Year 12 work experience - Imperial / UCL

[Year12stressedmum]

Hi
my DD is keen to do bioscience/neuroscience . She’s currently in year 11 and is a bit worried about her lack of work experience. She’s seen for example that Imperial and UCL offer work experience to year 12s but I would imagine that’s super competitive. Has anyone got any experience or any other ideas. Shes just trying to get organised for year 12 (and I suspect having a break from GCSEs revision’)

I thought that this year was hard but friends with older children say year 12 is more stressful in many ways as they try and decide what they want to do at university and then realise all the extra bits they need. I guess I should be glad she’s not decided to apply for medicine!

thanks

That sounds very stressful. None of mine ever stressed over work experience. Is it a prerequisite for neuroscience?

You do not need work experience for that type of degree so she would be better if spending her time on supra curricular activities such as reading and moocs to develop and evidence her interest in and thoughts about the subject for her personal statement. Although the personal statement itself will be going soon the questions they answer will still glean the same type of information.

Tell her to stop worrying about it and think about her gcses then enjoy her summer.

Look up UCL professors and email them directly asking for work experience. The email should include info on current school, a levels, what she wants to study next and why she picked this particular lab to contact. And the dates she is available.

I'm a prof in a similar field and we often get emails like this. I can only take on 1 in 5 who email, but contact several people and there is a good chance of a positive response.

@parietal I think that all sounds a bit odd. So you pick and choose based on what criteria? Who gets the nod from you? How do young people know how to apply? Or what to say in an application? What guidelines are there? What safeguarding procedures do you have? Surely there should be an official scheme to ensure it fair and meets legal requirements?

thanks for all your thoughts. I think some of her friends have managed to get lab placements through personal contacts but we don’t have any. I think she was searching and found this

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/be-inspired/schools-outreach/secondary-schools/summer-schools/work-experience/

and

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/child-health/study/work-experience-school-pupils-aged-16-18-years

I think she found some others as well elsewhere but I have a brother who lives in London so potentially she thought she could stay there if successful. I just wondered how competitive they were, to try and manage her hopes!

it’s interesting to see that you can just approach individual academics for example.

@Year12stressedmum Go for an approved scheme! Approach employers too. Is there nothing where you live? Not that any of this is necessary.

There are some formal schemes but there are also work experience placements organised informally directly with a professor. It is still regulated - if I want to take on a work experience student, I have to register the placement with the university and do the H&S paperwork etc. but it can be easier to get a place informally than through a scheme.

Whether or not I take on a placement normally depends on whether the timing works and if I have suitable things for the student to do and if the student can write a good email to me.

Also, if you aren't in London, look up the nearest university and again just email them. Lots of emails of this sort come in.

One thing she might do is start following people in the field on Twitter. Some can be entertaining and natural communicators. Then one link leads to another and you have an easy way of keeping up with thinking and activity in the field.

There is no reason why she should not write to people in the field and ask if anything is available. Keep it short, but personalise each request by researching the academic and what they are doing. Say why you are interested. Be clear on dates.

It may not come to anything but any experience of application is worthwhile. DD was at a different stage but wanted to find something for a two month elective so wrote round. She got one response but it was a great opportunity (in an Imperial lab) and gave her both experience in a research environment and contacts should she ever decide to go in that direction.

I don’t think it is essential. The most important thing is to get the best grades possible in the right subject. There is lots of scope for demonstrating interest by reading and watching stuff on the internet. Are there any relevant Royal Societies that give public lectures? Or https://www.imperial.ac.uk/whats-on/ or equivalents for UCL and elsewhere. The advantage now is that many will be online, or a chance for a trip to London to get a feel for the campus. Another possible advantage is that if you have to register for them, and then put in any PS that you are interested in… and have attended public lectures at Imperial/UCL they can check. (Really not sure if they ever would but something to say at Interview.)

For Human Neuroscience at UCL, they said they don’t require work experience as they recognise it’s hard to obtain. They do recommend attending webinars, reading books or watching podcasts. I’m in year 12 currently trying to get into the same field. I’ll be happy to share resources and books that I have done.

Apart from a guess medicine, veto art etc, no uni courses require work experience. If she comes up with something that gives her a good ably on her PS, splendid, but she can make the same arguement by talking about a great MOOC/ article/ lecture or whatever

@Year12stressedmum no need to stress. Those Imperial/UCL placements usually have "widening participation" criteria attached to them. Are you likely to qualify? They're as much aimed at de-mistifying university life as they are at providing experience in a particular subject area.

Has she thought about volunteering at a care home or hospital or charity where there might be patients with neurological disorders?

A plug here for my own favourite Gresham College free public lectures (most if not all now giving the choice of attending in person, if London is accessible for you, or watching live online, then the lecture is put up on YouTube and the transcript made available - if you go in person, hard copy is usually available to take away on the day).

Some links to past lectures on neuroscience related themes :

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/speakers/guy-leschziner

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/brain-computer

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/speakers/baroness-greenfield-otmoor

My own current favourites are Prof.Sarah Hart's Maths series and Prof. Milton Mermikides' music ones (although having attended a few of the later in person, I'm not keen to rematch them online, in case I am to be seen in an audience view looking almost totally perplexed...).