For mange studenter som vil begynne på et universitet i utlandet høsten 2017 er det søknadssesong nå. I den forbindelse henter DN frem tidligere publiserte saker om søknadsprosessen.

De fleste britiske universiteter og høyskoler krever at søkerne skriver et personlig søknadsbrev, et «personal statement».

Brevet går ut til alle skolene i Storbritannia du søker deg til.

Målet med søknadsbrevet er å vise at du er kvalifisert til å studere det faget du søker deg til.

Amerikanske universiteter har helt andre krav til søknadsbrevet. Få tips og eksempel på en søknad til universiteter i USA her.

Slik skriver du en god søknad til skoler i Storbritannia:

  • En saklig tekst som forklarer hvorfor akkurat du passer til akkurat det faget du søker deg til.
  • Fortell om skoleprosjekter, faglige aktiviteter, fascinasjon i barndommen, oppgi hvilke bøker og kilder som har inspirert deg til å ville lære mer om temaet.
  • Still deg selv spørsmålet: «Og så, da?» Alt du nevner i teksten bør være relevant for det spesifikke faget du vil studere.
  • Sørg for å ha «bevis». Ikke bare skriv at du likte faget godt på videregående. Forklar hvorfor du gjorde det.
  • Forklar hvorfor du er kvalifisert, men gjør det på en ydmyk, nedtonet måte.
  • Å liste opp alle aktiviteter du har vært og er involvert i kan virke overflatisk. Konsentrer deg om den eller de tingene du har lært noe av og som forteller noe om deg.
  • Fortsett å skrive selv om det ikke ble slik du hadde tenkt og selv om du føler deg fortapt. Det er lettere å gå videre og begynne redigeringen når du har en tekst.

(Kilde: Aleksander Dash og Linda Jensen ved Oslo international school)

Se eksempel på et søknadsbrev til Storbritannia («personal statement»)

Aleksander Dash (19) fra Oppegård søkte seg til it-studier og skrev om fascinasjonen for lommelykter da han var barn samt trakk frem gode resultater i matematikk for å forklare hvorfor. Han fikk tilbud om studieplass fra Universitetet i Cambridge.

I have always loved lights. Ever since I got my first torch as a toddler, their luminescent, other-wordly magic has intrigued and captivated me. My mother frequently caught me crawling underneath a table with it, staring into the brilliant abyss as if put under a spell.

If simple light bulbs excite me this much, can you imagine my first reaction to a computer? A box with millions of lights controlled by billions of switches, all inexplicably interconnected! A box of magic. How did it work? Ever since that moment, I knew that I wanted to study computer science.

I entered the IB Programme because it offers challenging subjects. I am a multidisciplinary student who excels in all my classes because I find enjoyment in them all: novels and poetry are my gateway drugs to the joys of learning a language; Geography offers me a perspective of the current world and how we can create a brighter future; and Physics and Chemistry are both natural choices because I derive joy from understanding why things work the way they do. But as much as I value these subjects, Mathematics will always hold a special place in my heart.

Learning through problem solving is what makes computer science appealing to me; this is also true for Mathematics. I became the first student from my school to participate in the final round of the Norwegian Mathematical Olympiad. The three days of intense preparation during the “boot camp” and the finals themselves were simultaneously the most excruciatingly difficult and most enjoyable of all my high school days. While working on a Cauchy-Schwarz and QM-AM-GM-HM problem set, I had an epiphany. Working together with people to solve problems that finally catered to my skill level was what university was going to be like every day. I have since been invited to several other Olympiads with the opportunity to once again relive that magic. My first days at university cannot come any faster.

Programmers work together. The Baltic Way Olympiad I will participate in this November emphasizes teamwork, the most crucial skill to have in our interconnected world. Software companies do not consist of robed wizards slaving away in dank basements. They consist of large teams, hundreds of people working together towards a common goal. This thought appeals to me because I work well in a collaborative setting: I have attended global leadership conferences; represented my year in the Student Council three years in a row; served as Vice President of MUN; been the Director of the school play, Spamalot; and been elected team captain for my basketball team. I know I work well in a team because people put their trust in me.

Started programming at the age of ten. My uncle, a software engineer and role model, taught me the basics. From there my enthusiasm grew rapidly, and I acquired thousand-page tomes to assist me on my journey. My favourite book is Code Complete by Steve McConnell – a book that tells me not what to do, but why I should do it. Good programming practices are requisites for functioning well in a team setting. My internship at Powersim Software AS was my first foray into this world. I worked as a part of a team prototyping the network components of a simulation system. Besides being an enriching experience, it also reaffirmed my belief that I want this to be my career.

My love of programming permeates every aspect of my life. Even when working on unrelated topics, gathering sources for a paper on the Indian state of Kerala, for example, I catch myself mentally designing interconnected systems of algorithms and databases to collect, store and present data which would create the statistical table I am poring over. I also note areas for improvement – programs are meant to be used by people, after all, and they should be designed as such.

Vis alle stillinger

I know what I want to do. Programming is my passion, and I love every second spent writing code. (Debugging is another story.) I hope that you will help me start my journey. I am ready.

Søknaden er gjengitt med tillatelse fra Aleksander Dash.

Les også: Skrev ti utkast til skolesøknaden(Vilkår)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS og/eller våre leverandører. Vi vil gjerne at du deler våre saker ved bruk av lenke, som leder direkte til våre sider. Kopiering eller annen form for bruk av hele eller deler av innholdet, kan kun skje etter skriftlig tillatelse eller som tillatt ved lov. For ytterligere vilkår se her.