Supercurriculars for application to CS+Math Undergrad at ICL/Edinburgh?(No olympiads)
I'd like to aim for Edinburgh and imperial for CS + math. For sure, ensuring I got top notch grades in my a levels are basic requirements, but I believe that a significant amount of people applying to those schools will have such grades, which makes me believe supercurriculars can make me stand out.
I currently have supercurriculars involving CS and innovation (AI application, some coding), and I"m doing some leetcode as a hobby. However, I'd like to explore the math part of the degree through my supercurriculars, which has not been achieved as you can tell.
The thing is that I'm not an olympiad kid and I have about a bit more than 1 year before I go for the application, which is why I don't think it's worth putting my time into it since I wouldn't be able to win good awards in it anyways, so I'd like some other ways to explore the math aspect.
Can anyone give me some ideas on how do I do that?
I currently have supercurriculars involving CS and innovation (AI application, some coding), and I"m doing some leetcode as a hobby. However, I'd like to explore the math part of the degree through my supercurriculars, which has not been achieved as you can tell.
The thing is that I'm not an olympiad kid and I have about a bit more than 1 year before I go for the application, which is why I don't think it's worth putting my time into it since I wouldn't be able to win good awards in it anyways, so I'd like some other ways to explore the math aspect.
Can anyone give me some ideas on how do I do that?
Reply 1
This may be a bit late but Project Euler is quite useful for demonstrating maths and cs skills. If you pick one of the harder problems and focus on optimising as much as possible (and perhaps even analysing time and space complexity), it'll give you a lot to talk about in your ps.
Also there's a lot of maths involved in ai (as you mentioned you were doing that) so that's more maths stuff to explore. There's a lot of maths involved in cs in general tbh so if you can demonstrate that you're actively engaging with the math and understanding the concepts you're learning you should be good.
Cryptography is a very mathsy cs topic that you could explore. Maybe try doing a MOOC or reading some research papers and you can try coding an encryption algorithm that interested you to show application of knowledge.
Here's a couple MOOCs that I found from a quick google search:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/the-mathematics-of-cryptography-from-ancient-rome-to-a-quantum-future/1
https://www.coursera.org/learn/crypto
A lot of courses are really long and you don't necessarily have to finish them as long as you're taking something from it that you actually understand and explore further. And I just remembered that there's a Project Euler problem about RSA (an encryption algorithm) which would really link everything together nicely [link:https://projecteuler.net/problem=182]. It's really, really hard but if you have the time, it'd be a great way to stand out.
Also there's a lot of maths involved in ai (as you mentioned you were doing that) so that's more maths stuff to explore. There's a lot of maths involved in cs in general tbh so if you can demonstrate that you're actively engaging with the math and understanding the concepts you're learning you should be good.
Cryptography is a very mathsy cs topic that you could explore. Maybe try doing a MOOC or reading some research papers and you can try coding an encryption algorithm that interested you to show application of knowledge.
Here's a couple MOOCs that I found from a quick google search:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/the-mathematics-of-cryptography-from-ancient-rome-to-a-quantum-future/1
https://www.coursera.org/learn/crypto
A lot of courses are really long and you don't necessarily have to finish them as long as you're taking something from it that you actually understand and explore further. And I just remembered that there's a Project Euler problem about RSA (an encryption algorithm) which would really link everything together nicely [link:https://projecteuler.net/problem=182]. It's really, really hard but if you have the time, it'd be a great way to stand out.
Reply 2
15
Original post
by Ben123123123I'd like to aim for Edinburgh and imperial for CS + math. For sure, ensuring I got top notch grades in my a levels are basic requirements, but I believe that a significant amount of people applying to those schools will have such grades, which makes me believe supercurriculars can make me stand out.
I currently have supercurriculars involving CS and innovation (AI application, some coding), and I"m doing some leetcode as a hobby. However, I'd like to explore the math part of the degree through my supercurriculars, which has not been achieved as you can tell.
The thing is that I'm not an olympiad kid and I have about a bit more than 1 year before I go for the application, which is why I don't think it's worth putting my time into it since I wouldn't be able to win good awards in it anyways, so I'd like some other ways to explore the math aspect.
Can anyone give me some ideas on how do I do that?
I currently have supercurriculars involving CS and innovation (AI application, some coding), and I"m doing some leetcode as a hobby. However, I'd like to explore the math part of the degree through my supercurriculars, which has not been achieved as you can tell.
The thing is that I'm not an olympiad kid and I have about a bit more than 1 year before I go for the application, which is why I don't think it's worth putting my time into it since I wouldn't be able to win good awards in it anyways, so I'd like some other ways to explore the math aspect.
Can anyone give me some ideas on how do I do that?
I was in a similar position to you a few years ago and currently Math + CS @ IC so hopefully I can help (shout at me if this isn't helpful sorry)
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Excellent grades are good since loads of people try and apply with subpar grades just because Imperial ≠ Oxbridge, and then get rejected. So keep up the high grades
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Not being an Olympiad kid is fine, neither was I
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Completely agree with the stuff olivia_n has said
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You could also talk about your preparation for the admissions tests in your PS since that would probably be something you've spent lots of time on too and is technically a supercurricular. I remember I had a whole paragraph on how much STEP prep I had done and how much I enjoyed it.
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I'd say that a nice thing to do is to try and carve a narrative for your PS so it flows nicely rather than being a tonne of disjointed information like loads of people do.
Reply 3
Original post
by Jam.123I was in a similar position to you a few years ago and currently Math + CS @ IC so hopefully I can help (shout at me if this isn't helpful sorry)
Sorry if this is late and let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know
•
Excellent grades are good since loads of people try and apply with subpar grades just because Imperial ≠ Oxbridge, and then get rejected. So keep up the high grades
•
Not being an Olympiad kid is fine, neither was I
•
Completely agree with the stuff olivia_n has said
•
You could also talk about your preparation for the admissions tests in your PS since that would probably be something you've spent lots of time on too and is technically a supercurricular. I remember I had a whole paragraph on how much STEP prep I had done and how much I enjoyed it.
•
I'd say that a nice thing to do is to try and carve a narrative for your PS so it flows nicely rather than being a tonne of disjointed information like loads of people do.
That's some good advice, but how is prepping for admission tests super curricular? Aren't they some kind of academic effort that you put in, like getting A*s? Even if they count as one, everyone applying for the course has done enough work on STEP/MAT/etc., so it's not that unique.
Reply 4
15
Original post
by narnianThat's some good advice, but how is prepping for admission tests super curricular? Aren't they some kind of academic effort that you put in, like getting A*s? Even if they count as one, everyone applying for the course has done enough work on STEP/MAT/etc., so it's not that unique.
I see your point, but I maintain that it is super-curricular. It really comes down to your own personal opinion; at that time in my A-level journey, doing the admissions tests prep would not have affected my comfort with the material really, but given the massive time investment I had put in, I decided that for me it was fine to put it in the PS. Also shows commitment to legit problem solving rather than jumping around lots of camps or whatever. At that point, I had done ~200 STEP questions alone, incl many from S2/S3, representing a time investment of well over 150 hours alongside everything else on STEP alone (I was also preparing for mocks, interviews, MAT, TMUA, programming stuff and living life).
Loads of people applying prepare really badly for STEP/MAT/etc. They get content with mock results and then go on to perform badly in the real thing. Barely anyone mentions it on their PS (I also linked it to the idea of problem solving as an abstract topic) so I would say that my preparation/phrasing was sufficiently unique. I went on to receive 4/5 offers including IC JMC, and rejection from Oxford following 5 interviews. Also 8.0 TMUA, somewhere 85-ish in the disrupted MAT (sorry can't remember exact) and S,1 in STEP.
So yeah, PS is important to keep personal (or whatever structured questions UCAS asks these days), and make your own judgement calls, weighing up your thoughts and any advice you see.
Reply 5
It's absolutely fine not to be an olympiad kid - not everyone can be one. While doing things like leetcode will be good for your programming foundations, it's better to focus more on practical projects/research (e.g open-source) that have a bit of depth to them - like AI. I find it's best to do something niche yet developed and somehow relating to you - training an OCR model for a certain language you are learning for example.
Reply 6
Original post
by Jam.123I see your point, but I maintain that it is super-curricular. It really comes down to your own personal opinion; at that time in my A-level journey, doing the admissions tests prep would not have affected my comfort with the material really, but given the massive time investment I had put in, I decided that for me it was fine to put it in the PS. Also shows commitment to legit problem solving rather than jumping around lots of camps or whatever. At that point, I had done ~200 STEP questions alone, incl many from S2/S3, representing a time investment of well over 150 hours alongside everything else on STEP alone (I was also preparing for mocks, interviews, MAT, TMUA, programming stuff and living life).
Loads of people applying prepare really badly for STEP/MAT/etc. They get content with mock results and then go on to perform badly in the real thing. Barely anyone mentions it on their PS (I also linked it to the idea of problem solving as an abstract topic) so I would say that my preparation/phrasing was sufficiently unique. I went on to receive 4/5 offers including IC JMC, and rejection from Oxford following 5 interviews. Also 8.0 TMUA, somewhere 85-ish in the disrupted MAT (sorry can't remember exact) and S,1 in STEP.
So yeah, PS is important to keep personal (or whatever structured questions UCAS asks these days), and make your own judgement calls, weighing up your thoughts and any advice you see.
Loads of people applying prepare really badly for STEP/MAT/etc. They get content with mock results and then go on to perform badly in the real thing. Barely anyone mentions it on their PS (I also linked it to the idea of problem solving as an abstract topic) so I would say that my preparation/phrasing was sufficiently unique. I went on to receive 4/5 offers including IC JMC, and rejection from Oxford following 5 interviews. Also 8.0 TMUA, somewhere 85-ish in the disrupted MAT (sorry can't remember exact) and S,1 in STEP.
So yeah, PS is important to keep personal (or whatever structured questions UCAS asks these days), and make your own judgement calls, weighing up your thoughts and any advice you see.
Can u pls give me some tips on how you revised for the tmua and the mat because I am struggling with how to revise
Merci .
Reply 7
15
Original post
by praisey2008Can u pls give me some tips on how you revised for the tmua and the mat because I am struggling with how to revise
Merci .
Merci .
Grind all summer. Put in 5 hours of working on MAT prep and mathsy stuff and PS during daytime hours. Then do a STEP 1 past paper every few days in the evenings. There's this textbook which I found useful despite the million typos in it "STEP, MAT, TMUA: ...".
Do this like 3 or 4 days a week. Progress to STEP 2 papers if you can, but make sure you are rock solid on A level maths / further maths (at as level) pure content before all this. But use the v old step papers as you should save the modern ones for legit step practice next year (regardless of offers or whatever, still do step it's a good exp)
Reply 8
I read the book Much Ado About Numbers by Rob Eastaway. It's about the numerical and mathematical influences of Shakespeare's life and in Elizabethian society that contributed to and influenced his works. It's not very mathematical in the traditional sense, but if you're interested in learning about how maths impacts other seemingly unrelated fields, then it might be a good place to start. Sorry that I'm a bit late, you might not be able to use this in your personal statement now, but I hope this helps. 😊
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