Setting yourself apart from competition during lockdown

For many, lockdown may present itself as a challenge. You can no longer see your friends, you are not able to attend school and engage with teachers, you aren't even allowed to visit universities in-person for admissions open days.

For a select few, however, lockdown will present itself with an opportunity; an opportunity to grow, learn more about one's subject and expand one's knowledge on the admissions process.

At Neo-Education, we want to give you 3 tips that will help you use lockdown productively so that, by the time you submit your application for university, you are able to present the best application possible.

• Use the time in your day effectively. Each day, set yourself a goal to read at least 30 pages of a new book that has been on your bookshelf (or a book from one of our subject-specific reading lists), learn a new programming language, write a short essay on a topic you are passionate about. University admissions tutors are looking for students who are independent learners with a growth mindset. Prove to admissions tutors that you do not need teachers to tell you what to read - take the initiative to carry out your own independent research projects. Using your time effectively during this pandemic will help you to stand out in the applications process.

• Look out for virtual webinars and Q&A sessions hosted by universities to expand your knowledge or meet academics. There are plenty of online webinars being hosted on a range of topics with prominent academics. These are webinars that you could spark interest in a particular issue that you could shape your personal statement around. Even if you do not find the webinar particularly interesting, by seeing academics live in action, you may get a flavour of what subjects or modules you might want to avoid at university. Equally, you may get an impression of which topics you are keen to learn more about at university.

• Draft, re-draft and re-draft your personal statement. Since you have a lot more time on your hands now, there is no excuse not to put as much time and effort as possible into writing the perfect personal statement. Take this time to do research on the universities you would like to apply to and think about what these universities are looking for from you. Most students do not conduct this research before writing their personal statement and so you are already one step ahead of everybody else if you put the extra effort in. We, at Neo-Education, can help you with this research stage of the admissions process by giving you our university and subject profiles. Get in touch if you'd like us to help you write and review your personal statement.