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Swansea  /  Essays  /  Prompt 3

Swansea: Q3: Preparation outside education

Part of 4,000 characters total (min 350 here); aim ~1,000-1,300 characters

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
What it’s really asking

This covers everything beyond your formal schooling: wider reading, work experience, volunteering, online courses, competitions, personal projects, relevant hobbies. The key phrase is 'why are these experiences useful', so it is about relevance to the course, not a list of achievements.

Why they ask it

It is where super-curricular evidence lives, the single strongest differentiator in UK statements. Tutors want proof that your interest extends past what you were told to do, and that you can reflect on what those experiences taught you about the subject.

Three ways in
Lead with self-directed work

Start with academic activity you chose: a book, a MOOC, a lecture series, a project you built because you wanted to, not because it was assigned.

Mine work and volunteering

Take relevant work or volunteering and extract the subject-linked skill or insight, then say why it matters for the degree.

Reflect, do not list

For each item, finish the thought with what it taught you and how it shaped your view of the field, rather than just naming it.

✕  Weak opening

“In my spare time I enjoy reading, playing football for my local team, and volunteering at a charity shop.”

✓  Strong opening

“Shadowing a physiotherapist for a week, I learned that the hardest part of the job is not the exercises but persuading a frightened patient to trust them.”

✦ Annotated example · Testing the work, not just the idea. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →
Outside the classroom I have tried to test whether I actually enjoy the work, not just the idea of it. Two weeks of work experience with a local engineering firm let me shadow site inspections, where I learned that real drawings are full of revisions and that a clear conversation with a contractor can prevent an expensive mistake.1 Watching engineers explain tolerances to builders taught me that communication is part of the technical job, not separate from it. 2I also volunteer with a community group that maintains coastal footpaths, repairing drainage channels and timber steps after winter storms.3 The work is unglamorous, but it has shown me how quickly small structures degrade when water is not managed, and how satisfying it is to fix something that hundreds of people then use safely. 4To keep my maths sharp I tutor two younger students each week. Explaining why a method works, rather than simply how, has made my own understanding more secure.5 Together these experiences have taught me patience, the value of careful documentation, and a respect for the gap between a design on paper and a structure in the rain. They are why I am confident this is the right path.6
  1. 1Sets the right frame for this prompt immediately: experiences are a test of fit, not a trophy cabinet. The detail about revisions shows real observation on site.
  2. 2Draws a reflective lesson from the experience (communication is technical) rather than simply listing the placement. Swansea rewards reflection over activity.
  3. 3Chooses a modest, non-prestigious activity, which reads as genuine and grounded rather than padded for effect.
  4. 4Makes the humble activity relevant by connecting it to water management, the theme running through the whole application, and reflects on what it taught.
  5. 5Shows initiative and an academic habit outside class, and the 'why not just how' point demonstrates the deeper understanding tutors want to see.
  6. 6Closes by synthesising the experiences into transferable qualities and circling back to fit, with a vivid course-relevant image that makes the reflection memorable.
Stuck? Start here
  • What did you read, watch, or build entirely on your own initiative because the subject interested you?
  • For any work experience or volunteering, what specific, course-relevant skill or insight did it give you?
  • How does each thing you mention connect back to the degree, and can you finish each point with 'and this taught me'?
Before you submit
  • At least one item is self-directed wider reading or learning, named specifically.
  • Every experience ends with what it taught me, not just that I did it.
  • Nothing here is an unrelated hobby with no link to the course.

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