Work experience in Chemistry/STEM

3

I am desperate to get some Chemistry or STEM work experience as a year 12 for my personal statement, but finding it so tricky as labs keep on rejecting me if their is any opportunities to start with . I have cold emailed so many places and reached out to some programs but no luck! Any advice or anything you did in year 12?

Reply 1

LJMUStudentReps

Official Rep

19

Original post

by sasha_cork23

I am desperate to get some Chemistry or STEM work experience as a year 12 for my personal statement, but finding it so tricky as labs keep on rejecting me if their is any opportunities to start with . I have cold emailed so many places and reached out to some programs but no luck! Any advice or anything you did in year 12?

Hi,

Getting STEM work experience can be difficult, so don’t worry as universities understand this. You can still show your interest through online courses, clubs, small research projects you can do independently or with a teacher’s guidance, and competitions like the Chemistry Olympiad or university masterclasses. I’m a pharmacy student, and in my personal statement I mentioned volunteering at a pharmacy, taking part in the Olympiad, and attending a chemistry masterclass at a university on a college trip.

Hope this helps,

Tayba
Student Rep

Reply 2

De Montfort University

Official Rep

17

Original post

by sasha_cork23

I am desperate to get some Chemistry or STEM work experience as a year 12 for my personal statement, but finding it so tricky as labs keep on rejecting me if their is any opportunities to start with . I have cold emailed so many places and reached out to some programs but no luck! Any advice or anything you did in year 12?

Hiya lovely

Honestly don’t worry too much if you can’t get lab work experience. Universities understand that getting into chemistry labs as a Year 12 is really difficult because of safety and supervision requirements, so lots of applicants don’t have it. What matters more is showing genuine interest in the subject. You could talk about things like books you’ve read, lectures or online courses you’ve done, or topics you’ve explored yourself. If you still want some practical experience, even working somewhere like Boots or another pharmacy/drugstore could be useful, as it still links to healthcare and medicines and gives you something to reflect on in your personal statement.

Kind regards Aneta PhD Chemistry

Reply 3

University of Bath

Official Rep

14

Original post

by sasha_cork23

I am desperate to get some Chemistry or STEM work experience as a year 12 for my personal statement, but finding it so tricky as labs keep on rejecting me if their is any opportunities to start with . I have cold emailed so many places and reached out to some programs but no luck! Any advice or anything you did in year 12?

Hi there!

I was also keen on getting some STEM work experience when I was year 12, so (although a little random) what I did was ask around my school's own Chemistry department. Alongside our teachers who delivered all of the lessons, we had a small group of lab technicians who did things like set up experiments in preparation for lessons, did the calculations to prepare samples, did trial runs and sorted out the equipment etc, and through my Chemistry teacher I managed to get a few days work experience working in their lab. It was not the same scale or complexity of an industrial or research lab but it was a lot of fun to do and was a great step to get me used to the lab environment.

Also, if your school has open evenings for prospective year sevens or sixth formers, then perhaps see if your Chemistry teachers need any help with representing the department. Me and my friend did this in year 12 - we did a demonstration where he would make giant chemical bubbles and I would set them on fire in the air. It was just showmanship and answering questions from students and parents rather than actual work experience but it was still a really good thing to have done and helped my confidence a lot.

Hopefully this helps a bit - best of luck 🙂

Reply 4

sasha_cork23

OP

3

Original post

by LJMUStudentReps

Hi,
Getting STEM work experience can be difficult, so don’t worry as universities understand this. You can still show your interest through online courses, clubs, small research projects you can do independently or with a teacher’s guidance, and competitions like the Chemistry Olympiad or university masterclasses. I’m a pharmacy student, and in my personal statement I mentioned volunteering at a pharmacy, taking part in the Olympiad, and attending a chemistry masterclass at a university on a college trip.
Hope this helps,
Tayba
Student Rep

Thank you so much for this advice! Would you think volunteering at a pharmacy would be useful as a future Chemistry student? Trying to do the sorts of thing you also mentioned. Thanks for this, I appreciate it