By Qinyang Zhang, Year 13
As someone who applied to UK universities, I would like to give some advice to those who are considering applying to the UK. Although there are variations in courses, generally, UK university courses are more narrowly-focused, compared to broader courses offered by US universities. There is only one UCAS application form to fill out where you can apply for at most 5 universities’ courses, and there is a lot of choice. In this article, I will give some advice on choosing a course, choosing a university, and writing your personal statement.
Finding the right course is the most important criterion for UK universities. You want to pick a course that is almost always one of your IB HL subjects, and one that you are willing to spend the next 3 or 4 (or more) years studying. Personally, I always knew I wanted to do physics, so that already narrowed my choices down a bit. The majority of universities offer straight physics undergraduate or masters degrees, but some universities can also offer narrower courses, such as physics with astrophysics, physics with medical physics, physics with particle physics, physics with theoretical physics… At this point, I would advise looking at each course’s modules, as different courses at different universities may teach different modules. After further narrowing the list, look at the entry requirements of each course. There are normally requirements for the overall IB points (out of 45), requirement for subjects you need to have chosen in IB, and requirement for HL subject grades, which can be very specific and demanding. English requirement is also something to be aware of. The teaching and assessment methods are also important to consider. If you are someone who thrives in small-group teaching, then consider universities that offer supervision/tutorial. If you have a fear of essay-writing, then consider courses with more coursework assessment.
Another aspect of the decision is choosing universities, as one of them will be your home for the next few years. The first criterion might be whether the university is one of the Russell group universities, which are research-led universities renowned for their quality of research and teaching. There are also roughly three types of universities, campus universities, city universities and college universities. If you want to be in the middle of a busy city, then consider Imperial College London and Manchester. If you want to live in a university where everything is close together, then campus universities like Bath and Warwick might be for you. If you want to belong to an even smaller community, then consider Durham, Lancaster and Oxbridge. (There is an additional rule that you cannot apply simultaneously to Oxford and Cambridge.) Unfortunately, it is not possible to go visit universities during the pandemic. However, there are always virtual tours and virtual open days that are well-organised and advertised. Therefore, it is a good idea to sign up to newsletters of universities you are interested in.
These criteria can hopefully help you narrow your choices down to the final five! Then, you will need to submit a personal statement along with your predicted grades, personal details, education history, and counsellor’s reference. As the personal statement is what you have the most control over, I will give some advice on writing it. Firstly, there is one personal statement per application. Most of the time, this should not be a problem as the five courses chosen are similar/identical. However, if you are applying for an “unusual” course in one university, then the university might give you the choice (or make it compulsory to) write another personal statement specifically targeted at the “unusual” course. For example, Durham gives natural sciences applicants the choice to write another personal statement.
Regarding the content of the personal statement, UK universities are focused on academics, so the majority should be spent talking about your passion for your chosen subject, as shown by. You can demonstrate your interest by talking about something that sparked your interest in class. You can also talk about super-curricular activities, which are activities directly related to your chosen course done outside of classes. Personally, I talked about physics books I read and astrophysics data-processing courses I completed. Extracurricular activities should not constitute a large part of the personal statement (Oxbridge applicants have little to none), and you should always link your activity back to your chosen course by articulating the skills you learnt from that activity. It may sound formulaic, but the “course requirement” page of university websites can give you clues about the core skills required for the subject, helping you orient your personal statement to address those skills. For example, Oxford’s history admissions website contains alumni’s quotes that emphasise the importance of analytical and critical thinking skills, so in your personal statement, you can show how your activities help develop those skills.
As some general advice, don’t tell the universities about your passion, show them your passion. Shouting about how much you love physics is not as powerful as concrete examples demonstrating commitment, skill development and intellectual maturity. For example, instead of writing “I am passionate about physics”, replace it with “I developed data-processing skills and report-writing skills in a course, which confirmed my interest in academic research”. If you can, try to have an overarching theme in your personal statement instead of drily presenting several independent paragraphs. Mine was the simplicity and beauty of physical laws. Finally, do not be frustrated that your personal statement takes a lot of drafts to finalize. I had six!
I hope this advice can be of help in your application journey. I wish you all the best of luck!
