No social extracurriculars for my UCAS Personal Statement
I have started writing my first draft of my Personal Statement to apply to unis for Computer Science next year. Everyone says that outside-of-school activities that aren't related to your subject are important to mention, because they demonstrate leadership/teamwork/communication skills etc. However my main hobbies outside of school are not people-oriented at all; they include drawing/painting, reading, and occasionally self-teaching an instrument. I used to be in a debate club (that was discontinued) in years 7-8, but that was a long time ago so I doubt it is worth mentioning on my PS now. I've heard that teamwork is especially important for CS, but the most recent examples of teamwork I have been involved in are compulsory group assignments for school... Idk what to do.
I would look into doing something over the summer or the start of next year you can talk about. You have a lot of time and that's part of the reason they make you write these thing so early. Maybe look into work experience days or events are your local unis (if your sixth form/college has a carers person you could email them)? This quite often have some sort of group project in them you can talk about. You could also look at joining a book club at a local library (or online) or even just volunteering somewhere for a few days during your summer. It's not a deal breaker either way as long as you can you convey passion for your subjects it's more so a uni can feel more about you as a person who will be successful.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Reply 2
self teaching an instrument is actually a good thing to mention. They don’t only want the stuff that people thinks makes you look good. So including something of your personal interest like an instrument is good to mention, but just don’t go too much into detail about it so that you can save those words for more important stuff.
You really don’t need random, unrelated extra curriculars. I think there are maybe two unis that specifically ask for these, the rest just completely ignore them.
Concentrate on stuff directly related to the academic subject.
Concentrate on stuff directly related to the academic subject.
Reply 4
Do include one thing that isn’t relevant, they need to somewhat know your personality and they don’t like people that tries way too hard to make their personal statement only about their course. Yea most of it needs to be about the course ofc, but they want to know what u also do in ur spare time (so eg could do something about volunteering, and a sentence about the self teaching instrument). My sixth form teacher showed my personal statement few years back to someone who works with Cambridge admissions (i wasn’t applying there so it was fine), and he liked how I was including that I was learning languages in my spare time and sports etc. I did link what skills it gave me to my course and how it would help (study pharmacy). So maybe with the self teaching an instrument u could say what skill it gives u and link to how u also need that skill in computer science.
Don’t only include “relevant” stuff, mentioning stuff that is not relevant like the instrument, volunteering, sports or anything and say what skills they’ve given u and link it to ur course is completely fine and they prefer that much more than a statement full of only CS related stuff. But yeah still include something CS related ofc as that is what u are applying for. But don’t do the mistake of only speaking about CS related stuff
Don’t only include “relevant” stuff, mentioning stuff that is not relevant like the instrument, volunteering, sports or anything and say what skills they’ve given u and link it to ur course is completely fine and they prefer that much more than a statement full of only CS related stuff. But yeah still include something CS related ofc as that is what u are applying for. But don’t do the mistake of only speaking about CS related stuff
Reply 5
For UK unis extra curriculars really don’t matter, what matters is course related super curriculars and such, but for stuff like extra curriculars for computer science especially you don’t need anything special, can just mention if you play any sports, Or read books but I really doubt most unis would care. Really don’t worry about this kinda stuff, and don’t spend extra time on it since grades and super curriculars are what actually matters.
Original post by AnRaz1
I have started writing my first draft of my Personal Statement to apply to unis for Computer Science next year. Everyone says that outside-of-school activities that aren't related to your subject are important to mention, because they demonstrate leadership/teamwork/communication skills etc. However my main hobbies outside of school are not people-oriented at all; they include drawing/painting, reading, and occasionally self-teaching an instrument. I used to be in a debate club (that was discontinued) in years 7-8, but that was a long time ago so I doubt it is worth mentioning on my PS now. I've heard that teamwork is especially important for CS, but the most recent examples of teamwork I have been involved in are compulsory group assignments for school... Idk what to do.
Hi @AnRaz1
If you have done any super curricular activities it ight be important to mention these. These can a range of activities like researching a particular topic your interested in computer science and reading journal articles about it, attending university webinars and subject days related to computer science, or designing your own project in your free time.
Hope this helps!
-Jasmine (Lancaster Student Ambassador)
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