University Application Preparation: Your Summer Break Action Plan

Key Activities and Goals to Hit Over your Summer Holidays

The summer holidays present a valuable opportunity for aspiring university applicants to make significant progress on their applications. With a well-structured plan and effective time management, you can use this period to conduct thorough research, engage in super-curricular activities, and prepare your personal statement and application, all while keeping on top of any schoolwork or revision you need to do.  

In this blog post, we will provide you with a selection of key tasks and activities you should be aiming to get done, or at least begin meaningfully, over the summer holidays. 

Research your Chosen Course(s)

Another important preliminary exercise, once you’ve narrowed down the courses to which you are applying, is to understand in depth the content covered by the course teaching.  

By ‘understand in depth’, we don’t mean you need to become an expert in quantum physics or Jean Paul Sartre before you’ve even applied for the course, but rather that you should have a good knowledge of what is covered in general terms.  

We recommend finding the syllabus outline for the degree course on each university website or department page, and going through with the aims of, firstly, getting a good overview on what is covered and, secondly, finding the areas you are most interest in to inform your research ahead of personal statement and interview preparation.  

Another good idea is to cross reference the courses at each university to see what they have in common; this means you can target your personal statement to areas that as many universities as possible are teaching.  

Understand the Application Requirements

Once you have narrowed down or confirmed the courses to which you are applying, take the time to familiarise yourself with the application requirements for each one.  

Do the courses require admissions tests? Will you need to submit written work in addition to the main application? Are portfolio pieces of performance recordings required?  

 If you are an international applicant, you should also check to see if you need to convert your grades into UK equivalents or if a test of English language is required. In short, make sure there are no surprises for you further down the line.  

Research for your Personal Statement

Without several hours a day spent in school, the summer holidays present a fantastic opportunity to spend dedicated time undertaking research for your personal statement. This should mostly consist of reading academic books and articles, since both Oxbridge and other top UK universities base most of their teaching on academic reading.  

We recommend diversifying your research with other media such as films, podcasts, documentaries, exhibitions, audiobooks, and more. As long as you are gaining either relevant knowledge or skills to your chosen course (and can argue why this is the case) then anything goes, really.  

As you read, watch, listen to, or visit each of your research sources, we recommend keeping some rough notes. These don’t have to be comprehensive enough to write an essay with, but should highlight the topics or ideas you found most interesting, any other sources or ideas mentioned that you want to pursue in more depth later on, or key pages you might need to refer back to when constructing the personal statement.  

Taking a little time to do this now could save a lot of time later on, keeping it fresh in your mind for the personal statement and interview preparation.  

Engage in Super-Curricular Activities

Super-curricular activities, distinct from extracurriculars, are events, activities, or experiences that enhance your studies or career prospects outside of the normal classroom studies.  

This might include attending summer schools (such as the Oxford UNIQ programme) related to your subject of interest, completing an internship in an adjacent field (such as a mini-pupillage at a chambers), or work experience (such as working a nursing home or hospital).  

It could also involve less formal events such as attending exhibitions or gallery openings, spending time abroad to use your target foreign language, or even going to the cinema to watch a relevant film or documentary.  

The world of super-curriculars is broad, helps you develop skills or gain insight outside of the normal school curriculum, and demonstrates to university admissions tutors that you are dedicated and passionate about delving into your chosen field of study.  

We recommend planning any large-scale supper-curriculars (i.e. courses, work experience, internships, or visits abroad) well in advance so that you can guarantee securing a spot.  

Smaller-scale activities (such as watching films, attending concerts, or visiting galleries and museums) can be done on an ad-hoc basis, but for scheduled events it can be good to see what’s going on in your city or region so that you don’t miss anything useful. 

Again, we recommend noting down anything you learn or important points of interest you might want to talk about in a personal statement or interview. Alternatively, taking photos or videos (say, for example, at a concert or in a museum, if allowed) can help you remind yourself of how you felt or what you gained from the experience later down the line.  

Plan and Draft your Personal Statement

Your personal statement plays a crucial role in the application process. To get it perfect, it’s ideal to have time to research, plan, draft, and redraft the personal statement, ensuring it gives an accurate reflection of you and your academic development.  

The summer holidays, then, are the perfect time to begin brainstorming ideas alongside undertaking research and, perhaps towards the end of the summer, planning and making your first draft ready to show to your teachers or advisers and gradually tweak it into its final form once school begins in September.  

We recommend aiming for three to four paragraphs of main content, with an introductory and concluding paragraph at either end, as a working structure. Group your favourite pieces of research or areas of interest thematically, allotting them a paragraph each, and begin expanding your notes into prose accordingly.  

 Have a plan but also be flexible; your thoughts and ideas may change as you research and draft further, and that’s OK.  

The earlier you have a draft ready for the personal statement, the longer you have to perfect the structure and wording, and the more time you have to show it to other people (such as teachers, mentors, parents or guardians) and get advice and recommendations.  

This is a really important step, since delving into your own research can make you lose perspective, and having a second, third, or fourth set of eyes on the statement will help you sort the best of the content from the rest.  

Balance your Preparation with School Work and Relaxation

Of course, despite the large amount of work you need to put into your university application, you must not neglect your school studies over the summer. Making an excellent, competitive application is all well and good, but if you don’t get the right grades (predicted or real), then you won’t be getting onto the course of your choice.  

Equally, working non-stop through the summer and leaving no time for rest and relaxation is not a great plan either; going back to school in September tired and frazzled isn’t going to make for a strong academic performance. 

We recommend making a loose schedule for the summer (on a half day, day, or weekly scale) to ensure you get time to touch on a bit of everything.  

For example, in a given week you might want to portion each morning for two hours of school work, each afternoon for two hours of personal statement research, a whole day for super-curricular activities (museum visits, film watching, language exchange, etc.), and a day or two for personal/family time and relaxation activities.  

We’re not saying you have to be completely rigid (and, of course, taking weeks at a time for family or friends' holidays is going to be a priority), but keeping tabs on how much time you want to apportion to each part of your application prep will avoid a mad dash in the last week or so to get it all done. 

In Summary

The summer holidays are a golden opportunity to make significant progress on your university applications. By structuring your time effectively and following a well-defined plan, you can conduct thorough research, engage in super-curricular activities, prepare your personal statement and application.  

All while keeping on top of your schoolwork and getting enough time to relax, spend time with family and friends, and come back to school in September recharged and raring to go.  

With dedication, organisation, and a proactive approach, you will be well ahead in securing your desired university placement.