How do I show my interests outside of my A Levels?

It is key to look at what individual universities expect from the personal statements.The ratio of academic vs extra curricular content varies at each university. For example at an Oxford University taster day, I was told they expect 80:20 academic to extra curricular in their personal statements whereas at Exeter University, where I studied, are more flexible about the percentage as long as it is driven by strong academic interest. Sometimes universities will also state what kind extra curricular activity they value : some look for varied interests, whereas others almost exclusively want to see evidence of academic interest outside of the classroom e.g in work experience, a blog relating to the subject, EPQ or summer school. I have found that the latter, providing evidence of academic interest independent of your syllabus, is the most effective way to communicate what exactly stimulates you about your chosen course. Crucially, do not just reel off what you've learnt in class but instead use is as a springboard for further reading, or go into depth in an area that you might have just touched upon. For example, when I was applying to study literature, all the courses I looked at studied Beowulf - which was something I had already studied at an Oxford lecture. So, rather concisely I communicated what I had read, the fact I attended an Oxford taster day and the language skills that meant I was well-suited to dissecting language. "As a keen linguist, I have studied French and Spanish and in turn engage with the challenge of breaking down the mechanics of Old English, which proved to be advantageous when analysing old Beowulf manuscripts at an Oxford English Literature taster day."

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