work experience for budding scientist - what did your DC do?

[thereisfreedomwithin]

my son has been applying unsuccessfully so far for summer work experience places. He knows he wants to study physical sciences (maybe natural sciences, maybe chemical engineering) and find a well paid job that's "cool" :). He has done one week's experience last year at a local uni.

I'd be really grateful to learn about things your DC did in the summer between lower and upper sixth- and at what point in the year they arranged it as I don't know whether we are early or late in our thinking for this summer.

thank you

Have you considered the Headstart or Smallpeice courses?
Both my DS did these and went on to study engineering,
Head Start www.etrust.org.uk/headstart

Smallpeice www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/

Echo head start, small piece or uni study days held by a broad range of unis. Also look at the Big Bang science fairs.

Rutherford labs stfc.ukri.org/about-us/work-with-us/work-experience/workexperienceral/

And Isaacs Physics to get a place at the Cambridge summer school.

If he qualifies, the month-long Nuffield Research Placements are very good (and free): www.nuffieldfoundation.org/students-teachers/nuffield-research-placements/

• Have you considered the Headstart or Smallpeice courses? Both my DS did these and went on to study engineering, *

My DD likewise. The Headstart was in the summer between lower and upper sixth and one of their functions is to help them decide which field to go into so it might be apt for your DS as he's undecided as yet. Apart from that she worked on her EPQ (designing and building a robot).

She didn't do any sort of work experience before uni but has had proper paid internships in the uni summer vacs. TBH she was fortunate to get a good one after her first year, they mostly want second and third years who actually know something. This makes me wonder if there's really that many worthwhile job opportunities for sixth formers.

So while it's good he wants to do something, what I'm trying to say is that at this stage work experience isn't vital for uni applications ( or longer term either) versus what he does while a student. Going to open days, Headstart, reading around subjects of interest etc would be good at this time.

I agree with ErrolTheDragon, any experience or activities are useful in year 12 if they help the student choose their preferred degree (or alternative to a degree) or spark an interest. That is the point of Headstart and Smallpeice. However there is plenty of material on the internet to read-up about different degree contents and what for example engineering specialities entail. Volunteering or attending a science fair is good to meet the demonstrators and talk to them about their specialities.
A really useful extra activity for any future aspirations would be to learn some basics in coding, for example in Python (or do something to get better at it).

NPL in Teddington do lots of things for school aged. Have a look at their website. I am sure Imperial do a pathway to sciences. Best of luck

A really useful extra activity for any future aspirations would be to learn some basics in coding, for example in Python (or do something to get better at it).

I meant to say that too. Most (I'd guess pretty much all) STEM degrees will include some programming teaching of course, but being more competent may open up more options and a fair proportion of internships will have an element of coding. As will some of the cooler jobs in STEM (ok, I'm biased, I'm a chemist who escaped from the lab to write scientific software ).

My DS is currently studying Chemical Engineering at Imperial. He did work experience as GSK. They have a really good scheme for one week's experience in several areas (well they did 2 years ago). However this may be too late for your son as it was about now - in Feb half term - that they did it. He had to apply in the previous autumn I think. There was no guarantee of a place. It maybe worth enquiring if one of their offices is near to you. Also BP and Shell do something I think.

My friend's son has just been accepted on the Diamond Light Source work experience programme (www.google.com/search?q=diamond+light+source+work+experience&rlz=1C1AVFC_enGB871GB871&oq=diamondlightsourc&aqs=chrome.4.69i57j0l7.5862j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

I'm afraid this really is a bit late to be looking for supercool placements for 2020; applications for the above closed on Feb 2nd - but I thought the info might be helpful for next year!

Sorry, forgot I wasn't on Facebook for a moment there: clicky link

Unfortunately lab placements taking under 18s are not that prevalent; fortunately the universities know this.

DS spent his time in Y12 focusing on his skills in solving physics problems. He joined Isaac Physics, took part in their Y12 mentoring scheme and entered their Senior Physics Challenge. Through this, he went on a residential summer school at the end of Y12 which included some practical sessions in the Cavendish Laboratories.

He is already familiar with Python, but spent time over the summer holidays consolidating and practising his maths. This turned out to be a wise decision, as his interviews (for physical natural sciences) were both maths-heavy.

It isn't too late to enter the Isaac Physics Senior Physics Challenge (the deadline is the end of April) but as many Y12s started last autumn, I'd suggest solving several higher-level questions (level 4+, at least some 5s) per week if he wants to make a competitive entry.

Isaac Physics is a great resource because it's free and accessible to anyone. Regular participation helped DS with his application in several ways: he mentioned it in the personal statement, it was good practice for section 2 questions in the NSAA, and it was recommended by the college for interview prep. There are plenty of maths and chemistry questions as well as physics.

Cambridge's Natural Sciences website has a section with recommended pre-reading for each IA module, and Physics IA suggests Isaac Physics.

And no, I don't work for them.

DS also took part in a group research project in school (through the Institute of Research in Schools) and his group did a poster presentation at a science fair. This was useful experience in research methods; he mentioned it in his personal statement and two of his interviewers expressed interest in the project.

Yes my DC also got a lot out of the free resource of Isaacs Physics and the summer school week following the challenge. Helped firm degree choice.
(DC is not somebody to spend a lot of time practising maths to self improve though but likes problem solving and ‘cool’ maths tricks).

The summer school helped DS firm college choice "Somewhere more central than Churchill..."

gosh this is so helpful. I'm really grateful.

Any more?

I've also done a post on my local "ask me anything" site for my town and got good results.

Have you got anything yet?
My Ds is studying Chem Eng at Bath. In the two summers before he left he got a weeks work experience at JCB and another at the HQ of a big multinational brewery for a couple of weeks.
I'd suggest looking at all the big companies near you and getting him to email them.
Good luck!