for work experience/ placements, and what there is, is more linked to Biology, the only one of the sciences which I don't do.
So any ideas as to what I could possibly do that is worthy of mention in a personal statement?

Volunteer somewhere maybe a charity shop or your local pharmacy or something.
Original post by mrfletch
EC stuff doesn't particularly have to be related to the degree your doing. As long as you do something that shows you have things like a good work ethic you'll be fine.


Do not include unrelated ECs. Read around your subject, academic PSs don't need you to have work experience they need to demonstrate why you want to study the subject intensely for the next 3-4 years.
Original post by Ciaron
I'm a pretty intelligent guy, definitely the best in my school when it comes to Maths, Chemistry and Physics (The subjects that I intend to take on to A2), but I'm also really lazy, and have done no extra-curricular activities in my entire school life, and as the time approaches that I'll need to start thinking about writing my Personal Statement, I realise that unless I do something in the next 3 months, I'm ****ed. I'm intending on applying for a Natural Science degree, but where I live there is pretty much nothing Science or Maths related that I could do for work experience/ placements, and what there is, is more linked to Biology, the only one of the sciences which I don't do.
So any ideas as to what I could possibly do that is worthy of mention in a personal statement?


It's fine.

Are you talking about hobbies? Or stuff related to your course?

Why don't you attend some taster courses? I signed up to quite a few last year around this time and I went to them in july I think ^_^

http://www.london.ac.uk/tasters <-- but london might be a bit too far LOL

Have you been on trips with your school to sciencey places?
A lot of unis really couldn't care less about EC's. Maybe put a tiny paragraph in your personal statement about it, but they're really more interested in your academics, why you want to study the subject and why you would be good at it.

Your EC's don't have to be remotely related to what you're applying for. You can put sport or music or anything down to make yourself seem more well rounded and then use it to demonstrate transferable skills

eg. I enjoy playing football and I believe this has really helped me develop my teamwork skills.

In my spare time I am teaching myself to play piano which requires a lot of self-motivation.

This also shows that you're good at balancing your academics with EC's and a social life, which is the real reason you should put some EC's in the personal statement. Don't let it overshadow your academics though.

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