Super Curricular Activities for Engineering

Five kinds of super curricular activity

The examples below are illustrations of each kind, not a list to complete.

• Build something and measure it: a small structure, a circuit or a mechanism, tested against a prediction you made first. An unexpected result you can explain is worth more than a perfect one.
• Read beyond the syllabus, then argue with it: an engineering book or a long article, and a page of your own notes on where you think the author is right or wrong and why.
• Follow one problem in depth: for example how a particular bridge carries its load, worked through with the mechanics you know and the parts you had to learn.
• Try a university style problem: a past problem sheet or an admissions test question, worked until you can explain each step to someone else.
• Run a project of your own: a question you chose, a method you designed and a short write up of what you found, which can also become an Extended Project with your school's agreement.

Depth beats a long list

One activity followed properly says more than five mentioned in passing. What matters is what you did, what surprised you and what you would change next time, because that is what an admissions tutor or an interviewer can ask you about.

Writing about it

• Say what you did, then what you learned. A truss that failed early at a joint, followed by reading about load paths, shows thinking; a list of titles does not.
• Connect it to the course. Name the idea from engineering that the activity taught you.
• Be ready to talk about it. Anything you write may come up at interview, so write only what you can explain.

Where we can help

A project of your own is the deepest kind of super curricular activity. Our project mentorship pairs you with a mentor to plan, run and write up one.

Keep going

• ESAT practice: what the test covers and how to prepare
• Oxbridge interview questions, all subjects