The Student Room Group

University application

I am a year 12 student and I was wondering if I have a chance at the top universities uk and usa for mathematics ( competitive course ) and I go to private school.

Academic
11 9s at GCSE and an 8 ( including further maths)
An A star in Language A level
Silver in the Senior Maths Challenge, previously silver in UKMT and Gold and Best in school ( intermediate )
doing maths, fm , physics and chemistry a Level

Extracurricular
volunteering at extra maths and English club
helped at STEM club
Bronze, silver and gold DofE
Play guitar and will probably be in guitar club at school
attend SJA and used to be an army cadet
taught English to Ukrainian children
in amnesty club at school
Will do more volunteering over the new year

Supercurricular
Reading many mathematical books
Submitted a mathematical essay in my school's magazine and will participate in an essay competition for maths
doing a data science course online
learning programming
running an instagram page and YouTube which is based around mathematics
Work experience at an accountancy firm
Work experience in like finance as well over the summer
doing a discrete maths elective at school
doing physics olympiad and Chemistry Olympiad
attending many engineering and stem lectures
doing f1 in schools

Is this enough for USA unis in terms of extracurriculars and enough for uk unis in suoercurrcials ( I know that I also need to do well in the entrance maths exams)
make sure you get really good grades in most of your exams along y12 as it helps to maintain good predicted grades.

I guess it also depends what you want to go into at the uni, as you wish to do maths, I’d say you’re doing pretty good so far. Just make sure when it gets to writing your personal statement, or whatever the US uni would like, you show don’t tell. What I mean by this is, instead of saying you did experiences a,b,c.. say how your interest in maths lead you to do a which lead you to do b then c and so forth

I think that was the best advice given to me when writing my personal statement which allowed me to get offers into the top London unis.

ALSOOO: download LinkedIn. It’s amazing trust me, you can speak with other students in your position but also students who are in USA unis who also were from the UK. Speaking with them can help you see what you can do further but also they give pretty good advice. I had a couple uni students read over my personal statement and they gave me amazing feedback.

Good luck on this journey!
Also, remember it’s genuinely HOW you show your passion for maths and it’s more rather quality than quantity.

Alsooo, in any personal statements you have to do, make sure it’s not 100% academic - unis want to hear about you as a person too rather than just a student. Me personally as an engineering applicant, I just wrote a small penultimate paragraph about my hobbies out of school.
Oh I didn’t see that you’re also applying to UK universities - all my advice is applicable to both countries where you want to apply to.

All I’d say is, mostly med and dent personal statements are work experience heavy.

Not to be stereotypical but given you’re a private school student, admissions teams know you’re bound to be faced with a lot more opportunities than a public school student. So remember, it’s all how about how you show your PASSION rather than saying yeah I’ve done this, that, and this.

I’d say around May, possibly after your end of y12 exams, start doing your personal statement drafts and make sure you’re adamant on getting teachers/professionals to read this. I had a lecturer from KCL read over my personal statement that I connected through via LinkedIn
Reply 4
Original post by Anonymous
Oh I didn’t see that you’re also applying to UK universities - all my advice is applicable to both countries where you want to apply to.
All I’d say is, mostly med and dent personal statements are work experience heavy.
Not to be stereotypical but given you’re a private school student, admissions teams know you’re bound to be faced with a lot more opportunities than a public school student. So remember, it’s all how about how you show your PASSION rather than saying yeah I’ve done this, that, and this.
I’d say around May, possibly after your end of y12 exams, start doing your personal statement drafts and make sure you’re adamant on getting teachers/professionals to read this. I had a lecturer from KCL read over my personal statement that I connected through via LinkedIn

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for this !!! I hope your uni experience is great rn!!!! Which uni did you end up going to ?

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