► How can Work Experience help me?
Work Experience is an excellent way to improve your application prospects by showing admissions tutors that you have relevant experience and gained useful insights. It's also something you can talk about at
selection interviews.
Some courses require students to be able to demonstrate particular skills e.g. medicine or teaching. Others such as physiotherapy or veterinary science would be unlikely to take you without work experience.
► Suggesions for Work Experience
• Archaeology - go on archaeological digs, visit museums
• Architecture - get work experience with a firm or architects, a construction company or local authority architects department
Business Studies/Management - do an Insight into Management course, attend Industry Days, shadow a manager
• Computing - try to get experience using a wide range of computer programs, use the internet, get some work experience with a computing company or firm with a large computing department
• Dentistry - shadow a dentist Engineering - attend an engineering 'taster' course at a university, do a Women into Science and Engineering (WISE) course, girls can apply for an INSIGHT course, shadow a professional
engineer, get involved with the Best Programme or find out if your school has a 'Young Engineers Club'
• Environmental Science - do some voluntary work for the British Trust or Conservation Volunteers
• History - join a local history society, get work experience or voluntary work with the National Trust, local museum or historic monument
• Law - shadow a solicitor or barrister, visit courts
• Media - write for your school or college magazine or start your own, visit local newspapers, radio and TV stations, work shadow a reporter or producer, volunteer for hospital radio
• Medicine - shadow a family doctor, learn first aid, do voluntary work in a hospital or residential home for the elderly
• Pharmacy - shadow a hospital or industrial pharmacist, get work experience as a sales assistant in a chemist's shop
• Teaching - do voluntary work or work experience in a primary school, help at Sunday School, youth club or sports team.
• Therapies - e.g. occupational therapy, orthopics, physiotherapy, radiography, speech therapy; it is essential to visit a hospital department and shadow a professional before applying for any of these courses
• Veterinary Science - get work experience with large and small animals on a livestock farm, help at a cattery, kennels, stables, animal welfare organisation, shadow a vet
Morehelp4u:
BTCV - www.btcv.org
Do It! - www.do-it.org.uk
The National Trust - www.nationaltrust.org.uk
The Royal Academy of Engineering - www.raengbest.org.uk
Volunteering England - www.volunteering.org.uk
Women into Science, Engineering and Construction (WISE) - www.wisecampaign.org.uk
Young Engineers - www.youngeng.org
