Year 11 DS and Chemical Engineering

[BaconAndAvocado]

I posted here a few months ago regarding DS wanting to add things to his CV/personal statement to improve his chances of being accepted onto a Chem Eng degree.

Smallpeice Trust was mentioned and another organisation which holds courses for youngsters interested in the Sciences. Anyone know of this?

He reads widely around the sciences, studies very hard (don't know where this recent development has come from but long may it reign ) and has begun the Duke of Edinburgh.

Is there anything else he could be doing?

Tia

By far the most important thing is getting the right grades, and in the right subjects. He needs to check out the websites of suitable universities to see what they require, and choose A Level subjects accordingly.

Extra curriculars are good, but only the relevant ones hold a significant level of interest for admissions tutors. DofE is lovely, but will hold limited sway unless he does skills / volunteering in something relevant. I have to admit that sciences and engineering aren't my area of speciality, but, the Nuffield bursary may be suitable, and the Eton Summer Schools may have something suitable. Your local university may also have some kind of public lecture / outreach scheme going on.

Finally, if he meets widening participation criteria, then there are some excellent outreach schemes, such as the Sutton Trust, UNIQ, Access to Leeds, Social Mobility Foundation etc., along with those run by universities local to you (these are often restricted to students within a certain geographic area though).

Having studied chemical engineering (albeit over a decade ago!) I can thoroughly recommend it as an excellent choice which leads to lots of career options afterwards (having said that, I took a career 180 degree and am in a different field, but thats a different story...)

The most important thing really is the grades - straight As in chemistry, physics and maths (and preferably further maths if possible, as there is a lot of mathematical skill required and gaining more of it pre-uni is definitely less painful) will likely gain a place at most unis, but as rightsaidfrederick says do check individual uni websites.

In terms of 'anything else' the CREST award scheme is very good - its highly regarded and can really help you get your teeth into an engineering type project pre uni. The website is www.britishscienceassociation.org/crest-awards/getting-started-how-register - my CREST project was definitely the most talked about subject at the unis I had interviews at.

If his school participates in the Engineering education scheme ( www.etrust.org.uk/eese/about_the_engineering_education_scheme.cfm ) thats another good thing to put on applications.

All the best!

Thanks rightsaid

So far (he's in the middle of GCSEs) his grades have been all As and A*s in maths and the sciences but, obviously I realise that A levels are very different.

His skills section in the DoE is Chemistry linked, although the volunteering isn't (it's helping out at the local old folks home).

Over the past year he has become incredibly focused on his studies-which is brilliant - but he seems only to,want to go to one university, Imperial College! The desired grades for this course are extremely high! I'm both very proud that he has such great aspirations but also worry that he's aiming too high and may be disappointed.

Something else to throw into the mix is that he has AS, which explains the fixation on IC.

Thanks lemon

Just looked at Crest and will give our local co-ordinator a ring.

DS chose Chem Eng after going to a Science Fair and I was very pleased as I thought this job would suit him as it doesn't demand a high level of team work/interaction with others. Am I completely wrong?

I think that the messages above are correct. In chem eng applications the grades in relevant subjects (Chemistry and Maths are a must, then either Physics or Biology in my university) are the most important thing. Chem eng is very popular just now so the required grades are much higher than they were a few years ago. We seldom base any decisions on the personal statement, but that is not to say that other places do not and Imperial probably are so oversubscribed that they do. They should publish their selection criteria, probably somewhere in the prospectus.
When we have looked at the personal statement we are looking for genuine interest in the profession - taster courses, work experience, shadowing, visits to plants or university depts with some insight into what interested the applicant about these experiences, failing that evidence of reflection on the literature available on chem eng is a positive thing. Knowing the difference between chemical engineering and chemistry is a must NEVER describe chem eng as a branch of chemistry! The institution of chemical engineers has a website called whynotchmeng which has lots of information to browse through.
I would recommend contacting local chemical engineering companies to see if you can arrange work shadowing, I know of at least one near me wh regularly does this for school pupils.

Me again. I just read your post about team work. I would have to say that Engineering degrees where I teach probably have the most group work of any degree programme. From the start we emphasise the importance of group work and all chem eng programmes have a major group design project forming a significant part of the final degree assessment. The majority of coursework is carried out in pairs or groups. This reflects the reality of working as a chemical engineer in industry (which I have also done) where most jobs are team based. Take a look at whynotchmeng where there are some job descriptions of recent graduates.
If working in groups is a problem I would suggest talking to the disability office of the university. They are able to specify a schedule of adjustments for students who need them and this can include special assessment arrangement which could include having no group activities. This would, however, in my opinion, make much of the coursework more difficult. Even in problem classes we encourage the students to work in groups and they benefit greatly from this.
Feel free to PM my if I can help further.
I have pretty well outed myself now.

On your previous post Headstart was recommended. My ds has just done his Headstart at Imperial and loved every minute of it. Headstart is year 12 but if he is interested the Arkwright Scholarship for budding engineers is for year 11 and applications will start around October time.

also have you seen this website

Wow! Thanks loads chemenger for all the very very useful info. It's great to get advice from someone with such relevant experience.

I will definitely look into arranging some shadowing for DS, if there are any relevant companies locally!

It's a surprise to find out about the group work element. Because of DS's Asperger's this is often difficult for him. It's something we need to,discuss. Not many jobs are completely solitary

How do I go a put "PM"ing you if needs be?

bruffin thanks for that quick reminder! Can I ask exactly what the Headstart course entailed?

Will look into the Arkwright Scholarship. Thanks again.

about not a put

Ds did a general engineering headstart but there is a chemical engineering one. His heads as t was paid for by Arkwright.
He did 4 days residential at Imperial, which he was given a taster of bio engineering ie looking at why usainbolts runs so fast, aerospace using the wind tunnel, electical which was making a gadget that flashed random lights , construction engineering and something else I can't remember. They also went on London Eye and got meet graduates of Imperial. One of which worked for Google. He invited them to the offices and Ds took him up on his offer today and went for
lunch there. Its meant to be a taster of university life as well as on intro to subject.

That sounds really great, will definitely look into that, thank you.

Did your DS pursue a Chem Eng degree?

Just had a gander at Headstart, looks perfect for DS. I couldn't seem to find out how much the courses cost though?

Ds is 17 he is just going into yr 13 and will be applying for uni this year. He wants to do mechanical engineering.
The cost is around £350 which includes all food.. There should be a code by the course and the numbers are the cost. We had to pay in advance but Arkwright will reimburse us now he has successfully completed it.

Bath chemical engineering has code bac/330 so cost is£330.

Thank you

I am a chemical engineer.

Chemical engineers make things, whether it is big like petrochemicals, or small like shampoo. The one thing they have in common is making money.

With any UCAS personal statement, the candidate has to communicate their passion for the topic - so communicate your passion for making money.

Look the universities that you are applying to and see what their areas of interest are, and target your application accordingly.

A truth about engineers is that they are scientists/mathematicians who can communicate - so make a thing about being able to write or present (and perhaps, persuade).