What looks good on your UCAS form?

Hi everyone. I am just starting my AS's, and was wondering what sort of things look good on your UCAS form as well as your standard academic achievement (GCSE's, A-Levels etc)? Sports, other academic awards such as the Senior Maths Challenge, or other completely different things? Thanks everyone, any suggestions welcome.

Reply 1

vixky!

13

Work experience and volunteering that's relevant to your course, showing independent study (extra essays, competitions etc.), taking part in school (school council, helping out on open days).

Sports might be good, if you're really involved in them i.e. from childhood. :biggrin:

I am sure people can come up with something a bit more creative than I have but there's a start for you!

Reply 2

j_w

^^^ Covered most of it

Well a lot of it depends on your course? (Obviously for someone applying to be a medic or related field you need experience, same for law, etc), but otherwise anything relevant to your course is a good idea... and even better if you can link anything else you write down to skills you need (Example... sport has helped your discipline and self-motivation, etc)

Also anything which demonstrates a long standing commitment to something - sport, voluntary work...

So just try and so something closely linked to your subject - remember the PS is mostly about trying to show them why they should want you to study that course, so the ex-curricular things mainly need to focus on that... only a little bit needs to go towards the whole "I'm a well rounded person" side of things.

Reply 3

magicbuspass

12

You can put in your job as well, which i will be doing.
I work at Kumon Maths helping children, I shall definately put that down.
It also pays ^_^

Reply 4

rob_the_sax_dude

Musical instruments are a good one. If you have grade 6 or above (on certain boards) it gives you UCAS points. It also gave me a talking point in my Oxford interview, my interviewer was quite interested in it!

Reply 5

kellywood_5

17

Part time jobs, voluntary/charity work, work experience, sports, music, academic awards, helping out at school, reading around your subject- all those things look good, but the important thing to remember is to only do things you actually want to do. Don't take things up just for the sake of it so you can put them on your UCAS form because unis aren't really that bothered about them and you won't be able to talk about them much in any interviews you get.

Reply 6

tc123

OP

2

Thanks for the ideas so far everyone, and if anybody else has any suggestions please keep them coming!

Reply 7

Excalibur

15

Subject-relevant extra curriculars are always a bonus - work experience, visits to lectures, related clubs, reading books, summer schools, competitions, awards etc. For example, if you want to do maths you could consider going to a lecture, going to a summer school, doing the Maths Challenge etc. What are you hoping to apply for?

Then you can have general extra-curriculars. The two most popular ones are music and sport; if you can give some sort of proof for them (gaining grades, being in a band, team captain, been in a borough competition etc) that's good. Also think about your involvement generally with the school - prefects, school councils, head of societies, helping with Year 7s, mentoring, helping with homework, house captain, charity events, speaking at public events, organising the Christmas fair... list is virtually endless.

Finally, think of things you can be doing outside of school - you can be part of a youth club, a youth council, have a part-time job, volunteer somewhere, be part of the Red Cross, a Scout/Girl Guide, go to Music school.... and interesting hobbies such as rock climbing, scuba diving, swimming with whales or whatever. To prove such things you can do awards like Duke of Edinburgh, Queen's Guide Awards, Millennium Volunteers etc.

But don't do it merely for your UCAS form - do it because you genuinely want to. I think it is OK if 'buffing up your CV' was one of your motivations for extra curricular stuff, but if it's your only motivation you really won't enjoy it.

Reply 8

tc123

OP

2

Just decided to sign up for the Maths Challenge and will see how it goes. If I do well then I can put that on.

Reply 9

tba

4

Excalibur

Subject-relevant extra curriculars are always a bonus - work experience, visits to lectures, related clubs, reading books, summer schools, competitions, awards etc. For example, if you want to do maths you could consider going to a lecture, going to a summer school, doing the Maths Challenge etc. What are you hoping to apply for?

Then you can have general extra-curriculars. The two most popular ones are music and sport; if you can give some sort of proof for them (gaining grades, being in a band, team captain, been in a borough competition etc) that's good. Also think about your involvement generally with the school - prefects, school councils, head of societies, helping with Year 7s, mentoring, helping with homework, house captain, charity events, speaking at public events, organising the Christmas fair... list is virtually endless.

Finally, think of things you can be doing outside of school - you can be part of a youth club, a youth council, have a part-time job, volunteer somewhere, be part of the Red Cross, a Scout/Girl Guide, go to Music school.... and interesting hobbies such as rock climbing, scuba diving, swimming with whales or whatever. To prove such things you can do awards like Duke of Edinburgh, Queen's Guide Awards, Millennium Volunteers etc.

But don't do it merely for your UCAS form - do it because you genuinely want to. I think it is OK if 'buffing up your CV' was one of your motivations for extra curricular stuff, but if it's your only motivation you really won't enjoy it.

How much of that stuff is actually necessary and / or the norm? Just interested... it sounds like a lot! Would I be right in saying that work experience and voluntary work is most important?

Reply 10

Excalibur

15

tba

How much of that stuff is actually necessary and / or the norm? Just interested... it sounds like a lot! Would I be right in saying that work experience and voluntary work is most important?

Well, it depends on what you're applying for, really. And the stuff I said was merely a list of all the possible things you could do; by no means was I suggesting for one person to do all of them at once! :p:

And to be honest, a lot of stuff can be exaggerated a little on the personal statement, provided that there is truth in it.

Reply 11

shellfish

is there any point in mentioning things like brownies and other stuff that you did really young though? i wouldve thought it would have to be recent things, like top years of high school and onwards.
i need help in putting extra curriculars on and just wondered? lol

Reply 12

arpeggio

12

shellfish

is there any point in mentioning things like brownies and other stuff that you did really young though?

No! If you're having to write about stuff you did when you were 10 then it's probably time to take up a new hobby :p:

Most of the things I put in my PS had been done in the last year or two, but obviously if there's something really impressive you did when you were younger you could put that in. As a general rule, 2/3 of the PS should be taken up with the course you're applying to (i.e. why you want to do it, related work exp/voluntary work, relevant books you've read etc etc) and 1/3 should be about you (hobbies/interests, how you get involved at school, what skills doing all this stuff has given you that would be relevant at this course or at uni...)

Reply 13

shellfish

ahh ok thanks :P
i didnt really do much out of school stuff like clubs etc. regret that now though, lol. less to write about!

Reply 14

i'm no superman

15

Hmmm...Well I've been volunteering at Oxfam for quite a while already so I think that's worth talking about when the time comes to write it down. How would you relate volunteering at Oxfam if say I wanted to apply for medicine for example?

I've been told that I 'should' have applied to a peace hospice / 'help the aged' shop.

Reply 15

tc123

OP

2

Hi again everyone. To anybody who had done the DOE Gold Award, did you feel that it was worth it? By that I mean was it in terms of how it looks on your CV, who it affects your school work (I would potentially be doing it through Year 12 and half of Year 13), and did you find it worth it in terms of enjoyment?

Thanks everyone, and if you have any more general suggestions on extra-curricular stuff the please keep them coming. Thanks. :smile:

Reply 16

<(+_+)>

10

Just remember, theres no point having all the extra's if you don't have the grades to go with it. Don't try to take on too much.

Reply 17

arpeggio

12

tc123

Hi again everyone. To anybody who had done the DOE Gold Award, did you feel that it was worth it? By that I mean was it in terms of how it looks on your CV, who it affects your school work (I would potentially be doing it through Year 12 and half of Year 13), and did you find it worth it in terms of enjoyment?

Thanks everyone, and if you have any more general suggestions on extra-curricular stuff the please keep them coming. Thanks. :smile:

I enjoyed it and got a lot out of it personally, but the amount of work isn't worth it just to put on your CV. It's a big commitment - I did 12 months service, 12 months of a skill, 6 months of a sport, 2 expeditions (plus all the training) and 1 week-long residential (it sounds a lot but if you play sports etc anyway the service/skill/sports sections aren't that much extra at all.) If you'd be going in as a direct entrant I'd recommend doing the silver award instead because it still looks good but is a lot less work! Also as a direct entrant you'd have to spend more time on each of your sections. Anyway, enough of the negative stuff, I had a great time and the expeditions alone make it worthwhile, so go for it!

Reply 18

city_chic

13

All I put was Key Skills and a ballet grade; is this enough..?

Reply 19

andy87

10

city_chic

All I put was Key Skills and a ballet grade; is this enough..?

i dont see why it shouldn't.I have used all those 4000 characters available to me and i wrote only 2 sentences about my extra-curriculars.

1.I participated in the European Youth Parliament

2.I take part in school debates.

Im applying for Politics.The rest of the statement was on why politics,a lecture that i attended and what i have learned from it;books that ive read and what interested me abt them and at the end i said something about my aspirations.

Ive read a lot of personal statements and noticed on how people talk too much about ECs, sports being one of them.
I had the opportunity to speak with the admission tutors at lse,warwick and cambridge.All of them, told me the same thing.Dont write about how good u are at sports."WE DONT CARE.we care about your academic potential"

so there you go

What looks good on your UCAS form?

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