Preparation for applying to university?

I am going into year 11 in September and will hopefully get 10 9s in my GCSEs (on track except history and German as I got an 8 in recent exams, but should be fine soon), and hopefully get predicted 3/4 A*s for A level (maths chemistry biology, maybe Latin?). I hope to study dentistry in the future, but may do a degree in biochemistry or something similar at Cambridge. Right now my only extracurricular are that I have recently passed grade 6 piano and am preparing towards grade 8 clarinet and I am hoping to take the exam this November (passed grade 6 over 2 years ago). What other extracurriculars should I do in order to get into a top university? I’m unsure whether to do something dentistry related right now as I’m not sure if I will study it straight away or if I will do another degree first

Reply 1

halesjs

5

Original post by eleanorh07

I am going into year 11 in September and will hopefully get 10 9s in my GCSEs (on track except history and German as I got an 8 in recent exams, but should be fine soon), and hopefully get predicted 3/4 A*s for A level (maths chemistry biology, maybe Latin?). I hope to study dentistry in the future, but may do a degree in biochemistry or something similar at Cambridge. Right now my only extracurricular are that I have recently passed grade 6 piano and am preparing towards grade 8 clarinet and I am hoping to take the exam this November (passed grade 6 over 2 years ago). What other extracurriculars should I do in order to get into a top university? I’m unsure whether to do something dentistry related right now as I’m not sure if I will study it straight away or if I will do another degree first

Unlike US unis, UK unis (even Oxbridge), care a lot less about extracurriculars. Instead, you should be focusing on supercurriculars - which are activities, courses, work experience, books etc related to the course you want to study.

Reply 2

eleanorh07

OP

2

Original post by halesjs

Unlike US unis, UK unis (even Oxbridge), care a lot less about extracurriculars. Instead, you should be focusing on supercurriculars - which are activities, courses, work experience, books etc related to the course you want to study.

I’m so sorry I meant to say supercurriculars! Do you have any specific ideas on what supercurriculars i could do?

Reply 3

Ionomer

11

Also I'll just add this - if you're looking to do postgrad dentistry, the US is a great option. Undergrad courses (at ivies) provide very good education, research opportunities etc and taking pre-dent or pre-med is a good way to see if you have an interest in the subject. Obviously there are entrance tests such as the MCAT but eh you'll get to that hurdle later

Reply 4

eleanorh07

OP

2

I’m sorry I forgot!

I’ll just copy and paste them here before deleting:

Thank you very much this was very helpful! I was going to do silver crest award at school this year but I decided that unfortunately I would not be able to finish it in time as my partner sort of refused to work on it and then dropped out, so it ended up being too late to do anything. Do you know of any other essay competitions/awards/research projects similar to that I could do (for year 11+) that I could enter outside of school/without my school organising? And if I end up doing biochemistry before dentistry what would you recommend I do in university in order to prepare for my application?

To be honest I’ve never considered studying at ivies as I’m not convinced I would be accepted to any? I’ve seen applications where the students have got like 15 extremely impressive extra/supercurriculars like starting their own successful business/charity and they get rejected from most colleges, and I doubt I can compete with anyone like that. Is it expected for students applying from the UK to do similar things? I also come from a middle class family with no legacies so I can’t get in due to status/family donation. Around 10 of my family members have graduated from cambridge but my mum works at oxford and helps with admissions, she said that at Oxbridge they are looking for people with no legacy but of course that doesn’t mean I can’t get in

Preparation for applying to university?

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