supercurriculars for engineering + general tips and advice?

hi, so, before i start here's some context: i'm a year 11 student who's going into year 12. i've taken maths, further maths, physics and computer science for a levels. i don't come from an underprivileged background, haven't been in care, am not the first generation in my family to attend university, attend a grammar school, and come from a british asian background. i'm mentioning this information as a majority of programs i found through my own research are looking for candidates with a socio-economic situation different to mine.

i would've done some work experience this summer but, unfortunately, i couldn't find any + i've been on holiday the whole summer. so, here's my first set of questions: where can i find work experience (any websites you all recommend) + are irl work experiences given more importance than virtual experiences.

furthermore, delving deeper into the idea of supercurricular activities, from what i've gathered the stuff i can do to "show interest" for my subject are the following:

read books which explore the subject in greater depth than covered in the classroom

listen to podcasts/shows (idk any for engineering lmao)

projects

work experiences (i've asked this already)

maybe tutoring (i've considered tutoring gcse maths in y12 for like a fiver an hour)

competitions - like the "senior maths challenge" and essay competitions

attending lectures and visiting museums (istg i've tried hard but i can't find any engineering lectures)

courses

let me first explain what i found through my own research as ik there's so much more:

Senior Mathematical Challenge and British Mathematical Olympiad: Round 1

Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists

Lecture: Intersections of String Theory and QFT IV - 08/09/2023 (UoB)

British Informatics Olympiad

Project Euler

Crest Awards

Isaac Physics

Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation Event - 20/09/23

Engineering Summer School - Imperial College London

Industrial Cadets: Gold Award

The Big Bang Competition

so far, i only found a few things here and there. i'm interested in what courses i can do, ik MITx has some good ones and i can also do AWS or microsoft azure courses but i'm really lost icl. so if anyone has any good link i'd be so grateful.

also regarding books and magazines: if anyone has any good suggestions regarding maths, engineering and computer science books that i can read that would be so great! really wanna get it from india as books are cheaper here than the uk haha. i'm reading the "electronics for you" (for electronic engineering) magazine in india but that seems to be an indian magazine so if anyone knows any uk counterpart that's great as it's an amazing read but to read it in the uk it is £100 a year whereas the indian price is £8.40 a year lmao.

finally, if anyone's aware of good programs like "sutton trust" but available for everyone as idt i qualify for the majority of things i found online lol.

thanks for the advice and help.

Reply 1

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Hello, you can ask your parents if they can get their employers to set up work experience for you. You can also write to organisations you're interested in to ask for them to give you work experience. If the work experience you get is virtual, that's fine.
In terms of books, you should get ones that both are interesting to you and relate to university engineering. Then you can write about them on your personal statement when you apply to university.

-Kao (Lancaster Maths & Stats Student Ambassador)

Reply 2

iTsJames123

heya,
i may be a bit late haha, but i come from a very similar socioeconomic background. if u want to apply oxbridge/imperial for a stem subject, which I am presuming you are from your supercurricular interests, personal statement i think honestly doesn't matter that much (i got a Cambridge natsci offer and imperial physics offer and ik people with poorly written personal statements which also got into the above universities for engineering).

what u should do if u want to get into the above universities is to focus on problem-solving and you should try as many challenging problems as possible i.e., practice bpho problems (bpho question bank is a great resource), Isaac physics problems, other physics olympiad problems and try to push your self mentally to develop as a person - this will shine through in the interview which IMO matters the most. generally, from my experience, i feel like people who can get a gold or top gold in bpho r1 have a very high likelihood of getting into oxbridge (unless they mess up their interview/admissions test) so u should probably be around that standard if u want a very good chance of getting in.