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Civilisations through the ages have achieved remarkable engineering feats, ranging from the ancient Giza Pyramids to the modern-day Burj Dubai. I greatly admire how ideas such as these, which may once have been perceived as impossible, turn into reality and take shape as some of the world's most iconic structures. As I discover further applications of civil engineering within our daily lives, my avid interest continues to grow.
Attending 'Headstart' has provided me with a deep insight to studying engineering at university. Team activities in civil engineering were highly enjoyable, and involved the design, construction and marketing of a prototype waterslide. Working with limited resources and time constraints, the challenge helped to replicate the trials faced by engineers in the professional world. The competitive nature of the task proved a success, enabling the team in which I worked to gain first place.
To further my keen interest in physics, a key part of any engineering discipline, I attended a two-day 'Workshop' conference at the University of Nottingham as well as undertaking a week-long placement with the 'Condensed Matter Group' at Leeds University. This entailed working on post-doctoral projects which investigated the Curie points of ferromagnetic materials. The experiments carried out, although extremely demanding, allowed me to explore physics at completely new depths, advance my practical skills, and apply them with greater confidence. Informative reading material including New Scientist magazine and books such as "The New Science of Strong Materials" by J.E. Gordon have also helped to improve my awareness of current scientific affairs and knowledge of materials science.
I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of studying Further Mathematics at A-Level and gain immense satisfaction out of solving complex mathematical problems correctly and efficiently. I have regularly participated in the UK Mathematics Challenges and have consistently achieved awards, most notably being placed first amongst my year group in 2008. Furthermore, the prospect of applying mathematics to real-life scenarios particularly fascinates me.
In recognition of my consistent efforts at school, I have been awarded with positions of responsibility such as School Prefect and Form Prefect. Additionally, I am also a member of the school charities committee. As a team, we helped organise several school fundraisers, including the biggest Christmas charity fair the school has held to date, raising more than GBP 1,000. I thoroughly enjoy the camaraderie of working closely and agreeably with others, but also take pride in working independently to the best of my capabilities.
I regularly participate in the school Senate Debating Society, taking pleasure in both presenting my own point of view with confidence and listening patiently and attentively to others. As an appointed member of the Society's panel, I am now looking forward to the challenges of overseeing and chairing future debates.
Music has always played a significant role for me outside of school, and I have achieved Grade 8 with Distinction in the Electronic Keyboard. This has enabled me to unwind outside my busy academic schedule and adhere to a work-life balance.
In today's society, civil engineering is a field which operates across an ever-expanding global network. I fully appreciate the importance of a global outreach being multilingual myself, speaking both English and Hindi fluently whilst also being highly proficient at Spanish. I believe that my flair for both science and languages, combined with my enthusiasm for problem-solving and overcoming difficult challenges will stand me in good stead to pursue civil engineering as a degree course. I eagerly look forward to progressing to the next stage in my education, contributing wholeheartedly to university life, and hopefully being provided with the opportunity to achieve engineering feats of my own.
Universities Applied to:
- Oxford
- Imperial
- Durham
- Manchester
- Exeter
Grades Achieved:
- GCSEs: 10 A*s
