Work Experience Abroad on Personal Statement?

[BunnyMcDougall]

I’m not sure what to advise my DC re: work experience abroad. The placement was at my sister’s office in a large European city—all I had to do was fund the flight on a budget airline, so it was quite an opportunity for DC at not much cost to me.

There are UK offices for this company (so listing the name only wouldn’t give the location away), and I’m on the fence with whether I should encourage DC naming the location on the Personal Statement. On the one hand, it was an excellent learning opportunity and life experience; on the other hand, during the current economic climate, it gives “Entitled Rich Kid” vibes.

What would you encourage your DC to do?

I’d put the location - shows she has experienced a different work culture etc

It's not "I went there and did this" that counts, it's weaving in "what I learned here" and how it ties in with "what I want to study"

Yes I agree with a PP, the thing to do is talk about what she learned there and how it relates to the course she is applying for. In the same way as you would reference wk exp on a job application tbh. I wouldn't worry at all about rich kid vibes – pretty sure that's not a metric used by unis to decide on offers. (obvs contextual offers are a thing but it doesn't work the other way round AFAIK).

Slightly different angle: the real question isn't whether to name the city, it's whether that detail earns its space. Naming the location costs about three words. The reflection that makes it count costs about thirty.

So if your DC can point to something specific that was actually different - how the team worked, a rule or process that surprised them, having to function in a second language - then the location is the set-up for that insight and it should stay. If they can't, it's just scenery, and those words are better spent elsewhere.

I would let the entitled worry go, though. What reads badly is not privilege, it is a placement described vaguely.

Agree it should reference being outside the UK, though the real thing is what was gained.

There is really no "entitled rich kid" vibe to having work experience in another country. I have read 100s, perhaps thousands, of personal statements for international applicants and multiple languages and countries of schooling (and hence work experience) are legion and nothing special. What matters is what was learned by the experience and what insights can be brought forward into the subject to be studied.

We were told that you don't have to dump everything you've done into your PS. Its better to chose the things that directly affect the application and subject choice.

Working in an office environment for someone hoping to study politics, business, and a range of other subjects, is definitely a bonus.

My kids grew up in the US where they were obliged to taken on many hours of volunteering (it was a high school graduation requirement). Some of that made it into their PS when it was relevant to study - so visiting psychiatric units for the kid who applied for psychology etc. But her playing cello for many years and taking 5 years of Mandarin didn't make it into the Ps because neither was particularly relevant and she didn't need to show commitment to various things because she already ticked that box.

So relevance, and so on - don't worry about privilege. People still mention their hut building experience in Zimbabwe when it is relevant.