Queen Mary: Beyond the classroom

Part of the 4,000-character total; min 350 characters. This is the smallest box; aim for roughly 800-1,000 characters.

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

What it’s really asking

UCAS wants relevant experiences outside formal study: work, volunteering, competitions, independent reading, online courses, or anything that built skills the course needs. The emphasis is on why each one is useful, not on listing them.

Why they ask it

This is where international applicants often overstuff the statement with extracurriculars. Tutors give it the least weight, so the skill is choosing one or two experiences and proving they transfer to the degree. Focus beats breadth here.

Three ways in

Pick a transferable experience

Choose one thing that taught a skill the course actually needs, then explain the link to the degree explicitly.

Show self-driven learning

Mention sustained independent study, a MOOC, a podcast series, or a personal project that proves initiative beyond school.

Draw out the skill, not the title

If you worked or volunteered, surface the analytical or communication skill it built rather than just the responsibility you held.

✕ Weak opening

“Outside of school I am captain of the debate team, play varsity tennis, and volunteer weekly.”

✓ Strong opening

“Six months working the till at my family's restaurant turned out to be an unplanned lesson in price sensitivity.”

✦ Annotated example · Outside the classroom: volunteering and a debating habit. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →

For two years I have volunteered at a Citizens Advice drop-in, mostly photocopying and signposting, but listening as advisers explain a benefits decision or a debt letter to someone who is frightened by it. ¹It taught me that the law only matters if a person can actually understand and use it, which is a lesson no textbook gave me as sharply. ²I also debate competitively, and being handed the side of a motion I disagree with has made me quicker to find the strongest version of an opposing case before I argue against it. ³A part-time job stacking shelves on weekends has taught me something less glamorous but just as useful, that reliability and showing up matter, and that I can hold a demanding schedule without dropping my studies. ⁴Each of these has been useful in a different way, sharpening my listening, my argument and my discipline rather than just filling a CV. ⁵Together these commitments have given me patience with people, a tolerance for being wrong in public, and the habit of testing my own conclusions, all of which I expect to need as a law student.⁶

1A modest, honest role (not inflated) used to show what was learned. Queen Mary rewards relevant experience over impressive-sounding titles.
2Draws a precise, subject-relevant insight from the experience, directly answering 'why are these experiences useful'.
3Links an extracurricular to a core legal skill (steelmanning the other side), keeping the focus on the subject rather than the activity itself.
4Adds work experience, demonstrating time management and resilience, which admissions tutors value and which this prompt invites.
5Explicitly answers 'why are these experiences useful', tying the activities back to the prompt's actual question.
6Closes by projecting forward to the course, keeping the focus on subject readiness rather than the activities for their own sake.

Stuck? Start here

What is the one experience outside school that most changed how you think about this subject?
What have you taught yourself, a course, a book series, a project, with no one requiring it of you?
Which skill from a job, volunteering, or a hobby would genuinely help you in this degree, and how?

Before you submit

Have I chosen depth over a long list, focusing on one or two experiences?
Does each experience explicitly connect to a skill the course needs?
Have I kept this answer short, respecting that it is the smallest part of the case?

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